Art History Review

From Prehistory to Egypt

By Danielle Hernandez

Preparing to Study Art History

In order to assess various works of art in both areas of content and form, you must be familiar with some terminology and concepts. These include knowing about some different mediums. You must also be familiar with aesthetic distance and know how to talk about what makes this high or low for you in a work of art.

Aesthetic Distance
Dont

be fooled! High is low and low is

high! Aesthetic distance refers to how you connect with a work of art. Does it jump out at you? Strike you as interesting? Or is it just plain boring!?

Aesthetic Distance
High Aesthetic Distance
*Think of high distance in numerical terms. The higher youre distance is, the further you are from something!*

*le yawn*

Aesthetic Distance
Low Aesthetic Distance
*le fangasm*

Mediums (Materials)

Amber made from tree sap thats hardened. Bedrock good foundation for architecture Bronze a metal alloy, malleable, easy to work with Dressed stone cut stone Fresco painting pigment on wet or dry (fresco secco) plaster. If paint is applied when wet, it lasts a long time Papyrus paper made from reeds Resin sticky plant substance similar to amber Slate difficult to work with since its sedimentary and layers can easily crack off Others basalt, diorite, sandstone, limestone, granite

Techniques

Celature making things 3D by adding TO it (like taking a stone base and layering clay over it) Glyptic making a 3D image by taking AWAY from it (like chiseling away at stone) Chiaroscuro using shadows/shading to make something 2D look 3D (ie. Cartoon compared to realism) Flat color color without shading (non-photorealistic cutouts) Encaustic painting in wax; very difficult but lasts extremely well

Techniques

Foreshortening giving something a different angle or perspective to make it more interesting (ie. Uncle Sam wants you poster) Optical illusion something that appears as it measurably is not Parataxis/paratactic combining more than one perspective in one subject; more realistic than photorealism; more information Isomorphism similarity or form, shape, or structure 3 dimensional sculpture or carving or anything off a plane 2 dimensional flat painting/drawing on a plane

Forms

Bas relief low relief (projecting as opposed to engraving) Clerestory architecture; high in the middle, low on the sides; results in interesting lighting Closed composition attached to stone, wall, etc. Open composition sculpture is totally free from original medium (compare to in-the-round) Sculpture in-the-round a free standing sculpture Freestanding more free than in-the-round; has no strut (stand/support holding it up) Corbel stones set as support (architecture) Heiroglyph pictorial writing/communication system Hypostyle hall a hall with a roof supported by rows of columns

Forms

In reserve what is left behind after carving around a structure Mastaba stepped temple (predecessor of pyramid) Orthogonal of or pertaining to right angles Petroglyph carving or painting in rock Pictograph any picture Post and lintel 2 columns with a stone on top (think Stonehenge) Pyramid pyramid structure with capstone on top Register ground line Stasis no motion shown in work; freeze frame (ie Victorian photograph) Split image image seen from 2 views Tectiform rectangular (or not) or just lines found; may be artist signature or instructions, etc.

Venus of Willendorf
WHO: Skilled artisan(s) WHAT: Limestone WHERE: Found in Willendorf, Austria. Couldve originated anywhere in Europe where people were living since it is portable. WHEN: c. 25,000-21,000 BC SIZE: 4 3/8

Bison with Turned Head

WHO: Skilled artisan(s) WHAT: Reindeer antler WHERE: La Madeleine, France WHEN: c. 11,000-9,000 BC HOW: Made use of original shape of medium (aesthetic fallacy) SIZE: 4 1/8

Venus of Laussel
WHO: Skilled artisan(s) WHAT: Limestone WHERE: Found in Laussel, France WHEN: c. 25,000-23,000 BC HOW: Bas Relief SIZE: 17 3/8

Paintings from Lascaux

WHO: Most likely many artists. Maybe master/apprentice. Maybe men and women, only men, only women. WHAT: Horses, cows, bulls, bison, deer, nearly no sea creatures, few people (stylized), depictions of hunting WHERE: Lascaux, France WHEN: c. 15,000-13,000 BC HOW: Pigments, brushes, blown pigment through horn, lamps for lighting, dangerous SIZE: Varies. As tall as 13-16

Horus

Palette of Narmer
WHO: Unknown WHAT: Slate. King Narmer conquering Lower Egypt and showing his might WHERE: Hierakonpolis WHEN: c. 3100BC HOW: Bas Relief SIZE: 25
*Uses varying perspectives, registers, and hierarchical proportions, to show order and clarity.

