C2C Midterm 1

Caves to Cathedrals at WMU with Dr. Kubiski

Style

The way the artist organizes the elements in a piece, a kind of signature

Formal Analysis

What it looks like and how it’s put together, described using the elements and principles and how they interact to create a message, mood or focus

Elements

Line, shape, space, color, texture

Principles

Balance, emphasis, movement (among others)

Fur Traders on the Missouri

Example of how historical context influences how a work is received, various details in the painting reference the trail of tears, the dying industry of trapping and the romanticized view of antiquity

Postmodernism

Time period we are currently in, following the modern period

Philosophy of interpretation centered on the acknowledgement that our own preoccupations and preconceptions influence our understanding of the past and multiple points of view are expected

Audience Reception

Philosophy of interpretation based on postmodernism, which understands that different audiences will interpret artwork based on their cultural identity and personal experiences

Modern

Any ‘new thing’ in art, Italian renaissance considered itself modern until the 1950s at which point the period itself was labelled ‘modern’

(Our current period is called postmodern or contemporary)

The Greek Slave

Free standing sculpture of a nude woman made from marble, one of the most famous works in the 1840s

As nudity was not expected to be a great selling point in highly Puritan America, the sculpture was manipulated into being a depiction of white Christianity being subjugated

Not only changed the rules about how women can be displayed in art, but also demonstrated how art can be manipulated to achieve a certain end

Also see The Virginian Slave, a parody of the work that pointed out the irony of white Americans being enamored with the story of a white slave while being a country supported by slavery

Paleolithic

Time period spanning 30,000-15,000 BCE

Human with Feline Head

• Paleolithic- 30,000 BCE, mammoth ivory

• 12 inches tall

• Southwest Germany

• Composite/hybrid animal

Probably a male shaman which was shattered and was very difficult to put back together. No explicitly detailed genetalia to determine gender of the statue, but all other statues of this type are definitely male

No fully human figures- all statues like this, male and female, do not have defined faces.

Nude Woman/Venus of Willendorf

• Approx 25,000 BCE

  • Radio carbon dating- can’t date the
    figure, but can do the things around it

• Limestone with red ochre pigment

• 4.5 inches tall

  • Found at a domestic site- people lived at the same layer she was found

Likely a good luck charm for pregnant women to have a safe pregnancy and delivery, figures like this found commonly at domestic sites

Also no defined faces- common in statues from this period

Altamira Cave/Hall of the Bulls

• First recognized European cave painting

• Discovered late 19th century, painted 15,000 BCE

• Spain/Pyrranese mountains

• Rich Spanish landowner exploring with his daughter, who was initially dismissed by wider academia because the bulls were too well painted to be cave paintings

Approx 20 bulls on the ceiling, other animals but mostly bulls

Further in the cave, there are deer, shapes, masks and hands

“Digital macaroni” long indentations in now-calcified substance that are indicative of tracks made by fingers

Advanced understanding of shading, dimensions, and animal proportion/anatomy

Lascaux Cave/Hall of the Bulls 2.0

• Long system of cave paintings in France that started to deteriorate due to tourism, closed to the public in approx 1960

  • 15,000 BCE

  • Charcoal, manganese dioxide, and ochres

• Evidence of scaffolding, torches, food, and palettes- this was a complex and involved operation

• Differences between areas that were drawn and areas that were painted and areas that had paint “blown” on like spray paint

  • Variety of methods, sizes and materials

• Caves were reused regularly- images painted on top of other images

Lascaux Theories of Meaning

Hunting Magic

• Manifesting a good hunt, sympathetic hunting magic that symbolized the hunter’s power over the animal

Record of Animal Behavior

• Historical records of what animals do for teaching future hunters, which could indicate common animal behaviors and what to look for to indicate the changing of seasons

Shamanism

• Rhinocerous, Wounded Man and Disemboweled Bison in Lascaux

  • When men are depicted in caves, they are commonly shown engaging in a shamanistic practice

Symbolic Encoding

• Animals and Symbols found in Lascaux

• Not a written language, but could communicate through symbols like red dots

Mnemonic Devices

• Paintings could help people navigate the complex cave systems

  • Tuc d’Audoubert Cave in Southern France, made of three caves on top of each other- top cave was a domestic site, middle cave was a cave painting which led to a clay bison surrounded by footprints 900 meters into a cave. Method of teaching children how to survive in the wild

Tuc d’Audoubert Clay Bison

Labor intensive sculpting process, efforts made to preserve the figures in 1912

Limestone carvings, animal remains, fox and bear teeth, bear bones, finger markings were used to direct people through the cave

Bison are at the very end of the cave after 900 meters, could be a ritual space

Rituals used to pass down information are dramatic, intense and sometimes painful- used that to teach children how to survive in the setting

Ziggurat at Ur

• 2500 BCE

• Mud brick, stepped shape which is solid up to the top chamber

• Walls of the ziggurat were decorated with mosaic-like cones pushed into the bricks

• Tombs found at base, 16 with grave goods

  • Queen Puabi and associated goods

Bull Headed Lyre

• One of Queen Puabi’s grave goods

• Lyre itself is made of wood, and has a relief on it made of bitumen and shell depicting hybrid animals in twisted perspective

• Heraldic imagery

• Alienation based on identity- representation of enemies

Votive Figures

• 2500 BCE

• Stone, shell, black limestone, bitumen

• Statuettes made to represent an individual to be placed in the ziggurat to represent constant prayer

