THAD 101 | QUIZ 1

Megaloceros Gallery Cave Paintings, Chauvet Cave, France, 30,000 BP

Details: 

• Features over 1000+ drawings and paintings of animals of the time (corrobating with prehistoric French fauna)

  • Giant Deer

• Naturalistic depictions of animals

  • Painted, pigments suspended in medium

    • Limestone cave, charcoal, clay, red ochre?

  • White pigment used, meant to shimmer under torch light

  • Use of perspective to counteract cave texture, use of cave texture to mimic animal hide textures

• Very few human figures, and if seen, are reduced to abstract stick figure

Context & Meaning

• Placed deep in cave, likely inaccessible and hard to reach

  • Ancestors viewed animals as potentially dangerous, and therefore transforming caves into potent, divine places

• Carbon dating suggests that drawings were not created all at once, but overlapped over 1000s of years

  • Suggests that this was a sacred tradition or perhaps an important ritual that happened between descendants and ancestors

Chauvet Cave Paintings, Chauvet Cave, France, 30,000 BP

Details

• Negative hand prints

  • Pigment placed in mouth, then blown into air, creating a negative

Context & Meaning

• Handprints layered over 1000s of years

  • Suggests that this was a sacred tradition or perhaps an important ritual that happened between descendants and ancestors

The Lion Man, Mammoth Ivory, Stadel Cave, Baden-Wuttemberg, Germany, 40,000 BP

Details

• 12 inches tall, carved using stone tools

  • Probably required immense effort to carve

Context & Meaning

• Head of a lion, posture of a man, possessing a penile shaped crotch

  • Possibly chauvinistic, depicting and revealing how early humans conceived gender

Woman of Willendorf, Oolitic limestone, Austria, 26,000-22,000 BP

Details

• Exaggerated phenotype of women

  • Wide hips, large breasts, defined vulva

• 11 cm tall, possibly palm sized

Context & Meaning

• Voluptuous depiction & palm-sized

  • Possibly a lucky charm or fortune for pregnant women engaging in labor during the Paleolithic era 

• Originally believed to be a Venus statue, which was used for fertility worship

  • Then believed to be a self-portrait, where the exaggerated proportions are due to the foreshortening of bodily limbs when looking down on oneself

  • McDermott Theory

Step Pyramid of King Djoser, Egypt, 2670-2650 BCE

Details

• Built by Imhotep (the vizier)

• Stepped Pyramid (suggesting it was made earlier) made of cut limestone, located in a desert in Egypt

Context & Meaning

• Monumental stone tomb and eternal dwelling place

  • Houses his spirit, protects his remains, and allows him to sustain his royal status in the afterlife

• Began as a flat-roofed mastaba, then Imhotep gradually expanded it by adding more rectangular layers

• Reinforces Maat (cosmic order, balance) by physically symbolizing the Pharaoh’s divine role/pla

Bent Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, Dynastic IV, 2613-2590 BCE

Details

• Commissioned by Pharaoh Sneferu, the 4th dynasty founder

• Slanted pyramid made of limestone. Sneferu’s first attempt to build a smooth (flat-planed) sided pyramid

  • 54-degree angle on the lower half, but changed to a 43-degree angle due to failure to hold up

Context & meaning

• Earlier pyramid, as it isn’t perfectly smooth yet

• Monumental stone tomb and eternal dwelling place

  • Houses his spirit, protects his remains, and allows him to sustain his royal status in the afterlife

Giza Pyramids, Dynasty IV, 2600-2500 BCE

Details

• Smooth-faced, slanted pyramid made of cut limestone, made to look reflective in the sun

  • Newer pyramid as it is slanted (thus suggesting this is a more advanced use of engineering by the Egyptians)

• Located in a desert in Egypt

Context & meaning

• Monumental stone tomb and eternal dwelling place

  • Houses his spirit, protects his remains, and allows him to sustain his royal status in the afterlife

Papyrus of Merer, ca 2563 BCE

Details

• Papyrus scroll fragments, carbon black ink (soot) and red ochre ink (from hematite)

• Written are hieroglyphs in hieratic script

Context & meaning

• An ancient logistical logbook and daily journal to record the transport of heavy limestone blocks for building the Great Pyramid of Giza

Augustus of Prima Porta, 20 BCE, Greece

Details

• Marble, polychrome

• Reconstruction of pigments found in the statue, using a lack of painterly approach due to conservative efforts

• Contrapposto, natural weight shift, adlocutio gesture, addressing his troops

Context & meaning

• Breastplate has cosmic deities, suggesting that the universe approves of Augustus’ rule

• Addressing his troops, used to solidify his authority as a powerful military commander

Doryphoros, 460-450BCE., Polykleitos, Pompeii

Details

• Modelled as an ideal, perfect citizen, he is the muscular goal of citizens

• Polykleitos rejects pure naturalism, uses contrapposto to achieve ABBA structure (chiasmus, relaxed and weight bearing)