Step Pyramid of Zoser (mastaba)

WHO: Imhotep WHAT: Limestone WHERE: Saqquara WHEN: c. 2630-2611 BC HOW: SIZE: 200

Pyramids at Giza
WHO: Many laborers WHAT: Limestone WHERE: Giza WHEN: c. 2551-2472 BC HOW: Extremely labor intensive. Extensive planning. Community built up around it for workers. Symbolic, religious, and nationalistic. SIZE: Largest (Khufus): 480 tall 755 base

Cross section of the Pyramid of Khufu

Giza Complex

Art History Review

Aegean
By Danielle Hernandez

Must Knows for Aegean

Maps of areas studied Cycladic plank figure Lyre Player Views of Knossos: inside , outside, rooms, stairwells Vaulting the Bull fresco Female figure with Snakes (We dont know if she is a goddess or priestess!!!) Octopus jar Harvester vase Lion Gate of Mycenae Treasury of Atreus

The Ancient Aegean World

Cycladic Plank figures

WHO: Unknown WHAT: Usually marble or alabaster WHERE: Cyclades islands WHEN: c. 2700-2300 BC SIZE: One is 4 10.5
*contemporaneous to Venuses of Willendorf and Laussel*

Lyre Player
WHO: Unknown WHAT: Alabaster WHERE: Cyclades islands WHEN: c. 2900-2500 BC HOW: Carved- easily since alabaster is so soft SIZE: 9
*compare to the seated Kahfre*

Palace of Minos at Knossos

WHO: Unknown WHAT: Stone, wood, WHERE: Knossos, Crete WHEN: c. 1600-1400 BC SIZE: 4 acres
Not really a palace. Have found no royal iconography. This was known to be the central residence of Minos (which may have not been a kings name it might be a term for a ruler, etc.). It is sometimes called a house of the double ax since that was a cult object that appeared on a lot of stuff there. Complex; mazelike; meandering halls; asymmetry; stone walls; low ceilings; post and lintel; wooden columns; no fortification.

Vaulting the Bull Fresco (a.k.a. Toreador Fresco)

WHO: Unknown WHAT: Fresco WHERE: Palace of Minos in Knossos, Crete WHEN: c. 1500 BC SIZE: 32
May have been a religious ritual or just a sport.

Female Figure with Snakes

WHO: Unknown WHAT: Faence WHERE: Knossos, Crete WHEN: c. 1600 BC SIZE: 13.5
Faence - Pottery decorated with brightly colored glazes

Octopus Jar
WHO: Unknown WHAT: Painted pottery WHERE: Palaikastro, Crete WHEN: c. 1500 BC SIZE: 11
Swirls are the major motif. The handles mimic the octopus eyes.

Harvester Vase
WHO: Unknown WHAT: Serpentine rhyton WHERE: Hagia Triada, Crete WHEN: c. 1650-1450 BC SIZE: 4.5 diameter
May have been involved in religious rituals. Shows off Minoan engraving skills and tradition of dynamic, lively representation. Depicts men going to harvest.

Rhyton an ancient drinking vessel usually shaped like an animal or part of an animal

Lion Gate of Mycenae

WHO: Unknown WHAT: Limestone WHERE: Mycenae WHEN: c. 13th century BC SIZE: 9 6
Mycenae people built strong stone walls around their citadels which show they were more interested in war than those in Crete (who had the ocean/navy as protection, instead). This is post-and-lintel structure and the triangular lions is a relieving triangle to take off some weight from the lintel. It is done by corbeling- arranging layers. These layers of stone are called courses and each projects beyond the lower one.

Treasury of Atreus
(a.k.a. the tomb of Agamemnon)

WHO: Unknown WHAT: Tholos tomb WHERE: Mycenae WHEN: c. 13th century BC SIZE: 43 diameter / 40 height