Gardners Art Through the

Ages, 12e
Chapter 1
The Birth of Art:
Africa, Europe, and the Near East
in the Stone Age

Goals
Understand the origins of art in terms
of time period, human development
and human activity.
Explore origins of creativity,
representation, and stylistic innovation
in the Paleolithic period.
Describe the role of human and animal
figures in Paleolithic art.
Examine the materials and techniques
of the earliest art making in the
Paleolithic period.
Illustrate differences between the
Paleolithic and Neolithic art as a
result of social and environmental
changes.

Definitions
Paleolithic: Old Stone Age from
the Greek paleo = old; lithos = stone
Neolithic: NEW Stone Age from
the Greek neo = old; lithos = stone
Incise: To cut into a surface with a
sharp instrument; a means of
decoration, especially on metal and
pottery.
Twisted Perspective: A convention of
representation in which part of a figure
is shown in profile and another part of
the same figure is shown frontally; a
composite view.

Prehistoric Europe and the Near

East

Paleolithic Art in Western Europe

and Africa
Why art must be intentional and
representational in order to be called art.
Must be modified by human
intervention beyond mere
selection.

How do we know this pebble

was selected?
Why does it need to be modified
to be called art?
Intentional creation of art
objects dates to 30,000 BCE

Makapansgatpebble

Paleolithic Art in Western Europe

and Africa

AFRICA: Namibia during the

Paleolithic period Early paintings
.

were portable

Questions the artist would ask:

What is my subject?
An animal
How shall I represent it?
Strict profile: can see all
body parts completely
informative
Moved from recognition
of animal forms to
representation of
animal forms.
Namibia:Apollo11Cave

Paleolithic Art in Western Europe

and Africa

AFRICA: Namibia during

the Paleolithic period

Paleolithic Art in Western Europe

and Africa
WESTERN EUROPE: Germany: Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave:
Carved from Ivory-1 foot tall.
Composite creature: human with feline head.
Bridges time gap between the Makapansgat pebble and the Namibian animal.
No way to know what the intention was sorcerer? Humans dressed as animals?
Did involve skill & time, so was important.

The Earliest Sculpted Forms

Women in Paleolithic
Art: Representations of
humans during this period
were almost always of
unclothed women.
Called Venuses after
the Greco-Roman
goddess of beauty.
Not accurate because
there is no proof of the
idea of named gods or
goddesses in that era.
Venus of Willendorf

The Earliest Sculpted Forms

Venus of Willendorf
Why were they thought to be
fertility images?
What is the evidence against
that?
What CAN we safely
conclude?
---------------- Lack of focus on naturalism.
No facial features.
Evidence in the sculpture
that it is a fertility figure?

The Earliest Sculpted Forms

Laussel Venus: woman
holding a bison horn,
found in Dordogne,
France.
Probably later than the
Willendorf figure.
One of the earliest relief
sculptures.
Originally part of a large
stone block.
Red ochre was applied
to the body. [Ochre is a
pigment made from
tinted clays]
Similar emphasis on the
female form to the
Willendorf Venus

The Earliest Sculpted Forms

Another example of a fertility relief [including bison horn]

The Earliest Sculpted Forms

Rock-Cut
Women:
La Magdelaine,
France
Relief sculptures
of nude women
on cave walls.
Used the natural
contours of the
cave wall as a
basis for the
representation.
Incised and
carved.

The Earliest Sculpted Forms

Clay Bison:
Le Tuc dAudoubert,
France-12-17k yrs
ago
Strict profile- 2 ft
long
Modeled in clay
from the cave itself
Antler Sculpture:
4 inches long
Compare?
Engraving
Represented with
the head turned
probable reason?

