Prehistoric Art - Review ---Paleolithic Sculpture

1. Prehistoric Art - Review ---Paleolithic Sculpture • Statues of women Greco-Roman goddesses - Fertility figures Venus of Willendorf • Cave Paintings discovered in 1879 at Altamira,Spain and Lascaux in Chavet Cave in France

2. Neolithic Art - 10,0000 years ago - transition from nomadic hunters and gatherers to farmers living in villages • Stonehenge - Henge is a circle of huge stones - 17ft high weighing 50 tons • Archaeologists believe Stonehenge is a solar calendar • Stonehenge inspired Modern Environment Artists -- Mid-1970s, artist Nancy Holt used four large concrete tubes to create a work she named Sun tunnels, located in the Utah desert…mark the sun at the summer and winter solstices - Multiple choice -- Holt’s work recalls prehistoric Stonehenge

3. Art of the Ancient Near East - Review • First urban communities, writing system, use of the wheel -- Summerians - independent city states between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers - Mesopotamia, Greek which means “land between the rivers” • Broad view of all people in power by AP Test - 3 - 4 multiple choice questions and some slide based questions • Ziggurats - Summerians and Mesopotmanians belief each city state was under protection of god or goddess • Sumerians build mud brick to construct stepped platform - ziggurats or mountains of the gods Tallest 270 ft high Babylon

4. Standard of Ur - Sumerian tombs - Four-sided rectangular box - 18 in wide side panels inlaid in shell and lapis lazuli - figures from all classes of Sumerian societyNarrative of great military victory Peace Panel

5. Standard of Ur - Reads from bottom to top and from left to right - War panel - row of wooden wheeled chariots trampling enemy soldiers - Middle disciplined well equipped infantrymen - Hierarchical scale - technique used throughout history of art

6. Standard of Ur - Useful work of art on your AP exam - ? “Select and identify two works of art that visually convey a narrative - One choice has to be outside the European tradition - Standard of Ur - definition as excellent choice for a 25 point essy Peace detail

7. 282 laws • Upper stele - God of Justice seated on throne w/ horned helmet sign of divinity • Hammurabi extends rod and ring of authority • Symbol of link between the human and divine rulers - God-given authority to enforce laws Victory Stele of Naram-Sin - Stone slab to commemorate his victory Hammurabi’s Code - Conquered all of Mesopotamia - Capital of empire Hierarchical scale tells Narrative story 6 ft high

8. Assyrian Lamassu - Symbol of Vast palaces to express power and impress conquered peoplesBeasts of the mountains carved in limestone - 14 ft.Lamassu has five legs stands in place but appears to stride forward when viewed from the side

9. Low relief panel - king’s valor in hunting - Dying Lioness - legs - Assyrian art to glorify rulers skill and bravery Ishtar Gate - Nebucchadnezzar built Babylon’s gate - Honor Ishtar, Goddess of fertility, love and war

10. Persians - Built Royal Citadel in Persepolis Persian Empire extended from the Indus River to the Nile River. Darius I built a magnificent royal citadel which included an enormous audience hall, or apadama supported by 36 colossal columns surmounted with bull’s heads of gray limestone

11. Conclusion - ancient Near East - Important component of the AP Art History Exam • Questions asked about the function of ziggurats, use of registers and hierarchical scale to tell narrative stories, the subject of Hammurabi’s Code and how it is conveyed, the purpose of lamassu and the design of the Ishtar Gate - Always remember that the Ancient Near East is considered to be outside the Western artistic tradition. • An excellent source of examples for the long essay requiring an example from non-European tradition

12. Exam Strategy - Ancient Egyptian Art - AP Artistic PrioritiesStepped Pyramid, Statue of Khafre, Revolution of AkenatonAncient Egypt - occupied an important place on the AP Art History Exam - 10 points or 5 percent of the test - You can expect an essay devoted to Ancient Egyptian art • 5th Century Dorian Greek Historian --Herodotus wrote that “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” • He also noted that the Egyptians were the most religious people he had encountered. • The Nile’s annual flood symbolized Rebirth - concept central to Egyptian religious beliefs • Ancient Egyptians were polytheists - Gods were manifest in every aspect of nature • God could appear in human or animal form - God’s influenced their lives

13. Position of Pharaoh, or king crucial role in Egyptian life - Son of the Sun God, Ra, a pharaoh was a god-king with absolute power • Pharaoh’s power did not end when he died - Belief that a dead person’s ka, or soul enjoyed an afterlife • Egyptians believed he rejoined his solar father and continued to influence life along the Nile • Egypt’s monumental works were built to ensure the pharaoh’s blessing • Palette of Narmer - 3100 BCE, pallette two sides commemorate Narmer’s victorious unification of Upper and Lower Egypt • Image on palette convey’s Narmer’s invincible power Each side divided into registers - Note hierarchical scale, Narmer towers above his defeated enemies

