Art Appreciation Chapter 15

Scholars have learned most about which culture from artifacts discovered in tombs?

Egyptian

Hierarchic scale

Use of unnatural proportions or scale to show the relative importance of figures; most commonly practiced in ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian art

What egyptian aesthetic preference is best demonstrated by this sculpture?

compact, solid forms

What is the likely source of the abstract decorative pattern on this Chinese burial urn?

cowrie shells

The Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut demonstrates the

divine status of rulers in ancient Egypt

Roughly two million years ago, in east-central Africa

early hominids made crude stonecutting tools.

What most contributed to the development of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations?

fertile land that could sustain an agricultural economy

The overarching symbolic message of the imagery on the WARKA VASE is

fertility

One characteristic of Egyptian figural wall painting was

hierarchic scale

Tutankhamen "King Tut" is the best-known ruler because

his tomb was discovered mostly intact during modern times

Paleolithic cultures lived by-

hunting and gathering

One reason that engraved ochre may be the first instance of artistic creativity is:

there is no practical reason offered for the markings

What was a key purpose for much Egyptian portrait sculpture?

to serve as a receptacle for the spirit of the deceased

One of the most significant artifacts of the Neolithic period was-

Clay pots

WARKA VASE

Much of the art of Sumer serves ritualistic needs; a well-crafted example is the vase from Warka (FIG. 15.14). One of the earliest surviving examples of narrative relief sculpture, this vase is a celebration of fertility carved in fine white alabaster. At the lowest level, a wavy line represents the source of the organic growth, the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, flowing beneath a row of alternating grains and date palms. Above, rams and ewes march along. At the center, nude men in an orderly row bring baskets of food offerings. At the top is the culmination of the procession: A man brings an offering basket to a priestess representing Inanna, the goddess of fertility, who stands before the entrance to her temple. Inanna was one of the most important gods of Sumer and appears frequently in both art and literature. This vase depicts humans in harmony with the natural world in carvings of fine quality throughout.

FUNERARY TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT

Names of a few Egyptian architects are known in association with their buildings. A striking and well-preserved example is the Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (FIG. 15.17), which may have been designed by Senenmut, the queen's chancellor and advisor (see Senenmut: The Great Steward on next screen). Complementing the majestic cliffs of the site, the ramps and colonnades provide an elegant setting for ritual pageantry. Wall paintings and reliefs at the site tell of an expedition that Hatshepsut funded to explore the legendary birthplace of the gods, and her own birth from the sun god Amen. This grandiose temple, completed during her reign, aided her effort to be taken seriously as a ruler in her own right, and its narrative art tells the exploits of the first famous woman in the history of art.

MURUJUGA PETROGLYPHS

One of the largest petroglyph complexes is in the Dampier Archipelago off the northwest coast of Australia. There we see the Murujuga petroglyphs (FIG. 15.8), thousands of carvings that depict humans, animals, and mythic beings. Like the cave paintings, the purpose of the petroglyphs is a matter of conjecture. Their age is also difficult to determine because they are in exposed locations apart from the soil sediments that help us to date paintings. A great deal of the world's rock art is also endangered for this reason; the Murujuga petroglyphs, for example, have been eroded by acid rain, and economic development in the area threatens their destruction.

WALL PAINTING OF ANIMALS

Paintings in the Chauvet Cave in south-central France are more recent and better preserved. The wall painting of animals (FIG. 15.6) is among dozens of 30,000-year-old images painted with charcoal and earthen pigments on the cave walls. The unknown artists depicted in a lifelike fashion horses, rhinoceroses, tigers, and other large animals, many of them now extinct. Explorers found a bear's skull in the middle of a flat stone slab nearby, which may have been an altar.

THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST

The Greeks named the broad plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers Mesopotamia, "the land between the rivers" (FIG. 15.12). Today, the heart of this plain is part of central and northern Iraq. The geography of Mesopotamia made it vulnerable to repeated invasion; thus, the area was ruled by a succession of different peoples.

