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Chapter 1
The Birth of Art:
Africa, Europe, and the Near East
in the Stone Age
Gardners Art Through the Ages,
12e
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Goals
Understand the origins of art in terms of time
period, human development and human activity.
Explore origins of creativity, representation, and
stylistic innovation in the Paleolithic period.
Describe the role of human and animal figures in
Paleolithic art.
Examine the materials and techniques of the earliest
art making in the Paleolithic period.
Illustrate differences between the Paleolithic and
Neolithic art as a result of social and
environmental changes.
Understand and evaluate the types of art prevalent
in the Neolithic period.
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Definitions
Paleolithic: Old Stone Age from the Greek
paleo = old; lithos = stone
Neolithic: NEW Stone Age from the Greek
neo = old; lithos = stone
Incise: To cut into a surface with a sharp
instrument; a means of decoration, especially on
metal and pottery.
Twisted Perspective: A convention of
representation in which part of a figure is shown in
profile and another part of the same figure is shown
frontally; a composite view.
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Prehistoric Europe and the Near East
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Why art must be intentional and representational in
order to be called art.
Must be modified by human
intervention beyond mere
selection.
How do we know this pebble
was selected?
Why does it need to be modified
to be called art?
Intentional creation of art
objects dates to 30,000 BCE
Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa
Makapansgat pebble
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AFRICA: Namibia during the Paleolithic period
Early paintings were portable
.
Questions the artist would ask:
What is my subject?
An animal
How shall I represent it?
Strict profile: can see all
body parts completely
informative
Moved from recognition
of animal forms to
representation of
animal forms.
Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa
Namibia: Apollo 11 Cave
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AFRICA: Namibia during
the Paleolithic period
Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa
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WESTERN EUROPE: Germany:
Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave:
Carved from Ivory-1 foot tall.
Composite creature: human
with feline head.
Bridges time gap between the
Makapansgat pebble and the
Namibian animal.
No way to know what the
intention was sorcerer?
Humans dressed as animals?
Did involve skill & time, so was
important.
Paleolithic Art in Western Europe and Africa
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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
Women in Paleolithic Art:
Representations of humans
during this period were almost
always of unclothed women.
Called Venuses after the
Greco-Roman goddess of
beauty.
Not accurate because
there is no proof of the
idea of named gods or
goddesses in that era.
Venus of Willendorf
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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
Venus of Willendorf
Why were they thought to be
fertility images?
What is the evidence against
that?
What CAN we safely conclude?
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Lack of focus on naturalism.
No facial features.
Evidence in the sculpture that
it is a fertility figure?
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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
Laussel Venus: woman
holding a bison horn, found
in Dordogne, France.
Probably later than the
Willendorf figure.
One of the earliest relief
sculptures.
Originally part of a large stone
block.
Red ochre was applied to
the body. [Ochre is a pigment
made from tinted clays]
Similar emphasis on the
female form to the
Willendorf Venus
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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
Another example of a fertility relief [including bison horn]
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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
Rock-Cut Women:
La Magdelaine,
France
Relief sculptures
of nude women
on cave walls.
Used the natural
contours of the
cave wall as a
basis for the
representation.
Incised and carved.
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The Earliest Sculpted Forms
Clay Bison:
Le Tuc dAudoubert,
France-12-17k yrs ago
Strict profile- 2 ft long
Modeled in clay from
the cave itself
Antler Sculpture:
4 inches long
Compare?
Engraving
Represented with the
head turned
probable reason?
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Discovery of Altamia
Altamira was the first
prehistoric cave with paintings
to be discovered in 1879.
Now paintings are known
at 200 other sites.
Floating Bison
Strict profile maintained by
changing the viewpoint in the
case of the curled up bison.
Not a group
no common ground line
No setting, background or
indication of place.
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Signs & Hands
Checks, dots, squares, lines are
found alongside the animals
[Lascaux image]
May include a primitive kind
of writing.
Also common: representations
of human hands, mostly with
pigment around the shape.
[Pech-Merle, France]
Murals at Pech-Merle:
Indicate animals chosen for a
particular place in the cave-
horses/hands painted on
concave surfaces- bison on
convex.
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Examining Materials and Techniques
To SEE in the caves they used stone lamps with animal
marrow or fat.
To DRAW they used chunks of red and yellow ochre,
but also other minerals.
The PALATTE was a large flat stone.
BRUSHES were made from reeds, bristles or twigs.
May have used reed or blowpipe to spray paint on
hard to reach locations.
Used ledges and perhaps primitive scaffolds to reach the
walls.
Hard to ascertain WHY the paintings were made there
are numerous theories
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The Bulls of Lascaux
Paintings include animals other
than bulls, but the name has
stuck!
Differences in style suggest
paintings done at different times.
Both colored and outline
examples.
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Lascaux: The Bulls of Lascaux
The horns are represented in twisted perspective: Bull is
in profile, but horns viewed from the front.
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Lascaux: The Well Scene
"The Shaft of the Dead
Man."
2 animals and a stick-
man lying on the
ground.
Indication of narrative
in cave paintings.
Cleary a man
Many
interpretations.

