More than three million years ago, the formation process began modern look of people. Parking lots primitive man found in the most different countries peace. Our ancient ancestors, exploring new territories, encountered unfamiliar natural phenomena and formed the first centers of primitive culture.

Among the ancient hunters, people with extraordinary artistic talents stood out, who left many expressive works. There are no corrections to be found in the drawings made on the walls of the caves, since the unique masters had a very steady hand.

Primitive thinking

The problem of the origin of primitive art, reflecting the lifestyle of ancient hunters, has worried the minds of scientists for several centuries. Despite its simplicity, it is of great importance in the history of mankind. It reflects religious and social sphere life of that society. The consciousness of primitive people is a very complex interweaving of two principles - illusory and realistic. It is believed that this combination had precisely the effect on the character creative activity the first artists had a decisive influence.

Unlike modern art, the art of past eras is always connected with the everyday aspects of human life and seems more earthly. It fully reflects primitive thinking, which does not always have a realistic coloration. And the point here is not the low level of skill of the artists, but the special goals of their work.

The emergence of art

IN mid-19th century, archaeologist E. Larte discovered an image of a mammoth in the La Madeleine cave. Thus, for the first time, the involvement of hunters in painting was proven. As a result of discoveries, it was established that monuments of art appeared much later than tools.

Representatives of homo sapiens made stone knives and spearheads, and this technique was passed on from generation to generation. Later, people used bones, wood, stone and clay to create their first works. It turns out that primitive art arose when a person had free time. When the problem of survival was solved, people began to leave a huge number of monuments of the same type.

Kinds of art

Primitive art, which appeared in the Late Paleolithic era (more than 33 thousand years ago), developed in several directions. The first is represented by rock paintings and megaliths, and the second by small sculpture and carvings on bone, stone and wood. Unfortunately, wooden artifacts are extremely rare in archaeological sites. However, the man-made objects that have come down to us are very expressive and silently tell the story of the skill of ancient hunters.

It must be admitted that in the minds of our ancestors, art was not identified as a separate sphere of activity, and not all people had the ability to create images. The artists of that era had such a powerful talent that it burst out on its own, splashing out on the walls and roof of the cave with bright and expressive images that overwhelmed the human consciousness.

The Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) represents the earliest but longest period, at the end of which all types of art appeared, which are characterized by external simplicity and realism. People did not connect the events taking place with nature or themselves, and did not feel space.

The most outstanding monuments of the Paleolithic are considered to be drawings on the walls of caves, which are recognized as the first type of primitive art. They are very primitive and represent wavy lines, imprints human hands, images of animal heads. These are clear attempts to feel part of the world and the first glimpses of consciousness among our ancestors.

Paintings on rocks were done with a stone cutter or paint (red ocher, black charcoal, white lime). Scientists claim that along with the emerging art, the first rudiments of a primitive society (society) arose.

During the Paleolithic era, carvings on stone, wood and bone developed. The figurines of animals and birds found by archaeologists are distinguished by accurate reproduction of all volumes. Researchers say that they were created as amulets that protected cave dwellers from evil spirits. The most ancient masterpieces had magical meaning and guided man in nature.

Various tasks facing artists

Main feature primitive art in the Paleolithic era - its primitivism. Ancient people did not know how to convey space and give natural phenomena human qualities. Visual image animals was initially represented by a schematic, almost conventional, image. And only after a few centuries do colorful images appear that reliably show all the details appearance wild animals. Scientists believe that this is not due to the level of skill of the first artists, but to the various tasks that were set before them.

Contour primitive drawings were used in rituals and created for magical purposes. But very detailed exact images appear during a period when animals turn into objects of veneration, and ancient people thus emphasize their mystical connection with them.

The Rise of Art

According to archaeologists, the highest flowering of art primitive society falls on the Magdalenian period (25-12 thousand years BC). At this time, animals are depicted in motion, and a simple contour drawing takes on three-dimensional forms.

The spiritual powers of hunters, who have studied the habits of predators to the smallest detail, are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. Ancient artists convincingly draw images of animals, but man himself does not receive special attention in art. In addition, not a single image of the landscape has ever been discovered. It is believed that ancient hunters simply admired nature, and feared and worshiped predators.

The most famous examples of rock art of this period were found in the caves of Lascaux (France), Altamira (Spain), Shulgan-Tash (Urals).

"The Sistine Chapel of the Stone Age"

It is curious that back in the middle of the 19th century cave painting was not known to scientists. And only in 1877, a famous archaeologist who found himself in the Almamira cave discovered rock paintings, which were subsequently included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is no coincidence that the underground grotto received the name “Sistine Chapel of the Stone Age”. In the rock paintings one can see the confident hand of ancient artists, who made the outlines of animals without any corrections, using single lines. In the light of a torch, creating a stunning play of shadows, it seems that volumetric images moving.

Later, more than a hundred underground grottoes with traces of primitive people were found in France.

In the Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash), located in the Southern Urals, images of animals were found relatively recently - in 1959. 14 silhouette and contour drawings of animals made with red ocher. In addition, various geometric signs were discovered.

The first humanoid images

One of the main themes of primitive art is the image of a woman. It was caused by the special specificity of the thinking of ancient people. The drawings were attributed Magic force. Found figurines of naked and clothed women indicate very high level the skills of ancient hunters and convey the main idea of ​​the image - the keeper of the hearth.