What materials was used in the construction of ziggurats?

brick and wood

Scholars long believed that the purpose of naturalistic Paleolithic art was to

bring the spirits of animals into rituals related to the hunt.

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS, GIZA, EGYPT

Among the most impressive and memorable works of Egyptian civilization are the Great Pyramids (FIG. 15.16), gigantic mountain-like structures built as burial vaults and commemorative monuments for pharaohs—rulers who were considered god-kings. Legions of workers cut huge stone blocks, moved them to the site, and stacked them, without mortar, to form the pyramidal structure. The interiors are mostly solid, with narrow passageways leading to small burial chambers.

Paleolithic paintings

Animal subjects predominate; humans that appear tend to be more simplified and abstract than the images of animals. Animals portrayed in sculpture and paintings of this period have an expressive naturalism.

What distinguishes pictographs found at Horseshoe Canyon in Utah from cave paintings in other parts of the world?

Animals were rarely depicted

GROUP STATUE OF KING MYCERINUS (MENKAURA)

Egyptians generally entombed portrait sculpture of the deceased person as an aid to his or her successful transition to the afterlife. Such statues were believed to serve as receptacles for the spirit of the deceased. The style of sculpture is characterized by compact, solidly structured figures that embody qualities of strength and clarity also found in Egyptian architecture. Egyptian sculptors worked by first sketching the outline of the figure onto the stone to be carved (in the manner of FIG. 15.18), and then working inward. This triple figure sculpture (FIG. 15.20) shows the Pharaoh Menkaura at the center wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. On the left is the goddess Hathor with her distinctive crown of a sun between bull's horns. One of the most important figures among Egyptian deities, she presided over natural cycles and fertility. She also welcomed worthy souls into the afterlife, which she appears to be doing here by holding the king's hand. On the other side is a goddess local to the central Nile region where this group was recovered. The strength, clarity, and lasting stability expressed by the figures result from a union of portraiture and idealization. With formal austerity, all three figures stand in the frontal pose that had been established for royal portraits: the ruler stands with left foot forward, a false ceremonial beard, and the figures remain attached to the block of stone from which they were carved. Menkaura's face as he appears to stare off into eternity is a recognizable likeness similar to other known portraits. The inscription at the feet of the figures records the names of all three and lists the gifts presented at Menkaura's funeral.

ZIGGURAT OF UR-NAMMU

In the city-states of Sumer, religion and government were one; authority rested with priests who claimed divine sanction as they elected their rulers. The Sumerians worshiped a hierarchy of nature gods in temples set on huge platforms called ziggurats, which stood at the center of each city-state. Ruins of many early Mesopotamian cities are still dominated by eroding ziggurats, such as the Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (FIG. 15.13). The Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible was probably a ziggurat.

WALL PAINTING FROM THE TOMB OF NEBAMUN

In the wall painting from the tomb of Nebamun (FIG. 15.22), the painter of the hunting scene presented a wealth of specific information without making the painting confusing. Flat shapes portray basic elements of each subject in the clearest, most identifiable way. The head, hips, legs, and feet of the nobleman who dominates this painting are shown from the side, while his eye and shoulders are shown from the front. Sizes of human figures are determined by social rank, a system known as hierarchic scale; the nobleman is the largest figure, his wife is smaller, his daughter smaller still; The family stands on a boat made of papyrus reeds; plants grow on the left at the shore. The entire painting is teeming with life, and the artist has even taken great care to show life below the water's surface. Attention to accurate detail lets us identify species of insect, bird, and fish. The hieroglyphs—the picture writing of ancient Egyptian priesthood—can be seen behind the figures.

engraved ochre

Recent discoveries have enlivened the debate about when art began. In 2002, archaeologists digging in the Blombos Cave in South Africa unearthed what may qualify as the earliest art that we know of. In a soil layer 77,000 years old, they found some pieces of engraved ochre (FIG. 15.2) bearing marks that appear to be symbols. The marks form an abstract pattern of parallel diagonal lines between horizontal bars. Any practical use for the markings is highly unlikely; rather, they seem symbolic or at least decorative, making these ochres the oldest embellished objects yet found. In 2010, researchers at a nearby site found ostrich egg shells with similar parallel scratch marks. Many archaeologists concluded that these African sites contain the first known instances of artistic creativity.

