Midterm Art Review Flashcards
Venus of Willendorf
Prehistoric
Kept as a sort of charm for good fortune and fertility. The peice is heavily symbolic of fertility. Her hips show she will bear children and her breasts show that she can support them. Her naval implies health. These charms are speculated to be a way to communicate between tribes of prehistoric peoples that showed they had a strong posterity.
What are the main tenets of Paleolithic art and Arhitecture?
- Primitive
- Essential
- Portable Art
- Educational
- Religious
- Daily Survival
Address the question of survival and how it pertains to ‘art’ and architecture.
Survival is one of our most basic needs. If you look at Maslows Hierarchy of needs, it is on the bottom and creative self fulfillment is on the top. This means that the more survival focused they are, the less elaborate their art is. BUT, art is still found in communities at the lowest tier of the Hierarchy of Needs. The art and architecture is primitive but is based on the necessities of shelter.
Hall of the Bulls from Lauscaux
Prehistoric
Stonehenge
prehistoric
The use or purpose behind stonehenge is unknown. It’s speculated to have been used as a callenar, or a religious structure. People used it to know when the summer solstice was so theyd know when to plant harvest.
Great example of Post and Lintel construction.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Warka Vase (from Uruk)
Ancient Middle East: Sumerian
Statuettes of Worshipers of Asmar
Ancient Middle East: Sumerian
Votive statues, presented in proxy of those who couldnt enter the holy of holies. Shows that the Sumerians were more introspective and religious.
Bust of Sargon, an Akkadian Ruler
Ancient Middle East: Akkadian
Stele of Naramsim
Ancient Middle East: Akkadian
Great example of propaganda and use of art in showing power. Shows that Akkadians were more war based.
Ziggurat of Ur
Neo Sumerian Art work
They were a revival of the past and a revival of religions. Their primary figure is the Ziggurat of Ur. It’s a step-pyramid, symbolizing one’s ascention into heaven. It is a continuation of Sumerian art in its religious emphasis.
Stele of Hammurabi
Ancient Middle East: Babylonian
The middle third is the code of Hammurabi, which is the law. The top part is a representation of Shamash (the sun God) giving Hammurabi the code. This supports the divine right of kings. Hammurabi is not wearing the usual armor, but instead he wears a priest’s cap and covers his mouth in respect.
Lionsgate at Hatussa.
Discovered by
Lamassu
Ancient Middle East: Assyrian
stylized beard. Huge. Intimidation. They watch you. Made of cunning of a man, strength of bull, wings for speed. etc. good guardians.
Lion Hunt of Assurbonipal
Ancient Middle East: Assyrian
known for signs of power in artwork. Propaganda. Assyrians push the idea of an empire further than anyone before. Push through furtile crescent and into the Mediterranean. Projected power with massie imposing complexes.
In this peice, Assirbonipal is hunting in his leisure time. That concept of leisure time implies strength, stability, wealth and power. His foes–the lions–are depicted as noble and strong. If you conquer a noble foe, you are all the greater. Also, that means that even the noble are in danger.
Gate of Ishtar
Ancient Assyrian: Neo-Babylonean
Commisioned by Nebudcanezzer II. blue is expeensive and rare. Showed their wealth. decorated with powerful animals like lamassu, lions, dragons, bulls, etc.
Neo Babylonians also known for the hanging gardens. They pushed the empire idea even further than the Assyrians.
Throne Scene with King Darius
Ancient Middle East: Persian
Pushed empire even furthur. Absolutely massive. Stopped at greece. Interested in preserving and sharing cultures. They expanded very quickly and liked diversity. They didn’t care about same culture so long as they go their tribut.
Persepolis: royal audience hall. Seat of power for the Achaemenid Dynasties. Contains Hall of 100 Columns. (Hypostyle hall) Entryways has depections of all different cultures bringing him tribute. Like in this picture. They use hierarchy of Gods. Darius is above everyone else. e has a bigger beard, a scepter, and wears lots of clothing–even more than he needs.