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Chauvet
Oldest cave paintings yet discovered. [in 1994]
Horns rendered in strict perspective.
Possible narrative in the two rhinos confronting each other.
Dating is in question
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FRANCE:

Maps of Other Caves
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Neolithic Art: Goals
Understand the effect of climatic and lifestyle changes
during the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic
period.
Illustrate artistic development as a result of differences
between the Paleolithic and Neolithic society and
environment.
Understand and evaluate the different types of art
prevalent in the Neolithic period.
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Changing Environment and Lifestyle
The Ice recedes from Northern Europe c. 9000 BCE
Climate grew warmer, reindeer migrated north; wooly
mammoth and rhinoceros disappeared.
MESOLITHIC: Transitional period of change
NEOLITHIC: Settled in fixed abodes and domesticated
animals and plants.
Beginning of AGRICULTURE:
Oldest communities near the Tigris & Euphrates rivers
in Mesopotamia. [part of modern day Syria/Iraq]
Neolithic innovations: systematic agriculture, weaving,
metalworking, pottery, and counting & recording with
tokens.
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Neolithic Art: Jericho Stone Fortifications
Inhabited long before Joshuas
Biblical battle. [Jordan River valley.]
Small village as early as 9
th

millennium BCE.
Developped around 7
th
mil.
BCE.
Towns wealth grew along with
powerful neighbors, thus
fortifications were built.
2,000 people estimated in
7500 BCE
Circular Stone Tower 33 ft
diameter at base with inner
stairway.
Built with simple stone tools.
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Neolithic Art: Sculpture at Ain Ghazal
Neolithic settlement, near
Amman, Jordan. 8-6
th
mil.
Homes of irregularly
shaped stones, plastered,
painted walls and floors.
Plaster Statues: Mid-7
th
mil.
Appears to be a ritual burial.
Plaster over a core of reeds
and twine.
Orange & black hair,
clothing and some body
painting. Gender was rarely
indicated
Beginning of monumental
sculptures [3 ft.]
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Neolithic Art: Catal Hoyuk
City without streets: 7-5
th
mil BCE -- predetermined plan
Twelve building levels excavated, thus revealing the
development of a NEOLITHIC culture based on trade in
obsidian.
Narrative Painting: Regular appearance of human
figure.
Composite view based on what presented the most
information about the body segment.
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Neolithic Art: Catal Hoyuk
First landscape painting? [may have been a map]
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Monumental Architecture
Around 4000 BCE
Megaliths [standing
stones] and
Henges [circles of
stones] were
developed in
Western Europe.
STONEHENGE
2000 BCE
Terms:
Sarsen
Lintel,
Trilithons
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Monumental Architecture
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Discussion Questions
In the textbook, emphasis is placed on a criterion of
intentional manipulation of an object in order for it to be
classified as art. Is this criterion valid? What is your
definition of art?
Why do you think that images of man were less prevalent in
Paleolithic art than those of women?
What accounts for the lifestyle changes which effect the art?
How is the human figure presented differently in the
Paleolithic to the Neolithic periods?
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Small Group Discussion
Describe the differences between the so-
called Venus of Willendorf (FIG. 1-4) and the
relief of the Woman from Laussel (Fig. 1-5)?
When comparing two figures you can begin
with facts like size, material and technique,
approximate date, and what is know about
where they were found.
Then go on to describe the bodily features
of each figure and how the similarities and
differences might be interpreted.