Survey of Art I History of Art

1. Survey of Art IHistory of Art

2. Chapter One • Prehistoric Art • The Stone Age • Paleolithic Period

3. Paleolithic Period • Paleolithic cave paintings of EuropeThe Paleolithic Cave Temple is a testament to a sophisticated philosophical view of the world. Leroi-Gourhan discovered that there were altogether six distinct zones to the prehistoric Cavern Temple: the entrance, ambulatory, central chamber, passages, side chambers, and end chamber, each with their own distinct animal types and sex signs, grouped in a complex system of order and arrangement.

4. Paleolithic Period • Joseph Robert Jochmans writes that Cro-Magnons may have spent time first in complete darkness, then gazed upon the painted images in the continually flickering flame of a candle or lamp burning animal fat. "Suddenly it would have been as if the animal figures had come alive, looking like they are actually breathing, and their hearts beating. Above in the light of the glowing, pulsing wall glimmerings a whole herd of ancient bison appears to move silently together deeper into the cavern, becoming guides directing the Initiate onwards. It seems clear, what was portrayed here was not the picture of the animals themselves, but the spiritual power of the animals as they are a part of the Spirit of All Things mirroring the One Spirit and the cosmic pattern of nature."

9. Ancient cave paintings from Zimbabwe done in the blood of animals killed for food on a ledge above the caves

11. Lascaux • Mark-making was part of the Homo toolkit even as far back as the Lower Paleolithic, continuing through the Middle Paleolithic, and on to the Upper Paleolithic. The Upper Paleolithic, roughly 35,000 to 11,000 years ago, is the period from which the great bulk of Paleolithic artworks are known. Paleolithic art is a worldwide phenomenon, but at this point, the most extensively publicized Upper Paleolithic art is found in Europe, the most renowned of which are cave paintings like this horse from Lascaux, France

13. Cave painting of a bull and a horse; in Lascaux Grotto, near Montignac, France.

14. The reason for the paintings remains unknown. Sometimes representing animals that might have been hunted, but perhaps being animals that were considered sacred for some reason, we can now only speculate what prompted man 30,000 years ago to take a small candle to the deep recesses of a cave and paint on the walls.

15. Timeline of Prehistoric Man in France

16. Auk. Casquer cave, Cap Morgiou, France. C. 16,500 BC. Charcoal and manganese dioxide on limestone

17. Paintings in Lascaux cave, France ca. 15,000-13,000 B.C. Hall of the Bulls

18. Exhibit of Paintings in Lascaux cave

32. Terms Relief Sculpture - the surrounding material is carved away forming a background that sets off the figure. Sculpture in the Round – a sculpture that can be viewed from every side.

33. Lamp with ibex desighn, from La Mouthe, Dordogne, France. 15,000-13,000 bce. Engraved stone, 6 3/4 x 4 3/4"

34. Lion-Human, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany. C. 30,000-26,000 bce. Mammothe ivory, height 11 5/8 Inches.

35. “Venus” of Willendorf, Austria ca. 22,000-21,000 B.C.E.

36. Woman from Ostrava Petrkovice, Czech Republic ca. 23,000 B.C.E.

37. Woman from Brassempouy, France ca. 22,000 B.C.E.

38. Bison from Le Tuc d’Audoubert Cave, France ca. 13,000 B.C.E.

39. Terms • Twisted Perspective – Horns, eyes, and hooves are shown as seen from the front, yet heads and bodies are rendered in profile.

40. Chauvet Cave The earliest known site of prehistoric cave painting today, Discovered in December 1994. Southern France. Footprints in the cave left in the soft clay still exists from a small boy. The charcoal used to draw the rhinos has been radiocarbon dated to 32,410 years ago plus or minus 720 years.

43. Lascaux

47. Dating of Art and Artifacts Relative dating – chronological relationships among objects. Absolute dating – determines a precise span of calendar years when artifact was created Radiometric dating – measures the degree to which radioactive materials have disintegrated over time.

48. Dating of Art and Artifacts Potassium-argon dating – measures the decay of a radioactive potassium isotope into a stable isotope of argon, an inert gas. Thermo-luminescence dating – measures irradiation of the crystal structure of a material subjected to fire, such as pottery. Electro spin resonance – technique that involves using magnetic field and microwave irradiation to date a material such as tooth enamel.

49. Materials used for Cave Paintings • Brushes made from animal hair, crushed twigs or pads of fur or moss (this is all based on pure speculation and modern experiments, since none of these tools have survived) • Spray painting techniques even appear to have been used in some cases, by mixing pigment with water and spraying it either directly from their mouths or through tubes made out of animal bones, bamboo or reeds (Australian aboriginals still use this method today).

50. Materials • Prehistoric painters used the pigments available in the vicinity. These pigments were the so-called earth pigments, (minerals limonite and hematite, red ochre, yellow ochre and umber), charcoal from the fire (carbon black), burnt bones (bone black) and white from grounded calcite (lime white).