Early Art

Early Art

1. Paleolithic Period (Stone Age)

   • Artifacts painted on or carved in stone
     • Earliest works may have been STYLIZED
       • Venus of Willendorf
         • * Possibly a fertility goddess, this stone sculpture is just over 4 inches tall
         • The Horse Sculpture
           • * Carved from mammoth and 2 1/2 tall
           • Cave Paintings
             • They have SIMPLIFIED & GRAPHIC that hint that they had ABSTRACTED Design
               • People moved with animals along the frozen and thraw of ice age
                 • People took shelter in caves where many artifacts were found & perserved

2. Neolithic Period (New Age)(around 8,000 B.C.)

   • Hunter & Gathers in Settlements
     • Living in Shelters made of wood, stone, & crude brick
       • Domesticated animals, farming, weaving, & pottery
         • Art DID NOT ADVANCE (lacked visual beauty & creativity)
           • Made Jericho
           • Made Stonehedge
             • * Weighs 50 tons  * Created to WORSHIP the SUN
           • Native Indians created burial mounds, earth art, pottery, arrowheads, & some seen better in the air

3. Egyptian Art

   • People believed in the after-life & artifacts were perserved well
     • Created & Buried art in tombs with their dead pharaohs (Anything they needed would be in the tomb
       • The Great Phyramids of Gize
         • Interesting mysteries & architectural feats
         • King Tutankhamen
           • Unmistakable b/c of tours & exposure
           • Most recongizable, lack of understanding human anatomy, avoid foreshortened views of subject, & sculptures were rigid, arms attached to side, legs together, ect.

4. Greek Art

   • Perfected the human form (sculptures) & demonstrates a visual evolution for artists
     • Extremely proud of athletic appearance & started Olympic (around 776 B.C.)
       • Sought to create idealized proportions in their sculpture figures (carried over to archtectiture)
         • 3 Major Periods
           • Archaic
             • Sculptures repeated facial features, stiff, rigid, and attached
               • EX. Kouros, archiac smile (most had the same simile), & hair designed to an individual
           • Classical
             • Relaxed, natural, more attention to details, understanding of muscle groups, & less stiff
               • EX. Contrapposto (weight shift is more natural & Warrior A (weight is on one foot Vs. Kouros
           • Hellenistic
             • Master human anatomy & more visual movement in poses
               • EX. Laocoon His Son (figures shows emotion in their struggle with the serpents

5. Roman Art

   • Greatest contributions tot he field of Architecture
     • The Pantheon
       • Shows light from Oculus or eye-thirty foot opening in center of dome
       • The Roman Coliseum
         • Made up concrete  Showed of Romans engineering skills by handling a large crowd & water that flooded to allow re-enactment of a naval battle

Images and files in the map