PREHISTORIC ART ICE AGE STONE AGE • • • • Earliest upright human beings came into existence 4.4 million years ago. Homo sapiens (“wise humans”) appeared about 200,000 years ago. Earliest humans from Africa. As the Ice Age glaciers receded, humans spread across Asia, into Europe, and finally to Australia and the Americas PRE-HISTORIC PERIODS • Paleolithic - (35,000 – 8,000 BCE) Old Stone Age - Paleo = old / Lithic = stone • Mesolithic - (8,000 – 4,000 BCE) Old Stone Age - Meso = middle / Lithic = stone • Neolithic - (6,000 – 1500 BCE) New Stone Age - Neo = new / Lithic = stone • Bronze Age - (2300 - 1000 BCE) Bronze - alloy metal made from tin and copper. • Iron Age - (1000 BCE - ) Iron – cutting tools and weapons made from iron or steel CAVE PAIN T INGS • Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. • The earliest European cave paintings date to Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. • The purpose of the Paleolithic cave paintings is not known. • The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas, since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. • Also, they are often in areas of caves that are not easily accessed. • Some theories hold that they may have been a way of communicating with others, while other theories ascribe them a religious or ceremonial purpose. Well known cave paintings include those of: • • • • • • • • • Grotte de Cussac, France Lascaux, France La Marche, in Lussac-les-Châteaux, France Chauvet Cave, near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, France Cave of Niaux, France Cave of Altamira, near Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain Cueva de La Pasiega, Cuevas de El Castillo, Cantabria, Spain Cosquer Cave, Marseille, France Font-de-Gaume, in the Dordogne Valley in France . Lascaux.-Room of the Bulls. Cosquer cave paintings Chauvet Cave paintings Font de Gaume Cave Paintings STONE AGE • Nearly 350 caves have now been discovered in France and Spain that contain art from prehistoric times. • The oldest known cave art is that of Chauvet in France, the paintings of which may be 32,000 years old and date back to 30,000 BCE (Upper Paleolithic). • Other examples may date as late as the Early Bronze Age, but the well known prolific and sophisticated style from Lascaux and Altamira died out about 10,000 years ago, coinciding with the advent of the Neolithic period. • Some caves continued to be painted in for a long time. THEME S • The most common themes in cave paintings are large wild animals, such as bison, horses, aurochs, and deer, and tracings of human hands as well as abstract patterns, called finger flutings. • Drawings of humans were rare and are usually schematic rather than the more naturalistic animal subjects. • One explanation for this may be that realistically painting the human form was "forbidden by a powerful religious taboo.” • Cave art may have begun in the Aurignacian period (Hohle Fels, Germany), but reached its apogee in the late Magdalenian (Lascaux, France). • Many of the paintings were drawn with red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. • Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was incised in the rock first. spotted hyena painting found in the Chauvet Cave Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands)in Argentina CAVE PAINTINGS OF ALTAMIRA, SPAIN • These were painted by the Magdalenian people between 16,000-9,000 BC. This would have been 11,000-19,000 years ago. • These paintings at Altimira are mainly of the bison. • Many of the bison are drawn and then painted using the boulders for the animal’s shoulders. This made them look three-dimensional. • These paintings are sometimes called “The Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic Art”. LASCAUX, FRANCE • Known as "the prehistoric Sistine Chapel," the Lascaux Caves, a cave complex in southwestern France, contain some of the most remarkable paleolithic cave paintings in the world, from at least 15,000 years ago. • There are seven chambers in the Lascaux cave; the Great Hall of the Bulls, the Painted Gallery, the Lateral Passage, the Chamber of Engravings, the Main Gallery, the Chamber of Felines, and the Shaft of the Dead Man. • The Hall of the Bulls is the most impressive. It is composed of horses, bulls, and stags. Some of the animals have been painted over, suggesting that different groups of people might have lived in this same cave. • The painting in the Shaft of the Dead Man is unusual because the human figure is not normally drawn. • This scene shows the image of a man that appears to have been killed by the bison. CAVE PAINTINGS CHAUVET-PONT-D'ARC • Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in the South of France is the newest cave painting to be discovered. • There is a menagerie of animals on the walls of these caves. • Many of the animals like the ones in Lascaux were painted over each other. The oldest were probably painted around 30,000 BC, making them about 32000 years old. • It appears to have been occupied by humans during two distinct periods: the Aurignacian and the Gravettian. Most of the artwork dates to the earlier, Aurignacian, era (30,000 to 32,000 years ago). • The later Gravettian occupation, which occurred 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, • The cave was probably occupied for nearly 10,000 years. It is thought that a violent collapse blocked the natural entrance. THEORIES ABOUT THE CAVE PAINTINGS • Humans had not learned to write during the prehistoric time period. They communicated through cave paintings. • Why did man find a need to paint on the walls of the