Prehistoric Art: Devotional or Decorative? Essay

Paleolithic, Neolithic, Greek and Roman art movements have seen many changes through the course of their time. These periods, have produced many tremendous famous works of art. Paleolithic art was one of the earliest and most natural form of art which they shown by painting in the caves. The paintings in the cave were very interesting to look at and caught my eye every time I looked at the paintings. Each of the paintings in the caves were somewhat different. I personally think they were painting inside the caves because they were trying to chase food, which caused them to not stay in one place at a time. As the time went on, the Neolithic age saw construction of monument structures. They noticed the structures since the people of Neolithic age became settled unlike the Paleolithic ages people who were out chasing for food. I strongly believe the Greek and Roman ages are very well known, unlike the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages. “Humanity, reason, and nature were central preoccupations of the Greek mind, together formulating their attitude toward life” (Rathus 296). When you are looking at their art you can see all the unique crazy designs and very skillful drawings which

Art is a particular form of social consciousness and of human activities, an important way for people to perceive, discover and improve life: according to the laws of beauty. It is the creation of tangible or intangible products containing great values of thought-aesthetics, cultural character, and emotions. In this sense, there are numerous types of art. Painting is one of the oldest forms of art on earth. From prehistoric times, artists not only used it to communicate, but they also used painting to entertain the viewers. Painting can be transformed, eliminating the tedium, fatigue, and stress in daily tasks to bring the joy. Fun in life or silence for the soul. In other words, painting is a language that communicates an artist 's ideas

Art has been a factor of our life as long as humanity has existed. For thousands of years, art has been created, observed, critiqued, and enjoyed by human beings in many regions across the world. Art aren’t just murals, sculptures, music, books or anything that someone may define as art but more of a bigger picture like if has a deeper meaning such a message or a theme that is looked upon. Art can be viewed at as many different ways in terms of people having different reactions or observing it in a different meaning. Someone could feel that the art work is very extraordinary and unique but someone else can have a different reaction and feel like it is no different than other artworks and have a literalist view upon the art. One art that made

Art helps royalty and rulers spread their ideas and lets their people know the power of the leader, ruler, etc.

The first way art changed was when humans began to develop a system of agriculture. This ensured that humans did not have to move place to place, which gave them time to focus on other things (though it prevented them from making frequent cave paintings, as they no longer needed the caves to dwell in). Weapons were easier to make, and come across, although the types of weapons changed, along with the kind of materials and metals they were made from. In Paleolithic times, people used flint, hunting spears, and even animal bones as weapons. When the Neolithic period began, they used blades, hammers, and chisels instead. They used these as their tools for farming and hunting, as they no longer needed to worry about being so accessible to predators. As Neolithic people no longer had to search for food and water, they needed items to carry the things they collected back to their villages. This is when pottery becomes popular, not only to carry the people’s items but also to advertise their beliefs through religion.

Over the course of time the motivations for creating art has shifted. Artists all have different intentions when they create a piece of art, depending on the context of the time period and society in which the work was created. Some artworks are created to provide commentary on a particular issue, to educate, record history, challenge the status quo, or for ceremonial/celebratory purposes. The motivations for creating art in the context of modern times is different from those of previous eras.

     Art, in each and every form that it comes in, shows us who we are. Our

Art from the ancient world is a window into the past. It can take numerous forms and have various meanings, some obvious and some hidden. The art can represent anything from a trophy to a sacred object. The one thing they all have in common was the artisans desire to create something special. This paper will examine and discuss specific pieces of art from six distinct ancient cultures by comparing and contrasting a chosen object from each respective culture.

The sculptures of the ancient civilizations all varied from country to country. A person could say that they each created an individual style by using some of what they knew, then made it their own. Some tried for hyper realistic while others didn’t go for realism. They each developed these form the way they lived.

Throughout Chinese history, many dynasties have existed with different practices and aesthetics. This diversity can be seen through ritual bronzes and other good discovered in graves or tombs throughout China. These excavations have revealed Chinese history and the influence of foreign countries in culture, religion, and architecture. Such excavations also reveal how the significance of such objects in Chinese life changed throughout the different dynasties. For example, bronzes and inscriptions which belonged to families and royals from the early Xia dynasty were valued as a status of power, represented China and were used for rituals, but during the Qin and Han dynasty, such bronzes became valued as aesthetic objects.

According to Baxandall, before work began, there was often a contract for the artists that specified the materials being used, the delivery date, and how much the artist would be paid for. Moreover, since “money is very important in the history of art (Baxandall, p.1),” the final product of the art was depended on how much the client paid for the artists. In the beginning, paintings were more for self-satisfaction, as it showed how great you were at spending the money right. For example, Giovanni Rucellai showed his satisfaction of those paintings he owned in his house through his motives. The paintings gave him “the greatest contentment and the greatest pleasure because they serve the glory of God, the honour of the city, and the commemoration of myself (Baxandall, p.2).” In addition to that, it gave him the “pleasure and virtue of spending money well

The Asian Art Museum offered a plethora of antique art-pieces from South Asia, the Persian world, West Asia, the Himalayas, and the Tibetan Buddhist world, covering 6000 years of art and culture. There are pieces that stand out more than others, for my case, these two pieces were The Ritual Wine Vessel (so-called yayi jia) and the Hindu Deity Vishnu. The Ritual Wine Vessel, made from bronze, dates back to 1300-1050 BCE, laying within the Chinese Shang dynasty (approx. 1600-1050 BCE). This piece was found in China, Henan province, and was made by an unidentified artist. On the other hand, the Hindu Deity Vishnu, made from phyllite stone, dates from 1100-1200 CE in the Indian Pala period (c. 850-1310,). This sculpture was found in India or Bangladesh,

Creating art is one of the single defining factors that set humans apart from animal species. Through art, humans are able to express their innermost ideas and feelings, without having the difficulty of trying to find the correct words to accurately describe their thought processes. Works of art can help us to understand the people who have come before us. This is evidenced by the knowledge humans have discovered of prehistoric men and their symbolic cave paintings. The expression, style, and meaning vary and archaeologists put in much effort to uncover these works.

Throughout history, Chinese art and culture have often been studied due to the dominant influence of techniques and styles that originated from China and spread to other countries. Although there are similarities between designs from one Chinese dynasty's ceramics to the next, there are also significant differences between them. The changes, as seen in Chinese bronze vessels, are apparent through the comparison of shape, size, and décor, which in turn ultimately impacted other corresponding aspects of each dynasties’ culture. A comparison of the Ritual Wine Jar from the Shang dynasty and Ritual Wine Container from the Zhou dynasty delves into the corresponding function of each vessel as an object of worship and symbol of power, expanding on the importance of social relationships in the growing culture.

For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and