Fine Arts

Prehistoric Art
Mon., October 29, 2012 The first humans were mostly nomadic and survived by hunting The humans mainly lived in the mouths of caves Left bones of eaten animals in trash heaps Evidence of footprints have also been found in the in the People wore leather and skin clothes, some of which seemed to include a hood or parka and decorated themselves with jewelry including rings, bracelets, necklaces and carved ivory headbands Although many lived in caves, they built their homes using whale and mammoth bone or grass They shaped their stone weapons from rough chipped tools They were aware of death, and buried their dead w/ care and reverence There is evidence that dead were buried w/ ceremony and ornament Humans began to make symbols as part of their strategy for comprehending reality and for communicating what they found there They learned to make art in order to express more fully what they Caves are filled w/ pictographs and petroglyphs of hundreds of animals The 4 boys that discovered this were named Marcel, George, Jim, Simon, and Robot (dog) September 12, 1940 Superior to Niaux, Altamira, Font-de-Gaume, and Les Combarelles, les Trois-something There are almost 600 pictures of animals, mostly horses Other animals painted are stags, bulls, bison, and ibex Only one man is painted

Tues., October 30, 2012 Cave of Lascaux (continued) They painted only animals around at the time that we know of Instructions on how to / not to hunt The cave was used for religious ceremonies Paintings were good luck in hunting Art Materials Materials for paints: Clay (ground up rocks or dirt) provided yellow, brown, and hues of red; Black charcoal or carbon dioxide To adhere the paint to the wall, they used: animal fats, vegetable juices, blood, urine Worked by candlelight, using sea-shells as paint containers and used numerous painting methods. Painted with fingers, mainly, but eventually turned lumpy pigment in crayons with pads of moss. Later brushes were made from animal hair or vegetable fibers were used Prehistoric Sculpture Prehistoric sculpture examples found tend to predate drawings. The head and body of a man carved from mammoth ivory was found in a burial site at Bro, Czechoslovakia. Many body parts were missing, but we can see that there is a head in contrast to the body. Venus figures have been found on burial sites in Western France to Central Russia. They may be symbolic fertility figures of they may be no more than objects for exchange. Each figure has the same tapering legs, side hips, tapering shoulders and head, forming a diamond shaped silhouette. (Woman from Willendorf) Animal carvings illustrated the naturalistic vision of their artists.

2D Art

At its earliest, art consisted of simple lines scratched in damp clay. A development from what appears to be idle doodling into the sophisticated art to which we will study, seems to have come in 3 phases. 1. Black outlined drawings of animals w/ a single-colored in filler. 2. The addition of a second color w/in the outline, so as to create a sense of light and shade, or modeling. These depictions often incorporated projecting portions of the cave wall to add a sense of 3Dimensiality. In many cases it appears as though the artist picked an actual rock protrusion specifically for his rock drawing. 3. Exciting multi-colored paintings, which show an impressive naturalistic style. The artists begin to capture detail, essence, mass and a remarkable sense of power and movement in the subject matter using basic earth colors and charcoal.

Pictograph: a painting on the surface of a cave wall Petroglyph: design carved into rock or other surface Cave of Lascaux Discovered in 1940 by 4 boys.

2012 JKH. 0203

Fine Arts

Prehistoric Art
They sculpted images of animals were depicted many years before they decided to tackle the human figure. These works exhibit sensitivity to the grace, posture, and spirit of the animal. They were modeled and proportioned. Human figures usually depict a naked man or one robed in animal skins. None of the human images appear with weapons in hand. Posture and attitude suggest a ritualistic or ceremonial relationship with the animals. Among the first man-made structures were simple huts made from wooly mammoth bones and covered durable animal hides. Other huts were made from materials like wood and thatch. Later, more complex structures like tombs were built. Most of the early tombs were made from rocks that form a chamber that goes into the earth. Before recorded history, humans constructed stone circles, megaliths, and other structures. Stonehenge is perhaps the most famous of prehistoric ruins. Stonehenge is a megalithic rock monument of 150 enormous stones set in a purposeful circular pattern, located on the Salisbury Plain of southern England, the main portion of it o This monument may have been a solar calendar to predict the seasons, instructing ancient people when to plant crops. o Stonehenge exemplifies the basic principles of all architecture. Its creators understood the fundamental element of support and load, where vertical pillars bear the weight of horizontal. o Post-and Lintel Construction o The post-and-lintel system of construction uses vertical supports by horizontal beams. The heavier the load (beam), the stronger the supports. o Huge megaliths (from the Greek megas = great and lithos = stone) were generally combined in 3s to make trilithons, (a post-and-lintel setup). An outer round of 30 15 high megaliths was once a continuous circle of trilithons. Lintels fit together to end in tongue and groove joints to form a smoothly curved are. o For a people who lacked bronze or iron tools and the wheel the amount of work involved is nearly inconceivable. With only the crudest picks, these workers quarried and shaped boulders weighing up to 50 tons. They transported the stones by barge or sled, probably dragged by large crews on long rollers. A team gradually leveled the slabs into a vertical position and planted them in hole. Raising the huge 7 tom lintels ut 20 feet into the shoulders of the standing stones was done in stages. By prying the ends up and inserting timbers beneath, they added layer after layer of logs to make an ascending palette.

Prehistoric Music The story of music goes back to prehistoric times and we can only guess at how it began. Even before the people started making instruments, they made music, probably singing, clapping or hitting things. Most experts agree that people first made music for magical or religious reasons, and it has had an important place in religion ever since. By the time the first great civilizations of the Ancient World had emerged, a great variety of musical instruments were already in use. There is a fascinating connection between music and art, with art being found in the most resonant locations within prehistoric caves in France. In a number of decorated caves the images cluster in certain areas and seem to be deliberately placed with the areas of perfectly paintable walls ignored. An archaeological revelation suggests paintings in caves are located in the most acoustically resonant places where sound reverberates and lingers. Instruments such as bone flutes and roarers (bone and ivory instruments that whir rhythmically when spun), have been found in the decorated cave areas. It appears that the tribes choose preferably resonant locations for painting because it was the best place for singing and making sounds in possibly some kind of ritual celebrations related with the pictures Whistles were often made from pieces of reindeer horn. (Perhaps they were used to copy bird-songs.) At a sit called Lac Des Mervilles in Provence, there is a large flat archaeologists have labeled the Altar Stone. It is covered with more than 1,000 pictures. There by the lake, the echo answers whole melodies and it is a pleasure to sing or play at this place; one can easily imagine celebrations using voice and horns. Prehistoric Architecture In the earliest or prehistoric times, there is little or no evidence of monumental architecture simply because humans were at this time nomadic. People were entirely dependent on wandering animals for food.

2012 JKH. 0203

Fine Arts

Prehistoric Art
After they reached the height of the top and shoved the lintel sideways onto the uprights, the elevating scaffold was removed. No one quite understands how our ancestors pulled off such a feat.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 Stonehenge [continued] o The simple beauty of Stonehenge has influenced modern artists to recreate Toward the end of the prehistoric era cultures began to build larger architectural structures and developing complex cites.

2012 JKH. 0203