These figures are very overweight women, the so-called Venus. Such sculptures are the first humanoid images symbolizing fertility and motherhood.

Changes that occurred during the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras

During the Mesolithic era, primitive art underwent changes. Rock paintings are multi-figure compositions in which one can trace various episodes from people’s lives. Most often scenes of battles and hunting are depicted.

But the main changes in primitive society occur during the Neolithic period. A person learns to build new types of housing and erects structures on stilts made of brick. The main theme of art becomes the activities of the collective, and fine arts represented by rock paintings, stone, ceramic and wooden sculpture, clay plastic.

Ancient petroglyphs

It is impossible not to mention multi-plot and multi-figure compositions in which the main attention is paid to animals and humans. Petroglyphs (rock carvings that are carved or painted), painted in secluded places, attract the attention of scientists from all over the world. Some experts believe that they are ordinary sketches of everyday scenes. And others see in them a kind of writing, which is based on symbols and signs, and testifies to the spiritual heritage of our ancestors.

In Russia, petroglyphs are called “pisanits”, and most often they are found not in caves, but in open areas. Made with ocher, they are perfectly preserved, since the paint is perfectly absorbed into the rocks. The themes of the drawings are very wide and varied: the heroes are animals, symbols, signs and people. Even schematic images of stars have been found solar system. Despite their very respectable age, the petroglyphs, made in a realistic manner, speak of the great skill of the people who created them.

And now research is ongoing to get closer to deciphering the unique messages left by our distant ancestors.

Bronze Age

During the Bronze Age, which is associated with the main milestones in the history of primitive art and humanity in general, new technical inventions appear, metal is being mastered, people are engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.

The themes of art are enriched with new subjects, the role of figurative symbolism increases, and geometric patterns spread. You can see scenes that are associated with mythology, and the images become a special symbolic system that is understandable to certain groups of the population. Zoomorphic and atropomorphic sculpture appears, as well as mysterious structures - megaliths.

Symbols that convey the most different concepts and feelings carry a great aesthetic load.

Conclusion

At the earliest stages of its development, art does not stand out as an independent sphere of human spiritual life. In primitive society there is only nameless creativity, closely intertwined with ancient beliefs. It reflected the ideas of the ancient “artists” about nature and the surrounding world, and thanks to it, people communicated with each other.

If we talk about the features of primitive art, then it is impossible not to mention that it has always been associated with the labor activity of people. Only labor allowed ancient masters to create real works that excite descendants with their vivid expressiveness. artistic images. Primitive man expanded his ideas about the world around him, enriching his spiritual world. During labor activity people developed aesthetic feelings and an understanding of beauty. From the very moment of its inception, art had a magical meaning, and later it existed with other forms of not only spiritual, but also material activity.

When man learned to create images, he gained power over time. Therefore, without exaggeration, we can say that the turn of ancient people to art is one of the most important events in the history of mankind.

Introduction.

The origins and roots of our culture are in primitive times. Primitive- childhood of humanity. Most of human history dates back to the primitive period.

We don't know much about the soul of a man who lived 20,000 years ago. However, we know that throughout the known history of mankind, man has not changed significantly either in his biological and psychophysical properties, or in his primary unconscious impulses. The first formation of man is a deepest mystery, still completely inaccessible and incomprehensible to us.

The demands placed on our knowledge by prehistory find expression in unanswered questions.

Modern anthropology does not provide a final and reliable idea of ​​the time and reasons for the transition from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens, as well as the starting point of its evolution. It is only obvious that man has traveled a long and very winding path in his biological and social development. In times and eras inaccessible to our definition, people settled on the globe. It took place within vast areas, was endlessly scattered, but at the same time had an all-encompassing, unified character.

Our ancestors, in the most distant period available to us, appear before us in groups, around a fire. The use of fire and tools is an essential factor in becoming human. “We would hardly consider a living being that has neither one nor the other to be a person.

The radical difference between man and animals is that the surrounding objective world is the object of his thinking and religion.

The formation of groups and communities, awareness of its semantic meaning is another descriptive quality of a person, only when greater cohesion begins to arise between primitive people, instead of horse and deer hunters, settled and organized humanity appears.

The emergence of art is a natural consequence of the development of labor activity and technology of Paleolithic hunters, inseparable from the formation of the clan organization, the modern physiological type of man. The volume of his brain increased, many new associations appeared, and the need for new forms of communication increased.

Primitive art: genres and features.

Primitive culture is usually understood as an archaic culture that characterizes the beliefs, traditions and art of peoples who lived more than 30,000 years ago and died long ago, or those peoples that exist today, preserving their primitive way of life intact. Primitive culture covers mainly the art of the Stone Age; it is a non-literate culture.

Experts believe that the genres of primitive art arose approximately in the following time sequence:

stone culture,

rock painting,

clay dishes.

In ancient times, people used materials at hand for art - stone, wood, bone. Much later, namely in the era of agriculture, he discovered the first artificial material - refractory clay - and began to use it to make dishes and sculptures.

Aurignacian culture (Late Paleolithic). If the heyday of cave painting came about 10-15 thousand years ago, then the art of miniature sculpture reached a high level much earlier - about 25 thousand years ago.

The so-called “Venuses” belong to this era - figurines of women 10-15 cm high, usually of emphatically massive forms. Scientists consider female sculptures to be the first anthropomorphic, i.e., human-like images.