caves? We know that most of the paintings were of animals. • However, there are a few paintings that have human figures either in etchings or in a painting, like the scene in Lascaux of the Dead Man. • The face of the dead man is represented by a bird’s face, but it is the body of a human. Perhaps they did not want to portray a human face, thinking that it might take the soul. • There are three theories that the prehistoric man might have painted animals on the walls of the caves. • Perhaps the cave man wanted to decorate the cave and chose animals because they were important to their existence. • The second theory could have been that they considered this magic to help the hunters. Perhaps if the artist could capture the image of the animal, they could capture the animal in a hunt. • Prehistoric man could have used the painting of animals on the walls of caves to document their hunting expeditions. METHODS OF PAINTING • Prehistoric people would have used natural objects to paint the walls of the caves. • To etch into the rock, they could have used sharp tools or a spear. • The paint or color that they probably used was from berries, clay, soot, or charcoal. • The tools used to apply the paint could have been made by attaching straw, leaves, moss, or hair to sticks. • They might have used hollow bones or reeds to spray the color on, similar to an airbrush technique. One of the bisons on the ceiling of Altamira in Spain, representing the final stage of polychrome art in which four shades of colour are used. These portraits of humans are engravings on stone slab at La Marche, Vienne, France. EGYPTIAN ART Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions: Upper and Lower Egypt Note : Upper Egypt is the Oldest Part Of Egypt Upper Egypt was the long, narrow strip of ancient Egypt located south of the Delta. Lower (northern) Egypt consisted of the Nile River's delta made by the river as it empties into the Mediterranean. For much of Egypt‘s history Lower Egypt (lower) was thinly settled Hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian Writing •In Predynastic times, Egypt was divided geographically and politically into ▪Upper Egypt (the southern, upstream part of the Nile Valley), which was dry, rocky, and culturally rustic, and ▪Lower (northern) Egypt, which was opulent, urban, and populous. •Probably because of its relative impermanence, painting was little used as a medium of representation; it appears to have served principally as accessory to sculpture. A rare example is the painting of geese from a tomb at Meidum. The Early Dynastic Period saw the: • • • • Formation of cultural identity Stone Artifacts Mud minor arts - pottery, vases and bowls Brick architecture. • The ancient Egyptians formed the first of the great classical civilizations. • While most of Europe was still in the Stone Age, the Egyptians were building palaces, studying mathematics and writing on papyrus. • They were great builders and great artists, drawing the inspiration for their art from nature. • A complex social and religious structure was in place. • The Egyptians kept books of accounts and recorded history; their children played with carved wooden toys with moving parts. • The presence of stools, chests, footrests, small cabinets, small tables, and even vase stands, points to a fairly high level of organisation in living arrangements. MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORLD • Quarrying, surveying and construction techniques that facilitated the building of monumental pyramids, temples, and obelisks; made bricks. • Irrigation systems and agricultural production techniques; harnessed animals for work. • The first known ships; used sails on the water. • Used wheels on land. • Trained donkeys to carry people. • Combined copper and tin to make bronze; forged tools from copper. • Developed hieroglyphics. • The greatest architectural achievements of the Ancient Egyptians were the pyramids. • A system of mathematics • A practical and effective system of medicine • Egyptian faience and glass technology • new forms of literature. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART FORMS Architecture – the style developed during the pre-dynastic period remained unchanged for 2000 years 2. Crafts & Sculpture - symbolic elements were widely used and strict laws were applied 3. Paintings - the pictures found in Egyptian tombs were connected with the idea of afterlife The themes of Egyptian painting included protective Gods of the underworld and man’s voyage through life after death. THEMES OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART • Religion is its prime theme. • The art of carving reached its first peak in 2600 B.C - Egyptian Art includes a range of art forms like stone carving of large and small statues and wall art. • Egyptian figures (human forms) tend to possess a certain regal presence which glorifies the ruling case. • Characterized by perfect observation and representation of life forms and symbolism (esp. the use of symbols for Gods and Goddesses) with less weight age to beautification. • An important reason for the emphasis on vivid depiction of life forms is the Egyptian belief in life after death and their expectation that the dead would bank on their art for company in the “other world”. • Mortar was not used. • Work was planned such that the stones - made of sun-dried and kiln baked bricks, granite, limestone or fine sandstone – fit exactly into one another like a jigsaw. Watercolor copy of a wall painting from tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis, Egypt ca. 3500-3200 BCE | Paint on plaster, approx. 