14. Egyptian Art -Representation of the Human Figure - Profile - Head, Legs and ArmsEye and torso are shown frontalPose was Standard way Old Kingdom Architecture - Mastabas - over an underground burial chamber contained a sarcophagus - STONE COFFIN • History Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom - AP Art History testers expect you to know the distinctive artistic achievements of each

15. THIRD DYNASTY - Imhotep - Stepped Pyramid- Purpose - Limestone tomb to protect King Djoser’s mummy and symbolize his power - NOTE: IMHOTEP FIRST KNOWN ARTIST IN RECORDED HISTORY Stepped Pyramid of Giza - Funery complex included temples and mastabas for lesser officials

16. Known Statue of Khafre, Giza, Egypt • Artistic Principle - form follows function - Designed to last an eternity made of Diorite - hardest stone • Regal and compact - Muscular and flawless body - all powerful god-king • Falcon God, Horus enfolds king’s head protects him - • Projects dignity power and permanence King and Queen - idealized youthful bodies - gaze confidently Stand erect, proud Menkaura’s arms frozen to his sides Wife touches him in a formalized “belonging together.”

17. Middle Kingdom - Warrior kings conquered new territories and built impressive templesHepshepsut’s - Female Monarch - Statues mix male and female attributes, beard breast, etc. Funery temple at Deir el-Bahri - Two hundred statues of Hatshepsut lined the temple corridors - male and female attributes

18. Akhenaton overturned artistic traditions with his new Amarna Style - Naturalistic representations Sunken relief - limestone stele family playing together in Aton’s life giving rays - modeled from surface down

19. Tutankhamen - Revived Worship of Amen and returned capital to Thebes - 1922 - English Egyptologist, Howard Carter discovered Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings Two massive pylons - gateways with sloping walls for entrance Egypt outside the European tradition - Study Palette of Narmer, Stepped Pyramid, Statue of Khafre, Hatshesut’s temple and AMARNA STYLE OF ART Hypostyle hall - columns support roof

20. AGEAN ART - AP ART HISTORY EXAME ASKS THREE TO FIVE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS ON IT --- Recall that three distinct cultures emerged in the Aegean - the Cycladic - small islands north of Crete, the Minoan on Crete and the Helladic on the mainland Greece • Cycladic Art - Carved white marble statuettes from few inches to 4 feet - nude women (fertility)..men are often musicians playing harplike instruments • Pure line and extreme abstraction - like modern art - Resemble Brancusi and Modigliani

21. Minoan Civilization - King Minos - ruled from a vast palace where the half-bull, half-man Minotaur lived in a labyrinthin maze - Kinossos - northern coast of Crete • Palace complex of rectangular courts,workshops and store rooms

22. Minoan Frescoes - Palaces at Knossos and other Minoan cities contained a rich collection of fresco paintings - FRESCO - ARTIST PAINTS ON THE PLASTER SURFACE OF A WALL OR CEILING WHILE MIX IS STILL DAMP --PIGMENTS BECOME FUSED WITH THE PASTER AS IT DRIES • Lively athletic contests • Festivals • Women wore delicate gold jewelry and styled their hair into long coils • Dancing strenuous sports • Minoan women enjoyed a level of social equality • Many flowers, fish and animals • Beauty of Nature

23. Ceramic Minoan Snake Goddess - w/ exposed breasts holding a snake - Leopard perched on her head

24. Mycenae - Warlike Mycenaeans - Iliad, Homere referes to the great stronghold of Mycenae - pwerful kings like Agamemnon - rich in gold • Ancient Greeks thought great massive walls must have been build by one-eyed giants called Cyclops • Enormous stone block refered to as cyclopean stones • Lions Gate Two massive stone posts support a lintel weighing 25 tons. Above lintel, a corbel arch directs the weight of th heavy wall to the stone posts below - Corbelling is a technique in which stones are laid so that each course of masonry projects slightly beyond the course below it. - spans forms an irregular arch - space abover lintel is relieving triangle - reduces weight pressing down on horizontal lintel

25. THOLOS - Mycenaen royalty died, they were laid to rest outside the citadel walls in as structure known as a tholos • Treasury of Athens - 43 ft high tomb burial for an important Death Mask - technique repousse - hammering technique from back leaving raised feature on front

26. Conclusion - Aegean Art • Cycladic statuettes are abstract and usually portray nude women • Knossos was discovered by Arthur Evans • Knossos and other Minoan palaces and towns contain rich collection of fresco paintings • Minoans portray themselves as peaceful people who appreciated natural beauty • In contrast Mycenaeasns were warlike and surrounded their citadels with walls 20 feet thick • Lion’s Gate features a corbelled arch and a relieving triangle containing statues of guardian lions • Treasury of Atreus is actually a tomb discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in the late nineteenth century • Mycenaean burial masks in the Treasury of Atreus were made using a technique called repousse.