The tendency of primitive man to depict is called the zoological or animal style in art, and for their diminutiveness, small figures and images of animals are called plastics of small forms. Both zoological and anthropomorphic images assumed their ritual use and performed a cult function. Religion and art arose almost simultaneously. The rock paintings are located in accessible places, at a height of 1.5-2 meters. They are found both on cave ceilings and on vertical walls. Cave paintings from the Old Stone Age are called wall paintings or cave paintings.

Primitive art is presented in the following main types: graphics, painting, sculpture, decorative art, reliefs and bas-reliefs.

The cave paintings of primitive man are being replaced by the art of abstract patterns applied to pottery. The Neolithic revolution ends with the victory of iron tools over stone ones, agriculture over gathering, sedentary lifestyle over nomadic, patriarchy over matriarchy, as well as the division of culture into spiritual and material, states, urban civilizations and architecture, writing arose; the decomposition of the communal system and the formation of social-class stratification of society.

Burial should be considered an art that arose at the intersection of sculpture, architecture and religion. In architectural terms, burials are divided into two main types: with grave structures and group ones, that is, without any grave structures.

The late period of the ancient Stone Age was the time of the birth of art. In 1879, Paleolithic cave painting was first discovered in the Cantabrian mountains of northern Spain. Having illuminated the cave arches, the archaeologist working here saw silhouettes of animals painted in red-brown paint: deer, goats, wild boars, fallow deer, polychrome images of bison. The painting was so perfect that scientists for a long time did not dare to believe in its antiquity.

Through images of animals, people expressed some important ideas about the world for them. Women are the first representatives of the human race to be depicted. Several such drawings have been preserved in the caves. More often they preferred to be depicted in the form of sculptures. These were small figurines that fit in the palm of your hand, made from mammoth tusk, bone, stone, or a specially prepared clay mass. Usually women were depicted as plump and naked, mothers who had many children. But there are also figures of slender, graceful women, as if they have not yet experienced the hardships and joys of motherhood. These are young hunters, as dexterous as men, although not as strong.

In all likelihood, figurines of women were used in rituals and worn as amulets. They were supposed to have a magical effect and bring prosperity not only to women and children, but to the entire community.

In the Middle Stone Age, completely different scenes are depicted on rocks and in caves. The main subject of the image is a group of people. In rock paintings of this time in Spain, India or southern Africa, you can see crowds of deer or wild bull hunters, groups of dancing people. They are depicted conventionally and do not differ from one another; they have no faces. Their movements are conveyed very vividly, and you can almost always understand what they are doing. Sometimes it was considered necessary to depict a lush headdress (probably made of feathers) or a wide skirt, as if made of palm leaves. This attention to clothing is not accidental: these are ritual costumes, and people in them do not just dance, but perform an important ritual.

Looking at such images, people saw not only themselves, but also their deceased ancestors, whose actions they tried to imitate, because they considered them exemplary.

Rock paintings of hunting and various rituals show that Middle Stone Age people were no longer as dependent on nature as their predecessors. They began to realize this still relatively weak independence, drawing crowds of hunters capable of killing a large and strong animal. The efforts of one person would not be enough to cope with the difficulties of life, and relatives helped each other in everything.

For the first time, the involvement of Stone Age hunters and gatherers in the fine arts was attested by the remarkable archaeologist Eduard Larte, who found an engraved plate in the Chaffo grotto in 1836. He also discovered an image of a mammoth on a piece of mammoth bone in the La Madeleine grotto (France). Characteristic feature art really early stage there was syncretism.

Human activity related to the artistic exploration of the world also contributed to the formation of homo sapiens (reasonable man). At this stage, the possibilities of all psychological processes and experiences of primitive man were in embryo, in a collective unconscious state.

Monuments of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and hunting neolithic art show us what people's attention was focused on during that period. Paintings and engravings on rocks, sculptures made of stone, clay, wood, and drawings on vessels are devoted exclusively to scenes of hunting game animals.

The main object of creativity of this time were animals.

The first works of primitive fine art belong to the Aurignacian culture, named after the Aurignac cave. Since that time, female figurines made of stone and bone with exaggerated body shapes and schematized heads, the so-called “Venuses”, have become widespread, apparently associated with the cult of the ancestral mother. Similar “Venuses” have been found in France, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia and many other areas of the world.

At the same time, generally expressive images of animals appear, recreating the characteristic features of a mammoth, elephant, horse, and deer.

The main artistic feature of primitive art was the symbolic form, the conventional nature of the image. The symbols are both realistic images and conventional ones. Often works of primitive art represent entire systems of symbols that are complex throughout their structure, carrying a great aesthetic load, with the help of which a wide variety of concepts or human feelings are conveyed.

Initially not isolated into a separate type of activity and associated with hunting and the labor process, primitive art reflected man’s gradual knowledge of reality, his ideas about the world around him.

Some art historians distinguish three stages of visual activity in the Paleolithic era. Each of them is characterized by the creation of a qualitatively new visual form.

Natural creativity composition from carcasses, bones, natural layout.

Artificial and figurative form: large clay sculpture, bas-relief, profile contour.

Upper Paleolithic fine art of cave painting, bone engraving.

