Chapter1 birth of art

Chapter 1
Art Before History

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Prehistoric Europe and the Near East

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Definitions

• Paleolithic: “Old Stone Age” – from the Greek–
paleo = old; lithos = stone
• Neolithic: “NEW Stone Age” – from the Greek–
neo = new; 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.

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.
• Understand and evaluate the types of art prevalent in the
Neolithic period.

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•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

Figure 1-2 Waterworn pebble
resembling a human face, from
Makapansgat, South Africa, ca.
3,000,000 BCE. Reddish brown
jasperite, approx. 2 3/8” wide.
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Figure 1-3 Animal facing left, from the Apollo 11 Cave, Namibia, ca. 23,000 BCE. Charcoal on stone, 5” X 4 1/4”. State
Museum of Namibia, Windhoek.
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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

Figure 1-4 Human with feline head,
from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, ca.
30,000–28,000 BCE. Mammoth ivory, 11
5/8” high. Ulmer Museum, Ulm.

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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.

Figure 1-5 Nude woman (Venus of Willendorf),
from Willendorf, Austria, ca. 28,000–25,000
BCE. Limestone, 4 1/4” high.
Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.

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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
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?

Figure 1-6 Woman holding a bison horn, from
Laussel, France, ca. 25,000–20,000 BCE. Painted
limestone, approx. 1’ 6” high. Musée d’Aquitaine,
Bordeaux.

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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.

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

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Figure 1-7 Two bison, reliefs in cave at Le Tuc d’Audoubert, France, ca. 15,000–10,000 BCE. Clay, each 2’
long.
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Figure 1-8 Bison with turned head, fragmentary spearthrower, from La Madeleine, France, ca. 12,000
BCE. Reindeer horn, 4” long.
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Figure 1-9 Bison, detail of a painted
ceiling in the cave at Altamira, Spain, ca.
12,000–11,000 BCE. Each bison 5’
long.

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Figure 1-10 Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, France, ca. 22,000
BCE. 11’ 2” long.
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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.

” long. Figure 1-11 Hall of the Bulls (left wall) in the cave at Lascaux, France, ca. 15,000–13,000 BCE. Largest bull 11’ 6

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

Figure 1-13 Rhinoceros, wounded man, and disemboweled bison, painting in the well of the cave at Lascaux,
France ca. 15,000 – 13,000 BCE. Bison 3’ 8” long.

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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 for a
particular place in the cave-
horses/hands painted on
concave surfaces- bison on
convex.

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.

Figure 1-14 Great stone
tower built into the settlement
wall, Jericho, ca. 8000–7000
BCE.

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–Plaster over a
core of reeds and
twine.
–Orange & black
hair, clothing and
some body
painting.

Figure 1-15 Human figure, from Ain
Ghazal, Jordan, ca. 6750–6250 BCE. Plaster,
painted and inlaid with bitumen, 3’ 5 3/8”
high. Louvre, Paris.

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Figure 1-16 Restored view of a section of Level VI, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, ca. 6000–5900 BCE (John
Swogger).

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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 Artistic Developments

• Examine the development of narrative and landscape
painting.
• Explore the different materials and methods of making art in
the Neolithic period.
• Compare and contrast the following painting with the
Paleolithic painting of rhinoceros, wounded man, and
disemboweled bison (Fig. 1-13) in terms of content and
painting technique.

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Figure 1-17 Deer hunt, detail of a wall painting from Level III, Çatal Höyük, Turkey, ca. 5750 BCE.
Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara.
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Fig. 1-18 Landscape with volcanic eruption (?), watercolor copy of a wall painting from Level VII, Çatal
Höyük, Turkey, ca. 6150 BCE.

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Monumental Architecture

Around 4000 BCE
Megaliths [standing
stones] and Henges
[circles of stones] were
developed in Western
Europe.
STONEHENGE
2000 BCE
• Terms:
corbelled vault,
post-and-lintel system

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Figure 1-19 Gallery leading to the main chamber of the passage grave, Newgrange, Ireland, ca. 3200 – 2500
BCE.
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Figure 1-20 Aerial view of Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, ca. 2550–1600 BCE. Circle is 97' in
diameter; trilithons 24' high.