The fertile crescent and the Tigris and Euphrates.
Fertile Crescent: fertile area around the Nile and Mesopotamia that allowed civilizations to spring forth (lang so fertile they could have their own agriculture, have security, dont have to move)
Tigris and Euphrates: rivers. Agriculture developed between these rivers. Greeks called it Mesopotamia which means, ‘land between rivers’
Epic ofGilgamesh
Literature, creation of the first epics. Mesopetamian.
Cuniform
first form of writing, they started out with depicting actual images, bt over time became more stylized. They wrote with a triangular rod called a stylus.
Votives
Proxy figures that represent real people worshiping deity
Cylinder Seals
individuals usually acquired seals as a sign of status, and the weals were buried with the person, carved in reverse. Kore often depicted with the seals in their fist.
Bronze Casting
A mold would be made and the liquid bronze would be poured in. Often a lost wax process would be used to preserve the bronze.
white temple and Anu Ziggurat
most significant structure of its day. Could be seen from anywhere around. Bent axis approach (radial) you work your way up and spiral around as you get higher to the heavens. The rooms get more important as you get higher.
Gudea
Neo Sumerian Culture. Priest King of Gudea and Votives of Gudea. Very religious. A depiction of peaceful power that brought life.
Diorite
Hard stone that is difficult to carve into. It lasts very long.
Hittites
Conquered the Babylonians then expanded through the fertile crescent and even to Palestine. Main power was at Hattusa. Thy may have been the first ones to work in iron,
Ninevah
Captial of the Assyrian Empire
Nimrod
…
Egyptian Art
How do you show power?
How do you maintain it over 2500 years?
Why is it important to maintain a consistent form of representation?
Huge use of power and propaganda. Did this through hierarchy of scale and iconography of the egyptian gods. Created the ‘idealized form’ the egyption canon which was only used for important people. Have monumental architecture to assert your wealth and power. Maintained power through unifying of symbols (double crown, lotus and papyri plants) and portraying the leader as a descendent of the gods.
There is a strength and stability that comes from consistancy. It’s like a logo of a company. when the logo changes frequently, you forget who they are and your trust for them is not as strong as it could be. The Egyptians consistancy in style provides a strong form of identity as a strong and powerful nation.
Religion and Egyptian Art.
How did it play a primary motivation in art production?
Religion was heavily involved in everything they did. All the tombs and wall murals had to do with life after death, protection from the Gods, and their leader’s decendency from the Gods.
Old Kingdom
Discuss the elements and history of the formalized Egyptian style b means of example.
Elements are based grid system of units, figure in pictures are in composite form. ips and shoulders frontal, head and legs in profile. frontal eye. Pharoahs have the crown, sceptors, kilt.
Ex. Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt, Menkaure and his wife, queen Khamerernebty II,
Palette of Narmar
Egypt: Old Kingdom
Thought to perhaps hold makeup
Stepped Pyramid of Doser
Egypt: Old Kingdom
Made by Imhotep
Great Pyramid of Khufu
Egypt: Old Kingdom
stil has limestone capstone
What is the evolution of the pyramids?
Who are the main figures?
The mastaba–stepped pyramid (imhotep)–broken Pyramid–Red Pyramid–Bent Pyramid–Pyramids of Giza (perfect pyramids at 51%)
Pyramids of giza are for menkaur, khufu, and khafre
Ideal and Real, ow does it play out in egyptian art?
Important figures were shown in idealized forms, pharoah was always portrayed the same way. You see this with the woman pharoah who was still portrayed as a man. You also see it in cleopatra and greek rulers. THough they were greek, they were portrayed as Eygyptian, with all the necessary symbols. Less significant people could be a little more realistic, like the seated scribe.
Menkaure and Wife
Egypt: Old Kingdom
Ti watching a Hippapotomus hunt
Old Kingdom
Egyptian wall painting
New Kingdom
What are the differences between the Old and New Kingdoms in terms of Art and Architecture?
How are they similar?
