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Chapter 1The Birth of Art:

Africa, Europe, and the Near Eastin the Stone Age

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages

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Prehistoric Europe and the Near East

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1.1 Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa

Understand the origins of art in terms of time period, human development and human activity.

- 30,000 B.C.E.

- Large parts of northern Europe were still covered with glaciers during the Ice Age

- Humans intentionally manufactured sculptures and paintings.

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Examine the materials and techniques of the earliest art making in the Paleolithic period.

- For light, stone lamps filled with marrow or fat, with a moss wick were used.

- For drawing, chunks of red and yellow ocher were used.

- To paint, the ochers were grounded into powder and mixed with water.

- Large flat stones were used as palettes- Brushes were made from reeds, bristles, or twigs- Stone burin (a pointed engraving tool) to incise

(scratch) lines into surfaces of ivory.- Sandstone to rub ivory into shapes

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Explore why art must be intentional and representational in order to be called art.

- For art historians to classify as an “artwork” a found object such as the Makapansgat pebble, it must have been modified by human intervention beyond mere selection- and it was not.

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Explore why subject matter was depicted a particular way (stylistic innovation) in Namibia during the Paleolithic period.

- The profile of the animal was depicted because that is the only view of an animal wherein the head, body, tail, and all four legs are visible.

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Describe the roles of animals and human figures in Paleolithic art.

- Animals were by far the subject of most art. Men were very rarely depicted, and women both large and skinny were depicted often. The exact reasons for depicted animals and women are unclear. Some historians believe fully figured women symbolized fertility.

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What are several possible reasons why Paleolithic paintings, drawings and sculptures were created?- Decoration- Hunters believed this would bring the

beasts under control- Rituals or dances performed in front of

the images to improve the hunter’s luck- Teach new hunters- Animal ancestors

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Let’s examine the issues of dating Paleolithic art.

- Radiocarbon dating (a measure of the rate of degeneration of carbon 14 in organic materials) suggests that the Chauvet Cave is thousands of years older than any previously discovered.

- This is controversial because the depiction of animals seems more advanced than previous cave art.

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1.2 Neolithic Art

Understand the effect of climatic and lifestyle changes during the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic period.

- The ice that covered much of northern Europe during the Paleolithic period melted as the climate warmed. The sea level rose more than 300 feet, separating England from continental Europe, and Spain from Africa. Human beings began to domesticate plants and animals and settled in fixed abodes. With their food supply assured, many groups changed from hunters to herders to farmers and finally to townspeople. There were organized community living in villages surrounded by cultivated fields.

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Illustrate artistic development as a result of differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic society and environment.

- Regular appearance of the human figure is present in Neolithic art.

- Pictorial references used in Neolithic art

- The beginning of monumental sculpture in Mesopotamia (Neolithic)

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Examine the development of narrative and landscape painting.

- Human themes, concerns, and action scenes with humans dominating animals are central subjects of Neolithic art

- Important descriptions are now depicted in Neolithic art, such as bows, arrows, and garments. Facial features are also present- noses, mouths, chins, and hair.

- The Neolithic painter used profiles for the same reason Paleolithic painters universally chose the profile view for representations of animals.

- World’s first landscape (also first with no humans or animals) located at Catal Hoyuk

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Explore the different materials and methods of making art in the Neolithic period.

- The technique of painting also changed dramatically. The Catal Hoyuk painters used brushes to apply their pigments to a background of dry white plaster. The careful preparation of the wall surface is in striking contrast to the direct application of pigment to the irregularly shaped walls and ceilings of Old Stone Age caves

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Group Activity

• Get into groups of 4.

• You will be given a large paper and markers to write down your answers to the following discussion questions.

• Discuss the question, then as a group decide what the answer is.

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Discussion Questions

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?