Helwan University

Faculty of Applied Arts

Furniture Design Sciences department

Academic Year 2018

Art History
First Year

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Why study history ?
History helps you understand people and societies

Knowing more about the people of the past helps you

understand people in the present.

Everything that happens today is influenced by the past.

You think you just got here without anything affecting you?
NOT TRUE!

We learn from the mistakes of the past, in order to not make

them again.

History provides you with an identity.

Ex: EGYPT IS A GREAT COUNTRY

ART & HISTORY :

Art, whether made in the past, is part of the PRESENT. As a persisting

event.

You can see and touch art

Cannot see or touch “vanished human events”

Not necessary to know specifics of a work’s creation [that is; it’s

history] to appreciate it.

Remember: Museums as places to view art are a modern

phenomenon

Most art before the modern era was created for a specific patron
and/or place to fill a particular purpose or function.
The role of ART HISTORY is, in part to discover the historical context
of a work of art.

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Chronology *Important :

BCE is the era before year one, or the year of Christ’s birth. BCE
stands for “Before Common Era.”

BC means the same thing as BCE, except it stands for “Before Christ.”

In BCE, the years count backwards.

EX: The year 2000 BCE is farther from the present than 1000
BCE.

Prehistory :

Prehistory is the time before writing was invented.

A historian is someone who studies the past and writes about it.

We learn about prehistory from Archeology and Anthropology.

History Vocabulary Words

Evidence- Information that proves or disproves something. EX:

There is fossil evidence to support that early humans used tools.

Analyze- To examine critically to bring out the important elements; to

identify causes, key factors, and results.

Point of View- Ideas held by an individual that express feelings or

cause them to take a certain side. How one’s experiences and
opinions influence.

Civilization :

- The term civilization normally designates large societies with cities

and powerful states. Although there were many differences
between civilizations, they also shared important characteristics.

Social :

All civilizations also featured clearly stratified social hierarchies

and organized long-distance trading relationships.

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Example: 
Religion o
Art o
Writing o
Important places/buildings o
Social hierarchies o
Interactions with other peoples o

Prehistoric Art :

Prehistoric or Stone Age art is first known period of prehistoric human

culture, during which work was done with stone tools. The period began
with the earliest human development, about 2 million years ago. It is
divided into three periods:

1. Paleolithic – Old Stone Age

2. Mesolithic – Middle Stone Age

3. Neolithic – New Stone Age

Head of a Woman (Siberia)

Carved in mammoth ivory, 3 inches long
Malta, Central Siberia, middle period
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
©Alexander Marshack

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The Paleolithic period, or Old Stone Age, was the longest phase of
human history. Its most outstanding feature was the development of the
human species-- Homo sapiens. Paleolithic peoples were generally
nomadic hunters and gatherers who sheltered in caves, used fire, and
fashioned stone tools. Their cultures are identified by distinctive stone-
tool industries. By the Upper Paleolithic there is evidence of communal
hunting, constructed shelters, and belief systems centering on magic and
the supernatural. Rock carving and paintings reached their peak in the
Magdalenian culture of Cro-Magnon man.

The Mesolithic period, or Middle Stone Age, began at the end of the last
glacial era, over 10,000 years ago. Cultures included gradual
domestication of plants and animals, formation of settled communities,
use of the bow, and development of delicate stone microliths and
pottery.

The time periods and cultural content of the Neolithic period, or New
Stone Age, vary with geographic location. The earliest known Neolithic
culture developed from the Natufian in Southwestern Asia between
9000 and 7000 BCE. People lived in settled villages, cultivated grains and
domesticated animals, developed pottery,spinning, and weaving, and
evolved into the urban civilizations of the Bronze Age. In Southeast Asia
a distinct type of Neolithic culture cultivated rice before 2000 BCE.. New
World peoples independently domesticated plants and animals, and by
1500 BCE Neolithic cultures existed in Mesoamerica that led to the Aztec
and Inca civilizations.

Making generalizations about the visual culture of any group of people is

a crude endeavor, especially with a culture as diverse as that of the
Stone Age. With this thought in mind, know that this survey, as any must
be, is tremendously limited in its breadth and depth.

Use of hunting rituals and artwork:

Some believe that cave paintings were part of magic rituals before the
hunt.

Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux

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It was discovered by four boys in 1940 somewhat accidentally. They
found a large hole near a tree that had fallen on a hill overlooking
Montignac in France. In 1955 the first signs of deterioration appeared
on the cave paintings. Carbon dioxide from visitors’ breath was
discovered to be the cause the cave was closed. It remains closed but a
replica of the cave located nearby is open to the public.