What are the main figures and monuments?
New kingdom is Egypt’s ‘rebound’ era of tombs templs and pharaohs.
Differences ?
Similarities: Idealized form. Pharaonic Symbols
Main Figures: Ramses II, Hatshepsut, etc.
Colossal Figure of Ahkanaten
Egyptian: New Kingdom
Bust of Nefertiti
Death Mask of King Tut
Egyptian: New Kingdom
King Tut wasn’t Pharoah for very long and his tomb was rather insignificant. Probably the reason it wasn’t raided completely. His modest tomb was richly adorned and gives us an idea of the immense wealth of Egypt.
His signifigant contribution was that he brought the style back to traditional Egypt. His face was sqyare, not rounded, and he has the flail (symbolic of lower egypt) and his crock (which is symbolic of upper Egypt)
The snake: figures could come in and out of the afterlife.
Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbal
Egyptian: New Kingdom
Judgement of Hunefer before Osiris/Book of the Dead
How does the book of the dead play out in Egyptian art?
Go through the images, what do they mean? What was the book of the dead for?
Put in the sarcophogus to guide the person through the afterlife.
The Nile
…
Napoleon
Led the first archaelogical expedition in Egypt.
Rosetta Stone
Stone tablet containing Egyption Hierogliphs, Demotic script, and Greek script of the same text, which led to the translation of Egyption Hieroglyphs.
Hieroglyphics
pictoral form of Egyptian writing, probably known only gy priests
Upper and Lower Egypt
upper=southern Egypt, bowling cap crown, Lotus
lower=northern Egypt, butterfly tongue crown, papyrus
They were united by Narmar
Old Kingdom standar grid
ideal proportions were very uniform; height and body proportions were a specific number of squares high
twisted perspective
also composite perspective. The shoulders, hips, and eyes are frontal, but the head and legs are in profile.
Pharonic Symbols
Crown, fake beard, pharaonic kilt, the God Horus, the crook and flail
Necropolis
literally ‘city of the dead’ a group of mastabas at the edge of the desert on the west bank of the Nile (because the land of the dead was to the west)
Ankh, breath of life, symbol of eternity
ka statue
ka is the life force of a person, but it needs a body to reside in. Everything was done to preserve the body for this purpose. The Ka statue was a back up plan in case anything happened to the body.
Serdab
a small sealed room in a mastaba which held the ka statue of the deceased and a chapel for relatives to mourn and give offerings.
Horus
God of the sky, war, and hunting. Often associated as the God of the pharaohs
Mastaba
most common tomb structure during early dynastic egypt. It is flat topped, one story, with slanted walls, and with an underground burial chamber.
Bent pyramid
Pyramid built by Pharaoh Sneferu before there was a uniform angle for pyramids; it starts at about a 55 degree andgle but possible, due to instability, it was changed to 43 degrees part way through building.
Sarcophagus
A stone coffin. Often rectangular and decorated with relief scultpure. Most egyptian kinds were buried in these.
Damnatio Memoriae
‘Condemnation of Memory’ for some reason, after Hatshepsut’s son took power, she was removed from the walls; symbolizing her being removed from their memories.
Pylon
the monumental gateway to an Egyptian temple
Valley of the Kings
The heart of the Theban Necropolis and home of the tomb complexes of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.
Howard Carter
English archaeologiest who rediscovered King Tut’s tomb in 1922
Ptolemy and Cleopatra
Rulers of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great.
Faiyum Portrait Mummies
These are the death masks of certain mummies during Roman occupancy of Egypt. Egyptians continued burying their dead despite Roman cremation. During this time, the death masks were painted on wood using Encaustics–which is a pigmented wax technique.
Know the basics of this Temple.
Solomon’s temple layout
outer court and inner court. ONly high priests in the inner court. Offer burnt offerings at altar of sacrifice. Bath in the brasen or molten sea–which rested on the back of 12 oxen. There was a porch or entrance to the temple held up by jachin (he establishes) and boaz (strength).