Natural creativity includes the following points: ritual actions with the carcass of a killed animal, and later with its skin thrown on a stone or rock ledge. Subsequently, a molded base for this skin appeared. Animal sculpture was an elementary form of creativity. The natural layout, in turn, goes through several stages. At first, a natural figured volume, a natural mound, was used. The head of the beast was then placed on a deliberately constructed pedestal. Later, a rough sculpting of the beast was made, but without the head. This structure was covered with the skin of an animal, to which the head was attached.

The next second stage, artificial figurative form, includes artificial means of creating an image, the gradual accumulation of creative experience, which was expressed in the beginning of full-volume sculpture, and then in bas-relief simplification.

The third stage is characterized by the further development of Upper Paleolithic visual creativity associated with the appearance of expressive artistic images in color and three-dimensional images. The most characteristic examples of painting of this period are represented by cave paintings. The most ancient monuments arts found in Western Europe. They date from the same Late Paleolithic period as the emergence of modern humans. Monuments of primitive painting, as already noted, were discovered more than 100 years ago. The Stone Age palette is poor, containing four main colors: black, white, red, yellow. The first two were used quite rarely.

Similar stages can be traced when studying the musical layer of primitive art. Musical beginning was not separated from movement, gestures, exclamations, facial expressions.

An ancient musical instrument made from mammoth bones was discovered in one of the houses at the Mezin site. It was intended to reproduce noise or rhythmic sounds.

When studying the dwelling of the Mezinskaya site of the Late Paleolithic (in the Chernigov region), bones painted with ornaments, a hammer made of reindeer antler and beaters made of mammoth tusks were discovered. The “age” of this set of musical instruments is 20 thousand years.

A special area of ​​primitive art is ornament. It was used very widely already in the Paleolithic. Back in the 19th century. At the Mezinsky Paleolithic site (Ukraine), along with stone and bone tools, eyed needles, jewelry, remains of dwellings and other finds, bone items with geometric patterns skillfully applied to them were found. Geometric ornament is the main element of Mezin art. This design consists mainly of many zigzag lines. In recent years, such a strange zigzag pattern has been found at other Paleolithic sites in Eastern and Central Europe.

Having studied the cut structure of mammoth tusks using magnifying instruments, the researchers noticed that they also consist of zigzag patterns, very similar to the zigzag ornamental motifs of Mezin products. Thus, the basis of the Mezin geometric ornament was a pattern drawn by nature itself. But ancient artists not only copied nature, they introduced new combinations and elements into the original ornament.

Primitive artists also created works of art of small forms. The earliest of them date back to the Paleolithic.

In Russia, Paleolithic sculptures have been discovered in the center of the Russian Plain and in the Angara basin. In Siberia and the Urals, small plastic arts flourished in the Iron Age. It is found during excavations at Paleolithic sites.

Some researchers of Upper Paleolithic art believe that the ancient monuments of art, for the purposes they served, were not only art. They had religious and magical significance and oriented man in nature.

Later stages of primitive culture date back to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and the time of the spread of the first metal tools. From the appropriation of finished products of nature, primitive man gradually moves on to more complex forms of labor; along with hunting and fishing, he begins to engage in agriculture and cattle breeding. In the New Stone Age, the first artificial material invented by man, fireclay, appeared. Previously, people used for their needs what nature provided, stone, wood, bone.

In the Neolithic era, images appeared that conveyed more complex and abstract concepts. Many types of decorative and applied arts were formed: ceramics and metal processing. Bows, arrows, and pottery appeared. The first metal products appeared on the territory of our country about 9 thousand years ago. They were forged; casting appeared much later. In the Urals, about 5 thousand years ago, awls, knives, hooks were already made from copper, and about 4 thousand years ago, the first artistic castings were made.

Since the Bronze Age, bright images of animals almost disappear. Dry geometric patterns are spreading everywhere.

Culture of the population of the North Caucasus in the 3rd millennium BC. e., in the Early Bronze Age, it received the name Maikop after the famous monument representing it, the Maikop mound. The Maykop culture was distributed from the Taman Peninsula in the northwest to Dagestan in the southeast.

At the end of this period, along with bronze objects, iron objects begin to appear, which mark the beginning of a new period.

In the late period of primitive society, artistic crafts developed: products were made from bronze, gold, and silver.

Towards the end of the primitive era a new species appeared architectural structures fortresses Most often these are structures made of huge rough-hewn stones, which have been preserved in many places in Europe and the Caucasus. In Europe, from the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. settlements and burials spread.

Settlements are divided into unfortified (sites, villages) and fortified (fortified settlements). Settlement sites and fortifications are usually referred to as monuments of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Sites refer to settlements of the Stone and Bronze Ages. A special place is occupied by the Mesolithic settlements of “kitchen coolies”; they look like long coolies of oyster shell waste. These types of monuments were first discovered in Denmark. On the territory of our country they are found in the Far East. Excavations of settlements provide information about the life of ancient people.

A special type of settlement is fortified settlements on stilts. The building material of these settlements is mergen (a type of shell rock). Unlike the pile settlements of the Stone Age, the Romans built terramaras not in a swamp or lake, but in a dry place, and then filled the entire space around the buildings with water to protect them from enemies.

