medieval art exam 1

Woman from Hohle Fels, Germany. c. 35,000 BCE (must know date).

• no feet, no head (a loop or ring instead to use on necklace)

• oldest known representation of human body

• 2” mammoth ivory, discovered in 2008

Woman from Willendorf, Austria

• sculpture in the round (freestanding), subtractive

• limestone, little over 4 inch in height

• breasts distorted, slotted stomach, genitalia=female

• head unrealistic -? no face (cap?, braided hair?)

• arms on breast but not proportionate

• torso exaggerated

• no feet, short legs

• redness of limestone = blood, childbirth, fertility

• small size = charm or amulet = apotropaic (provides protection)

Lion/Feline-headed Human, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany

• mammoth tusk, 11 5/8” high

• hybrid or composite creature

• human combined with lion head

• god? status, patron wanted? mythological creature? human in mask?

• evidence of creativity

Lascaux cave panting, Lascaux, Dordogne, France

Hall of Bulls

• variety of animals (horses, reindeer, cows)

• style = simplified or schematic (flat, contours) yet realistic

• complex images show communal teamwork/leader, dividing of labor

• twisted perspective = composite view w/ most parts shown in profile but other part shows frontally → descriptive realism (desire to have all parts visual) vs optical realism (if look at profile all should be in profile i.e. horns overlap)

Axial Gallery

• white limestone

• bulls and horses

• functions: hunting/sympathetic magic: had to follow animals to hunt; voodoo dolls

• throwing rocks and spears = enact hunt → creates successful hunt irl

• function: initiation rituals: end has evidence of flint in wall covered in red stuck in crevices → suggest walking thru and inserting objects in wall w/ special meaning

Well/Shaft

• image of hunting: man gone on hunt (images of spear and injured bison (fatal bc bowels of bison spilling out), man fall on ground

• head (and hands) of man looks like bird

• ? shaman = magic man → dressed up as bird w/ mask > part of magic of successful hunt

• ? human transforming into bird as he dies

Deer hunt, wall painting, Çatal Hüyük, Turkey

• 2 deer and humans surround them

• bodies are seen from side but torso front (complete view)

• holding weapons to hunt deer

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England

• 330 ft in diameter, 56 holes for bluestones (-volcanic stones, from Wales, 150 miles West)

• 5 pairs of vertical sarsen stones topped with horiz. slabs; each = trilithon (post and lintel construction)

• circle of 30 vertical sarsen stones w/ continuous lintel (16 ft tall)

• lead to nearby River Avon

sarsen stones = dress (cut and formed) and moved using sleds, rails. ropes

pivot blocks, tilting stones and ramps

Seahenge, Norfolk County, England

• 18 ft diameter, 55 wooden posts, 10 ft high

• in the middle: inverted oak tree

Ziggurat, Ur, Iraq

Warka Vase, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq

Statuettes, Square Temple, Eshnunna, Iraq

Bull lyre, Royal Cemetery, Ur, Iraq

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, Sippar, Iraq

Votive Statue of Gudea, Lagash, Iraq

Lamassu, entrance to the throne room, palace of Sargon II, Khorsabad, c. 720 BCE

Palette of King Narmer, Hierakonpolis, Egypt

Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt

Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt.

Pyramid of Khafre and related structures, Gizeh, Egypt, c. 2520-2494 BCE

Valley Temple of the Pyramid of Khafre, Gizeh, Egypt

Seated Sculpture of Khafre, Gizeh, Egypt.

Seated Scribe, mastaba at Saqqara, Egypt

Ti Watching a hippopotamus hunt, mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt

Hatshepsut with offering jars, mortuary temple, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt

Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt.

Akhenaton and Family, shrine stele, Amarna, Egypt

Death mask of Tutankhamen, Thebes, Egyp

Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, Thebes, Egypt.