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1. Professor Will Adams

2.  Events that occurred before written history.
 So: If there was no writing, did that mean people didn’t want or need
to communicate?
 How would they do it?
 Art’s 1st Purpose: Communication
 Art’s 2nd Purpose: Worship

3.  Premise of Sympathetic Magic:
 Everything in the universe is connected.
 There is a direct correlation between the body and forces
of nature.
 Understanding these connections assists an individual
in the interpretation and manipulation of events.

4.  Contagious:
 It holds that physically connected objects can never be
separated.
 Practitioners believe that any action against the part
constitutes an action against the whole.
 Imitative:
 Premise: “like follows like”.
 The assumption is that a person will imitate the desired
behavior or achievement shown to them by religious or
spiritual leaders.

5.  There were two kinds of art produced during this time.
 Parietal art: Paintings, sculptures & engravings found in
caves along the walls and the ceilings (these caves were
ceremonial sites, not for shelter).
 Mobiliary art: Small, portable sculpted objects buried at
habitation sites.

7.  Sculpture-in-the-Round  Relief Sculpture (High relief, Low (bas)
relief, Sunken)

8.  Carving = Subtractive
 Modeling = Additive

9.  Found in Tarn, France · 11,000 – 9,000 BCE · Carved elk horn
Bison with Turned Head

10.  Found in Tuc d’Audoubert, France · c. 13,000 – 8,000 BCE · Unbaked clay
modeled on living rock
Sculpted Bison

11.  25,000 BCE
 Made of limestone
 4 3/8” high
 Naturhistorisches Museum in
Vienna, Austria
 Suggest abundant fertility and a
plentiful supply of food
 Found in 1908
 Venus is the classical goddess of
love and beauty
 This “Venus” was sort of a joke: a
“failed Venus” – not feminine

13.  Colored powders made from
organic substances such
as minerals or semi-
precious stones.
 Pigments are mixed with
liquid (referred to as
medium, binder, or vehicle)
in order to be applied to a
surface.
 That surface is known as
the pigment & medium’s
support.

14.  The Cosquer Cave is located near
Marseilles, France.
 It can be accessed through a
tunnel 574 feet in length, which
is 121 feet under the sea level.
 The unique feature of this cave
is that it contains several dozen
works painted and engraved
between 27,000 and 19,000 years
ago.
 It is decorated with a variety
of land animals, but also with
seals and auks, fifty-five hand
stencils.

16.  Marine animals are rarely found in
decorated caves from the Paleolithic era.
 In the Cosquer Cave, they make up a
significant portion (11%) of the overall
number of figures.
 Drawn or engraved in the rock are
penguins, seals, fish, and various figures
that may stand for jelly-fish or octopi.
 Big-bellied horse painted in black 18,500
years before the present.
 This black horse, about 26” long, is drawn
with simple lines although the legs are
slightly awkward.
 Some details, such as the eye, the lower
jaw, and the mane done in parallel hatching
are well executed.
Animal Paintings

17.  The Chauvet Cave is one of the most
famous prehistoric rock art sites in the
world.
 Located in southern France, along the
bank of the River Ardeche, this cave
was only discovered as recently as
1994.
 Chauvet Cave's importance is based on
two factors: firstly, the quality of the
cave paintings, and secondly, their
great age. With one exception, all of the
cave art paintings have been dated
between 30,000 & 33,000 years ago.
 Not only is the Ice Age art of the
Chauvet Cave extremely old, it is also
very extensive and highly varied.

18.  The wall to the right of the central
recess has a large number of
animals drawn on to it. The overall
scene depicts a hunt.
 On the right of the composition
there is a rhinoceros and a
mammoth.
 On the left, there are four bison
heads, and two more rhinos.
 Then there are seven bison,
pursued by a pride of sixteen
lions, mainly depicted by their
heads alone.
Lion Panel
c. 25,000 – 17,000 BCE
Black pigment on
limestone

19.  Lascaux is famous for its paintings,
found in a complex of caves in the
Dordogne region of France, because of
their exceptional quality, size,
sophistication and antiquity.
 Estimated to be up to 20,000 years old,
the paintings consist primarily of large
animals, once native to the region.
 Lascaux is a complex cave with several
areas or galleries.
 It was discovered on September 12,
1940.
 The cave contains nearly 2,000 figures,
grouped into three main categories -
animals, human figures and abstract
signs.

20. Lascaux’s Floorplan
Major galleries of the cave include: the Great Hall of the Bulls, the
Lateral Passage, the Shaft of the Dead Man, the Chamber of
Engravings, the Painted Gallery, and the Chamber of Felines.

21. Hall of the Bulls at Lascaux

22.  Among the most famous images are four
huge, black bulls or aurochs in the Hall of
the Bulls.
 One of the bulls is 17 feet long - the
largest animal discovered so far in cave
art.
 Additionally, the bulls appear to be in
motion. There are no images of reindeer,
even though that was the principal source
of food for the artists.
 A painting referred to as The Crossed
Bison, found in the chamber called the
Nave, is often held as an example of the
skill of the Paleolithic cave painters. The
crossed hind legs show the ability to use
perspective.
Details of the Hall
of the Bulls

23.  This ancient horse was called "Chinese" because of its resemblance to 3,000-
year-old Tang dynasty horses.
The Chinese Horse of Lascaux
c. 13,000 BCE

24.  You will be given a sheet of paper, which you will affix to the underside
of your desktop.
 You will be given pigments in the form of crayons.
 You will then use your pigments to “paint” your sheet of paper like a
cave ceiling or wall.
 Your painting should depict someone or something you admire and
would like to imitate OR something you are grateful for
 VERY IMPORTANT: Do NOT use any words, characters, or written
language.
 Be sure to work continuously throughout the allotted time, attempting
to fill all blank space with images that are as expressive you are
capable of creating.