Art History Exam 1

What is this statues name, date, and place

Lion Man

38,000 BCE

Found in Hohlenstein-Stadel Germany

What is this statue made of and significance regarding that

• Mammoth ivory

• Using all material of what they’re hunting

Why was this object built? What are some questions on its significance?

• Used as a toy, spiritual ritual, telling stories?

• Does not stand on its own - meant to be handled

• Could it be a bear?

• Creative - lion man doesn’t actually exist - using imagination

• Intentional notches on its arm - what do they mean?

Therioanthrope

human-animal hybrid

Ex: lion man

What is this statue’s name, date, and place?

• Node woman / Venus or Woman of Willendorf

• 25,000 BCE

• Willendorf Austria

• From Italy but found in Austria

What is this statue’s material?

Limestone

What are some themes, questions, thoughts about this statue?

• Very common kind of figurine

• Exaggerated body type - symbolizing fertility, abundance, childbirth?

• No neck/face - not of a specific woman - intention bands around face

• Represents a deity?

• More than enough to eat - positive thing/idea

• Very tiny arms and legs

What’s the possible function of this statue?

• Can’t stand on own - not for display

• Can wrap string around neck to make into a necklace

• Could it be used as a teaching tool?

What is the name of this statue? What is its date and place of origin?

• Bull and cow bison clay reliefs

• Le Tuc d’Audoubert, France

• 15,000 BCE

What is this statue’s material?

• grey: limestone rock

• Light tan: clay from la Salle des Bisons

• Dark tan: clay from la Salle des Talons

What are some of the findings, themes, and questions about this statue?

• Manipulating cave environment in symbolic way

• Using the cave not just for sleeping and shelter

• Exploring the cave

• Footprints around from both children and adults - is it for an initiation ritual? did children also help built this statue?

• Found very deep in cave - probably not just for fun

• Got clay from a different cavern

What are these images of? What do they mean? Where were they found? What date?

• Human footprint in clay floor

• Broken cave bear skull surrounded by footprints

• Humans finding these skulls and using them for a purpose - display, storytelling, etc?

• Le Tuc d’Audoubert France

• 15,000 BCE

What's the background information about caves and art?

• Caves used for shelter- use main entrance

• Not living far back - could get lost, harder to get out, very dark, animals

• Caves are complex - many passages and levels

• Artwork usually far back in cave

  • People do navigate the caves

  • Intentionally seeking out the back

  • Special occasions- don’t regularly venture

Neanderthal

Extinct human relatives who lived in Europe/Asia; evidence suggests they used pigments and made/used symbolic or decorative objects. Recent findings that they did make art

Homo Sapiens

Our species; created much of the surviving Paleolithic cave art and portable art studied in art history.

Hunter-gatherer-fisher groups

People survived by hunting animals, gathering plants, and fishing rather than farming. Important context for why animals appear so often in Paleolithic art.

• humans were migratory - to follow big game and gather seasonal nuts and berries

  • Coming across other humans or neanderthals

Personal adornment (body art)

Decorating the body through things like beads, jewelry, pigments, etc. Shows that artistic/symbolic expression wasn't limited to caves.

• has come to identify as a form of art

Ivory

Material from animal tusks; carved to create portable sculptures.

Clay

Moldable earth material used to create forms/sculptures and sometimes found in caves.

Red ochre

Natural iron-rich earth pigment that produces reddish colors; used in prehistoric art/body decoration.

• used in a lot of cave paintings

therianthropes

Figures combining human and animal characteristics. Potentially connected to beliefs, rituals, or supernatural ideas, although interpretations are uncertain.

Aboriginal Australians

Indigenous peoples of Australia with very old and continuing artistic traditions. UDnderstanding traditions involving land, animals, ancestors, and spirituality.

Dreamtime / The Dreaming

Aboriginal Australian concept involving ancestral beings, creation, land, law, and continuing spiritual relationships.X

X-ray style

Artistic style showing both the outside and internal features of animals/figures. Associated especially with Aboriginal Australian art.

Eland

Large African antelope. Especially important in San rock art and associated with spiritual/ritual significance.

Auroch

Large extinct wild cattle; ancestors/relatives of domestic cattle. Frequently represented in prehistoric European cave art.

Cave lion

Extinct large lion represented in Paleolithic cave art.

Used in statues or paintings

Abstract

Art that does not attempt to represent subjects realistically/naturalistically; may use simplified shapes, signs, patterns, etc.

Naturalistic

Depicts subjects in a way that resembles their appearance in nature. Paleolithic animals can be surprisingly naturalistic.

Sculpture in the round

Fully three-dimensional sculpture meant to exist independently rather than being attached to a background. Can generally be viewed from multiple sides

Relief

Sculpture that projects from or is carved into a background/surface rather than being completely freestanding.

Shaman/Shamanism

A shaman is a spiritual/ritual specialist believed in some cultures to communicate with or interact with a spirit world, often through altered states. Shamanism is one interpretation scholars have proposed for some prehistoric art—not something we can know for certain.

San / Bushmen

Indigenous peoples of southern Africa with important rock-art traditions. San practices have sometimes been used by scholars as comparisons when interpreting prehistoric art.T

Trance dance

San ritual involving dancing and altered states of consciousness; connected to healing/spiritual practices and interpretations of some San rock art

Scientific methods of dating art

• Thermoluminescence dating

• C-14 Dating

• Uranium-Series isotope dating

Archaeological context of dating art

• Stratigraphy: using layers of sediment and rock

• Artifacts from the same level date to the same period

• Can establish a relative chronology based on deposit of layers

• Can only be specifically dated when combined with scientific

Stylistic Analysis of Dating Art

• More subjective

• Based on the principle that style is culturally determined and changes over time

• Similar styles date contemporaneously

• Subjective

Examples of formal qualities that can be period-specific

• Materials (example: bronze not till certain time)

• Technologies (example: printing press)

• Method of manufacture

First intentional burials

• Body inhumed in flexed position, red ochre, flowers

• Indicates a concern with the afterlife, symbolic thinking

• Form of creative expression

• Burying with care

• Abstract thinking beyond the physical

First artistic creations

• Small and portable since they are on the move (exception: cave and rock art)

• Symbolic and creative thinking, high-level cognitive abilities

• Dominate imagery: animals and plants around them

• Far fewer images of humans, most female

• NOT unique to Homo sapiens