Context & Meaning

• Body goals, improve upon god’s work

• Act as a anatomical goal for young athletes to emulate (because he was placed in a gym)

The Riace Bronzes, 450 BCE, Greece

Details

• Mixed material using patina; eyes are made of glass; nipples are inlaid with warmer-toned copper

• Contrapposto (similar to Doryphoros)

Context & Meaning

• Heroic depiction of two warriors, enhancing Greek ideas of civic identity and heroic ideal

Head of Odysseus, 100 CE, Greece

Details 

• Head features intense emotion / melancholy

• Theatrical, Late Hellenistic

Context & Meaning

• The sculpture captures Odysseus at the absolute peak of tension, straining as he and his men prepare to thrust a red-hot wooden stake into the single eye of the sleeping giant

Hagia Sophia Cathedral, Constantinople (Now Istanbul), 532-37CE

Details

•  31 m times 150 m dome largest enclosed space for humans for 1000 years, Domes

• Minarets added when it was converted from a Christian church to an Islamic mosque

• Buttresses are used as counterweights, which leave the interior empty

•  Windows from the dome allow light to flood in, while gold mosaic and gilded surfaces allow light to scatter off

Context & meaning

• Light symbolizes God; therefore, as much light would mean there's more holiness in this cathedral or mosque

• Aims to evoke timor,  the fear or reverence of God; if someone previously believed in God, they believe in god even more

Christ Pantokrator, 600 CE, Sinai, Egypt

Details

• Encaustic paint on wood panel

• Half of the Christ is gentle while doing a hand sign, which is meant to be addressing his people

• The other half is more hostile, more angular, harsher, more masculine, aiming to describe the power of God himself & his power

Context & Meaning

• By choosing ½ and ½ method, argues that Jesus was simultaneously fully human and fully divine

• His clothing (a red tunic representing divinity/passion and a blue mantle representing humanity) mirrors this dual nature

Dome of the Rock, 691 CE, Jerusalem

Details

• Mosaic of swirling objects

• Material variety, from marble tops (mirrored so they are symmetrical, book matching) to gold mosaics, glass tesserae 

  • Visualizing the Gardens of Paradise, aiming to show wealth and poulence of Umayyads

Context & Meaning

• Hired Byzantine workers to create the mosaic; Islamic architects try not to portray anything alive, as they think it will prevent messages to God from being intercepted

• Inscribed in the dome is Tawhid (one god only) in the mosaic frieze, stating there’s only 1 god

The Blue Quar’an, 850-950CE, Tunsia

Details

• The manuscript features striking angular Kufic calligraphy written in gold leaf on dark, midnight-blue parchment that was dyed using indigo

Context & Meaning

• It symbolizes the divine word of God (the Quran) illuminating the cosmic darkness of the earthly world

Death of the Buddha, 711 CE, Japan

Details

• Clay diorama depicting the deathbed of Buddha

  • Buddha passing into Nirvana

• Buddha is central figure, surrounded by disciples, bodhisattvas. 

• Located in a 5-story pagoda, Horyu-ji Temple in Nara, Japan

Context & Meaning

• Bodhisattvas remain stoic towards Buddha’s passing, while disciples are in melancholy, representing their lack of spiritual awakening and earthly attachments

Stele of the Buddha and 2 Bodhisattvas, 533 CE, Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern China

Details

• The floral motifs in the two areas between the Buddha and the two Bodhisattvas are incised in very low relief. They consist of lotus leaves and lotus pods with attached petals, all growing from behind the lions.

• Two bodhisattvas and 1 Buddha with almond-shaped body halo

• Hierarchical / Hieratic Scale of subject matter

  • Draped fabrics, archaic and stoic smiles

• Relief carving done in limestone

  • Early evidence of Chinese Buddhist art

Context & Meaning

• Bodhisattvas are those who postpone their own enlightenment to teach others of the ways of Buddhism

• Steles were carved often in the Northern Wei Dynasty; they were stone tablets to spread the ways of Buddha

  • A form of spiritual currency, used to guarantee good health, protect family members, and wipe away past sins.

Variocana Buddha, 752 CE, Nara, Japan

Details

• 15m tall; cast bronze with mercury gold gilding; 250- 500 tons of cast bronze

• Right hand → Abhaya mudra (palm raised), fearlessness and protection

• Left hand → Dhyana mudra (palm on lap facing up), meditation

Context & Meaning

• Emperor Shomu commissioned this after a smallpox epidemic & political instability

  • Aiming to provide peace in a time of crisis

Taizokai Mandala (Womb World Mandala), 850-900CE, Kyoto, Japan

Details

• Esoteric Buddhist painting style (originating in Tang Dynasty China → then introduced to Japan in the 9th century)

• Buddhist mandala iconography

  • 414 deities and 12 concentric courts 

• Ink, gold leaf on silk

Context & Meaning

• Womb mandala → womb is nurturing, creating a realm / spiritual field of enlightenment

• Paired with the Diamond World Mandala

  • The pair of mandalas hang facing each other on temple walls to guide practitioners toward spiritual awakening.