ARTIST'S GRIDDED SKETCH OF SENENMUT

Senenmut (active ca. 1473-1458 BCE) was apparently born into a family of modest means in a small city not far from Luxor and Karnak, important ceremonial centers and the site of many temples. We can glimpse something of both Senenmut's physical appearance and the techniques of Egyptian artists from a portrait drawing on limestone (FIG. 15.18) that was recovered near his tomb. It shows a man with a slightly hooked nose, ridges around his mouth, and a near-double chin.

The first tools made were-

Sharp chipped tools

BURIAL URN

Some of the finest Neolithic pottery was made in China. The well-preserved burial urn from Kansu Province (FIG. 15.10) is decorated with a bold interlocking design, which may have been abstracted from spirals observed in nature. The design in the center of the spirals is probably derived from the bottoms of cowrie shells.

GREAT GALLERY

Some of the oldest Paleolithic rock art in North America is found in Utah, where native peoples painted silhouette forms that resemble humans wrapped in symbolic garments (FIG. 15.7). The meaning of these ghostly figures eludes us, but they were created with a high degree of detail using the same sort of earthen pigments that characterize Paleolithic art the world over. Unlike European Paleolithic paintings, which are much older, the North American artists rarely depicted animals. Many archaeologists speculate that shamanic rituals practiced in the region by successor peoples offer a clue to the meaning and function of these haunting works.

HEAD OF AN AKKADIAN RULER

Sumerian culture flourished among independent city-states in lower Mesopotamia. By about 2300 BCE, Sumer came under the authority of a single Akkadian king from the region just to the north. The serene head of an Akkadian ruler (FIG. 15.15) portrays such an absolute monarch. Clearly, this sophisticated work evolved from a long tradition of creating representational art through lost-wax casting (see FIG. 12.8). The elaborate hairstyle and rhythmic patterning show the influence of Sumerian stylization. The handsome face expresses calm inner strength. Such blending of formal design with carefully observed representation is a characteristic of both later Mesopotamian and Egyptian art.

What is one reason that explains the relatively unchanged styles of Egyptian art for 2,500 years?

The country was isolated

How does the decoration on this Neolithic vessel reflect a general shift from earlier artistic forms?

The images are abstracted

PIG-DEER AND HAND

The oldest known paintings were discovered in a cave in Indonesia decades ago, but only in 2014 were they convincingly dated to at least 39,900 years ago (FIG. 15.5). This photo shows a handprint at the upper right, which an early human made by blowing dark red powder to leave a negative image. It is the oldest known representation created by a human. A four-legged animal occupies the central third of the picture, outlined in similar reddish powder applied at least 35,400 years ago; the subject is a now extinct species called a pig-deer.

HOHLE FELS FIGURE

The oldest surviving carved human figure was found in southwestern Germany in 2008; the Hohle Fels Figure (FIG. 15.3) is just over 2 inches high and at least 35,000 years old. Her female characteristics are highly exaggerated, and she shows carefully placed grooves at various points on her body. Her arms cling to her abdomen. In place of a head is a ring suitable for stringing the figure around a wearer's neck (the ring shows wearing marks).

Which best describes the interior of Egyptian pyramids?

They are mostly solid with narrow passageways

What recent theory has emerged about the function of Paleolithic art based on the study of footprints and other remains at ancient sites?