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The Ancient Near East

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Goals

• Understand the cultural changes in the
Neolithic Revolution as they relate to the art and
architecture.
• Understand the concept of civilization and
the importance of Sumer in the ancient Near
East.
• Examine the artistic materials, techniques,
subject matter, styles and conventions
developed in the ancient Near East.
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Sumerian Religion, Society, and Art

• Understand the cultural changes in the
Neolithic Revolution as they relate to the art and
architecture.
• Understand the development of a counting
system that leads to an evolution of writing
and reading in Sumer

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The Neolithic Revolution

• Examine the birth of writing in ancient
Sumer.
• The first city states, city planning, and
organized religion are attributed to Sumer.
Explore how the art – and architecture – are
effected.

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Figure 2-2 White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000

BCE.
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Figure 2-3 Reconstruction drawing of the White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka),
Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.

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Sumerian Religion, Society, and Art
• Evaluate the stylistic and formal visual aspects of Mesopotamian art and its
iconography
• Identify cultures that ruled the Mesopotamian regions throughout early history
• Relate different media and materials used in Mesopotamian art
• Evaluate architecture in different civilizations in Near Eastern cultures
• Critically evaluate the role of art and power in different near eastern civilizations from
this period

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Figure 2-4 Female head
(Inanna?), from Uruk
(modern Warka), Iraq, ca.
3200–3000 BCE. Marble, 8”
high. Iraq Museum, Baghdad. 44

Figure 2-5 Presentation of offerings to
Inanna (Warka Vase), from Uruk (modern
Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.
Alabaster, 3’ 1/4” high. Iraq Museum,
Baghdad. 45

Mesopotamian Religion, Mythology, Gods and
Goddesses

• How are ancient Near Eastern ideas about
religion different from Paleolithic and earlier
Neolithic ideas?
• Explore how these ideas are depicted in
Sumerian sculpture, seals, and funerary
objects.
• How does the visual representation of the
human form evolve in ancient Near Eastern
art? Does it retain any elements of the
Paleolithic and earlier Neolithic periods?
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Figure 2-6 Statuettes of two worshipers,
from the Square Temple at Eshnunna
(modern Tell Asmar), Iraq, ca. 2700
BCE. Gypsum inlaid with shell and black
limestone, male ﬁgure 2’ 6” high. Iraq
Museum, Baghdad.

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Figure 2-7 Fragment of the victory stele of Eannatum (Stele of the Vultures), from Girsu (modern
Telloh), Iraq, ca. 2600–2500 BCE. Limestone, fragment 2’ 6” high, full stele 5’ 11” high. Louvre,
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Figure 2-8 War side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell
Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE. Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”.

British Museum, London.
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Figure 2-9 Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell
Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE. Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”.
British Museum, London.
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Figure 2-10 Bull-headed lyre
(restored) from Tomb 789
(“King’s Grave”), Royal
Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell
Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE.
Lyre: Gold leaf and lapis lazuli

over a wooden core, 5’ 5” high.

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Figure 2-10 Sound box (right): Wood with
inlaid gold, lapis lazuli, and shell, 1’ 7”
high. University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology,
Philadelphia.
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Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian ,
and Hittite Cultures
• Evaluate the stylistic and formal visual
aspects of later Mesopotamian art and its
iconography
• Identify cultures that ruled the Mesopotamian
regions throughout early history
• Critically evaluate the role of art and power in
different Near Eastern civilizations from this
period
• Evaluate architecture in different civilizations
in Near Eastern cultures
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Figure 2-11 Banquet scene, cylinder seal (left) and its modern impression (right), from the tomb
of Pu-abi (tomb 800), Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE. Lapis
lazuli, 2” high. British Museum, London.

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Figure 2-12 Head of an Akkadian
ruler, from Nineveh (modern
Kuyunjik), Iraq, ca. 2250–2200
BCE. Copper, 1’ 2 3/8” high. Iraq

Museum, Baghdad.

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Ancient Near Eastern Politics and Art

• Explore how art is used to express political
ideas of kingship and territory in the ancient
Akkadian and Neo-Sumerian cultures.