Burials are divided into two main types: with grave structures (mounds, tombs) and ground ones, i.e. without any grave structures. At the base of many mounds a belt of stone blocks or slabs placed on edge was found. The slabs of such a belt were covered with a carved geometric pattern. A wooden tent rested on this stone ornamental frieze, and the earthen and turf base of the entire structure was hidden in the depths. The dimensions of the pit mounds are very impressive.

All burials were marked with mounds, but above some of them there were also stone tombstones, gravestone statues, stone women, stone sculptures of people (warriors, women). Stone women stood on the mounds for 4000 years. The stone woman formed an inextricable whole with the mound and was created with the expectation of being placed on a high earthen pedestal, with visibility from all sides from the most distant points.

In the 3rd millennium BC. e. in monumental art the image of a person appears. During the Bronze Age, man occupied a greater place in the art of primitive society. If in the Stone Age animals were depicted much more often than people, then in the Bronze Age the ratio is the opposite. So in the 3rd millennium BC. e. a decisive turning point occurred in art. The focus was on the man.

Let the stone women of the Yalnaya culture have no aesthetic value. Crude idols replaced the flawless lines of engravings and skillful sculpting of forms in the paintings of the Ice Age. These are monuments of a higher stage of development of thinking and society.

The period when people adapted to nature, and all art was essentially reduced to “the image of the beast”, is over. The period of man's dominance over nature and the dominance of his image in art began.

The most complex structures are megalithic burials, i.e. burials in tombs built from large stones, dolmens. Dolmens are common in Western Europe and southern Russia. Once upon a time, in the north-west of the Caucasus, there were hundreds of dolmens. Most of them were in the Kuban region.

The earliest of them were built more than 4,000 years ago by tribes. The dolmen builders did not yet know iron, had not yet tamed the horse, and had not yet lost the habit of using stone tools. These people were extremely poorly equipped with construction equipment. It was necessary to try many construction options before arriving at the classic design of four slabs placed on an edge, supporting a fifth flat floor. Near the village of Novosvobodnaya, under the mounds of mounds, unusual dolmen-shaped tombs of the end of the 3rd millennium BC were discovered. e. Among them, one is especially interesting, Large in plan, with walls of 11 high slabs and a tent-shaped roof. This tower would inevitably have collapsed if it had not been completely covered with earth. There was no normal distribution of the functions of supports and arches here yet. Most likely, they didn’t yet know how to build real dolmens.

Almost everywhere the side slabs and roof protrude somewhat above the front wall. The back wall is usually lower than the front, and the roof lies at an angle. All this made it possible to highlight the structural elements in the building that support the arch of the supports and express the feeling of strength and inviolability of the dolmen. Inside some dolmens there were rooms up to 7.7 m2. Megalithic tombs with engravings are known in Western Europe. Bronze Age burials in boxes painted on the inside have been discovered in Crimea. Researchers in Western Europe came to the conclusion that the carvings in the tombs depict carpets. One frieze, in addition to their geometric pattern, shows a bow and a quiver with arrows hanging on the wall.

Megalithic tombs with engravings are also a monument to the primitive era.

An analysis of primitive art shows that the early stage corresponds to a relatively homogeneous artistic structure: in cave and rock art, regional, ethnic, and individual characteristics are blurred, but the stage community can be traced everywhere.

Features of primitive art

Primitive art reflected man's first ideas about the world around him. Thanks to him, knowledge and skills were preserved and passed on, and people communicated with each other. It played a universal role in spiritual culture archaic era. Primitive art took place on every continent except Antarctica.

A characteristic feature of primitive art at the earliest stage was syncretism(undifferentiated, mixed, inorganic fusion of heterogeneous elements, characterizing an undeveloped state). Music, singing, poetry, dance were not separated from each other. At this stage, the possibilities of all mental processes and experiences of primitive man were in embryo, in a collective unconscious state, in the so-called archetype.

Monuments of Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic hunting art show us that people's attention was focused on the depiction of animals. Paintings and engravings on rocks, sculptures made of stone, clay, wood, and drawings on vessels are devoted exclusively to scenes of hunting game animals - mammoths, elephants, horses, deer. Female figurines made of stone and bone with exaggerated body shapes and schematized heads were widespread - the so-called “Venus”, apparently associated with the cult of the ancestral mother. Both cave paintings and figurines help us capture the most essential in primitive thinking. The spiritual powers of the hunter are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. The hunter studied the habits of the wild animal to the smallest detail, which is why the Stone Age artist was able to show them so convincingly. The man himself did not receive as much attention as external world, which is why there are so few images of people in cave paintings.

The main artistic feature of primitive art was the symbolic form, the conventional nature of the image. The symbols are both realistic images and conventional ones. Systems of symbols that are complex in their structure, carrying a large aesthetic load, convey a variety of concepts or human feelings.

Primitive artists became the originators of all kinds visual arts: graphics (drawings and silhouettes), paintings (images in color, made with mineral paints), sculptures (figures carved from stone or sculpted from clay). They also succeeded in decorative arts- stone and bone carvings, reliefs. A special area of ​​primitive art is ornament. Stone and bone tools, bracelets, and all kinds of figurines carved from mammoth ivory are covered with geometric patterns. This design consists mainly of many zigzag lines. What does this abstract pattern mean and how did it come about? Having studied the cut structure of mammoth tusks using magnifying instruments, the researchers noticed that they also consist of zigzag patterns. Thus, the basis of the geometric ornament was a pattern drawn by nature itself. Since the Bronze Age, bright images of animals almost disappear. Dry geometric patterns are spreading everywhere. The last stage in the development of the Bronze Age is characterized by the development of metallurgy and metalworking. Along with bronze objects, iron objects begin to appear, and artistic objects are made from bronze, gold, and silver.

