Art History World Art Before 1400 BCE Midterm 1

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Hall of the Bulls

Lauscaux Caves, France

15000BCE, Paleolithic

Painting on Limestone

Discovered in the 1940's

Created over thousands of years as seen by overlapping paintings

What key characteristics define the Paleolithic period?

42000-6500 BCE

From earliest known things we define as art, to the rise of settled communities

Small handheld figures

Made from local materials

More female than male

More human than animal

Lack of detailed anatomy

Exaggerate female sex characteristics

Less imaginative

Often naked

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Petroglyphs at Winnemucca Lake

Nevada, Arizona

14000BCE, Paleolithic

Oldest known petroglyphs

What are petroglyphs?

Incisions or carvings on rock surfaces. They are hard to date due to weathering.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Woman of Willendorf

Austria

Paleolithic, 24000 BCE

Carved Limestone & Ochre

Thought to be symbol of fertility

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Lion Headed Figure

Found in Germany

38000 BCE

Paleolithic

Carved from mammoth tusk

Earliest example of something we know is thought rather than seen - imagination

What is Mesopotamia?

An umbrella term for many different city states in the region of Iraq.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Ruins of Anu Urka

Warka, Iraq

3300-3000 BCE, Mesopotamian (Sumerian)

Ziggurat temple

What is a ziggurat? What is it used for?

A ziggurat is a temple of Mesopotamian culture. They resemble pyramids in the tall, steeped structure, but had different usages. Ziggurats are a place of worship and prayer. They are built upwards to be closer to the gods. They were viewed as a connection between ground and gods.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Inanna Vase

Warka, Iraq

3300-3000 BCE, Mesopotamiaan

36 inches tall

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Enheduanna Disc

2200 BCE, Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

What are key figures of Mesopotamian Art?

Less exaggerated, more realistic anatomy

Lots of clay work, but not necessarily pottery (engravings, carvings, imprints)

Clear stories

Clear Religious figures

Characters shown on flat ground, split into registers

Ziggurats

feet off ground lines- motion

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Queen Puabi's Funeral Ensemble

2500 BCE, Mesopotamian

Made of gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Lyre with Bull's Head

2500 BCE, Mesopotamian

Depicts the epic of Gilgamesh (written by Enhedunna)

What is an epic?

A long form poem.

What are megalithic structures?

Large stone structures that are one of the markings of the Neolithic period.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Stonehenge

England

3100-1600 BCE

Neolithic

One of the best known megalithic structures

Burial site

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Iniskim Umaapi (Majorville Medicine Wheel)

Neolithic

Alberta - Bassano

4500-3200 BCE-still in use

What key characteristics define the Indus River Valley Civilizations period?

2600-1900 BCE

Metal work, clay pots, systems of writing

Less religious, more interested in play

Lots of jewellery

Small figures

Seals

Carving

Bronze casting

Seems to worship females more

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Seated Mother Goddess

Mergarh (Pakistan)

3000-2500 BCE, Indus Valley

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Harappan Terracotta Fragments

Pakistan

3200-2500 BCE, Indus Valley

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Harappa Torso

Pakistan

2000 BCE, Indus Valley

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Indus Girl Dancing

2500 BCE, Indus Valley

Bronze casting

What is high relief?

a carved panel where the figures project with a great deal of depth from the background, appearing 3D.

How can you tell later Mesopotamian art from earlier art?

Later art maintains the same ideas as earlier art (ground lines, bulgy eyes, beards, side profiles, hieratic scales) but show better motion and time, look more complicated, and contain more layers. The feet off the ground lines how movement, motion and sense of time

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Queen of the Night Relief Statue

1800-1750BCE, Mesopotamian (old Babylonian)

Ishtar (Inanna) in her hybrid form

What are votive figures?

Votive Figures

2700BCE, Mesopotamian

Offering figures that represent eternal prayers when people are outside the temple

What are cylinder seals?

Small cylinders that imprint a story.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Ishtar Gate

675BCE, Mesopotamian (Babylonian)

Controlled city access and decorated with depictions of major deities.

Who is Inanna?

Inanna is a goddess of sex, fertility, war, and harvest, who was worshipped in different cultures with different names.

What are Sumerians accredited with?

Wagon wheel, pottery wheel, metal casting, time in increments of 60, crops

Wrote in clay slates with pictographs (cuneiform writing)

What is low relief?

When an artwork appears to be popping out a little but still looks like a 2D image. Used to decorate walls often by flat rock sculptures that would often have also been painted.

What are steles?

Upright stone slabs that tell stories, often commemorating death, using hierarchical scales. The use of these scales was outside Mesopotamian norms.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Victory Stele of Naram-sin

2225 BCE, Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

6 feet 6 inches tall

What key characteristics define the Neolithic period?

Roughly 6500 - 2000 BCE

Megalithic structures

Marked by people moving together

Evidence of larger groups coming together and working on larger structures that require cooperation

Who was Enheduanna?

She was the oldest known literary figure. She was a poet, princess and priestess dedicated to the Moon Goddess Nanna (variation of Inanna). The first found epic was written by her. She is accredited with the connection of variant gods across similar Mesopotamian cultures.

What is Ochre?

A naturally occurring reddish stone. The pigment can be applied to stone to make "art".

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Vessel With Goddess (Inanna?)

2400 BCE, Mesopotamian

What are some important things to know about Ancient Egypt?