16' 3 long. • Found along the oldest tomb’s plaster walls; • Contains presumed religious scenes and images that include figures from Egyptian culture – like a Funerary scene ; (possibly) a goddess standing between two upright lionesses; wheel of various horned quadrupeds; Asses or zebras, ostriches, lionesses and cattle. STATUE S FOR E TE RNITY • In Egyptian tombs statues fulfilled an important function. • Sculptures created images of the deceased to serve as abodes for the ka should the mummies be destroyed. • The primary material for funerary objects was stone. Khafre from Gizeh, Egypt ca. 2,520-2,494 B.C.E. Approx. 66 in. high Goats Treading Seed and Cattle Fording a Canal - Saqqara, Egypt Mastaba of Ti - ca. 2450-2350 B.C.E. | painted limestone Hieroglyphs often decorated the tombs of important ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphs and a picture of her playing chess Queen Nefertiti's tomb ANCIE NT E GYPTIAN ART • Ancient Egyptian art refers to the style of painting, sculpture, crafts and architecture developed by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 BC. • Ancient Egyptian art as expressed in painting and sculpture was both highly stylized and symbolic. • Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past . ART STYLE • Because of the highly religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization, many of the works of ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, who were also considered divine. • Ancient Egyptian art is characterized by the idea of order. • Clear and simple lines combined with simple shapes and flat areas of color helped to create a sense of order and balance in the art of ancient Egypt. • Ancient Egyptian artists used vertical and horizontal reference lines in order to maintain the correct proportions in their work. • Political & religious, as well as artistic order, was also maintained in Egyptian art. SYMBOLISM • Symbolism also played an important role in establishing a sense of order. • Symbolism, ranging from the pharaoh's regalia (symbolizing his power to maintain order) to the individual symbols of Egyptian gods and goddesses, is omnipresent in Egyptian art. • Animals: Animals were usually also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art. • Colors: Colors were more expressive rather than natural: red skin implied vigorous tanned youth, whereas yellow skin was used for women or middle-aged men who worked indoors • Blue or gold indicated divinity because of its unnatural appearance and association with precious materials • The use of black for royal figures expressed the fertility of the Nile from which Egypt was born. SCULPTURE • Painted relief sculpture lined the walls of pyramids. • This is called a stele -A stele is a carved upright stone slab used as a monument. This stele shows Ramses II slaying his enemies. PAINTING • Ancient Egyptians followed a very strict set of rules in their art. One of these rules was to show the human body from the most familiar or visible angle. • Again, the figures appear to be rigid and stylized. (the left foot and body posture.) • Artists used materials found in the Nile river valley, namely – Gold, Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, Red coral, Glass Paintings tell us about the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians. The gods are often depicted in the tomb paintings CRAFTS Craftsmen made furniture, jewelry, pottery etc., POTTE RY • Ancient Egyptians used carved small pieces of vases and several other objects. • They also discovered the art of covering pottery with enamel. • Different types of pottery items were deposited in burial chambers of the dead. CANOPIC JARS ▪ 1070-712 B.C.-Egyptian, Dynasty 21-22 ▪ Limestone - height 48.3 cm (17 1/2-19 in.) ▪ Their internal organs were separately treated and, during much of Egyptian history, placed in jars of clay or stone. ▪ These so-called Canopic Jars were closed with stoppers fashioned in the shape of four heads - human, baboon, falcon, and jackal - representing the four protective spirits called the Four Sons of Horus. OL D K ING D OM FUR NIT UR E Furniture from this period was divided into two groups: • Platform pieces such as benches, chairs, tables, beds, couches, and stools;, and boxes such as chests and cupboards. • There was some surface ornamentation in the form of gilding and carving • Old Kingdom furniture relied on shape, line, proportion, and texture for its decorative effect. • Thrones and chairs featured carved lion-paw feet, beds were decorated with animal skins and colorful mats,. • There were stools, chests, footrests, small cabinets, small tables, and even vase stands. • Four legged stools with animal shaped legs and sturdy square seats made from concave wood or woven or braided rushes were important items of the time. • In the second half of the Old Kingdom, chairs with arms and backs began appearing.. • Egyptian furniture designs of this age incorporated metal work and inlay, as well as relief carving, and gilding. MIDDLE K INGDOM FURNITURE • The Middle Kingdom was further development of earlier trends, with a marked sophistication evident. Decorative effects such as inlay, paint, gilt, and veneer became prominent. Popular design motifs included figures of sacred animals such as cow heads, lion heads, and hippopotamuses. NEW K INGDOM FURNITURE • The furniture produced during this period is on a luxurious scale, and is also evidence of greater woodworking skill. • In wealthy Egyptian homes chairs appear in greater abundance. • Folding stools were richly painted in bright