In connection with a sedentary lifestyle, towards the end of the primitive era, new types of settlements and burials appeared. Settlements are divided into unfortified ( parking lots and settlements) and fortified ( fortifications and fortresses), and burials are distinguished from grave structures ( mounds, megaliths and tombs) and ground. Sometimes they rose above the mounds stone women– stone sculptures of people (warriors, women), which showed that the image of man in art occupies more and more space, and, therefore, testified to the beginning of the period of man’s domination over nature. The most complex structures were megaliths, i.e. tombs made of large stones - dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs.

"The Origin of Primitive Art: Religious Beliefs and the Causes of Their Origin"

"General characteristics of primitive art"

The oldest surviving works of art were created in the primitive era, approximately sixty thousand years ago. Primitive (or, in other words, primitive) art geographically covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day. The conversion of primitive people to a new type of activity for them - art - is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind. Primitive art reflected man’s first ideas about the world around him; thanks to it, knowledge and skills were preserved and passed on, and people communicated with each other. In the spiritual culture of the primitive world, art began to play the same universal role that a pointed stone played in labor activity.

Until recently, scientists adhered to two opposing views on the history of primitive art. Some experts considered cave naturalistic painting and sculpture to be the most ancient, while others considered schematic signs and geometric figures. Now most researchers express the opinion that both forms appeared at approximately the same time. For example, among the most ancient images on the walls of caves of the Paleolithic era are imprints of a person’s hand, and random interweaving of wavy lines pressed into damp clay by the fingers of the same hand.

Paleolithic art

Stone Age - ancient period in the history of mankind (began over 2 million years ago, lasted until the 6th millennium BC), when tools and weapons were made of stone (hence the name of the era - the Stone Age); divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.

The first works of primitive art were created about 30 thousand years ago, at the end of the Paleolithic era, or the ancient Stone Age.

The most ancient sculptural images today are the so-called “ Paleolithic Venus" - primitive female figurines. They are still very far from real resemblance to the human body. They all have some common features: enlarged hips, stomach and breasts, absence of feet. Primitive sculptors were not even interested in facial features. Their task was not to reproduce a specific nature, but to create a certain generalized image of a woman-mother, a symbol of fertility and keeper of the hearth. Male images in the Paleolithic era are very rare. In addition to women, animals were depicted: horses, goats, reindeer, etc. At that time, people did not yet know metal and almost all Paleolithic sculpture was made of stone or bone.

In the history of cave painting of the Paleolithic era, experts distinguish several periods. In ancient times (from about the 30th millennium BC), primitive artists filled the surface inside the outline of the drawing with black or red paint.

Stone Age people gave an artistic appearance to everyday objects - stone tools and clay vessels, although there was no practical need for this. Why did they do this? One can only make assumptions about this. One of the reasons for the emergence of art is considered to be the human need for beauty and the joy of creativity, another is the beliefs of that time. The beliefs are associated with beautiful monuments of the Stone Age - painted with paints, as well as images engraved on stone that covered the walls and ceilings of underground caves - cave paintings. People of that time believed in magic: they believed that with the help of paintings and other images they could influence nature. It was believed, for example, that it was necessary to hit a drawn animal with an arrow or spear in order to ensure the success of a real hunt.

Later (from about the 18th to 15th millennia BC), primitive craftsmen began to pay more attention to details: they depicted wool with oblique parallel strokes, learned to use additional colors (various shades of yellow and red paint) to paint spots on the skins of bulls, horses and bison. The contour line also changed: it became brighter and darker, marking the light and shadow parts of the figure, folds of skin and thick hair (for example, the manes of horses, the massive scruff of bison), thus conveying volume. In some cases, ancient artists emphasized contours or the most expressive details with a carved line.

In the XII millennium BC. e. cave art reached its peak. The painting of that time conveyed volume, perspective, color and proportions of figures, and movement. At the same time, huge picturesque “canvases” were created that covered the arches of deep caves.

The exact time of creation of the cave paintings has not yet been established. The most beautiful of them were created, according to scientists, about 20 - 10 thousand years ago. At that time, most of Europe was covered with a thick layer of ice; Only the southern part of the continent remained suitable for habitation. The glacier slowly retreated, and after it, primitive hunters moved north. It can be assumed that in the most difficult conditions of that time, all human strength was spent fighting hunger, cold and predatory animals. Nevertheless, he created magnificent murals. On the walls of the caves are depicted dozens of large animals, which they already knew how to hunt at that time; Among them there were also those that would be tamed by humans - bulls, horses, reindeer and others. Cave paintings also preserved the appearance of animals that later became completely extinct: mammoths and cave bears. Primitive artists knew very well the animals on which the very existence of people depended. With a light and flexible line they conveyed the poses and movements of the animal. Colorful chords - black, red, white, yellow - create a charming impression. Mineral dyes mixed with water, animal fat and plant sap made the color of the cave paintings especially vibrant. To create such large and perfect works then, as now, one had to study. It is possible that the pebbles with images of animals scratched on them, found in the caves, were student work." art schools"Stone Age.

