AR6_SA_U1_L9_VS
Lesson
Objective
Course
Semester
Unit
Lesson
Art 6
A
1
9
The student will learn about Stone Age cave paintings.
Visual
Audio
<Fade to first image>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Cave_painting,_Anthropos_(2).jpeg>
In prehistoric art, the term "cave painting"
involves the application of color on the
walls, floors, or ceilings of ancient rock
shelters.
<effect – transition to next image>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Cave_painting_in_Doushe_cave,_Lorstan,
_Iran,_8th_millennium_BC.JPG>
A monochrome cave painting is a picture
made with only one color (usually black).
<effect – fade to image>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Cave_painting,_Anthropos_(2).jpeg>
A polychrome cave painting consists of
two or more colors.
We have no firm idea when cave painting
<effect – fade to image>
first began.
<image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Paintings_from_the_Chauvet_cave_(muse
um_replica).jpg>
<effect – fade to image>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Cave_painting,_Anthropos_(1).jpeg>
One theory links the evolution of Stone
Age art to the arrival of anatomically
modern humans in Europe.
It was from about this date that the
<effect – fade to image>
earliest rock art began to emerge in the
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L caves and rock shelters.
ions_painting,_Chauvet_Cave_(museum_r
eplica).jpg>
<effect – fade to image>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Pech_Merle_cave_leopard_spotting.JPG>
Cave painting techniques and materials
improved across the board, century by
century.
<effect – cross dissolve to image, display
on white background>
<image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Kapova.png>
Let’s explore how these works of art were
created in the Stone Age.
<effect – fade to text, display as audio is
read>
<TEXT displayed in bold, bright colors text
that will be the title to first section:
The majority of prehistoric cave paintings
were of animals.
Subject Matter
<effect – transition to image>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Cave_painting__National_Museum_of_Mongolian_Histor
y.jpg>
At first, Stone Age artists painted predator
animals.
<effect – cross dissolve to image, display
on white background>
<Image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Men_of_the_old_stone_age_(1915)_Wolf
.png>
Later on, game animals dominated the
imagery.
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/2yEelu>
Pictures of humans were an exceptionally
rare occurrence.
<effect – transition to text>
<image: http://mrg.bz/QDIRBI>
Abstract imagery was also common, and
actually comprises the oldest type of
Paleolithic art found in caves.
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/djP3Xy>
Prehistoric caves are also heavily
decorated with painted hand stencils,
most of which were made by females, but
men and children were also involved.
<effect – fade to text>
<TEXT: display in large, bold, brightly
colored text that will be the title to first
section:
Prehistoric artists employed a wide variety
of painting methods.
Painting Methods
<effect – transition to next image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/MlXP1j>
<effect – cross dissolve to next image>
<image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F
inger_Painting.jpg>
They used sea-shells as paint containers
and worked by candlelight, or occasionally
weak sunlight.
Initially, they painted with their fingers.
<effect – fade to image>
<image: http://mrg.bz/fRhwLp>
Later, they switched to lumpy pigment
crayons, pads of moss, or brushes made of
animal hair or vegetable fiber.
<effect – fade to image>
<image: http://mrg.bz/Gc8zhB>
They also employed spray painting
techniques using reeds or specially
hollowed bones.
<effect – transition to text>
<image: http://mrg.bz/LOxnWP>
Stone Age painters also used
foreshortening, or distortion, and
chiaroscuro techniques.
<effect – cross dissolve to next image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/P0cwOa>
Foreshortening occurs when an object
appears compressed when seen from a
particular viewpoint.
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/Gn2oyT>
<effect – fade to image>
<image: http://mrg.bz/SQIuxR>
<Fade to first image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/8oRiDx>
This effect of perspective causes
distortion.
Foreshortening is a particularly effective
artistic device.
It is used to give the impression of threedimensional volume and creates drama in
a picture.
<effect – cross dissolve to next image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/Y60DZf>
Chiaroscuro is the use of strong contrasts
between light and dark, usually bold
contrasts.
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/z7C4dW>
It is also a technical term for the use of
contrasts of light to achieve a sense of
volume.
<effect – fade to image>
<image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Post-Dynamic_figure_panel__Google_Art_Project.jpg>
Each era introduced new cave painting
methods, and caves decorated over many
generations exhibit numerous styles.
<effect – fade to text>
<TEXT: display as large, bold, brightly
colored text that will be the title to this
section:
All pigments used in cave painting were
sourced locally, mostly from mineral
deposits found in the Earth.
Paints and Pigments
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/wdiCv8>
Stone Age painters employed several
different combinations of materials to
make colored paints.
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/ZQkSFn>
<effect – fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/TL5gvd>
Clay ochre provided three basic colors:
numerous varieties of red, plus yellow and
brown.
For black color, artists used either
manganese dioxide or charcoal.
<effect- fade to image>
<image: http://mrg.bz/A63hIP>
After grinding the pigments to fine
powder, artists mixed the powder with
cave water, animal fats, vegetable juice,
or blood to help it stick to the rock
surface.
<effect- fade to image>
<Image: http://mrg.bz/WPBLNw>
Artists were familiar with pigments
through body painting and face painting,
which they were practicing long before
they started decorating caves.
<effect – fade to image, display on white
background>
<image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
PSM_V83_D022_Male_and_female_bison
_modeled_in_clay.png>
As you can see, the creative process of the
Stone Age artist continues to be both
innovative and inspiring.