The most sacred part of the temple is in the Holy of Holies. THis is behind the veil. The ark of the covenant was kept there. This is where God was said to appear.
How were the Israelites predisposed to revile sacred objects (idols)?
What were they to do instead of creating golden calves?
They were commanded to have no other God’s before God. Whenever a city was conquered, they were to destroy their idols. Instead of creating golden calves, they were to be living God’s law. They were to have their tabernacle. They were to offer sacrifice to God.
Jonah
Prophet sent to Ninevah, the capital of Assyria. This was an intimidating task.
Daniel
During Judah’s captivity in Babylon under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel served the king. This is the Daniel who refused to eat at the kings table. He also interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the four kingdoms.
During the overtake of the Persians, King Darius appoints Daniel to high authority. Jealous enemies accuse him of worshipping God instead of the king, and Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den.
Exodus 20:4-6
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…” reason why there isn’t very much art from ancient Israel
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is supposedly the land promised by God to the Israelites. Because of it’s location and also it’s religious signifigance to Jews and Muslims alike, it has long been the point of much political contension and wars.
Also the site of Solomon’s temple.
Mt. Moriah
Location of the sacrifice of Isaac. Mount Moriah is supposedly identical to the temple mount.
David
Second king of the United Kingdom of Israel. Warrior, poet, and musician. Gathered materials for the temple, but his sins deemed him unworthy to build it.
Solomon
Builder of the first temple. Figure of wisdom wealth and power. His sins eventually led him away from God as well.
jachin and Boaz
Meaning, he establishes, and strenght. Pillars at the porch or entry of the temple.
The Brazen Sea
A large basin on the backs of twelve sculpted oxen. This was for the ritualistic washing of the priests before entering the temple.
The ARk of the Covenant
The mercy seat. Kept in the HOly of Holies. Contained precious religious relics. Ornately designed with sculptures of cheribum.
Menorah
religious emblem used in ancient temple serices. Probably derived from the tree of life.
What is the significance of greek art?
Why is it classical?
What does that mean?
…
Be able to trace the evolution of greek art from its origin to the classical style and Hellenism.
- Cycladic
- Minoan
- Mycenaean
- geometric period
- orientalizing period
- archaic period
- classical greek style and the cannon of Polykleitos
- late classical period
- Hellenistic period
Cycleadic Art: what are the basic components and possible meanings?
Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures. Rich in Marble. Marble is softer than other rocks. This period included the female figure and the seated harp figure which have very stylized features. The female figure is symmetrical and was found in a tomb which could be a representation of the dead or protectors. It was never meant to stand. The seated harp figure was stylized and engaged in activities.
Standing Figure:
Cycleadic art. Put in tombs.
Minoan Art
Palace at Knossoss influenced the mainland with trade. They were able to have contact with Egypt and the middle east. the palace had big courtyards for religious purposes, commerce, etc. Bays of windows and open stairways to let light in. There were no walls guarding them. They had to be open to welcome trade. They even had plumbing and bathtubs.
Toreador Fresco Bull leaping
Art on the floor of important buildings. This was on the floor of the palace at knossos.
Mycenaean Culture
Lion Gate of Mycenae. Lions built in the relief triangle.
They built fortresses instead of palaces. They were a more war based people and so their defence was impecable. They used corbelling a lot in their arcitecture, especially in tombs.
Mask of Agamemnon
Mycenean
Discovered in tombs.
What is the greek renaissance and how is it tied to the formation of Ancient greek identity?
Trade on the ports of Argos and Corinth accelerated change and developement in ancient greece. greeks adopted the phonecian alphabet and other attributes of different cultures. through Greek history we see them exploring and adopting these cultures eventually forming their own unique identity.
Diplon Vase:
Geometric period.
The dipylon vase is a krater vase. It uses basic geometric shapes and patterns to make it extremely decorative. These vases were used as grave markers. People poured libations in and it would eventually sink into the grave.
