Michel Lorblanchet Original works of art are defined as imprints of the human spirit on nature. These works surpass the immediate need to survive to express a care of an aesthetic order linked to playful or symbolic behavior. Prehistoric Europe and Near East Social Function of Art in Traditional Societies Religious -To communicate with supernatural forces Ostentatious -To present and glorify an important virtue -To decorate the body Aesthetic -To demonstrate beauty -As a means of identification of a group or individual
Prehistory: the Birth of art Symmetricaltools(biface), Abberville-Saint Saint- Acheul, c. 400000 BCE, Silex, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye 500000 Homo erectus 300000 Homo neanderthalensis 100000 Homo sapiens sapiens 30000 The birth of art 25000 Art of the Venuses 15000 Parietal art Source: 2 Waterwornpebble, c. 3,000,000, South Africa, jasperite, 7,6 cm wide Collected fossiles Lucy: Australopithecus Source: 2
Woman?, Israel, c. 250000 BCE, Volcano rock, 3,65 cm high Human with feline head, c. 30,000 BC, ivory, 30 cm high, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, Ulmer Museum, Ulm Mask, Indre-et-Loire, Silex withbone, Musée du Grand Pressigny, France Signs, La Croze, Dordogne, c. 30000 BCE,
Grimaldigrave, Italy, c. 25000 BCE, Skull with shells, Muséede l homme, Paris Breaststick, DolniVestonice Vestonice, Moravia, c. 25000 BCE, Ivory, 8,6 cm high, MoravskeMuseum, Museum, Brno Grimaldigrave, Italy, c. 25000 BCE, Pendant with perforated teeth Venus of DolniVestonice Vestonice, Moravia, c. 25000 BCE, Ceramic, 11,1 cm high, MoravskeMuseum, Museum, Brno
Venus of Willendorf, Austria, c. 28,000 BC, Limestone, 10,8 cm high, NaturhistorischesMuseum, Vienna Woman with bison horn, Laussel, c. 25,000 BCE, Limestone, 45,7 cm high, Muséed Aquitaine, Bordeaux Venus of Lespugue, Haute-Garonne, c. 25000 BCE, Ivory, 14,7 cm high, Musée de l homme, Paris Code for the Venuses
Venus of Brassempouy, France, c. 25000 BCE, Ivory, 3,65 cm high, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye Animals majority (72%) Signs rarely (21%) Humans very rarely (7%) Bison, Altamira, Spain, c. 12000-1100011000 BCE Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, France, c. 22,000 BCE, 340 cm long Source: 4
Lamp, Lascaux, Stone, Musée d'archéologie nationale, St-Germain-en-Laye red ochre Bull and horses, Lascaux, c. 15000 BCE Manganese dioxide Source: 1 Plan of Lascaux, Dordogne Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux, Dordogne, c. 15,000 BCE Source: 8 Source: 4
Horse, Lascaux, c. 15000 BCE Rhinoceros, lions, Chauvet, Ardèche, c. 20000 BCE Source: 4 Scene of the Well, Lascaux, Dordogne, c. 15000 BCE, Bison 111,8 cm long Bison, ibex and horses, Niaux, c. 15000 BCE
Aurochs, horses, and rhinoceroses, Chauvet, Ardèche, c. 30,000 BC Harpoons, de La Vache, Ariège, c. 15000 BCE, Reindeerantler, 11 cm high, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye Two bison, Le Tucd Audoubert d Audoubert, Ariège, c. 15,000 BCE, Clay, 60 cm long each Bison with turned head, spearthrower, La Madeleine, Dordogne, c. 12,000 BCE, Reindeer horn, 10,1 cm long, Réuniondes MuséesNationaux
Paintedpebbles, Mas-d Azil, Ariège, c. 10000 BCE, 10 cm long, Musée des Antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye Human Figure, AinGhazal, Jordan, c. 6750-6250 6250 BCE, Plaster inlaid with shell and bitumen, 10,1 cm high, Louvre, Paris Arrowheads, Warluis, France, c. 6000 BCE, Silex, 2 cm high, Musée de l homme, Paris Landscape with volcano, wall painting, ÇatalHüyük Hüyük, c. 6150 BCE
Conclusion -Art appears near the end of the Paleolithic era as humans experiment group life -Art will evolve at the start of the Neolithic era as human social ties become more complex -Art can thus be seen as part of the process leading to civilization -Gombrich, The Story of Art,, p. 37-43 Suggested readings -Fiero, The Humanistic Tradition,, vol. 1. p. 1-6 -Gombrich, The Story of Art,, p. 21-35; 43-4747 -Kleiner, Gardner s Art through the Ages, p. 15-28 -Rogers, Art, a World History,, p. 16-21 Key notions -Hand, negative/positive -In the round (ronde-bosse) -Parietal -Twisted perspective Bibliography and Sources 1. Brommer, Discovering Art History 2. Fiero, The Humanistic Tradition,, vol. 1 3. Kleiner, Gardner s Art through the Ages 4. Gombrich, The Story of Art 5. Rogers, Art, a World History 6. Schnapp, Préhistoireet et antiquité 7. University Laval Course Notes 8. Davies, Janson sbasic History of Western Art