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Figure 2-13 Victory stele of Naram-Sin,
from Susa, Iran, 2254–2218 BCE. Pink
sandstone, 6’ 7” high. Louvre, Paris.
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Important First in the Ancient Near East

• First record of a known poet, male or female
in human history – the priestess Enheduanna,
daughter of King Sargon and priestess of the
moon god Nanna at Ur.

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Figure 2-14 Votive disk of Enheduanna, from Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2300 –
2275 BCE. Alabaster, diameter 10”. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology, Philadelphia

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Figure 2-15 Ziggurat (northeastern facade with restored stairs), Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca.
60

Figure 2-16 Seated statue of
Gudea holding temple plan, from
Girsu (modern Telloh), Iraq, ca.
2100 BCE. Diorite, 2’ 5” high.
Louvre, Paris. 61

The Code of Hammurabi

• Explore the Code of Hammurabi, how it is
expressed in art and why it contributes to
cultural understanding in the ancient Near
East.

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Figure 2-17 Stele with law code of
Hammurabi, from Susa, Iran, ca.
1780 BCE. Basalt, 7’ 4” high.
Louvre, Paris.
63

Figure 2-18 Lion Gate, Hattusa (modern Boghazköy), Turkey, ca. 1400 BCE . 64

Figure 2-19 Statue of Queen Napir-Asu,
from Susa, Iran, ca. 1350–1300 BCE.
Bronze and copper, 4’ 2 3/4” high.

Louvre, Paris. 65

Figure 2-20 Reconstruction drawing of the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern
Khorsabad), Iraq, ca. 720–705 BCE (after Charles Altman).
66

Power and the Assyrians

• Examine the ideas conveyed in the images of the Assyrian Lamassu and low relief
sculpture.
• What aspects of Assyrian bas reliefs such as ritual lion hunts and war scenes
convey Assyrian power? Consider their imagery and the original location of the
reliefs.

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2-21 Figure Lamassu (winged, human-
headed bull), from the citadel of Sargon
II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad),
Iraq, ca. 720–705 BCE. Limestone, 13’
10” high. Louvre, Paris.

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Figure 2-22 Assyrian archers pursuing enemies, relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal
II, Kalhu (modern Nimrud), Iraq, ca. 875–860 BCE. Gypsum, 2’ 10 5/8” high. British Museum,
London.
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Figure 2-23 Ashurbanipal hunting lions, relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh

(modern Kuyunjik), Iraq, ca. 645–640 BCE. Gypsum, 5’ 4” high. British Museum, London.
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Mesopotamian Architecture

• Compare the architecture of the Neo-Sumerian ziggurat with the city of Babylon
and the fabled “Tower of Babel.”
• Explore the message(s) expressed by the architecture of Babylon such as the
Ishtar Gate.

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Elamite, Assyrian, and Neo-Babylonian Art

• Evaluate the stylistic and formal visual aspects of later Mesopotamian art and its
iconography.
• Explore the ideas of power expressed in the art of the Assyrians.
• Examine the materials and techniques of Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian painting
and low relief sculpture.
• Critically evaluate the role of art and power in different Near Eastern civilizations
from this period.

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Figure 2-24
Ishtar Gate
(restored),
Babylon, Iraq, ca.
575 BCE.
Staatliche Museen,
Berlin.

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Persian Power and Opulence

• Know the location, extent, and impact of Persian Empire on the art and culture
of and ancient Near East.
• Identify hallmarks of Persian culture and style in art and architecture.

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Persian and Sassanian Splendor

• Examine ruins of the great imperial palace at Persepolis including key features
such as the apadana.
• Explore how the Persian art and the later Sassanian art is different from other art
of Mesopotamia.

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Figure 2-25 Persepolis (apadana in the background), Iran, ca. 521–465 BCE.

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Figure 2-26 Processional frieze (detail) on the terrace of the apadana, Persepolis, Iran, ca. 521–465
BCE. Limestone, 8’ 4” high. 77

Figure 2-27 Palace of Shapur I, Ctesiphon, Iraq, ca. 250 CE.
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Figure 2-28 Triumph of Shapur I over Valerian, rock-cut relief, Bishapur, Iran, ca. 260 CE.

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Chapter1 birth of art