colors. • Small, low tables were often woven from rush. FURNITURE • PATRICIAN -Only the royal and wealthy people used furniture. • RANGE - stools, chairs ,tables , beds and chests • VISUAL IMPACT-Highly decorative with graphic elements • SYMBOLIC PRESENTATION - Used symbols especially ceremonial as inlays or painting on the furniture • MATERIAL - Ebony wood was mostly used , it was imported at great expense. • TECHNICAL- Excellent craftsmanship and used plain butt joint STOOLS • Stools were the most common items of furniture in Egyptian homes • It was the Egyptians who invented the folding stool. • Since these were much used by army commanders in the field, they became a status symbol, and were often heavily carved and decorated. • Stools commonly had woven rush seats. CHAIRS • Gold sheathing, ivory inlays, intricate marquetry, inset jewels and fine stones were used to decorate ancient furniture that was often carved to represent animal forms. • Chairs sometimes had feet in the shape of lion's paws or crocodile feet; legs and feet were sometimes carved to simulate the legs of a gazelle. • High backed chairs are seen in many paintings. These were supplemented with cushions for comfort. • commonly incorporated carvings of flowers, animals or birds. Golden Throne, Tomb of Tutankhamun, 18th dynasty Period Egyptian 40 Leg of a stool Leg of a chest or chair BEDS, HEADRESTS • They are among the most fascinating of furniture items because of their structure. • They were gently inclined so that the sleeper's head was elevated, and had a footrest. • A footboard ensured that the sleeper would not slip off in the middle of the night. • Almost all beds featured legs in the form of animal legs, ranging from heavy bull’s legs to gazelle-like forms with hooves, and the feline type with paw and claw, frequently identified as lion’s legs.“ • The mattress was usually made of wooden slats, plaited string, or reeds, which then held woolen cushions or some other soft material. Sheets were made of linen. TABLE S • Tables were also an important item of Egyptian furniture. • They were used for eating, writing and playing games. • They were usually low and easily moveable. • In many cases, the tops were decorated with marquetry or with inlaid ivory. • Carved legs, gold sheathing and ivory inlays were used to decorate table legs. • & Chests, boxes and cabinets formed an important part CABINETS of Egyptian bedroom furnishings. These were highly decorated and were designed for many different purposes: large chests for storing household items and linen, • small compartmentalized ones for storing cosmetics, and miniature chests with sliding lids and drawers made to hold jewelry. • 44 Period Egyptian M AT E R IAL S USE D There were different types of materials used in EGYPT namely, • COPPER: Until the New Kingdom most of the copper used in Egypt was seemingly mined in the eastern desert or Sinai. • GOLD: Egypt was richer in gold than any other country of the region. • ELECTRUM: Electrum is a gold-silver alloy which occurred naturally. It had a silver contents somewhat higher than twenty percent. • SILVER: Egypt had little silver which was not part of gold deposits. Silver was imported from western Asia. • BRONZE: The introduction of bronze was a huge improvement in tool and weapon manufacture. Unlike iron which was a difficult material to work with, bronze technologies were similar to the techniques improved during the copper age: It could be cast, hammered cold, improved its toughness. • IRON: Iron is a very common element and in Egypt iron ores occur in the mountainous areas of the eastern desert and Sinai. • LEAD: Lead was of minor importance. Too soft for making tools or weapons • Only the king and people with authority had a seat to sit others just stood around . • Stools, footstools, chairs and couches were more common than other pieces like tables. • High couches were used for dining and to sleep. • The chairs were high needing a footstool due to height of chair • The table and chairs legs combine symbolic feature with realistically carved lion paws. • They had folding stools with a cushion on it . E G Y P T IAN HOUSE S • There was a huge difference in living standards between the rich and the poor. • Ancient Egyptian homes of the poor consisted of a living room, a sleeping room and a kitchen, with perhaps one or two cellars for storage. • These were built with sun-dried bricks, or reed matting smeared with clay . • The average house consisted of four rooms: • A front room leading from the street, which may have been used as a meeting place for guests. • A living room where the household shrine was situated. The family would worship their personal gods or ancestors here. • A living space, probably used as a sleeping area, with a staircase to a flat roof or upper floor. • A kitchen at the rear of the house, which was open to the sky to prevent the room from filling with smoke. • Cellars underneath the rear rooms were used as storage for foodstuffs. • Houses were small so each room was multi-purpose. • The houses of the elite, described as mansions, followed a similar layout to the small houses, although they consisted of a number of small suites of rooms joined by interlinking corridors. These gave the elite owners the privilege of separating the public from the private family quarters. Many mansions also contained • An audience chamber in which to greet visitors. • An office in which to conduct business. ▪ A bathroom with built-in shower area and toilet (a horseshoe-shaped wooden seat over a bowl of sand). ▪ Some homes had sunken baths open to the sky.