Orientalizing Period
They borrowed sylized beards/hair and big eyes from artists of the Ancient middle east. They also used geometric shapes and rosettes and filled all the space with these decorative symbols.
Not sure if this would fall in orientalizing category, but they borrowed some of the Egyptian ideal cannon. The figure work in vases and sculptures were in very much twisted perspective positions, or had that left front forward stance.
Archaic Period
This is most easily seen in the archaic smile. This was an important step in greek scultpure and architecture because it showed the greeks desire to reflect a lifelike quality in their artwork. Everything else they had up to this point may have been borrowed, but this smile shows their true desires beginning to come out.
Met Kouros
example of arcahic period. Has the body and stance of the Egyptian artwork. Has the stylized hair and brow of the middle eastern art. Unlike the symbolism used in Egyptian and Middle eastern artwork, he is in the nude. This will set a trend for greek art.
Peplos Kore
Archaic–archaic smile. Breaking away from that egyptian stance a little bit. Still has stylized hair, but it is a touch more lifelike. Most importantly, she has that smile.
Achilles and Ajax playing dice
Archaic Period, Exekias
also example of geometric
Amphoric vase. Black figure style.
Intricate geometric shapes fill the spaces on this vase. It is a reminder of what era we are emerging from. Exekias was a great artist who seemed to favor ajax as his art subject. This is almost an ironic scene, seeing achilles as victor just before he dies in battle. Seeing these humans in a casual moment as the main subject, instead of the Gods, is a sign of the humanistic direction the greeks will head with their work.
Classical Greek
Kritios boy
marble
statue is the beginning of the use of contropossto. Which refers to the lifelike stance given to greek scultpures. This is really when we begin to move away from egyptian ideal and stiffness into the fluidity of what the great greek works are all about.
Riace Warrior A
Classical Period
bronze
This shows that while the rigidity of egypt and past works is fading away, the idealism is not. The athletes body is certainly ideal. There is great attention given to detail and though they cannot pain the bronze they do what they can for color by inlaying copper, bone, silver, and other materials, into the lips, nipples, eyes and teeth. The eyelashes are also intricately detailed. This work was preserved from being melted down and sold becuase of a natural disaster.
The three revelers
Classical Greek Euthymideds
red figure
amphoric
These revelers are a reflection of the humanistic subject and quality of greek works. The red figure style itself reflects the greeks desire for realism. It allowed more detail and reflection of real life in their works. They’re natural reveling movement too, moves us further and further from the stiffness of past civilizations.
Cannon of Polykleitos (Doryphorus)
Classical Greek
This was the seven headed structure that was the cannon of high classical greece. This was the ideal, and it is reflected throughout classical works.
Parthenon
Classical Greek
Iktinos and Kallikrates
The parthenon was built on top of ruins after Athens had been attacked. At first they were set on never rebuilding, but Periklese convinced them to rebuild as tribute to Athena who had helped them in their victories. He commission Iktinos and Kallikrates to build it. They embezzled money to do so, as the expense was great. This embezzlement led to the later downfall of Athens.
Temple of Athena Nike
Classical Greek
Kallikrates
This temple built to the goddess of victory was built almost like a hopeful wish during a time when athens was being attacked. This is the temple which bears the famous sculpture of Nike adjusting her sandal.
three goddesses
classical greek
phidias
This was sculpted on the frieze of the parthenon. Phidias expertly reveals and conceals the female figures of these goddesses with this drapery.
marshal and maidens
classical greek
phidias
Phidias was the scultpure in charge of the parthenon. This structure was filled with subleties of artistic vision and administrative skills which reflected his expertise.
porch of the maidens
classical greek
Hermes and the infant dionysys
late classical greek praxiteles
aphrodite of cnidos
late classical greek
praxiteles
Apoxyomenos (the scraper)
late classical greek
lyssipos
alexabder the great (scultpure)
late classical greek
lyssipos
theatre at epidauros
Athena attacking the giants
dying gaul
venus de milo
nike of samothrace
lacoon and sons
the seated boxer
