ART201 Midterm

All of the testable images of artwork I have seen in class.

“Hall of the Bulls”

• In Lascauz, France

• Dated 16,000-14,000 BC

• Displays bulls, horses, deer, boar (mega fauna)

  • Animals were glorified as a way to try and harness their power

  • “Make me more like this animal”

  • give me the speed of a horse, power of a steer

• 64 feet long

• Largest bull is 11.5 feet long

• 50 feet inside the cave

  • caves were associated with the womb

• Used scaffolding to paint higher up on the walls

• Pigments used were charcoal and ochar

• Lit up by torches of animal fat and the light made it seem like the figures were moving

• collaboratively made by several artists overtime

• Preserved footprints of adolecents mostly

  • coming of age ceremony

“Woman Holding a Bison Horn”

• AKA Laussel Woman

  • Found in Laussel, France

  • Dated 25,000-20,000 BC

• One of the erliest relief sculptures “Known”

• 1.5 Feet tall

• Found in open air in front of a paleolithic rock shelter

  • contradicts the notion that all paleolithic humans lived in caves

• Traces of red ocher is found on the relief

  • Ancient aritist painted sculptures

• FIgure similar to the Venus of Willendorf

  • Emphasis on her belly, breasts, and hips

  • Her arm emphasises her belly and genital area.

• 13 Incisions on the horn

  • Perhaps referencing menstural cycles?

“White Temple”

• In Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq

  • Ancient mesopotamia

• Dated 3,300 BC

• Made on top of a human made mountain

  • 45 feet above street level

    • Made of bricks

    • put on top of this artificial mountain to be closer to the gods

• Unclear if it had a roof

• Deadicated to the god Anu presumeably

• In the center of what was the city of Uruk

  • Most important building in the city

“Female Head (Inanna?)”

• Found in the Inanna Temple in Uruk (Warka), Iraq

• Dated 3,300 BC

• Displayed in Baghdad, Iraq

  • In National Museum of Iraq

• A fragmentary Marble Head

• Assumed to protray the goddess Inanna

  • Goddess of sex, fertility, and warfare

• Eyes once had inlays consisting of gems

• As well as once having golden hair

• Rest of the body being made of wood

  • A large hunk of marble would have been very expensive to import

  • Body would have been covered in intracate and espensive fabrics

• Would have been decorated and painted with vibrant colors

“Warka Vase”

• “Presentation of offerings to Innan(Warka Vase), From the Inanna temple complex”

• From Uruk, Iraq

  • In Inanna Temple

• Dated 3,300 BC

• Displayed in the National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad

• Displays Scenes in registers banding across the vase

  • Depicts a religious ceremony honoring Inanna

  • Registers starting at the bottom depict water, ewes and rams (fertility symbols), agriculture and husbandry

  • Naked men (slaves?)

• Tells a story of how Inanna blessed the lands and the people show her thanks for her blessing

• A votive left at her temple

  • Votive displaying people giving her votives

• FIRST great work of narritve relief sculpture.

• Common ground line

• Figures and animals shown in profile

• Hierearchy of scale

• Depictions of pictographs with the symbols of Inanna adorning the top register

• Displays a symbolic marriage

“Statuettes of Two Worshippers”

• Found at the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar) in Iraq

• Dated 3,900-2,750 BC

• Male Figure is almost 2.5 Feet tall

• Female Figure is almost 2 Feet tall

• Votive statues made by worshippers to be sent to the temples because they couldnt

• Held small cups to pour libations for the gods

• Wide Large eyes to symbolize “perpetual wakefulness”

• Heads tilted up to look and to wait for the god to arrive

• Hierarchy of scale

“Stele with the laws of Hammurabi”

• Set up in Babylon, Iraq

  • Found in Susa, Iran

• Dated 1780 BCE

• Made of Basalt

• Is 7 feet and 4 inches tall.

• Can be viewed at the Musee du Luvre, Paris

• Depicts Shamash giving Hammurabi symbols of power to rule and judge

  • A ruler because he was important in civic infastructure of Babylon

  • As well as a law giver and Judge as he will measure human behavior

• Shows that his law is blessed/endorsed by the gods and his divine power as a leader.

• Hierarchy of scale

• Use of Foreshortening

  • Hammurabi and Shamash are shown at an angle

• Groundline

• Squiggles on Shamash’s shoulders represent heat

“Ishtar Gate (Restored)”

• Originally found in Babylon, Iraq

• Currently in the Near Eastern Museum in Berlin, Germany

• Dated 575 BC

• Built in honor of the goddess Ishtar

• Built by the Priest Kind Nebuchanezzar II

  • who apparently built the gardens of Babylon

• Marks the New Years Precession

• Made of mud brick but glazed in cobalt to give the illusion of Lapis Lazuli

• The blue represents Virility

• Depicts Marduk and Nabu’s Dragon, Adad’s Bull, and Ishtar’s Lions.

  • Mushushu (Dragon)

• Lions leading to the entrace symbolize Ishtar leading you to the gate