Create an artwork based on an artwork from the lectures or from the book. You will be graded on time/effort/creativity. You can try to faithfully re-create the piece or update it creatively for todays culture. All media (materials/methods) will be accepted: drawing, painting, photography, collage, digital media, sculpture, performance, or ??? Take a photo of your completed work and submit via Canvas. You can submit as a pdf, powerpoint slide or word document.
attached. materials you. can use pick. one here
done
here. is. the drop box link. to. the. pdfs
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9woz7ldmc4xo7jwlc57…
Personal ornamentation, body painting, face painting, tattoos
In this class on visual art, we will focus on painting, sculpture, and architecture. We often make an emphasis on art being universal/permanent/eternal/discrete/saleable. How about artwork that is personal and temporary?
In the first video from the ‘page’ for Art of the Paleolithic, Randall White talks about the earliest forms of art which connect to issues of personal ornamentation, including body painting, face painting, tattoos. Do you consider these forms to be works of art?
Here’s a link to the Page: Art of the Paleolithic
merge from the ancient Aegean: The Cycladic culture, the Minoans, and the Mycenaeans.
The Cycladic Culture
Cycladic Culture – Tiny Epics Channel – 2020 documentary series – Ancient History – Cycladic Art
This short film explores the Cycladic culture of the Aegean Sea that thrived from roughly 3,300 BCE to 2,300 BCE. Hundreds of female idols were carved during this time, though precisely why remains one of the great archeological mysteries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZs09ZOMJE (Links to an external site.)
Museum of Cycladic Art
https://cycladic.gr/en/page/kikladiki-techni (Links to an external site.)
Male harp player from Keros, c. 2600–2300 BCE, Early Cycladic period, marble
Harp Player, Early Cycladic period (Links to an external site.)
The Minoans
A Troubled Island – The Minotaur’s Island (Art of the Ancient Aegean)
To lead into the Ancient Greeks, it is fundamental to consider the civilizations that rose before the people we know as the Ancient Greeks. In this BBC documentary, Bettany Hughes discusses the Bronze Age culture that rose on the island of Create: the Minoans.
‘The mysterious island of Crete has always loomed large in imagination, as the home of the Minotaur — that monstrous creature, half-man half-bull — imprisoned in Daedalus’ labyrinth. Before Crete collapsed in fire and violence, it gave birth to Europe’s first civilization nearly 5,000 years ago, and boasted an advanced, prosperous Mediterranean civilization with hinged doors, flush toilets, and magnificent palaces.’
A Troubled Island | The Minotaur’s Island (Ancient Greece Documentary) | Timeline (Links to an external site.)
Bull Leaping of the Ancient Minoans
Imagery of ‘Bull Leaping’ is ubiquitous in the artwork of the Minoans. Below are links to a YouTube video and an online article to expand on the lecture on the Ancient Aegean. The first is a video of contemporary bull leaping in Spain. The other is an article from the Khan Academy on the Bull Leaping fresco (which is on midterm #2).
Men jumping over a charging bull – Recortadores (youtube.com)Links to an external site.
Here’s the Khan Academy article on the Bull Leaping fresco.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/bull-leaping-fresco-from-the-palace-of-knossos (Links to an external site.)
The Minoans – Snake Goddess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JdhbyAZ94c (Links to an external site.)
The Mycenaeans
The “Palace” and Grave Circle A, Mycenae, c. 1600-1100 BCE
The “Palace” and Grave Circle A, Mycenae, c. 1600-1100 B.C.E. (Links to an external site.)
Lion Gate, Mycenae, c. 1300-1250 BCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu5mKn3_h7Y&feature=youtu.be (Links to an external site.)
Mask of Agamemnon, Mycenae, c. 1550-1500 BCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PKOiYY9SPA&feature=youtu.be (Links to an external site.)
The Treasury of Atreus, c. 1300-1250 BCE, Mycenae, Greece
https://youtu.be/Cc9cLmgXp_A (Links to an external site.)