In 1875 he heard about a cave in Altamira meadow. When he visited it,

he saw shells, bones and some drawings that attracted his attention.
Shortly afterwards, in 1879, while he was digging in Altamira Cave, his
nine year old daughter Maria wandered a little further inside. There she
saw what she thought were the paintings of oxen. Sautuola recognized
the figures at once; they were not oxen, but bison. His daughter’s
discovery of the paintings in the cave in 1879 was the first discovery of
Paleolithic cave art, and the cave is of one of the most spectacular sites
in the world.

These sites have been protected from many of the elements that
otherwise would have caused erosion and damage. They may not be a
vibrant as they once were but you can still see the amazing artwork of
these prehistoric people because the paintings have been safe, deep
inside caves for thousands of years.

Some of the materials used for pigment include:

 Clay
 Soft stone
 Fat
 Blood
 Crushed plants and berries
 Ashes

Eventually prehistoric builders made their way outside their caves and
began building more comfortable shelters. They built small communities
and eventually the hunters replaced their weapons with farming tools.

Prehistoric Art - Paleolithic

(2 million years ago-13,000 BC.)
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Paleolithic or "Old Stone Age" is a term used to define the oldest period
in the human history. Paleolithic means old stone age from the Greek
paleos=old and lithos=stone. It began about 2 million years ago.

Thirty radiocarbon datings made in the cave have shown that it was
frequented at two different periods. Most of the images were drawn
during the first period, between 30,000 and 32,000 BP in radiocarbon
years. Some people came back between 25,000 to 27,000 and left torch
marks and charcoal on the ground. Some human footprints belonging to
a child may date back to the second period.

Best known from the plains of the Ukraine, as well as Poland and the
Czech Republic, some houses are as ancient as 27,500 years ago (about
the same time as mammoths were being trapped in the Hot Springs
sinkhole)! In the Ukraine, most of the mammoth bone houses have been
dated at between 12,000 and 19,000 years ago

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Venus of Willendorfc. 24,000-22,000 BCE
4 3/8 inches (11.1 cm) high

The Venus of Willendorf was carved from oolitic limestone, and was covered with a thick
layer of red ochre when found. The figurine was unearthed during the Wachau railway
construction in 1908.

Being both female and nude, she fit perfectly into the patriarchal construction of the
history of art. As the earliest known representation, she became the "first woman,"
acquiring a sort of Ur-Eve identity that focused suitably, from a patriarchal point of view, on
the fascinating reality of the female body. Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe

Ancient Aborigines of Australia

The art of the Australian Aborigines represents the longest continuously practiced series of
artistic traditions anywhere in the world. The site of Ubirr in Arnhem Land, northern
Australia, contains one of the most impressive assemblages of Aboriginal rock painting,
ranging from the earliest periods to works created within living memory. A favored camping
place during the annual wet season, the rock faces at Ubirr have been painted and repainted
for millennia. The sequence of rock art at Ubirr and other sites in Arnhem Land has been
divided into three periods: Pre-Estuarine (ca. 40,000?–6000 B.C.), Estuarine (ca. 6000 B.C.–
500 A.D.), and Fresh Water (ca. 500 A.D.–present). These classifications are based on the
changing style and iconography of the images

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The Cosquer Cave: The Hands

Fifty-five hand prints have been found in the cave, giving a moving
documentation of human life in the Paleolithic era. They were drawn as
negative (stencils) and as positive (hands coated with pigment and then
applied to the rock) images.

Neolithic (c. 5,000 - 1,500 BC):

characteristics of Neolithic art?

• It was still, almost without exception, created for some functional

purpose.

• There were more images of humans than animals, and the humans
looked more, well, human.

• It began to be used for ornamentation.

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• In the cases of architecture and megalithic constructions, art was now
created in fixed locations. This was significant. Where temples,
sanctuaries and stone rings were built, gods and goddesses were
provided with known destinations. Additionally, the emergence of
tombs provided unmoving, "visit-able" resting places for the dearly
departed - another first.

Saharan Neolithic paintings seem to come to life in usual scenes of

Eritrean pastoral life

Statuary (primarily statuettes), made a big comeback after having been

largely absent during the Mesolithic age. Its Neolithic theme dwelt
primarily on the female/fertility, or "Mother Goddess" imagery (quite in
keeping with agriculture, this). There were still animal statuettes,
however these weren't lavished with the detail the goddesses enjoyed.
They are often found broken into bits - perhaps indicating that they
were used symbolically in hunting rituals.