3000 - 330 BCE

Polytheistic (belief in multiple deities)

Strong beliefs towards the continuation of life through the afterlife

Pharoah/King's protection in the afterlife was vital for the community's wellbeing.

What is a register?

System of organizing space; in vases, specifically horizontal bands used to divide patterns.

What is iconography?

The traditional images or means of representing a subject; also the study of meaning of images.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Inanna Vase

Warka

3200-3000 BCE, Mesopotamian

Divided into registers, which allows it to have a narrative

What are Ka statues?

Statues that are intended to provide a resting place for the ka of the person after death.

What is Ka?

The soul, spirit or life force of a person

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Great Pyramids of Giza

2500 BCE, Ancient Egypt

Pyramids of three rulers: Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Khafre Ka Statue

2500 BCE, Ancient Egypt

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Menkaure and Queen

2475 BCE, Ancient Egypt

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Seated Scribe

2400 BCE, Ancient Agypt

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Judgement of Hunefer Before Osiris

1285 BCE, Ancient Egypt

What are some key aspects of the Persian Empire?

550 BCE- 330 BCE

Cyrus the Great asserts control over Mesopotamia and eventually parts of Pakistan, Egypt, India and Greece

Creates a massive centralized state, at its height estimated to rule 40% of the world's population and be the wealthiest state in the world at that time.

Has distinct start and end date

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Persepolis- Ruins of Ceremonial Complex

518 - destroyed 300 BCE, Persian Empire

Marvdash

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Low Reliefs from Apadana (Audience Hall) of Darius and Xerxes

500 BCE, Persian

Low relief

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Relief sculpture from Palace at Susa

500 BCE, Ancient Persian

Glazed brick

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Architects: Kallikrates and Iktinos.

The Parthenon

Athens

447-432 BCE, Classical Greece

Dedicated to Athena

What three periods do we divide Ancient Greece's Cultural ID into?

Archaic: 600-480 BCE

Classical: 480-323 BCE (which can sometimes be divided even further into Early, High and Late classical

Hellenistic: 323-31 BCE

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Metropolitan Kouros (young male)

600 BCE, Archaic Greek

Terracotta

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Berlin Kore

570-560 BCE, Archaic Greek

Female version of Kouros

How do Kores differ from Kouros?

Kouros were the idea of masculine almost sex symbols during this time when it was seen as normal for an older man to "claim" and "educate" a younger male. Kores are the female equivalent of Kouros. Since women were not depicted as sex symbols, Kores are always clothed. They are often found in temples, making offers to or even representing goddess.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Anavysos Kouros

530 BCE Archaic Greek

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Kritios Boy Kouros

480 BCE Classical Greece

This was significant in showing the development of contrapposto

What is contrapposto?

Italian for counterpose. The idea of a weight bearing leg. The figure is show with a bent knee (bearing leg) and appears ready for movement.

What are some key points of change from Archaic to Classical Greek?

The development of contrapposto. Significant differences in realism and naturalism, and a shift in the idea of masculinity (young, thin, almost feminine to beefy, bearded warriors). Some key events that may have contributed to this change is the union of the Greeks, which lead to the defeat of Persia in the Battle of Marathon (480 BCE), as well as the development of democracy.

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Dying Warrior (1)

500 BCE Archaic Greek

in West Pediment of the Temple of Aphaia

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Dying Warrior (2)

490-480 BCE Classical Greek

in East Pediment of the Temple of Aphaia

shows differences between Archaic and Classical through realism

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Archer (Paris)

500-490 BCE Archaic Greek

This work was reconstructed in the theorized polychrome in 2004 by Brinkmann and Brinkmann

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Riace Warrior

460-450 BCE Early Classical Greek

Bronze sculpture

What are some key points of the Acropolis/High Classical Period?

More confidence in architecture and art due to the win in Battle of Marathon

Badly defeated by Persians in 480BCE

Win again in 479BCE under the leader Perikles

Athenians rebuild the destroyed Athens, including the Parthenon, marking the High Classical Period (450-400BCE)

Limited democracy

Relatively peaceful

What are the 3 main orders of Greek Architecture?

Doric- no bases, simple capital, entablature only has a sculpture in the metope (Parthenon)

Ionic- fluting bases, columns have fillets, capitals have volutes, there is a sculpture on continuous frieze of entablature

Corinthian- most notable is the more elaborate capitals with leaves, columns have slight curve and visually are taller

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Pedimental Sculpture from the Parthenon

435 BCE, Classical Greek

Depicts titanesses and goddesses, Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Detail of a metope from the Parthenon

Centaur and Lapith

435BCE Classical Greek

Artistic direction by Phidias

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Polykleitos

Spear Bearer (Doryphoros)

450-440 BCE Classical Greek

What are the canon of proportions?

A set of rules that describes the "best" proportions- gives ratios that determine the relation of parts to the whole

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Ancient Greek Water Jug

430 BCE Classical Greek

Depicts the "perfect" Greek family; warrior man, mother woman

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Praxieteles

Aphrodite of Knidos

360 BCE Late Classical Greece

first records nude goddess sculpture

What are the key points of the Hellenistic Era?

323-30BCE

More contact with other surrounding cultures due to the overwhelming expansion under the power of the Greats

Marks the end of the Persian Empire

Artist, Name, Location, Time

Haglsandros, Polydorus, and the Athendoros of Rhodes

Lacoon and his sons

First Century BCE Hellenistic Greek