Prehistory --> Ancient Egypt

6 Humanistic Themes

  • Power: politics, gender, class

  • Religion & Spirituality: gods & goddesses, worship, devotion

  • Violence & Death: war, inhumane acts, self-sacrifice

  • Space, Nature, & the Built Environment: architecture, the natural world, humans shaping their environment

  • Self & the Body: representations of self and others, the human form

  • Narrative: how art tells stories about itself and others

Prehistory

Paleolithic Period (“Old Stone Age”)

  • c. 1,500,000 - 8,000 BCE

  • Difficult to know exactly what objects mean &/or why they were created

Neolithic Period (“New Stone Age”)

  • c. 8,000 - 2,300 BCE

  • Still difficult to discern the meaning of objects & structures

  • Monumental architecture may provide evidence of more settled communities that invested resources into creating such structures

Paleolithic

Woman (formerly Venus) of Willendorf

  • c. 28,000 - 25,000 BCE

Hohle Fels Venus

  • 40,000 BCE

Hall of the Bulls

  • c. 15,000 - 13,000 BCE

Neolithic

Stonehenge

  • c. 2,900 - 1,400 BCE

Ancient Near East

  • Links divinity (religion) & power

  • Hierarchy of scale used

  • Development of monumental architecture: temples (Ziggurat) are manifestations of societal beliefs & values

Ziggurat of Ur

  • c. 2,100 BCE

Statuettes of Two Worhippers

  • c. 2,700 BCE

Presentation of Offerings to Inanna (Warka Vase)

  • c. 3,200 - 3,000 BCE

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

  • c. 2,254 - 2,218 BCE

Stele with Law Code of Hammurabli

  • c. 1780 BCE

Lamassu

  • c. 720-705 BCE

Ancient Egypt

  • Links of divinity (religion) & power

  • Importance of the afterlife is emphasized

  • Hierarchy of scale

  • Canon of proportions: linked to power & societal role

Early Dynastic Period

Palette of King Narmer

  • c. 3,000 BCE

  • Early Dynastic

Old Kingdom Period

Seated Stature of Khafre from Giza

  • c. 2,520 - 2,494 BCE

  • Old Kingdom

Menkaure and Khamerenbty

  • c. 2,490 - 2,472 BCE

  • Old Kingdom

Seated Scribe

  • c. 2,500 BCE

  • Old Kingdom

Pyramids at Giza

  • c. 2,551 - 2,472 BCE

  • Old Kingdom

New Kingdom Period

Facade of the Temple of Ramses II

  • c. 1,290 - 1,224 BCE

  • New Kingdom

Model of Hypostyle Hall

  • c. 1,290 - 1,224 BCE

  • New Kingdom

Akhenaton

  • c. 1,353 - 1,335 BCE

  • New Kingdom

Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters

  • c. 1,353 - 1,335 BCE

  • New Kingdom

Thutmose

  • c. 1,340 BCE

  • New Kingdom

Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Concepts:

  • Conceptual v. Optical Representation: knowing v. seeing; depicting what we know about the way things look, not what we actually see when we look at them

  • Hierarchy of Scale: size matters; greater size usually signifies greater importance

  • The development of monumental architecture: temples & tombs as manifestations of societal beliefs & values; the public nature/size & the amount of resources used to create large scale architecture suggests that such structures represent larger societal ideas that are valued by their creators

  • Link divinity (religion) & power

Vocabulary

  • Form

  • Function

  • Context

  • Twisted Perspective

  • Megalith

  • Cromlech (henge)

  • Post & Lintel Construction

  • Trabeated

  • Trilithon

  • Ziggurat

  • Cuneiform

  • Hierarchy of Scale

  • Stele

  • Canon of Proportions

  • Relief Sculpture

  • Hieroglyph

  • Register

  • Mastaba

  • Ka

  • Canopic Jars

  • Sculpture in the Round

  • Clerestory

  • Hypostyle Hall