prehistoric art Flashcards
sculpture in the round
complete round object/ freestanding sculptures
paleolithic
art generally refers to works produced before about 8,000 BCE
relief sculpture
carved out of a relatively flat surface (a cave wall), some dimension, projects from the background
recognition
can identify that an object looks familiar
representation
recreating or “presenting again”
ground line
a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand in paintings and reliefs
twisted perspective/ composite view
information from the front and the side is in one picture, it is descriptive of what the object would look like
perceptual
how it actually looks, how we perceive it
conceptual
representation of how you would know or recognize the object/ thing
what separates art from tools?
decoration/representation
- manipulation of environment
- found objects that are representation or symbolic
when did works of art begin to be made?
30,000 BCE
Venus of Willendorf
- don’t know the purpose
- religious object? female nude? goddess? exaggerate for recognition?
- handheld object
- halfway between found and made
- the way it looks was constrained by the available material
cave paintings, Font de Gaume, France
- 17,00 BCE
- paintings are way within the caves/ not in living spaces
- much effort went in to creation/ high paintings
- painted one part of the rock that accentuate the painting/ light relief sculpture
- figures overlap/ may have been painted at different times by different peoples
Lascaux, France, Hall of the Bulls
- 15,000-13,000 bce
- pattern of what animals appear where
- center: horses and bison, transitional areas: handprints, exits/entrances: other animals
ideas for why cave paintings exist
- records of kills?
- practice killing?
- ritual? right of passage?
- record keeping? writing system?
