Week One

Chapter One – Prehistoric Art

Art history is ultimately connected to, and a reflection of broader cultural developments and an understanding of the economic, social and cultural structures of society which are necessary for an appreciation of the visual records that were left by ancient societies.
Archeologists, anthropologists, art historians, and others are constantly revising the history of the world as more information and objects are found.

As you read and review the Paleolithic images of large hunted animals found in cave paintings at Chauvet and Lascaux (fig. 1-1 and 1-3, pages 38 and 39 respectively) there is a psychologically based theory connected with the function of these images. The theory proposes that Paleolithic peoples believed that they possessed the images they created. The psychological implication is that Paleolithic peoples believed that they had the ability to take control of the spirit of an animal if they physically drew an image of that animal. This theory is also used to explain the purpose of fertility objects such as the Woman (Venus) of Willendorf (fig. 1-7, page 41.)

Prehistoric peoples believed this domination would empower them as they prepared to face the reality of the hunt, essential to their existence. At Lascaux Cave, scholars believe that evidence of small pockmarks on painted images suggests that the prehistoric peoples believed they were psychologically “killing” the animal with weapons before the actual hunt.

To distinguish between the terms Paleolithic and Neolithic-Old Stone Age and New Stone Age it is important to understand the difference in lifestyle. Paleolithic peoples were hunters/gathers and Neolithic peoples were farmers/herdsmen, which is reflected in their subject matter, media and symbolism. This is evident in the portability of Paleolithic art to the permanence of Neolithic villages.

The gradual shift from a nomadic lifestyle to an organized, agriculturally-based society with domesticated animals is not only evidence of Neolithic peoples interest in acquiring a sense of order and control in their lives, but also constitutes the beginnings of civilization.

According to tradition, Egypt had evolved into two regions – Upper Egypt, to the South, and Lower Egypt, near the Nile Delta.

The Palette of King Narmer, which probably celebrates a victory over Lower Egypt, is the earliest surviving image of an historic personage identified by name.

Through the figure of King Narmer, we can understand that Egyptian artists adhered to artificial conventions in the posing of figures: eyes and shoulders are frontal, head and legs are profile.

The most notable figure of the Third Dynasty is King Djoser, whose tomb complex at Saqqara included: a temple built in the form of a mastaba, a South and North Palace, and a serdab that contained the Ka statue of Djoser inscribed with the name of a man called Imhotep, the first architect in history known by name.

For the Egyptians, who had a strong belief in an afterlife, the most important part of the soul to be served in the afterlife was the Ka.

The Egyptians provided an earthly abode for the Ka either in the mummified body of the deceased or a in a statue of the deceased.

The Founder of the Fourth Dynasty was Sneferu who adapted the step pyramid of King Djoser to the more familiar smooth-sided shape.

The development of the pyramid shape reaches its climax with the three pyramids at Giza, the earliest and largest of which was built by Khufu (c.2601-2528BC), Sneferu’s son. Menkaure and Khafre built the other two pyramids.

Also a part of this necropolis is the Great Sphinx, whose head traditionally was thought to resemble the features of Khafre. Recent scholars, however, are now attributing the features to Khufu.

Apart from the temples and pyramids, there are a number of sculptures that survive from the Fourth Dynasty among which are the rigid, blocky figures of Khafre and of his some Menkaure and his wife, Queen Khamerernebty. These examples all proclaim stability, are confined within a rectangular composition, and are abstracted to conform to a standard of perfection dictated by Egyptian cultural preferences.

The art of this unsettled period is fascinating in its variety of subjects and experimentation.

There was a change in the perception of the pharaoh at this time. He was seen not simply as a god but as an individual with responsibilities to his subjects.

The Middle Kingdom ended when a group of foreign settlers, the Hyksos, took advantage of a weakened government.

Within a century, the Hyksos were expelled and Egypt entered a final period of cultural and economic prosperity, the New Kingdom.

The art of the New Kingdom is diverse and covers a wide range of styles. We can still find the rigid conservatism of the previous dynasties but we also encounter a short-lived disruption during the reign of Akhenaten (ruled 1348-1336/5 BC) that is known as the Amarna Period because Akhenaten’s capital was located near present-day Tel el-Amarna. Here, Akhenaten launched an artistic ad religious revolution.

Akhenaten, whose name means “One Who is Effective on Behalf of Aten,” was instrumental in changing the complex traditional polytheistic foundation of Egyptian religion to monotheism, in particular the worship of the god of the solar disk, Aten.

Akhenaten’s innovations angered the priests and the political elite, who were able to restore the conventions of older ways both in religion and art.

This process of restoring orthodoxy in religion and art began soon after Tutankhamen, Akhenaten’s son-in-law, ascended the throne.

The Rameses dynasty was the last significant dynastic family of the New Kingdom.

In 323 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, thus introducing a Greek presence in ancient Egypt.

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