Art: Culture, and Values Chapter One

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Art Culture, and Values Chapter One

• Prehistoric
• Mesopotamian
• Egyptian
• Aegean

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Prehistoric Art100,000 10,000 BC

• 100,000 BC First Ritual Burying of the Dead
• 28,000 23,000 BC Venus of Willendorf
• 15,000 10,000 Cave Paintings of Lascaux

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Woman of Willendorf
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Cave Paintings of Lascaux

• The interior of the underground caverns evokes a
  sense of ritual and sacred space

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• The human dimension is the ultimate measure of
  the experience of art

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ART Creative Human Expression

• Keen Observation
• Technical Skill
• Personal Interpretation

• Historical/Cultural Context
• Universal Meaning

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Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Aegean Timeline

• c. 3100 B.C. - Development of hieroglyphic
  writing
• 2700-2250 B.C. - Old Kingdom development of
  mummification ritual
• c. 2700 B.C. - Reign of Gilgamesh
• 2650-2514 B.C. - Great Pyramids and Sphinx built
  at Giza
• 2100-2000 B.C. - Construction of ziggurat at Ur
• 2000 B.C. - Earliest version of The Epic of
  Gilgamesh

• C. 1792-1750 B.C. - The Law Code of Hammurabi
• 1400 B.C. - Fall of Knossos and decline of Minoan
  civilization
• c. 1361-1352 B.C. - Reign of Tutankhamen
• 1298-1231 B.C. - Reign of Ramses II colossal
  buildings constructed at Luxor, Karnak, Abu
  Simbel
• 1250 B.C. Mycenaean war against Troy

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Ancient Mesopotamian Art

• Unlike their southern neighbors, the
  Mesopotamian area was in conflict between warring
  nations very frequently.   This area also
  required much more maintenance of their
  agriculture systems.  Because of these and other
  factors, this area had a more limited development
  of art as compared to Egypt.

Standard of Ur, c. 2700 B.C.
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• The Standard of Ur is one of the most exquisite
  and informative Sumerian pieces of art that has
  been discovered. It was found in a 4,500-year-old
  grave in the city of Ur. The Standard consists of
  six 18-inch-wide wooden panels inlaid with shells
  and lapis lazuli. The panels include scenes of
  Sumerians from all social classes at war and at a
  royal banquet.
• The Standard of Ur illustrates a conceptual
  rather than a naturalistic approach to
  description.

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• Important Sumerian developments include  1. The
  concept of a city state was developed by the
  Sumerians  2. Writing was developed by the
  Sumerians - Cuneiform characters on clay tablets 
  3. One of the most important cultural
  developments of this period is the concept of the
  powerful god communicating their desires to
  humanity through the medium of a powerful priest
  class or autocratic ruler who serves as the
  intermediary.  - Theocracy govt. of the
  gods/priest class  - ruler may be divine
  himself, or chosen by the god/gods  - each city
  had it's own gods  This system centralizes power
  in the hands of a small group of people and gives
  political decisions a religious authority

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Scenes of Civilized Life

• Harpist Iraq,Old Babylonian Period, ca.
  2000-1600 B.C.
• Cast Clay Relief
• Clay plaques from this period depict musicians
  playing a variety of stringed, percussion, and
  wind instruments.

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Scenes of Religious Figures and Commemorations of
War

• Iraq Akkadian Period, ca. 2254-2193 B.C. Black
  stone
• This cylinder seal was dedicated to a
  little-known goddess, Ninishkun, who is shown
  interceding on the owner's behalf with the great
  goddess Ishtar. Ishtar places her right foot upon
  a roaring lion, which she restrains with a leash.
  The scimitar in her left hand and the weapons
  sprouting from her winged shoulders indicate her
  war-like nature.

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• Ziggurat of Ur  c. 2100 B.C.
• The Ziggurat of Ur was built by the king
  Ur-Nammu. It is an impressive imposing structure.
  Imagine the power of a leader speaking from high
  on the side of this symbolic mountain of the god

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Iconic vs. Natural Imagery

• Iraq Babylon, Processional Avenue north of the
  Ishtar Gate Neo-Babylonian Period Reign of
  Nebuchadnezzar II, ca. 604-562 B.C. Molded brick
  with polychrome glaze.