In 1868, in Spain, in the province of Santander, the Altamira cave was discovered, the entrance to which had previously been covered with a landslide. Almost ten years later, the Spanish archaeologist Marcelino Sautuola, who was excavating in this cave, discovered primitive images on its walls and ceiling. Altamira became the first of many dozens of similar caves found later in France and Spain: La Mute, La Madeleine, Trois Freres, Font de Gaume, etc. Now, thanks to targeted searches, about a hundred caves with images of primitive times are known in France alone.

An outstanding discovery was made completely by accident in September 1940. It so happened that it was the children, and quite accidentally, who found the most interesting cave paintings in Europe. The Lascaux cave in France, which became even more famous than Altamira, was discovered by four boys who, while playing, climbed into a hole that opened under the roots of a tree that had fallen after a storm. The paintings of the Lascaux cave - images of bulls, wild horses, reindeer, bison, rams, bears and other animals - are the most perfect work of art that was created by man in the Paleolithic era. The most impressive are the images of horses, for example small, dark, stunted steppe horses that resemble ponies. Also interesting is the clear light located above them. volumetric figure a cow preparing to jump over a fence or pit trap. This cave has now been turned into a well-equipped museum.

In the Montespan cave in France, archaeologists found a statue of a clay bear with traces of spear blows. Probably, primitive people associated animals with their images: they believed that by “killing” them they would ensure success in the upcoming hunt. Such finds reveal a connection between ancient religious beliefs and artistic activity.

Similar monuments are known outside of Europe - in Asia and North Africa.

The sheer number of these paintings and their high artistry are amazing. At first, many experts doubted the authenticity of the cave paintings: it seemed that primitive people could not have been so skilled in painting, and the amazing preservation of the paintings suggested a fake.

Subsequently, the cave images lost their vividness and volume; stylization (generalization and schematization of objects) intensified. IN last period There are no realistic images at all. Paleolithic painting returned to where it began: random interweaving of lines, rows of dots, and unclear schematic signs appeared on the walls of caves.

Along with cave paintings and with drawings at that time they made various sculptures from bone and stone. They were made using primitive tools and the work required extreme patience. The creation of sculptures, without a doubt, was also associated with primitive beliefs.

Mesolithic art

During the Mesolithic era, or the Middle Stone Age (XII-VIII millennium BC), the climatic conditions on the planet changed. Some animals that were hunted have disappeared; they were replaced by others. Fishing began to develop. People created new types of tools, weapons (bows and arrows), and tamed the dog. All these changes certainly had an impact on the consciousness of primitive man, which was also reflected in art. This is evidenced, for example, by rock paintings in the coastal mountainous regions of Eastern Spain, between the cities of Barcelona and Valencia. First in the spotlight ancient artist there were the animals he hunted, now there are human figures depicted in rapid movement. If the Paleolithic cave paintings represented separate, unrelated figures, then in the Mesolithic rock paintings, multi-figure compositions and scenes that vividly reproduce different periods from the life of hunters of that time. Except various shades red paint was used in black and occasionally white, and egg white, blood and, possibly, honey served as a stable binder.

Central to the rock art were hunting scenes, in which hunters and animals are linked by energetically unfolding action. Hunters follow the trail or pursue prey, sending a hail of arrows at it as they run, striking the final death blow or running away from an angry, wounded animal. Then the images appeared dramatic episodes military clashes between tribes. In some cases, apparently, we are even talking about execution: in the foreground there is a figure of a lying man pierced by arrows, in the second there is a close row of shooters raising their bows. Images of women are rare: they are usually static and lifeless. To replace the big ones paintings the little ones came. But the detail of the compositions and the number of characters are amazing: sometimes there are hundreds of images of humans and animals. Human figures are very conventional; they are rather symbols that serve to depict crowd scenes. The primitive artist freed the figures from everything, from his point of view, of secondary importance, which would interfere with the transmission and perception of complex poses, action, the very essence of what is happening. For him, a person is, first of all, an embodied movement.

Neolithic art

The melting of glaciers in the Neolithic, or New Stone Age (5000-3000 BC), set in motion peoples who began to populate new spaces. The intertribal struggle for possession of the most favorable hunting grounds and for the seizure of new lands intensified. In the Neolithic era, man was threatened by the worst of dangers - another man. New settlements arose on islands in river bends, on small hills, i.e. in places protected from sudden attack.

Cave painting in the Neolithic era became more and more schematic and conventional: the images only slightly resembled a person or animal. This phenomenon is typical for different regions globe. These are, for example, rock paintings of deer, bears, whales and seals found in Norway, reaching eight meters in length. In addition to schematism, they are distinguished by careless execution. Along with stylized drawings of people and animals, there are various geometric shapes (circles, rectangles, rhombuses and spirals, etc.), images of weapons (axes and daggers) and vehicles (boats and ships). Reproduction of wildlife fades into the background.

Rock art existed in all parts of the world, but nowhere was it as widespread as in Africa. Carved, embossed and painted images have been found over vast areas - from Mauritania to Ethiopia and from Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope. Unlike European art African rock art is not exclusively prehistoric. Its development can be traced approximately from the VIII-VI millennia BC. e. right up to the present day. First rock paintings were discovered in 1847-1850. in North Africa and the Sahara Desert (Tassilin-Ajjer, Tibesti, Fezzana, etc.)

