1: Chapter Class Notes
Is the stone art?
The cave art is so revolutionary because it is movement towards a written language
These are more iconic images (vs. narrative)
the image of the bull is an abstraction of a bull = u dont get to see any of the natural features.
its more of a representations so we would know what it was. its the shape of a bull.
twisted perspective
- shown in profile
- shows the important parts of the animal
- the horns
break from the profile
you can see both - usually you can only see one
horns are the most dangerous part of the bull
horns are the most important part of the bull
pictures = representing the world - human knowledge moving forward
descriptive, conceptional, vs. optically real art
we dont know what they are for, but they must have relayed important information
unusual because it has a man in it
man is shown much less naturalistic than the bull, etc.
seems to be a sort of narrative
fear that having an image of someone gives it power
dont want the image to look like one particular person
there was cart depicting women.
Venus of Willendorf:
venus = greek goddess of love and beauty, fertility
signs of fertility - huge stomach, huge breasts, hands resting on breasts, great big round
curves
no face - its not a portrait, not a specific woman - no feet
very small statue - possibly a talisman
Formal Qualities
- carved out of limestone, people using stone tools
- traces of red paint
- looks like she has hair or a knit pulled hat over her face (making of early clothing?)
Want to control fertility
they may die in childbirth
sculpture in the round - fully carved sculpture - look at the front and the back
relief sculpture - carve into it
Woman holding bull horn:
concerns with fertility
still no interest in individuality
holding animal horn
horned animal associations: power, large, male
possibly bringing together the male and the female subjects
fertile women and animal power brought together
Megalithic
Corboled vaulting
tumulus/i
dolmen
menhir or monolith
cromlech
sarsen
heelstone
trilithons
post and lintel
(paleolithic woman and fat woman on chair) how does the form convey the meaning?
the faces are not shown
(1-18) Arial View of the City:
landscape art - from a sort of arial view
volcano erupting in a city
image of the town at a moment when something happened
Megalithic:
post and lintel = in the classroom the door is a post and lintel structure
probably the doorway into a passage grave
Vaulting = covering something on top with stone, etc.
Monoliths:
freestanding stones
purpose is unknown
look like grave markers to use but some think it may have to do with ancient astronomical
observations
Stonehenge = Cromlech
made out of 2 types of stones
- Sarson (sandstone) - probably easier to cut
- Blue Stone (igneous rock - volcanic)
people had to quarry them and then bring the stones to the site at least a couple miles away
trilithons = 3 stones
altar, heel stone