Additionally, sculpture was no longer created strictly by carving

something. In the Near East, in particular, figurines were now fashioned
out of clay and baked. Archaeological digs at Jericho turned up a
marvelous human skull (c. 7,000 BC) overlaid with delicate, sculpted
plaster features

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Stone Age Sculpture
Turriga Mother Goddess

This mother goddess was found in Senorbi, a Turriga locality in the island
of Sardinia, Italy, in the ruins of a neo-lithic village. It's form clearly
represents fertility and is very reminecent of the Cycladic art from
Greece

Neolithic pottery with incised design

As for pottery, it began replacing stone and wood utensils at a rapid

pace, and also become more highly decorated

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Art history" typically begins to follow a prescribed course: Iron and
bronze are discovered. Ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt
arise, make art, and are followed by art in the classical civilizations of
Greece and Rome. After this, we hang out in Europe for the next
thousand years, eventually moving on to the New World, which
subsequently shares artistic honors with Europe. This route is commonly
known as "Western Art", and is often the focus of any art history/art
appreciation syllabus. It is both acceptable (if not ideal) and the route
we will take here - for the time being.

However, the sort of art that has been described in this article as
"Neolithic" (i.e.: Stone age; that of pre-literate peoples who hadn't yet
discovered how to smelt metals) continued to flourish in the Americas,
Africa, Australia and, in particular, Oceania. In some instances, it was still
thriving in the previous (20th) century. So noted. There are many terms
for this kind of art, non-western being the most predominant. I prefer
ethnographic, a less frequently used term, but one that is more
respectful and accurate.

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EGYPTIAN ART:

Egyptian culture developed along the banks of the Nile river more than
3000 B.C.

Religion influenced every part of Egyptian life.

Pharaohs or Egyptian rulers were worshiped as gods and pyramids were

built as tombs.

Egyptians believed in life after death and preserved bodies using

mummification.

Ancient Egyptian art reflects their beliefs in the afterlife and

immortality.

Major monumental structures such as the great pyramids and the

sphinx reflect those beliefs.

Media/Processes :

2-D media: paint

2-D processes: Wall painting and scroll painting made from papyrus
used hieroglyphics.

3-D media: stone, gold, and jewels

3-D processes: architecture-sphinx and pyramids, steles, columns,

tombs-sarcophagus.

Ceremonial- most of their art was used for religious purposes that
dealt with the afterlife and the gods.

Narrative - Hieroglyphics that told stories of everyday life.

Functional- sarcophagus held dead, vases held organs.

Art Influences of Ancient Egypt :

The art reflects the endurance and solid foundation of the culture.

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(Egyptian culture has withstood many years in order to develop as
sophisticated as the were.)

Their art also reflects their belief in the afterlife of the pharaoh and
other ruling class.

Their art also reflects beliefs in many gods that helped protect them.

Rules for Egyptian Figures: ( painting )

The head, arms, and legs appear from the side. Showing one eye.

The other parts would appear head on.

Most important people where larger in proportion than others.

Paintings were narrative.

Characteristics of Ancient Egyptian Art

heavily influenced by everyday life, especially religion and life after

death

not focused on exact replication, just representations

all art looked similar to preserve a sense of stability amongst the

people

The Egyptians strictly upheld the style of frontalism, adhering

carefully to stylistic rules

the subject's head is always drawn in profile with the full eye shown

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The upper body is depicted from the front and the legs face in the
same direction as the head with one foot in front of the other

The person in the picture sits or stands stiff and rigid in a formal
posture, but the face is calm and usually slightly tilted toward the sky.

Hieroglyphics and Painting :

- Besides pyramids and sphinxes, the Egyptians are known for

hieroglyphics, or a form of picture writing.

-Hieroglyphics use small pictures which represent different words,

actions, or ideas.

-Many ancient Egyptian paintings have survived due to Egypt's

extremely dry climate.

-The paintings were often made with the intent of making a pleasant
afterlife for the deceased. The themes included journey through the
afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods
of the underworld (such as Osiris).

-Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were

involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for
eternity.

- some hieroglyphs were also painted relief sculptures.

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Ancient Egyptian Architecture:

Usually when Ancient Egypt is heard people think about either the great
pyramids or the sphinx of Giza, but little do they know that it’s a
civilization that displays some of the most impressive and exquisite
works of art and architecture in history.