The Stone Age was followed by the Bronze Age (it got its name from the then widespread alloy of metals - bronze). The Bronze Age began relatively late in Western Europe, about four thousand years ago. Bronze was much easier to process than stone; it could be cast into molds and polished. Therefore, in the Bronze Age, all kinds of household items were made, richly decorated with ornaments and of high artistic value. Ornamental decorations consisted mostly of circles, spirals, wavy lines and similar motifs. Special attention paid attention to jewelry - they were large in size and immediately caught the eye.

In the III-II millennia BC. e. unique, huge structures made of stone blocks appeared, owing their appearance also primitive beliefs- megaliths (from the Greek “megas” - “big” and “lithos” - “stone”). TO megalithic structures include menhirs - vertically standing stones more than two meters high. On the Brittany Peninsula in France, the so-called fields stretch for kilometers. menhirov. In the language of the Celts, the later inhabitants of the peninsula, the name of these stone pillars several meters high means “long stone”. Other structures have also been preserved - dolmens - several stones dug into the ground, covered with a stone slab, originally used for burials. Megaliths also include cromlechs - complex structures in the form of circular fences with a diameter of up to one hundred meters made of huge stone blocks. Megaliths were widespread: they were found in Western Europe, North Africa, the Caucasus and other areas of the globe. In France alone, about four thousand of them were discovered.

Numerous menhirs and dolmens were located in places that were considered sacred. Particularly famous are the ruins of such a sanctuary - a cromlech in England near the city of Salisbury - the so-called. Stonehenge (2nd millennium BC). Stonehenge is built from one hundred and twenty stone blocks weighing up to seven tons each, and is thirty meters in diameter. It is curious that the Preselli Mountains in South Wales, from where it was believed that construction material for this structure are located two hundred and eighty kilometers from Stonehenge. However, modern geologists believe that the stone blocks came to the vicinity of Stonehenge with glaciers from different places. It is assumed that the sun was worshiped there.

Primitive art played an important role in the history and culture of ancient humanity. Having learned to create images (sculptural, graphic, painting), man acquired some power over time. Man's imagination is embodied in new form being - artistic, the development of which can be traced through the history of art.

Primitive art became the beginning of the art of all mankind, and it began to take shape in primitive society. This happened 150 thousand years ago.

The so-called “Early Paleolithic” reigned then. At this time, abstract thinking began to develop among primitive people. They create shellfish jewelry and anthropomorphic figurines. Beads are made from shells.

30 thousand years ago, the Late Paleolithic era began, and then cave painting developed rapidly. The art of bone carving is created. 10 thousand years ago, rock paintings were created that depict scenes of human activity (hunting, fishing, etc.). At this time, ceramics developed, the art of weaving, and the development of ornament reached outstanding heights.

Functions of primitive art

Many scientists and researchers of the cultures of the primitive era argue about what the main function of primitive art is. But it is difficult to answer this question unambiguously. First of all, this is, of course, decoration. Primitive people strived to make their life more beautiful. Then art served to designate one’s territory and one’s preferences. It was also used to create idols for worship.

Outstanding phenomena of primitive art

Many studies have been carried out, and it turns out that primitive art ( traditional art) had many phenomena that are worthy of study. They were found during excavations or in caves, and have a significant impact on the entire history of mankind.

La Ferrassie

This cave in France is the oldest site of Neanderthals; excavations here were carried out in 1910-1922. The limestone walls here depict people and bison, horses, and deer.

El Castillo

The Spanish Cave is included in the facilities world heritage UNESCO due to the fact that ancient drawings were discovered in it. They depict animals of the primitive era, such as bison, deer, elephants, horses. Human handprints were also found there.

Trypillian culture

These monuments of primitive society are distributed throughout Russia and Ukraine. In Galicia it was believed that this was the culture of “painted ceramics”, characteristic of Ukraine.

This culture functioned during the Chalcolithic era, and the main occupations of the then inhabitants were agriculture and cattle breeding. But at the same time, work with metal was developing, and polished flint weapons appeared. Trypillians also obtained food through hunting and fishing.

Cyclopean masonry

This work ancient culture there has never been a definitive explanation. It is a collection of large stone blocks that are placed next to each other without any binding solution.

Such structures can be found in Crimea, near the Mediterranean Sea. It is believed that they originated in the Bronze Age, and were either a work of art or an object of religious worship.

Maikop mound

This ancient burial was located in the city of Maykop. Several skeletons were found there, along with treasures of gold and silver. Bulls and arrows were made of gold and placed in the grave.

A striking feature of the Maykop culture are vessels made of red clay. They indicate good things aesthetic taste representatives of culture.

Hallstatt culture

It represents the Iron Age. Refers to the period from 900 to 400 BC. This culture was represented by the Celts, Thracians and Illyrians.

By that time, bronze had been well mastered, and therefore many bronze items were found at the excavation site. Iron items, including fine jewelry, were created and exchanged for amber items.

Conclusion

Works of art were figurines made of bronze and clay, which were made by masters. Stone statues were also created then. The clay dishes were beautifully made, depicting scenes from folk life. A potter's wheel was used in its production. Images were also made on belts. On them one could see holidays, rituals from temples, and fights between wrestlers. Even then, people began to be divided into simple ones and know, archaeologists understood this. People mastered glass processing, and this gave them the ability to create beautiful glass vessels.