Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Art History Art History is the study of the visual arts in a civilization. It examines changing values in all fields of visual culture, including painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, architecture, film, the mass media, and forms of popular expression. For this lesson, we will be examining many different types of cultures. Culture is the behavior and ideas of a group of people. You may find that some people across the world share similar ideas to you, while others have a different perception of their surroundings. Prehistoric means before history was recorded. Many people still argue the dates of the first works of Art. This female figurine is from Israel. It is the oldest known figurative carving in the world, and is somewhere between 233,000 and 800,000 years old. The date was determined because it was found between two layers of volcanic rock, the upper one is about 230,000 years old, and the lower one approximates 800,000 years old. The Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) dates from 50,000BC – 8,000BC and is distinguished by the development of stone tools and accounts for 99% of the prehistoric period. During the Paleolithic period, humans grouped together in small societies such as bands, and survived by gathering plants and hunting or scavenging wild animals. Many of these early humans lived in caves. The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.5 cm high statuette of a female figure estimated to have been made between 24,000 B.C. and 22,000 B.C.. It was discovered in 1908 by archaeologist Josef Szombathy at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria near the city of Krems. It is carved from limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre. The earliest known abstractions are these petroglyphs found in South Australia. They date back to 43,000 B.C. Caves of Lascaux, 13,000 B.C. Paleolithic Lascaux is the setting of complex caves in southwestern France. They contain some of the bestknown Paleolithic paintings. These paintings are estimated to be 15,000 years old. They primarily consist of realistic images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml Neolithic (New Stone Age) dates from 6,000BC – 2,000BC and recognizes a shift from hunting and gathering to farming and the beginnings of communities. There was also the development of large stone architecture. Megaliths are structures of huge stone built without mortar. The ones below from Malta illustrate early building techniques such as the post and lintel system. Post and Lintel is a simple type of structure that uses two vertical posts and one lintel across the top. Stonehenge, 2,000 B.C. Neolithic Stonehenge also displays the technique of Post and Lintel. This is a circular megalith structure. Some of the stones here are 17 feet high and weigh in at 50 tons. There purpose has yet to be determined. The First Major Civilizations Groups began to band together in larger groups and around 3,000 B.C. there were four major civilizations. They were Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. Each group situated itself near a river. Now, religion and architecture began to flourish. Mesopotamia Mesopotamia 4,000BC – 612BC is considered as the cradle of civilization. Temple of Ishtar 600 BC It literally means the land between the rivers and refers to the area along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of Syria, some parts of Turkey and some parts of the of Iran. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death it became part of the Greek Empire. Mesopotamia was the setting for such famous Bible stories as the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel (Babylon), and the journey of Abraham from the city of Ur. This colorful striding lion of glazed brick, once decorated a side of the 'Processional Way' in ancient Babylon (the Biblical city of Babel). The 'Processional Way' led out of the city through a massive gate named for the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war, Ishtar, whose symbol was the lion. -600 BC The Mesopotamians left us many written records. They devised a system of making marks on clay tablets made by impressing the material with wedge-shaped ends of carved Cuneiform, sticks. Known as it is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. They invented arithmetic (useful in keeping records of sales and purchases of goods), built schools, businesses, temples, palaces, workshops, and devised a system for the collection of taxes. A modern clay impression from a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, The Seal of Adda. 2350 BC We actually know little about the Mesopotamians' religion, but much of what we know was learned from their poetry -- "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is their most important poem. They were a religious people and had what is called a theocratic culture. They believed gods ruled the earth and that men were created to serve them. They practiced tithing: 10% of their goods went to the gods. The leader of each city-state was considered a local god who talked to the head gods. Ur, like every other city-state, had its own head god whose earthly home was the city’s ziggurat. These temples were built up in layers and would tower above the flat land of the area, reaching to the heavens. The cella, the very top of the ziggurat, is where the communication would take place between the king and the gods. Elaborate rituals would take place at these temples with priests, servants, and worshippers coming and going to take care of the god’s every wish. The ziggurat at Ur was built around 2100 BCE to honor the moon god Nanna. Lamassu Statues, 713 BC Mesopotamian Mesopotamian Relief Sculpture The statues found at the Abu Temple from c. 2700 BC are fine examples of the way Mesopotamian sculpture is typically based on cones and cylinders — arms and legs like pipes, skirts smooth and round, flaring out at their bottoms. Faces are dominated by very large eyes. The sizes of entire figures were also determined by a hieratic imaging system — the most important people were made the tallest. In the same vein, a beard on a figure signified a man in a powerful position. The civilization of Ancient Egypt took place from 3,500BC – 300BC. The ancient Egyptians were obsessed with immortality and this is reflected in their artwork. The majority of the works created were Pharaoh created for preparing the (the Egyptian ruler) for the afterlife. The style of Egyptian painting and sculpture did not change for 3,000 years. Much of what we know about ancient Egypt comes from surviving tombs. Since they believed that the Pharaoh's spirit was immortal, the tomb was packed with everything they might need. This included their riches, food, furniture, and occasionally a few servants. The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of 80 remaining pyramids. It is the largest stone structure in the world. It took 23 years to complete and contains over 2 million limestone blocks (each weighing 2 ½ tons). A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone or wood. King Tut 1352 B.C. Egyptian Hieroglyphics were the method of writing used by the Ancient Egyptians. The Rosetta Stone contains text in two Egyptian forms of writing and Ancient Greek. Its discovery led to the understanding of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The Art of Asia encompasses the development of many great civilizations including India - 3,000BC, China - 2,000BC and Japan - 1,100BC We owe many great developments to China and surrounding areas such as paper, porcelain, the compass, and gunpowder. Sumi-e brush painting The Taj Mahal Angkor Wat Tibetan Mandala This image was created using a technique called Woodblock Printing. The artist carves an image into wood, rolls ink over the surface, and then prints it on paper. Thus the artist can create multiples of the same image. The Great Wave, 1829 Hokusai, Japanese Woodcut Persian Miniature Painting Pagoda The start of African Art is estimated around 500BC. Many of the pieces display a style that years later would be called “Abstract” Of all of the works, it is probably the wooden masks that are the most famous and easily identifiable. Pendant Mask, 16th century African Traditionally the masks were created for ceremonies as seen here in the Congo. There is also the bold patterning that we associate with African Art as seen here in this Kente Cloth. Art of the Americas The began around 2,000BC with the Native Americans and around 1500 BC with the Mesoamericans. Totem Pole Pre-Columbian Art refers to the period before Columbus landed in the New World or before European customs began to influence Natives of North, South, and Central America. Aztec Olmec Mayan Temple 2, 800 Mayan