Materials used for building

Due to shortage in wood; stone and mud bricks were used to

construct most of the Houses and buildings. However, when it comes
to-Both sun-dried and kiln-dried bricks were used extensively. Fine
sandstone, limestone, and granite were available for obelisks,
sculpture, and decorative uses.

-All dwelling houses, built of timber or of sun-baked bricks, have

disappeared

-Only temples and tombs have survived. Their walls were immensely
thick and built using durable materials like stone

-The belief in existence beyond death (reincarnation) resulted in

existing architecture of utmost impressiveness and permanence.

-Even during periods of foreign rule, Egyptian architecture clung to its

native characteristics, adopting almost no elements or influence
from other cultures.

temples and pyramids stones were preferred.

Early Dynastic Architecture (Thinite dynastic period ) (3100-2686)

This period witnessed the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by

Menes, and the founding of Memphis, the first capital. Important
Early Dynastic building designs revolved around the construction of
mastabas, one-storey brick boxes with a burial chamber below, in
which the deceased members of the ruling class were buried.

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The old kingdom of Egypt (Age of pyramids)(2613-2181 BCE)

In this period king Imhotep wanted a lasting memorial of his

kingdom. So, he created a complex with a stone pyramid in its center
and surrounded by temples. Followed by Snefru’s pyramid which
unfortunately didn’t last. After modifications were made to
Imhotep’s original design Snefru built two pyramids in Dashur which
is known as the red pyramid and the bent pyramid. The bent pyramid
is called so as it rises at a 55 and then shifts to 43.While the red
pyramid is called so as it is made of reddish limestone.

After Snefru came Khufu his son and built the great pyramid(2580-
2560 BC) which was the tallest structure made by human hands in
the world , Until the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, France in
(1889 CE) .Followed by Khafre his son who built the middle pyramid
and finally Menkaure’s pyramid ,which is also the smallest pyramid,
was built.

The Middle kingdom (2055-1650 BCE)

In this period the building of pyramids was resumed. However,

temples building were the dominant in this period. Great amount of
temples were built but most of them didn’t survive.

The New kingdom (1550-1069 BCE)

In this period the construction of such great structures as the Luxor

Temple, which awe-struck watchers till today. Around this period the
Temple of Amon-Ra at Karnak also appeared, Colonnades, statuary
and impressive entrances were very much in style. This style, and
smooth facades, continued through the Late Period and the end of
Ancient Egypt in about 332 BCE .

Religion and the Pyramids

The pyramid shape developed gradually over time.

Originally, the Egyptians buried their dead in hidden pits, but this
practice changed.

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Egyptians began to use sun-dried bricks to build mastabas.

A mastaba is a low, flat tomb.

These rectangular tombs had sloping sides and contained a chapel

and a false burial chamber in addition to the true one hidden deep
inside.

Eventually, mastabas were built without steps, and a point was added
on the top, thus creating the true pyramid form.

Step Pyramid of King Zoser, Saqqara, Egypt. c. 2681-2662 B.C. ( OLD

KINGDOM)

Religion and the Pyramids :

Egyptian religion placed great importance on the resurrection of the

soul, or ka, and eternal life in the spirit world after death.

The body was preserved and protected in a stone coffin, or

sarcophagus, inside the pyramid for the eventual return of the ka.

The eventual return of the ka guaranteed the body immortality in

the next world.

Such a tomb served as an elaborate kind of insurance against final

death.

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Egypt, El Giza, Great Pyramid also known as "Pyramid of Cheops" or
"Khufu's Pyramid" 2600-2480 BCE, The base of the pyramid covers
about 13 acres. To build the Great Pyramid it took an about
2,300,000 dressed stone blocks (averaging 2.5 tons each) -- more
than any other structure ever built. The blocks were moved on log
rollers and sledges, and then ramped into place.

The Sphinx is another example of a Pharaoh (Khafre) demonstrating

his power.

The massive size and the head of Pharaoh Khafre on the body of a
lion was intended to demonstrate the power of the pharaoh.

Carved from stone at the site and stands at 65 feet tall.

Ancient Egyptian Sculpture :

Stages of sculpture’s development :

Prehistoric graves :

-Egyptian artists were producing a wide variety of small figures

in clay, bone and ivory before the emergence of a form

of style of sculpture and continued to New Kingdom.

Between (4000 – 3000) BCE :

- Bone and Ivory were used to make stylized female figure

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laborately.

- Clay was easier to shape representing species of animals.

