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| "Hall of Bulls" at Lascaux, France (Palaeolithic Era) |
I am amazed by how simple it all started. From the
dirt-stained fingers of the cavemen that began the first paintings on planet
earth ever to the very wide variety of art we have today. Here are the things
that I learned about the ancient arts. Read on!
The ancient art is divided into 3 periods – the
Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic era.
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| "Venus of Willendorf" (Palaeolithic Era) |
“Palaeolithic” literally means old stone (palaeo=old; lithic=stone).
Their subjects are usually animals and humans
so you could say that the style they use is naturalism and the people back then used stones and pigments as
their medium. Here, we’d find the oldest arts there ever were and one of these
are the cave paintings. Whenever I hear that, I remember a story of how they
were discovered. It happened in Lascaux, France. Two boys whose dog chased a ball into a hole followed the animal and discovered beautiful paintings of bison, horses, and cattle that are estimated to be more than 15,000 years old. The caves were discovered unintentionally. This era was also the
beginning of writing which first came in the form of petroglyphs or
pictographs. The arts in the old stone age were the last ones before ice age
came.
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| "Stonehenge" in Wiltshire, England (Neolithic Era) I would like to go here someday! |
After the ice age, the Mesolithic Era took
place. The style here is naturalism,
the same with the Palaeolithic era, but with more focus on people.
Next came the Neolithic Era or the New Stone
Age (neo=new; lithic=stone). What I remember the most from this era is the Stonehenge. Who knew that it would be
the start of the famous Greek columns and architectural design?
There are civilizations in the East (Mesopotamia)
that had a huge impact in the art we know today. These are in:
- Sumer – crafts mostly made out of clay and about gods
- Akkad – about violence, kings, gods; used by the royalties to show power; steel, clay, and stone as medium
- Babylonia – about laws; clay and brick as medium
- Assyria – about military; Assyrians conquered Babylon and “copied” their art; stone as medium
- Persia – one of the richest arts; a mix of cultures due to conquests; includes architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, metal weaving, and stone masonry; their columns were thinner, modelled after the Greek’s, and uses images of animal heads for the capitals instead of the normal ones; makes use of frieze/embossments; featured royalties
The three that made so much influence on art:
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| The bust of Nefertiti (Egyptian Art) |
1. EGYPT. Their subjects were mostly about kings
and queens and their medium was granite; style used was naturalism; faces were
shown in profile; art had a sense of
movement and activity
2. GREECE. Aegean art divided into three
categories…
- Mycenaean – art style used was naturalism and representational; famous for its gold masks; mostly architectural; featured large stones and high walls; relief sculptures and fresco
- Cycladic – subject was highly stylised forms of women (representations); marble as medium
- Minoan – also representational; fresco and bricks as medium; their columns are simpler
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| "Historic Hemisphere" Because I like the 'story' of the Dome and the Wall so much I made this for the ancient-art inspired homework:) |
3. JERUSALEM. This is the home of the three greatest religions in the world namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The common architecture that Jerusalem used is domes and what I liked the most from this part was the Western Wall that surrounded the Islamic temple called “The Dome of the Rock.” It was said that the walls built around the different temples in Jerusalem were meant to divide the religions. It just amazes me of how much significance those walls have. They’re not just ordinary panels, they were actually barriers and bulwarks.
In conclusion, I say that this era has really
taught me that it’s nice to look back and that being reminded of the past is
not so bad at all :) Remembering how and where we started is a good guide for
us in continuing to make way for improvements. Just because art has already
evolved so much since the ancient times, it doesn't mean that we've improved
enough already so we should just stop now. No. We never stop learning. We will
keep on upgrading.
~ Learning about Classical Art tomorrow. Pasukan na naman! Aaaand our report about the Renaissance is drawing nearer, oh dear!
Ancient Art photos from Google, "Historic Hemisphere" artwork & photo: original
(Thoughts on Ancient Arts)
- 7:22 AM
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