In ancient Greece, people valued beauty extremely. The Greeks especially preferred sculpture. However, many masterpieces of great sculptors perished and did not survive to our time. For example, Discobolus by the sculptor Myron, Doryphoros of Polykleitos, “Aphrodite of Cnidus” by Praxiteles, Laocoon by the sculptor Agesander. All these sculptures perished, and yet... we know them very well. How could the disappeared sculptures be preserved? Only thanks to the numerous copies that were in the homes of wealthy ancient collectors and decorated the courtyards, galleries and halls of the Greeks and Romans.
Doryfor - “Spear-bearer” became a model of male beauty for many centuries. And “Aphrodite of Knidos” - one of the most famous nude female sculptures of Ancient Greece - became an example of female beauty. To admire Aphrodite, the ancient Greeks came from other cities and, seeing how beautiful she was, ordered unknown sculptors to make exactly the same copy to place Aphrodite in the city square or in the courtyard of their rich home.
Disco thrower - lost bronze statue of an athlete about to throw a discus, created by Myron around the 5th century BC. e. - this is the first attempt in Greek art to sculpt a person in motion, and the attempt is more than successful. The young athlete freezes for a split second, and the next moment he begins to spin up to throw the discus with all his might.
Laocoon is a sculptural group of suffering people, which is shown in a painful struggle. Laocoon was a priest who warned the inhabitants of the city of Troy - the Trojans - that the city could be defeated thanks to a wooden horse. For this, the god of the seas, Poseidon, sent two snakes from the sea, and they strangled Laocoon and his sons. The statue was found relatively recently, in the 17th century. And the great Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo said that Laocoon is the best statue in the world. If in ancient times there were no lovers and collectors of examples of beautiful sculpture, modern humanity would not have known this masterpiece.
Numerous Roman and Greek herms have also reached us - heads and busts of people on stands. The art of creating hermas originates in the creation of ritual pillars of the worship of Hermes, on the top stand of which there was a molded head of the deity of trade, science and travel. After the name of Hermes, the pillars began to be called herms. Such pillars were located at crossroads, at the entrance to a city or town, or at the entrance to a house. It was believed that such an image scared away evil forces and unkind spirits.
From about the 4th century BC, all portrait images of people began to be called herms; they became part of the interior furnishings of the house, and the rich and noble Greeks and Romans acquired entire portrait galleries, creating a kind of exhibition of family herms. Thanks to this fashion and tradition, we know what many ancient philosophers, generals, and emperors who lived thousands of years ago looked like.
Ancient Greek painting has practically not reached us, however, surviving examples prove that Hellenic art reached the heights of both realistic and symbolic painting. The tragedy of the city of Pompeii, buried in the ashes of Vesuvius, has preserved to this day brilliant paintings that covered all the walls of public and residential premises, including houses in poor neighborhoods. Wall frescoes were dedicated to a variety of subjects; the artists of antiquity achieved perfection in painting, and only centuries later this path was repeated by the masters of the Renaissance.
Historians testify that in Ancient Greece there was an extension to the Athens temple, which was called the Pinakothek, and ancient Greek paintings were kept there. An ancient legend tells how the first painting appeared. One Greek girl really did not want to part with her lover, who had to go to war. During their nightly date, the moon was full. The shadow of a young man appeared on the white wall. The girl took a piece of coal and traced its shadow. This meeting turned out to be the last. The young man died. But his shadow remained on the wall, and this shadow picture was kept for a long time in one of the temples of the city of Corinth.
Many paintings of the ancient Greeks were created according to the principle of filling the silhouette - first, the outline of the figure was drawn in the picture, almost the same as stated in the legend, and only then the outline began to be painted. At first, the ancient Greeks had only four colors - white, black, red and yellow. They were based on colored minerals and mixed with egg yolk or melted wax and diluted with water. The distant figures in the picture could be larger than the front ones; the ancient Greeks used both direct and reverse perspective. Paintings were painted on boards or on damp plaster.
Fine art has also penetrated into applied fields. Painted Greek vessels, amphorae and vases are kept in many museums around the world and bring to us the beauty of everyday life characteristic of ancient civilizations.
A special ancient art that has brought to us all the beauty of ancient painting is mosaic- colossal paintings, laid out from pieces of colored stones and, in later periods, glass, were created according to pictorial sketches and turned out to be a kind of eternal art. Mosaics were used to decorate floors, walls, and facades of houses; they played both an aesthetic and practical role in creating a harmonious and beautiful living environment.
The era of antiquity became the heyday of the art of creating beauty and harmony in any manifestation. The decline and forgetting of ancient culture led to the return of humanity to the philosophies of negativism and the triumph of absurd prejudices. The loss of the aesthetics of admiring beauty, the denial of the natural beauty of the human body, the destruction of ancient temples and works of art became the most noticeable consequence of the collapse of the ancient world. It took centuries for the ideals of antiquity to return and begin to be creatively rethought by Renaissance artists, and then by modern masters.
