The Origins: Prehistorical Art
- Logocentrism and prehistoric art
- The first representations of human figures
- The first representations of animals
- Possible functions and meanings
- Problems of style:
Realism
The concept of descriptive/optical
representation
Twisted perspective
Logocentrism and prehistoric art
This period is named pre-history because writing
did not exist yet (before the existence of written
records)
In an era when humans did not write yet, there was a
very developed and sophisticated production of
images
Western idea of history and culture is logocentric (based on communication through
words)
It is significant from our point of view to consider
how visual language was developed thousands of
years before the invention of writing
First representations of human
figures:
In Paleolithic (old stone) age,
most of human representations
are female figures
The most famous is the Venus of
Willendorf: a small sculpture
(c.4-inch height) carved in
limestone and originally colored
with red ocher
The sculptor was not interested in
a realistic representation of a
woman’s shape or proportion
Realism: the quality or fact of
representing a person, thing, or situation
accurately or in a way that is true to life.
Often contrasted with idealism.
Venus of Willendorf, Austria,
28,000-25,000 BC, p.18
First representations of human
figures:
On the contrary here the artist
exaggerated body parts that
emphasize female fertility:
Her breasts are far larger
(disproportionate) than the tiny
forearms and hands that rest upon
them
The carver also clearly scratched
into the stone the outline of the
pubic triangle
The artist may be expressing
health and fertility, which
could guarantee the survival of
the clan
Venus of Willendorf, Austria, 28,00025,000 BC, p.18
First representations of human
figures:
As with most Paleolithic figures,
the sculptor did not carve any
facial feature
The pattern could represent a
mass of curly hair, or a hat
(evidence of textile manufacture at
a very early date)
Venus of Willendorf, Austria,
28,000-25,000 BC, p.18
Whatever the purpose of this
statuette, the maker’s intent seems
to have been to represent not a
specific woman but the female
form
Paleolithic representations of
animals: function
Why did prehistoric hunters
cover the walls of inaccessible,
dark caverns with images of
animals?
2 main theories:
Cave painting, Lascaux, France, 14,000-10,000 BC,
p. 20
- Hunting-magic theory: the
difficulty of access of the images,
and indications that the caves
were used for centuries, made
scholars suggest that hunters
attributed magical properties to
the images (they could not be
mere decoration)
Representations were
“bringing” the prey under their
control (image as possession)
Paleolithic representations of
animals: function
Ancestor theory: the animals
that were diet staples for
Paleolithic peoples are not
those most frequently portrayed
Scholars have therefore
reconstructed an elaborate
mythology based on cave
paintings, suggesting that
prehistoric humans believed they
had animal ancestors
Cave painting, Lascaux, France, 14,000-10,000 BC,
p. 20
Both these theories have
been discredited over time:
no one knows the intention
and function of these
representations. The works
remain an enigma: before the
invention of writing , no
contemporary explanation
could be recorded
Paleolithic representations
of animals
Formal analysis:
these animals are never
isolated
They are included in
larger “herds”
However there are
substantial differences in
size, style, and technique
mainly 2 typologies:
Cave
painting,
Lascaux,
France,
14,00010,000 BC,
p. 20
-drawn (dark outlines)
and painted (colored)
dichotomy line/color =
linear/painterly
The animals were
painted in different
times
Often, natural
shapes of rocks and
their shadows are
exploited
Prehistoric animals are
always represented in
profile
Cave
painting,
Lascaux,
France,
14,00010,000 BC,
p. 20
Which is maybe the
vantage point that
permits to get more
information from a
single image, and the
best for a hunter (easier
target, less dangerous)
The animals show
in Lascaux a
representational
convention that has
been called twisted
perspective
(fundamental in
Egyptian art):
Heads are shown in
profile but the horns
from the front
Cave
painting,
Lascaux,
France,
14,00010,000 BC,
p. 20
The approach of
representation is not
optical: seen from a
fixed viewpoint
It is rather
descriptive: a
single image mixes
different moments
of perception