Prehistoric Western Art Influences

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

Ancient art is pivotal to understanding the societies they came from. The subject, the methods used, and even the materials are all indicative of the culture and environment in which the art was produced. The Stela of Iku and Mer-imat and a marble statue of Venus exemplify this very idea. Both works act as windows to the mindset of the different cultures that contributed to their establishment.

In chapter 1 of the book, the paleolithic era, neolithic era, as well as the importance of art, ceramics, megaliths, myth, and sacred sites in the development of cultures during those eras were discussed. One of the main ideas that show importance in the chapter is when the cave paintings of Chauvet were discussed. The level of realism, naturalism, and representations of animal appearances help show the complexity of the paintings in the cave. Another cave that was discussed was Lascaux and the piece of art that was shown is the wall painting that had the bird headed man, rhinoceros and a bison. In this image the animals were represented with a more natural look and the human which was added later on shows a more abstract representation of human beings. With the paintings in Chauvet and Lascaux, the sophistication of the art and realism seen in the art clearly shows a more culturally linked reason as opposed to linear progression of the sophistication in art.

Art had played an important role in building up civilizations from all over the world through thousands of centuries. It is and will always still the way of projecting artists’ ideas and thoughts into meaningful and tangible objects which we called “work of art”. In addition, It was the path through all these years that dug its way to reach to our current century to show us the beauty of every single era starting from the Upper Paleolithic Period of time (42,000 – 8,000 BCE) reaching to our contemporary artists of today.

The earliest drawings have been nothing however pure line drawing in which the silhouette of the animal used to be traced in yellow or red, generally with only the limbs on the one aspect shown. As time handed the prehistoric cave artist became more precise in his visible representations of primitive beasts. The equipment of the prehistoric artists were flint burin for engraving and a brush, made from animal hair, feathers or fur connected to sticks. Chips of red ocher have been determined that may additionally have been used like pastel crayons. The colors have been applied between the outlines of the drawing and have been combined into a paste with egg white or resin as a binding medium. It is fascinating that once the genuine hunt was once

Prehistoric art refers to the global and preliterate origins of human artistic achievements in the history of art, prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate.The very earliest human artifacts showing evidence of workmanship with an artistic purpose a subject.

STUDY GUIDE FOR TEST 1 (Prehistoric - Roman) FORMAT All questions will be multiple choice. Some will be accompanied by images while others will rely on your use of your knowledge without visual reference points. COVERAGE Visual Material: Selected from the works of art and architecture we have studied - see list below. These have all been discussed IN CLASS AS WELL AS IN THE TEXTBOOK or other readings. (If we do not cover all the works listed below in class, you will not be responsible for them on the test.) Information: You will be expected to know terms, important people, and concepts as well as relevant art historical and contextual information that were discussed in CLASS AS WELL AS additional information in the READING assignments that

A former archaeologist who, barring a handful of evening classes, is a self-taught amateur artist. In good weather I prowl the beaches of Aberdeenshire hypnotising rocks, and balancing them to startling effect and with apparent disregard for gravity. In bad weather I dabble in digital illustration and design.

Art has a long history in the evolution of modern mankind, from paint made of wet clay,to sculpture, and even to modern art. Some pieces are meant to symbolize an emotion or an object, to be used in the worship Gods,to tell stories or simply to be something beautiful. Throughout history, art has evoked emotions, awe, and has broken barriers and culture lines in ways nothing else could. Art can be influenced from everywhere; nature, emotions, neighboring cities and many other ways. Since so many culture influence each other, it is easy to see where similarities in pieces might be.

Throughout the first art periods there has been very significant changes as new techniques and variations began to develop.The two first art periods I will be describing are Egyptian and Early Archaic.Ancient Egypt began from 3100 BCE to 30 BCE.Some features of ancient egyptian art include Frontal eye, V-shaped torso and Hierarchic scale. The early egyptians had limited color, their sculpture were connected together, and left foot was always in front of the right. The Early Archaic period lasted from 650 to 480 BCE. Some significant features of this period included geometric figures and the popular “Archaic Smile” This period showed a great change by showing emotions and were more detailed than the Early Egyptian styled

During the Paleolithic Period, as stated by many historians and museums, many forms of arts were discovered deeply into the caves. As some may wonder, what was the reason will they be found in caves and not in other places? According to the Experience Humanities by Roy T. Matthews, it could have been possible that the earlier cultures were improving their hunting skills by bringing their techniques into art form for a better analysis. Although it is a great explanation and

Ancient artists found passion and beauty of nature and the nobility and dignity of man. Egyptian’s and Greek talent that was given to the world that lasted throughout history has shown great influence in the early human civilization era. The two types of art show some differences and similarities in era, characteristics and style.

The arguments made by Anthropological studies cannot fully account for the development of Upper Paleolithic culture or rock arts. However, it could be that arts in the European Upper Paleolithic have entirely different meanings from other arts that ethnographers have been associated with. Just like in the film, everything in the cave was associated with human life, and nature. The fact that humans dived deep into caves, in total darkness, with only torches to light their way. Their journeys sometimes required a long and dangerous routes to reach the desired locations. This strongly suggests that there was a powerful and definite meaning associated behind the creations of art in such harsh environment. Our understanding on the explanation of Upper Paleolithic rock art should not be seen as right or wrong answer, but only incomplete knowledge of the topic. The artistic style in European Upper Paleolithic must be viewed within a larger context, both of culture and of the inexplicable change of archaeological records. Ancient humans may well have produced such great art wherever they went, but what would inspire them to make such art remain in

After all, Paleolithic cave art is the oldest art that is known to the world today. The art in the caves was representational art to express what was going on in their daily lives, such as the food they ate, the weapons they used and their hunting lives were documented. Therefore, A large portion of Paleolithic art was created to express ideas to teach the future generations of hunters and gatherers.

Cave paintings are a fascinating form of symbolic expression. Prior to cave paintings, homonins had not shown any definitive capacity for imaginative expression. The notion of cave art may not seem so remarkable, but the ability to think of abstract concepts and give meaning to ideas is something that distinguishes ‘humans’ from other animals. Obviously over time, the purpose of these paintings becomes obscure and hard to interpret. Our understanding of these cave paintings is based on what remains at the sites, retrospect, and aside from the relative time frame and context of when these paintings were done, our interpretations are mostly just speculative. The cave paintings are generally depicting wild animals, abstract patterns, and human