Discovery of Altamia

Altamira was the first

prehistoric cave with
paintings to be
discovered in 1879.
Now paintings are
known at 200 other
sites.
Floating Bison
Strict profile
maintained by
changing the
viewpoint in the case
of the curled up bison.
Not a group

Signs & Hands

Checks, dots, squares,
lines are found
alongside the animals
[Lascaux image]
May include a
primitive kind of
writing.
Also common:
representations of
human hands, mostly
with pigment around
the shape. [Pech-Merle,
France]
Murals at Pech-Merle:
Indicate animals chosen

Examining Materials and

Techniques

To SEE in the caves they used stone lamps

with animal marrow or fat.
To DRAW they used chunks of red and
yellow ochre, but also other minerals.
The PALATTE was a large flat stone.
BRUSHES were made from reeds, bristles
or twigs.
May have used reed or blowpipe to spray
paint on hard to reach locations.
Used ledges and perhaps primitive
scaffolds to reach the walls.
Hard to ascertain WHY the paintings were
made there are numerous theories

The Bulls of Lascaux

Paintings include
animals other than bulls,
but the name has stuck!
Differences in style
suggest paintings done
at different times.
Both colored and
outline examples.

Lascaux: The Bulls of

Lascaux
The horns are represented in twisted
perspective: Bull is in profile, but horns
viewed from the front.

Lascaux: The Well Scene

"The Shaft of the
Dead Man."
2 animals and a
stick-man lying
on the ground.
Indication of
narrative in cave
paintings.
Cleary a man
Many
interpretations.

Chauvet
Oldest cave paintings yet discovered. [in
1994]
Horns rendered in strict perspective.
Possible narrative in the two rhinos
confronting each other.
Dating is in question

FRANCE:
Maps of Other
Caves

Neolithic Art: Goals

Understand the effect of climatic and
lifestyle changes during the transition from
the Paleolithic to the Neolithic period.
Illustrate artistic development as a result
of differences between the Paleolithic and
Neolithic society and environment.
Understand and evaluate the different
types of art prevalent in the Neolithic
period.

Changing Environment and

Lifestyle

The Ice recedes from Northern Europe c. 9000 BCE

Climate grew warmer, reindeer migrated north;
wooly mammoth and rhinoceros disappeared.
MESOLITHIC: Transitional period of change
NEOLITHIC: Settled in fixed abodes and
domesticated animals and plants.
Beginning of AGRICULTURE:
Oldest communities near the Tigris & Euphrates
rivers in Mesopotamia. [part of modern day
Syria/Iraq]
Neolithic innovations: systematic agriculture,
weaving, metalworking, pottery, and counting &
recording with tokens.

Neolithic Art: Jericho Stone

Fortifications
Inhabited long
before
Joshuas Biblical battle.
[Jordan River valley.]
Small village as early
as 9th millennium BCE.
Developped around
7th mil. BCE.
Towns wealth grew
along with powerful
neighbors, thus
fortifications were built.
2,000 people
estimated in 7500 BCE
Circular Stone Tower
33 ft diameter at base

Neolithic Art: Sculpture at

Ain
Ghazal
Neolithic settlement,

near Amman, Jordan. 86th mil.

Homes of irregularly
shaped stones,
plastered, painted
walls and floors.
Plaster Statues: Mid-7th
mil. Appears to be a
ritual burial.
Plaster over a core of
reeds and twine.
Orange & black hair,
clothing and some
body painting. Gender

Neolithic Art: Catal Hoyuk

City without streets: 7-5th mil BCE -predetermined plan
Twelve building levels excavated, thus
revealing the development of a NEOLITHIC
culture based on trade in obsidian.
Narrative Painting: Regular appearance
of human figure.
Composite view based on what
presented the most information about the
body segment.

Neolithic Art: Catal Hoyuk

First landscape painting? [may have been a
map]

Monumental Architecture
Around 4000 BCE
Megaliths
[standing
stones] and
Henges [circles
of stones] were
developed in
Western
Europe.
STONEHENGE
2000 BCE
Terms:
Sarsen
Lintel,
Trilithons

Monumental Architecture

Discussion Questions
In the textbook, emphasis is placed on a
criterion of intentional manipulation of an
object in order for it to be classified as art.
Is this criterion valid? What is your definition
of art?
Why do you think that images of man were
less prevalent in Paleolithic art than those of
women?
What accounts for the lifestyle changes which
effect the art?
How is the human figure presented differently
in the Paleolithic to the Neolithic periods?

Small Group Discussion

Describe the differences between
the so-called Venus of Willendorf
(FIG. 1-4) and the relief of the
Woman from Laussel (Fig. 1-5)?
When comparing two figures you
can begin with facts like size,
material and technique,
approximate date, and what is
know about where they were
found.
Then go on to describe the bodily
features of each figure and how