1177 BCE: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Eric Cline, PhD)
From about 1500 BCE to 1200 BCE, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex cosmopolitan and globalized world-system. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms collapsed rapidly. With their end came the worlds first recorded Dark Ages. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today. Professor Eric H. Cline of The George Washington University will explore why the Bronze Age came to an end and whether the collapse of those ancient civilizations might hold some warnings for our current society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcu-ysocX4 (Links to an external site.)
The Mycenaeans and Minoans Today: Revivals of Bronze Age Greece
The Mycenaeans and Minoans Today: Revivals of Bronze Age Greece (Links to an external site.)
Yasumasa Morimura
Art of the Paleolithic
Look for the file Art of the Paleolithic. If you have the book, read the first part of Chapter 1.
Art of the Paleolithic: Art of the Paleolithic.pdf Download Art of the Paleolithic.pdf
Chauvet Cave, France
To supplement the lecture on Art of the Paleolithic, review the following materials:
Neanderthals created art and knew how to use symbols, new studies say.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/neanderthals-were-artists-and-thought-symbolically-new-studies-argue/ (Links to an external site.)
Modern Humans Earliest Artwork and Music: New European Discoveries
The earliest evidence of artwork made by modern humans, Aurignacian art, was created more than 35,000 years ago and has been found in French, German, and Romanian archaeological sites. Randall White will discuss the rich corpus of Aurignacian painting, engraving, bas-relief sculpture, musical instruments, and personal ornamentation that was studied before World War I in southwest France, along with recent discoveries from classic Aurignacian sites. He will also highlight how the combined study of archives, long-forgotten museum collectionsand even back dirt (excavated material)is contributing new discoveries and contextual data about early Eurasian expressive culture.
This one is slow, but lots of great information, and features many objects not included in my lecture.
Modern Humans Earliest Artwork and Music: New European Discoveries (Links to an external site.)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams- Art of the Paleolithic
I’ve attached a link to a YouTube video of Werner Herzog’s ‘Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ (2010). Herzog’s documentary is about the Chauvet Cave in southern France, which contains some of the oldest human-painted images yet discovered. Some of them were crafted around 32,000 years ago. Currently, you have to pay to view the movie, but it is definitely worth the $3.99 to rent. If you watch it and write about it, I’ll throw you some extra credit points. 🙂
Cave of Forgotten Dreams – YouTubeLinks to an external site.
Here’s the longer free clip I could find:
Cave of Forgotten Dreams – The Paintings – YouTubeLinks to an external site.
Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe | Genevieve von Petzinger
Written language, the hallmark of human civilization, didn’t just suddenly appear one day. Thousands of years before the first fully developed writing systems, our ancestors scrawled geometric signs across the walls of the caves they sheltered in. Paleoanthropologist and rock art researcher Genevieve von Petzinger has studied and codified these ancient markings in caves across Europe. The uniformity of her findings suggest that graphic communication, and the ability to preserve and transmit messages beyond a single moment in time, may be much older than we think.
It’s a TED talk, please be advised. But still good.
Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe | Genevieve von Petzinger (Links to an external site.)
Here’s some videos on critical works:
South Africa’s Makapansgat pebble
South Africa’s Makapansgat pebble a big attraction at London Museum (Links to an external site.)
13 Facts About the Chauvet Cave Paintings
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/577563/chauvet-cave-paintings-facts (Links to an external site.)
Woman of Willendorf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0xAmbjE6Us (Links to an external site.)
An article from Smarthistory on the Woman of Willendof
https://smarthistory.org/venus-of-willendorf/ (Links to an external site.)
And the embedded video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENAZqOoOVaI (Links to an external site.)
Facebook banned a user from posting a photo of a 30,000-year-old statue of a naked woman and people are furious
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-bans-venus-of-willendorf-photos-over-nudity-policy-2018-3 (Links to an external site.)
And here’s a current one:
What was found in Chiquihuite Cave may rewrite human history.
https://www.inverse.com/science/mexico-cave-finding-2020 (Links to an external site.)