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Ancient Egyptian Art

• Ancient Egypt is perhaps the most facinating of
  the ancient civilizations. Even the Ancient
  Greeks thought themselves to be a young and
  inexperienced society compared to the Egyptians.
  Indeed, the Ancient Egyptian civilization was one
  of the longest in the west, beginning in
  approximately 3000 B.C., and lasting until nearly
  300 B.C. What is amazing about the Egyptian's
  culture is not their rapid growth and
  development, but their ability to preserve the
  past and prevail with relatively little change.
  For example, today in the United States we
  drastically change the style of our clothing each
  decade, while Egypitan dress did not vary over
  the thousands of years. Theirs was a civilization
  where the past lived in the present.

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Rules of Representation Style

• Frontalism
• In Sculpture, the entire presentation is to be
  viewed from the front.
• In 2-dimensional work, the head of the character
  is always drawn in profile, while the body is
  seen from the front. Although the face is to the
  side, the eye is drawn in full. The legs are
  turned to the same side as the head, with one
  foot placed in front of the other. The head is at
  right angles to the body. Every figure, in
  paintings or sculptures, stands or sits with a
  formal, stiff, and rigid posture. The stance of
  the body is severe, but the faces are calm and
  serene.

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Nobleman, Old Kingdom (frontal style)
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MEMPHITE FAMILY OF NEFER-HERENPTAH Old
Kingdom 5th Dynasty Painted Limestone

• Eternalizes the Ancient Egyptian family in it's
  most simple and pure form.
• This nuclear family is meant to reunite in the
  afterlife.

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Monumental Scale

• The Great Pyramids of Giza Old Kingdom 2589
  2566 BC
• The Sphinx at Giza Old Kingdom - 2555-2532 B.C.

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• KAEMHESET
• Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty
• Painted Limestone
• the statue of the chief of sculptors and royal
  architect Kaemheset represents perfectly the "
  comme il faut " (according with custom or
  propriety) aesthetic and artistic conventions of
  the Fifth Dynasty

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Middle Kingdom 1990 1790 B.C.

• Political divisions
• Increasing anxiety
• Uncertainty
• Sense of Civil Unrest
• Loosening of Rules of Representation
• Naturalistic tendencies

Seated Statue of Sesostris III
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- The New Kingdom 1570 -1185 - Akhenaton 1364
1387

• 1364 1387 Reigh of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton)
  religious and political reform monotheism,
  worship of single god Aton
• Revolutionary figure

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King Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti
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Tutankhamen

• Reign of Tutankhamen 1361 1352
• Return to Conservatism
• The Boy King
• Return of Egyptian Conservatism and Strict Rules
  of Representation

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Ramses II 1298 1232 B.C.

• Colossal Building
• Warfare with Mesopotamia
• End of Egypts Imperial Power

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The Ancient Aegean World6,000 B.C. through 600
B.C.

• 6000 Introduction of new agricultural
  techniques from the East.
• 2800 2000 Early Minoan Period on Crete
  growth of Cycladic culture.
• c. 2500 Cycladic Idol
• 2000 1600 Middle Minoan Period on Crete
  construction of palace complexes development of
  linear writing.
• 1700 Knossos Palace destroyed (earthquake),
  rebuilt
• 1600 1400 Late Minoan Period on Crete
• 1600 First Mycenaean Palace constructed
• 1600 Snake Goddess, from Knossos 1550 Gold
  Death Mask, Mycenae
• 1500 Frescos from House of Delta, Thera
• 1400 Fall of Knossos and decline of Minoan
  Civilization
• Timeline continues on next slide gt

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The Ancient Aegean World6,000 B.C. through 600
B.C. (cont.)

• 1400 1200 Mycenaean Empire florishes
• 1250 Mycenaean war against Troy
• 1100 Collapse of Mycenaean Empire
• 1100 1000 Dark Age
• 1000 750 Heroic Age
• 900 700 Evolution of Homeric Epics, Illiad
  and Odyssey.
• 750 600 Age of Colonization

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Ancient Cycladic Art 2800 2000 B.C.

• Naturalism/Stylization

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Palace of Minos at Knossos

• 1600 1400 B.C
• Middle Minoan Period
• High point of Minoan Culture

• Interior Frescos
• Human scale
• Life-oriented culture

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SNAKE GODDESS

• From beneath the shrine in the court Palace of
  King Minos, Knossos
• 1600-1580 B.C.
• Mothyer Goddess
• Source of all life
• 2 snakes - mysteries of Life
• Lion atop her head

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DOLPHIN FRIEZE
QUEEN'S APARTMENT Palace of King Minos, Knossos
c. 1500 B.C.
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BULL-JUMPING FRESCOFrom the east wing Palace of
King Minos, Knossos c. 1500 B.C