Jocho Amida Buddha, 1053, Kyoto, Japan

Details

• Gold leaf and lacquer on wood

  • Made using multiple pieces of wood (joined wood block technique), which peaked in the 11th century to build large wood statues

• Jochoyo Style proportions

  • Canonical standard, gentle, round facial contours, shallow drapery lines, resembles court refinement

Context & Meaning

• Made to avoid the 3rd degeneration (Mappo), a dark age where the world falls into chaos and enlightenment is impossible

• People in the 3rd degeneration prayed to this Buddha, hoping that they could be reborn into the Western paradise and have Nirvana guaranteed

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams, Fan Kuan, 1000CE, Ink on Silk scroll, Northern Song Dynasty

Details

• Soft hemp fibre strokes

  • Slightly textured, raindrop strokes

• Macrocosmic depiction of the mountain → distortion of proportion in favor of composition

  • Monumental, imposing nature of the mountain

  • Overwhelms viewers

• Background of waterfall occupies most area, Foreground and middle ground occupy small area, tiny humans show insignificance of man

• 6ft high, monumental

Context & Meaning

• Conveys the vast grandeur of the natural world and the small, fleeting place of human beings within it.

• Neo-confucian & Daoist ideas of escaping into nature, how man is insignificant in comparison

Bamboo Groves in Mist and Rain, Guan Daosheng, 1308, ink on paper scroll, Taipei

Details

• Literati ink-monochrome style

  • Calligraphic use of brush, rather than realistic

  • Animal fur / hemp brushes

• Atmospheric Wash

  • Blurred, forcing eye down viewing path

Context & Meaning

• During this time, invasion of the Mongols (Genghis Khan), people in China feel ambivalence, moving away from pictorial rendering and welcoming more abstraction.

Winter Landscape, Sesshu Toyo, 1470, Ink on Paper Scroll, Tokyo 

Details

• Soot ink on paper scroll

• Clear landscape outline

• Brushstrokes are defined, choppy brushstrokes

Context & Meaning

• Buddhism post civil war, where Kyoto is burned

• Solemn nature of painting suggests that those should also pursue zen, removing oneself from the chaos of civil war

Katsushika Hokusai, Rough Impression of the Mitsui Shop, 1831, color woodblock print, Japan

Details

• Use of prussian blue ink to delineate sky and structural lines

• 4-5 colors, limited color palette

• V shape framing of Mt Fuji characterizes it as a Shanshui despite commercial consumerism surrounding the mountain

Context & Meaning

• Mt Fuji is seen as a sacred deity

The Reliquary of St Foy, 1000CE, Conques, France

Details

• Wooden core, covered in gold leaf, silver, enamel, precious stones

  • Covered in SPOILA → taking spoila from Roman Emperor and pasting them on St Foy → COMMENTARY on St Foy’s story

• Accumulated gems through pilgrim donations

• Died for her belief  → respected, so placing her on a throne

Context & Meaning

• Foy was a young teenager who wanted to convert to Christianity; her parents wanted her to marry a non-Christian Roman.

  • Was executed and killed due to this

• Christian monks took her body and turned it into a reliquary, honoring her and her belief

• Sacred vessel to store relics (that’s why its a reliquary!!), housing her physical remains (the relic)

Tympanum with the Last Judgment, 1130 CE, Conques, France

Details

• Stone relief in limestone

• Semicircular Tympanum Format → Romanesque sculpture (very stiff)

• Compositional Elements

  • Viewer’s left side → Neat, orderly, peaceful, harmony

    • Calm architecture of heaven, static poses, no panic nor struggle

  • Right → Hell, chaos, terror, violence, lack of order

    • Figures are contorted, tangled, and asking for help 

• Hand on left raised upward, in welcoming / blessing of his people, acceptance

• Hand on right downward, rejecting saving those in hell, banishing and condemning them

• Inscription warning those who aren’t Christian that if they don’t convert, they would likely go to hell and suffer the fate of the people on the right

Context & Meaning

• Everyone was illiterate so this a comic for them, convince public to change their views

• Repentance warning, terrifying imagery

The Churning of the Sea of Milk, low relief, Angkor Wat, 1113-45CE

Details

• Stone relief

  • Low relief = low contrast

• Rhythmic, tiered composition of identical figures, wearing Angkorean helmets and pleated garments

• 49 meters long, gallery format forces people to walk and experience the totality of it all

Context & Meaning

• Political Propaganda

  • At the end, Suryavarman II, the emperor, defeats enemies in battle, similar to Vishnu 

  • Suggests that Suryavarman, similar to Vishnu, can bring divine order and peace to the Khmer kingdom