Unit 1 Art in stone

Feldman’s Method of Art Criticis:

Description: What do I see? What are the facts?
Title, artist, medium, when/where it was created,
subject, color/shapes/lines/textures

Elements of Design: line, shape, value, color, texture, space and how they impact the
Art.

Interpretation: What is the work about? What is the artist’s intent? What is your
opinion based on evidence from the artwork. (trust your own intellect & instincts)
Judgment: Is it a good Art work? Do you like it? Why or why not? What criteria are
you using to base that judgment upon.
Realism/fantasy, medium, emotion
It is all subjective!

Palaeolithic→ from the Greek paleo, meaning ‘old,’ and lithos, meaning ‘stone.’
c. 50,000/45,000-8,000 BCE
• Neolithic → from the Greek neo, meaning ‘new,’ and lithos, meaning ‘stone.’ c.
6,000/4,000-2,000 BCE
• In some cases, archaeologists date objects to a Mesolithic period, a middle
period of transition between the two. c. 8,000-6,000/4,000 BCE

SCULPTURE IN THE ROUND: sculpture completely detached from its original material so it can be
viewed from all angles.
• RELIEF SCULPTURE: sculpture where some of the original material remains attached to the work in
the background plane.
• High Relief: the image stands out relatively far from the background plane
• Low Relief: (aka ‘bas-relief’) the surface of the image is closer to the background plane.
• Sunken: where the image is recessed into the original material.
• Modeling: the shaping of materials to be attached to a background plane.

Woman/Venus of Willendorf
Unknown, Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf), 28,000–25,000
BCE. Limestone, 4 ¼” h. Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Woman
from Brassempouy
25,000–20,000 BCE.
Ivory, 1 ¼ “
h. Brassempouy, France.

Abstract: having a generalized or essential form with
only a symbolic resemblance to natural objects.

Pigment: from the Latin word pingere, meaning to paint. Pigment is the basis of colour.
Pigments are coloured powders made from organic substances, such as plant and animal
matter, or inorganic substances, such as minerals and semi-precious stones.
• -Cave artists either applied powdered mineral colours directly to damp walls or
mixed their pigments with a liquid, the medium or binder, to adhere them to walls.
•
• Medium: a liquid in which pigments are suspended, but dissolved.
• Vehicle: a synonym for medium.
• Binders: help paint adhere to surfaces, increasing the durability of images. Cave
painters often used animal fats, vegetable juices, water, or blood as their binding media.

Lascaux Cave Paintings (Hall of Bulls) 15,000–13,000 BCE. Pigment on stone.
Lascaux, Dordogne, France.

Pablo Picasso, The Bull, state VII (Le Taureau), 1957. Lithograph, 12 x
17 ½”. MOMA, New York, NY.

The Neolithic Period

Restored view of a
section of Level VI,
Çatal Höyük,
Turkey, ca. 6000–
5900 BCE (John
Swogger).

Deer Hunt, detail of a wall painting, 5750 BCE. Catal Hoyuk,
Turkey. Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara (Turkey).

Stone Formations
• MENHIRS: from the Celtic words ‘men’ meaning stone, and ‘hir’ meaning long,
are slightly shaped single stones (monolith) usually standing upright.
• DOLMEN: originating from the Celtic word ‘dol’ meaning ‘table,’ are chambers
or enclosures consisting of two or more vertical stones supporting a large single
stone.
• CROMLECH: from the Celtic word ‘crom’ meaning circle, and ‘lech’ meaning
place, are megalithic structures in which groups of menhirs are arranged in a
circular or semi-circular formation.
• POST-AND-LINTEL CONSTRUCTION: an architectural system where upright
‘posts’ support horizontal members, ‘lintels.’

Stonehenge, 2,550–1,600 BCE. Sandstone, circle 97’
in diameter, 24’ high. Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England.