This document contains information about a History of Western Art course taught by Prof. Erick. The course grading is based on attendance, quizzes, midterm exams, and a final exam. It also provides goals and details about prehistoric art in Europe during the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. Specifically, it discusses the origins and development of art from early stone tools to wall paintings and sculptures, the transition from a hunter-gatherer to agricultural society, and examples of important Paleolithic and Neolithic sites across Europe showcasing early art forms.

1. Course Teacher: Prof. Erick
2018/06/01
History of Western Art: Ancient to
Medieval
Course Assessment
Attendance 20%
5 Quizzes 15%
Midterm Exams 1 20%
Midterm Exams 2 20%
Final Exam 25%
Total 100%

2. Course Teacher: Prof. Erick
2018/06/01
History of Western Art: Ancient to
Medieval
PREHISTORIC EUROPE

4. GOALS
 Understand the origins of art in terms of time
period, human development and human activity.
 Origins of creativity, representation, and
stylistic innovation in the Paleolithic Period.
 human and animal figures in Paleolithic art.
 Materials and techniques of earliest art making
in the Paleolithic period.
 Differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic
art as a result of social and environmental
changes.
 Evaluate the types of art prevalent in the
Neolithic period.

5. GOALS
 Understand the origins of art in terms of time
period, human development and human activity.
 Origins of creativity, representation, and
stylistic innovation in the Paleolithic Period.
 human and animal figures in Paleolithic art.
 Materials and techniques of earliest art making
in the Paleolithic period.
 Differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic
art as a result of social and environmental
changes.
 Evaluate the types of art prevalent in the
Neolithic period.

7. Origin of Humankind
Humankind seems to have originated in AFRICA in the very
remote past.

8. Origin of Humankind

9. Waterworn pebble resembling a human face, from Makapansgat,
south Africa, ca. 3,000,000 BCE. Reddish brown jasperite.

10. Marcel Duchamp
took a ceramic urinal,
set it on its side,
called it ‘Fountain’
and declared his
“ready-made” worthy
of exhibition among
more conventional
artworks.

12. PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
(OLD STONE AGE)
2.6 million years ago

13. Early Humans
Humans created the first tools
made out of stone

14. Early humans developed
1. Simple stone tools
2. Control of fire
3. Oral language
All keys to cooperating in hunts, which bring
food and resources
Better than Monkeys

15. Wise Man
• Smarter, larger-brained humans known as
homo sapiens (Latin for “wise man”)
– Developed technology
• Clothing
• Shelter
• Art
• Homo sapiens are modern humans

16. • Homo sapiens arose in Africa about
200,000 years ago
• Migration to all continents (except
Antarctica) beginning around 100,000
years ago
Out of Africa

20. VENUS OF WILLENDORF

22. LAUSSEL

24. LE TUC D’AUDOUBERT

26. LA MADELEINE

28. ALTAMIRA

30. PECH-MERLE

32. LASCAUX
(Hall of the Bulls)

34. Wall painting in the
Chauvet Cave

36. NEOLITHIC PERIOD
(NEW STONE AGE)
4500 and 2000 BC

38. 1.Around 9000 BCE, the ice that covered much of northern
Europe during the Paleolithic period melted as the
climate grew warmer.
2.The sea level rose more than 300 feet, separating
England from continental Europe and Spain from Africa.
3.The reindeer migrated north, and the woolly mammoth
disappeared.
4.The Paleolithic gave way to a transitional period, the
Mesolithic, and then, for several thousand years at
different times in different parts of the globe, a great new
age, the Neolithic, dawned.

39. 5. Human beings began to pet plants and animals. (Taming
of the dog)
6. Their food supply assured, many groups changed from
hunters to herders, to farmers, and finally to townspeople.
7. Wandering hunters settled down to organized
community living in villages surrounded by cultivated
fields.
8. In the Neolithic period, agriculture and stock raising
became humankind’s major food sources.
9. The transition to the Neolithic occurred first in the
ancient Near East.

40. JERICHO

42. AIN GHAZAL

44. ÇATAL HÖYÜK

46. Neolithic Artistic Developments
• Examine the development of narrative and
landscape painting.
• Explore the different materials and methods of
making art in the Neolithic period.
• Compare and contrast the painting with the
Paleolithic painting.

47. Çatal Höyük
(Deer Hunt)

49. Çatal Höyük, Turkey
(watercolor copy of a wall
painting )

51. • Stonehenge
– Started during the
Neolithic Age and
completed during the
bronze Age
• Aleppo
– Ancient City which
was a regional trading
post
Example of Neolithic Activity

52. Paleolithic Period Neolithic Period
Meaning
Paleo=old; Lithic=stone.
The Paelolithic era is also
called the Old Stone age.
Neo=new; Lithic=stone. Neolithic
era is also call the New Stone age.
Tools
Chipped stone, wooden
weapons, light stone tools
(not sharpened)
polished stone tools made sharper
by grinding
Art Cave paintings Wall paintings
Sculpture
material
Stone, mammoth ivory,
reindeer horn
Stone, clay (baked)
Main
Discovery
Fire; Rough stone tools
Agriculture and tools with
polished stones, the plow

53. Homework
1. Why do you think that images of man were less
prevalent in Paleolithic art than those of women?
2. How is the human figure presented differently in the
Paleolithic to the Neolithic Periods?

54. THANK YOU
ENJOY WESTERN ART
HISTORY 