History of Art

-Part 1

PROF. CRISENCIO M. PANER, LPT, MSC.

History of Art
❑The history of art focuses on objects made by
humans for any number of spiritual, narrative,
philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary,
decorative, and even functional and other purposes,
but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visual
form. Venus of Willendorf; c.25,000
BC; limestone with ochre colouring
; height: 11 cm; Natural History
Museum (Vienna, Austria)
History of Art
❑Visual art can be classified in diverse ways,
such as separating fine arts from applied arts;
inclusively focusing on human creativity; or
focusing on different media such
as architecture, sculpture, painting,
film, photography, and graphic arts.
❑In recent years, technological advances have
led to video art, computer art, performance The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as
the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of
art, animation, television, and videogames. Cheops) is the oldest and largest of
the pyramids in Egypt, constructed ~2600
B.C.
 History of Stone Age Art
(2.5 million-3,000 BCE)

❖Prehistoric art comes from three epochs of

prehistory: Paleolithic, Mesolithic and
Neolithic.
❖The earliest recorded art is the Bhimbetka
petroglyphs (a set of 10 cupules and an
engraving or groove) found in a quartzite
rock shelter known as Auditorium cave at
Bhimbetka in central India, dating from at
least 290,000 BCE.
❖However, it may turn out to be much older
(c.700,000 BCE).
Bhimbetka petroglyphs, India
 History of Stone Age Art
(2.5 million-3,000 BCE)

❖This primitive rock art

was followed, no later than
250,000 BCE, by simple
figurines (eg. Venus of
Berekhat Ram [Golan
Heights] and Venus of Tan-
Tan [Morocco])
Venus of Tan-Tan
 History of Stone Age Art
(2.5 million-3,000 BCE)
❖and from 80,000 BCE by the Blombos
cave stone engravings (S. Africa), and
the cupules at the Dordogne rock shelter
at La Ferrassie(France).
 Prehistoric Art (~40,000–4,000 B.C.)

❖Prehistoric art includes a broad range of art made by

illiterate cultures, including some of the earliest human
artifacts.
❖Among the first art, objects are decorative artifacts
from Middle Stone Age (10,000-4,000 BC) in Africa.

Apollo 11 Cave Stones, Namibia, quartzite, c.

25,500–25,300 B.C.E. (Charcoal and Ochre)
 Prehistoric Art (~40,000–4,000 B.C.)
❖There are examples in Ukraine, Italy and Great Britain, but most of them are in France and
Spain.
❖Many theories have been suggested about the art's purpose, the most accepted being that it was
part of religious rituals, possibly to evoke hunting success.
❖Besides cave painting, in various parts of the world, especially in Europe, small prehistoric
statuettes known as Venus figurines with exaggerated breasts and bellies were made, the famous
one being Venus of Willendorf, found in Austria.
❖Most have small heads, wide hips, and legs that taper to a point.
❖Arms and feet are often absent, and the head is usually small and faceless
 Prehistoric Art (~40,000–4,000 B.C.)

❖However, the greatest art of prehistory is the cave painting at Chauvet, Lascaux and
Altamira.

Lions Bulls
Bison

Cave painting at Chauvet, France Cave painting at Lascaux, France Cave painting at Altamira, Spain
(~32,000 y.a.) (~39,000 y.a.) ~36,000 y.a.
 Prehistoric Art (~40,000–4,000 B.C.)
❖In Lascaux, the cave contains nearly 6,000 figures, which can be grouped into three main
categories: animals, human figures, and abstract signs.
❖The paintings contain no images of the surrounding landscape or the vegetation of the time.
❖Most of the major images have been painted onto the walls using red, yellow, and black colors
from a complex multiplicity of mineral pigments including iron compounds such as iron oxide
(ochre),hematite, and goethite, as well as manganese-containing pigments.
❖Charcoal may also have been used but seemingly to a sparing extent.
 Prehistoric Art (~40,000–4,000 B.C.)
❖On some of the cave walls, the color may have been applied as a suspension of pigment in
either animal fat or calcium-rich cave groundwater or clay, making paint, that was swabbed or
blotted on, rather than applied by brush.
❖In other areas, the color was applied by spraying the pigments by blowing the mixture through a
tube.
❖Where the rock surface is softer, some designs have been incised into the stone.
❖ Many images are too faint to discern, and others have deteriorated entirely.
 Prehistoric Art (~40,000–4,000 B.C.)
❖Altamira cave painting is renowned for prehistoric parietal cave art featuring charcoal
drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands.
❖The artists used charcoal and ochre or hematite to create the images, often diluting these
pigments to produce variations in intensity and creating an impression of chiaroscuro.
❖They also exploited the natural contours of the cave walls to give their subjects a three-
dimensional effect.
❖The Polychrome Ceiling is the most impressive feature of the cave, depicting a herd of
extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus) in different poses, two horses, a large doe, and possibly
a wild boar.

Bison
 Interpretation of the Paleolithic Art
❖The interpretation of Palaeolithic Art is problematic, as it can be influenced by our own
prejudices and beliefs.
❖Some anthropologists and art historians theorize the paintings could be an account of past
hunting success or could represent a mystical ritual in order to improve future hunting
endeavors.
❖ Iconographic method of analysis- studying the position, direction and size of the figures;
organization of the composition; painting technique; distribution of the color planes; research of
the image center
❖In Lascaux cave paintings, “angular or barbed signs” may be analyzed as "weapon" or
"wounds".
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkWHrWw5yTg

-The Evolution of Art (and how it Shaped the Modern World)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZOsR0TzbJ8

-The History of Art in 3 Minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdlQxISNpwY&list=PLJEe_1TMxfFhspRFF8tmNG6n4JI
DegR3C

-Stone Age Art History from Goodbye-Art Academy