By 3000 BCE :

- Ivory statuettes were carved in a more naturalistic style and

many fragments have survived

Preceeding 1st Dynasty :

-Sculptors were making great advances in using wood and

various kinds of stones.

Archaic period :
- Larger types of royal statue was made.
- Symbolism was used in sculpture representing gods when depicted
in the human form of emblems (composite creatures with animals
heads on human bodies eg : Horus has head of hawk.
- Principle figures were distinguished from the others by their size eg
: - Gods were shown larger than men.
- Kings were shown larger than the followers.
- Deads were shown large than the living.
- Workers and peasants were always shown working.

Ancient Empire : (Memphis)

- Sculptures came from tombs were strongly naturalistic. At first
sculptors carved statues sitting down, which is a lot easier to carve.
To make the statue look more real, Egyptian artists painted the
statues too. They painted men dark, to show that they spent alot of
time outside hunting and being manly, and they painted women light
skinned, to show that they were rich enough to stay inside out of the
sun, and didn’t work in the fields. That’s not the colour these people
really were though.
- The ancient artist’s sculptures were carved cubic and frontal
because the front of every statue is the most important part. So, the

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opinion that the ancient artist was unable to create a naturalistc
representation is wrong.

- Monumental Sphinx at Giza.

- Portrait statues varied and often stricking in character.
- Statues were made from limestone, wood, bronze and copper .

Middle Empire : (Divided into 2 sub periods)

A) THEBAN period 11th – 15th dynasty

11th : - Little sculpture of lasting value
12th : - Sculpture was a continuous of the art of Memphis some
changes were apparent.
- More large scale statues of Pharaohs.
- Bodily forms began to acquire slimmer trunks, arms and legs.
13th : - Statue of Sebek Hotep reveals a new
departure in the sculptor’s art.

HYKSOS period 15th – 18th dynasty (B

14th -15th : - Pause in development because of the foreign
cruel rulers

- Non Egyptian style of face.

New Empire : 18th , 19th , 20th dynasties

- Egypt liberated from Hyksos rulers.
- Large temples were created.
- Numerous commissions for new sculptures.
- Slender proportions.
- Sculptors struggled to find appropriate themes and style.

By the time of the Old Kingdom, about 2900 BC, Egyptian artists
began to carve life-size stone sculptures. At first sculptors carved
these statues sitting down, which is a lot easier to carve. Most of
these life-size statues were to put in rich people's tombs after they
died. The statues were like replacement bodies for the dead people,
to use in the afterlife. To make the statues look more real, Egyptian
artists painted the statues too. They painted men dark, to show that
they spent a lot of time outside hunting and being manly, and they
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painted women light-skinned, to show that they were rich enough to
stay inside out of the sun, and didn't work in the fields. That's not the
color these people really were though.

Sculpture In the Round

- Statues in the round usually depicted the gods, Pharaohs, or civic

officials, and were composed with special reference to the
maintenance of straight lines .

-Of the materials used by the Egyptian, stone was the most plentiful
and permanent

-Sculpture was often painted in vivid hues as well

-Cubic and frontal- echoes in its form the shape of the stone cube or
block from which it was fashioned,

-The front of almost every statue is the most important part and the
figure sits or stands facing strictly to the front .

Bust of Nefertiti Seated Scribe Seated Man

New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1070 B.C.):

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”.Nefertiti translates to “the beautiful one has come

.Carved from limestone, coated with plaster, and then richly painted
.Depicted with more realism than the earlier periods before
Continued tradition of figure depiction in Egyptian art. Most portraits
.are frontal and depict serious facial expressions
Mother-in-law of King Tutankhamen and was Queen of Egypt for a short
period before the rise of King Tut.

Queen Nefertiti. c. 1360 B.C. Limestone. 20” inches high.

What’s the meaning of relief ?

is any work which belongs to the wall, or other type of background

surface, on which it is carved. Reliefs are traditionally classified
according to how high the figures project from the background. Also
known as relievo. Thus, a relief is like a picture, is dependent on a
background surface and its composition must be extended in a plane to
be visible. Which shows a pictorial method of representing 3-D spatial
relationships on a 2-D surface, and thus has much in common with
fine art painting.

Relief Sculpture:

-Virtually all the wall-sculptures of the Ancient Egyptian Empire are in

the form of bas-relief (low-relief)

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-Relief-composition merely meant arranging the figures in horizontal
lines so as to record an event or represent an action.

-The principal figures were distinguished from others by their size -

gods were shown larger than men, kings larger than their followers,
and the dead larger than the living.

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