They were used in initiation ceremonies

BLOCK STATUE OF SENENMUT WITH NEFERURE

This particular work has an inscription by Senenmut that suggests he had a significant role in determining the work's appearance: "Images which I have made from the devising of my own heart and from my own labor; they have not been found in the writings of the ancients."86 Other inscriptions on this work include prayers for himself and his student.

MASK FROM MUMMY CASE

Tutankhamen ("King Tut"), who died at age 18, is the best-known Egyptian ruler because his was the only Egyptian royal tomb discovered in modern times with most of its contents intact. The volume and value of the objects in the small tomb make it clear why grave robbers have been active in Egypt since the days of the first pharaohs. Tutankhamen's inlaid gold mask from his mummy case (FIG. 15.21) is but one of hundreds of extraordinary artifacts from the tomb. Its formal blend of portraiture and idealism is distinctly Egyptian.

EARTHENWARE BEAKER WITH IBEXES

We see some of these forms in the painted earthenware beaker (FIG. 15.9) from Susa, the first developed city on the Iranian plateau. Solid bands define areas of compact decoration. The upper zone consists of a row of highly abstract long-necked birds, below which appears to be a band of dogs running in the opposite direction. The dominant image is an ibex or goat abstracted into triangular and circular shapes. The significant difference between the naturalism of Paleolithic animal art and the abstraction of Neolithic art becomes clear when we compare this goat with the naturalistic bulls of Chauvet (see FIG. 15.6).

Ziggurats

a rectangular or square stepped pyramid, often with a temple at it's top

What is a petroglyph?

a rock carving

What symbolic form was embodied by the Sumerian ziggurats?

a sacred mountain linking heaven and earth

Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)

a very ancient period coincident with the Old Stone Age, before the discovery of agriculture and animal herding

Neolithic painting reflects a shift from naturalistic art to

abstract designs

naturalisitic-

an art style in which the curves and contours of a subject are accurately portrayed

petroglyphs-

an image or a symbol carved in shallow relief on a rock surface, usually ancient

Which of the following best describes the scholarly position on Paleolithic cave paintings and petroglyphs?

interpretations of the meanings change and vary over time

About one million years ago in Africa, and more recently in Asia and Europe

people made more refined tools by chipping flakes from opposite sides of stones to create sharp cutting edges.

Neolithic-

the period after the introduction of agriculture but before the invention of bronze

STONEHENGE

shows real sophistication is Stonehenge in south-central England (FIG. 15.11). Built in layers over more than a millennium, its oldest phase is the outermost circular ditch and bank; these date from about 3200 BCE. This bank is interrupted for a road (at lower right) that is aligned to the northernmost midwinter moonrise. Many archaeologists believe that this orientation was important in funeral rituals. Near the same time, wood structures were erected at the center of the circle.

Current archaeological scholarship suggests Paleolithic female figures like the WOMAN OF WILLENDORF may have functioned as

signs of recognition among hunting and gathering groups

WOMAN OF WILLENDORF

similar to Hohle Fels Figure; found in northern Austria. In both of these figures, the pointy legs, lack of facial detail, and exaggerated emphasis on hips and breasts implies a specific purpose, which we can only guess at. These figures may be the earliest known works of religious art; some scholars believe that they depict the Paleolithic image of the Creator—the Great Mother Goddess. A more recent theory holds that these figures were signs of recognition, proffered when widely scattered groups of hunter-gatherers encountered one another. The Hohle Fels Figure was found near a three-hole flute carved of bone, indicating that music also existed in that remote era.

What evidence encourages some archeologists to believe that ritual accompanied burials from about 100,000 years ago?

sprinkled powders and beads at grave sites

The agricultural revolution—this major shift from nomadic groups to small agricultural communities

stabilized human life and produced early architecture and other technological developments.

What aspect of artmaking does the elaborate patterning of the beard on this sculpture reflect?

stylization

Ziggurats in Ancient Sumer were used as

temples

What feature of Stonehenge leads some scholars to think that it was associated with funeral rites?

the alignment of the heel stone with celestial events

The Sumerians were the first to develop-

writing