1. STUDY SHEET—Art 110, Weeks 1 and 2
Note: This is NOT homework; there is no need to define these terms or answer these
questions and turn them in. This is a study guide for the first two weeks’ lectures, and
you can download a study guide each week afterward (since we only meet once the first
week, I have combined the first two weeks into one sheet). The sheets are available on
Blackboard; I cannot photocopy them for you due to budget restraints. These sheets are
intended to help you take notes and study for exams. The multiple choice questions on
the exams will be taken from the “Names and terms” on this sheet; the essay questions
on exams will be taken from the “Possible essay questions” here; you will not see any
image on a test which is not listed here.
Also note: Sept. 6 is a holiday, we do not meet.
Names and terms: Homo Sapiens, Neanderthal (meanders), (Upper) Paleolithic, sculpture
in the round, relief sculpture, engraving, additive and subtractive sculpture, in situ,
mobilary, cave painting, Saharan rock art (Africa), “X-ray style” painting (Australia,
aborigines), spit painting, Sautolo, Altamira (Spain), Dordogne, Abbe Breuil, “art for
art’s sake,” sympathetic magic, shamanism, Lascaux (France), “Hunting Magic,” sexual
symbolism, fertility magic, “Lunar Calendar Theory” (Marshak), entopics, Mesolithic,
bogs, "bog people," fibulae, Neolithic, Catal Huyuk, Hacilar, megalithic, monolith, trilith,
post and lintel, dolmen, cairn, menhir, alignment, cromlech, henge, heelstone, sarsen
stones, Egypt (Upper and Lower), Nile, canon of proportions, hierarchic scale, dynasties,
Old/Middle/New Kingdoms, Narmer, pharaoh, iconography, registers, Horus
Some possible essay questions:
--How is the development of image making an important stage in human development?
Discuss some of the media and techniques of prehistoric image makers. What are some
characteristics of prehistoric cave painting?
--Who was the Abbe Breuil? Explain his “Hunting Magic” theory of prehistoric art.
What are some of the criticisms of it, and what are some alternate theories?
--Explain the iconography and meaning of the Palette of King Narmer. What are some of
the characteristics which make it typical of later Egyptian art? Name some commonly
depicted Egyptian deities; what were some of their distinctive attributes?
Some images from the book:
Venus of Willendorf, c.25,000 BC, p. 3
Lascaux cave paintings, c.15.000 BC, pp. 7, 9
Stonhenge, c.2000 BC, page 14
Palette of King Narmer, c.3000 BC, page, 41