• Approx 12”

Lamassu

• 700 BCE

• Relief sculpture (relief meaning not free standing)

• Protective spirit places at entrances and gates

• First appears in Sumeria as female figures, at some point change to male

• Pattern elements

• Hybrid bull-human-bird

Assyrian Lion Hunt

King Killing Lion, 500 BCE

• Human figures depicted as calm and in control, while animals are clearly suffering

Dying Lioness, 700 BCE

• Detailed expressions of pain on the animals, very different approach to depicting animals in Assyria vs Sumer

Palette of King Narmer

• 3000 BCE

• 25” tall slate

• Used to blend kohl and paint on the statues of Horus in the name of the Pharaoh

• Highly decorated with Narmer’s achievements and subjugation of lower Egypt

• Front is a representational narrative, back is a symbolic narrative, but both depict Narmer conquering lower Egypt

Great Pyramids

• In size order: Khufu, Khafre, Menkure

  • Sphinx is in front of Khafre

• Mortuary chamber where mummies were embalmed were removed from the actual interior of the pyramid

• Immense amounts of grave goods, showed the belief that everything you had in life had to physically accompany you to the afterlife

• Very visible and undefended, grave robbers were common

• Grave goods showed an environment preferable to preservation, with linen and wood lasting up to 2500 years later

Sphinx

• In front of Khafre’s pyramid

• Had Khafre’s face on it

• Carved out of bedrock, 66 feet tall

• On the west bank but faced the east- defended the Necropolis

Ka statue of Khafre

• 2500 BCE

• Under life size

• Hawk was depicted behind the statue- visual representation of Horus

• Created so the pharaoh’s spirit could inhabit different states of being

  • Idealization

Pharaoh Menkaure and Queen

• 2500 BCE

• 4 feet, stone relief

• Canon of proportion and what was considered desirable at the time

• Function over form

Royal Audience Hall (Persepolis)

Carved into the side of a mountain, relied on a ton of columns to support the heavy stone roof- floor plan is still visible, though the audience hall was destroyed by the Greeks

“Procession” and “Darius Recieving Tribute” reliefs

Procession relief shows an annual new year celebration, celebrated on the spring equinox, representatives of all subjugated nations were required to bring tribute to Darius

Still using a hierarchy of size and elevation, though not in twisted perspective

Rosetta Stone

Dates to around 2690 BCE, but hieroglyphs were not translated until 1820s. Napoleon’s army found the stone in 1799, and it features the same text written in hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek. 

Seated Scribe Ka Statue

• Life size, 2500 BCE

• Limestone, gesso and paint

• Lifelike depiction, in the attention to detail paid in the eyes and lack of strict adherence to the canon of proportions- soft belly, not made of long-lasting material

Mid-rank individual who could afford a decent quality Ka statue

Standing Wooden Ka Statue

• Wood, 2500 BCE

• Again, high detail paid to the eyes and realistic depiction of the individual- overweight, expressive face, pose is in motion

• No attention paid to canon of proportion

Lower ranking individuals got less idealized Ka statues made from materials which were less likely to last

Illustration from Book of the Dead

• Depicts a soul being led through the underworld by Anubis, before his soul is judged against a feather and proves to be lighter. He is then granted eternal life by Osiris, who sits on a throne.

• Books are instruction manuals with spells, maps and prayers to get through the journey through the afterlife to be judged by Osiris

• No heaven or hell, rather existence or nonexistence

Amarna Period

• Mid 1300 BCEs

• Brief period of time in Egyptian history during which the pharaoh Akhenaten changed the polytheistic structure of the church to worship only the sun god Aten

• Resulted in a radical stylistic departure from what was expected in Egyptian art- almost caricaturized, with women playing a much more predominant role

• Akhenaten is speculated to have been intersex, though this hasn’t yet been proven

Akhenaten and Family

• Altar relief, limestone, ~1350

• Intaglio relief, depicted the pharaoh with his wife and daughters in a domestic scene- something which is not seen with any other pharaoh

• The canon of proportions was shifted to depict Akhenaten’s proportions, such as an elongated neck and limbs

Tomb of Tutankhamen

• ~1323

• Only grave to have been found undisturbed

• Cut out of the cliff face in the Valley of Kings, necropolis

  • Three sarcophogi placed over the actual body

Tutankhamen Middle Sarcophagus

• Almost entirely gold

• Inlaid with lapis, carnelian and other precious metals, as well as patterning

• Return to canon of proportion

• Death mask is very similarly decorated, but has hieroglyphics along the back

Geometric Period

• 900-700 BCE, Greece

• Characterized by use of basic shapes to compose larger figures, very little detail within those

• High stylization and no attention paid to realism

  • Contrast with Assyrian lion reliefs

Vase from Dipylon Cemetery

• Geometric period

• Grave marker in cemetery, approx 4 feet

• Depicts a soldier’s funerary procession and rites, including exaggerated displays of mourning and a narrative depiction of the rites

• Forms composed of geometric shapes, return of composite perspective

Kouros Statue

• Archaic period , 700-480 BCE

• Depicts a young man in a very similar pose and with similar body language to the pharaoh Ka statues, found in temples, public spaces and graveyards as a grave marker of votive statue

• Nudity as a symbol of heroism rather than alterity

• Only previous examples of male nudity are in Egyptian priests, though these had clothes painted over them

First sign that the Greeks are about to flip things upside down