Prehistoric Art Notes
Chapter 5-5.1 p 148-153
Significance of Prehistoric Art
Origin of creative impulse
Origin of imitationalism vs. formalism
Origin of two and three dimensional work
Origin of architecture
Origin of majority of media used today
Prehistory is
2,500,000 - 2,000 BCE
The period of humans before there was written record
3 Periods of Prehistory
Paleolithic (2.5 million BCE - 10,000 BCE)
Mesolithic (10,000 BCE - 4,000 BCE)
Neolithic (4,000 BCE - 2,000 BCE)
Paleolithic Period
2,500,000 - 10,000 BCE during Ice Ages
Humans were hunters and gatherers
Humans created crude stone tools
Paleolithic Art Forms
mural paintings
relief sculptures
sculptures in the round
adornment
Paleolithic vocabulary
Petroglyph Low relief (bas relief) Cupule Paleolithic Art to Know
Bhimbetka Cave Cupules, (India), 500,000 - 200,000 BCE, quartzitic sandstone
Venus of Tan-Tan, (Morocco), 200,000 - 500,000 BCE, quartzite, 1 X 1/2”
Petroglyph, (Blombos Cave, South Africa), 79,000 BCE, ochre (red hematite), 3”.
Beads, (Blombos Cave, South Africa), 75,000 BCE, tick shells, 1”.
Murals of Chauvet Cave, (France), 32,000-26,000 BCE, limestone
Venus of Willendorf, (Austria), 26,000 - 20,000 BCE, limestone and ochre, 4 1/4 X 1 1/2”,
Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Murals of Lascaux Cave, (France), 19,000 - 8,000 BCE, ochre and engraving on limestone
Mesolithic Period
10,000 - 4,000 BCE Ice Age ending
Humans were still hunters and gatherers, but getting organized
Humans created better tools
Mesolithic Art Form Advances
“airbrush” painting
stenciling
successful sculpting of negative space
fired ceramics
Mesolithic Vocabulary
Negative image
Ceramic
Kiln
Negative space
Mesolithic Art to Know
Bison, 10,000 BCE, Reindeer antler, c. 4”, Musee des Antiquities Nationales, St. Germaineen-Laye, France.
Hands, (Cueva de las Manos, Argentina), 7,350 BCE, ochre on stone
Thinker from Cernavoda, (Romania), ceramic, 5000 – 4600BCE
Neolithic Period
4,000 - 2,000 BCE
Communities firmly established
Cuneiform organized
Neolithic Art Form Advances
metallurgy begins
mastery of ceramics
architecture
Neolithic Vocabulary
Metallurgy Leaf Contra-posto Pillar Lintel Bluestone Neolithic Art to Know
Ram in the Thicket, (Iraq), 2,500 BCE, red limestone, gold-leaf, copper, lapis lazuli,
The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro, (India), 2,500 BCE, bronze, 4 1/4 in.
Stonehenge, (England), 2,500 BCE, various “bluestone”