The art of primitive society in the late period of its development approached the development of composition, the creation of monumental architecture and sculpture. In the ancient world, art for the first time achieved integrity, unity, completeness and synthesis of all forms, serving as an expression of large, comprehensive ideas: all works of art that had a social character bear the imprint of epicness, special significance and solemnity. These qualities attracted attention after generations. Even when deep contradictions led to the destruction of the ancient world.
The slave system, which replaced the communal-tribal one, was historically natural and had, in comparison with the previous era, a progressive meaning. It became the basis for the further growth of productive forces and culture. The exploitation of slaves gave rise to the division of physical and mental labor, which created the basis for the development of various forms of spiritual creativity, including art. From the nameless circle of artisans, great architects, sculptors, carvers, foundries, painters, etc. emerge.
If in pre-class society art was part of human material and labor activity, then with the emergence of the class state it became a unique form of consciousness and acquired importance in social life and class struggle. Artistic creativity at its core retained a folk character, being formed in the sphere of mythological thinking. The increasing complexity of social life contributed to the expansion of the figurative and cognitive range of art. Magical rites and funeral rituals of primitive man were transformed into solemn ceremonies. Funeral mounds were replaced by tombs, arks by temples, tents by palaces, magical rock paintings by pictorial cycles that decorated temples and tombs; they told fascinating stories about the lives of people of the ancient world, and kept folk legends, tales and myths frozen in stone. Instead of naive ritual figurines, monumental, sometimes gigantic statues and reliefs appeared, immortalizing the images of earthly rulers and heroes. Various types of art: architecture, sculpture, painting, applied art entered into a commonwealth with each other. The synthesis of arts is the most important achievement of the artistic culture of the ancient world.
In the execution of the work, the difference between craft and art begins to show itself. Perfection of form, sophistication in ornament, grace in the processing of wood, stone, metal, precious stones, etc. are achieved. The artist’s keen observation is now combined with the ability to think in generalized concepts, which is reflected in the emergence of constant types, in strengthening the sense of artistic order, strict laws of rhythm. Artistic creativity in this period, in comparison with pre-class society, becomes more holistic, it is united by common principles and ideas of the era. Large monumental styles emerge.
In religion, complex processes of transition from the worship of the beast to ideas about gods similar to man are carried out. At the same time, in art the image of man is increasingly established, his active power, his ability to perform heroic deeds are glorified.
With all the diversity in the historical development of slave-holding societies of the ancient world, they were characterized by two forms.
The first is the eastern one, where the communal system with its patriarchal foundations was preserved for a long time. Here slavery developed at a slow pace; The burden of exploitation fell on both the slaves and the majority of the free population. Slave-owning despotic states arise between 5 and 4 thousand BC. e. in the valleys and deltas of large rivers - the Nile (Egypt), Tigris and Euphrates (the most ancient states of Mesopotamia), etc. The ideological content of the art of ancient despotism was determined mainly by the requirement to glorify the power of gods, legendary heroes, kings, and perpetuate the social hierarchy. The artists also drew themes from modern life, paying special attention to scenes of collective labor, hunting, and festivals; (Egypt), military historical events (Forward Asia), reproduced in a monumental-epic way. The long-term preservation of communal relations hampered the development of interest in the individual and his personal qualities. The art of Western Asia emphasized common generic principles in the image of a person, sometimes sharpening ethnic features. In Egypt, where a person’s personality acquired great importance, the portrait for the first time in history received a perfect artistic embodiment, largely determining the path of further development of this genre. In the art of ancient Eastern despotism, live observation of nature is combined with folk artistic fantasy or convention, emphasizing the social significance of the depicted character. This convention was slowly overcome in the history of the development of ancient Eastern culture. Art was still not completely separated from craft; creativity remained mostly nameless. However, in the art of ancient Eastern states, the aspiration for the significant and perfect is already clearly expressed.
The second form of slave society - ancient - is characterized by the rapid replacement of primitive exploitation by developed, the displacement of despotism by Greek city-states, and the social activity of the free population engaged in labor. The relatively democratic character of ancient states, the flourishing of personality, and the trends of harmonious development determined the citizenship and humanity of ancient art. Developing on the basis of mythology, closely connected with all aspects of social life, Greek art was the most striking manifestation of realism in ancient history. The universe ceased to be for Greek thinkers something unknown, subject to irresistible forces. The horror of formidable deities was replaced by the desire to comprehend nature and use it for the benefit of man. The art of Ancient Greece embodied the ideal of beauty of a harmoniously developed personality, which affirmed the ethical and aesthetic superiority of man over the elemental forces of nature. Ancient art during its heyday in Greece and Rome addressed the masses of free citizens, expressing the basic civic, aesthetic and ethical ideas of society.
In the Hellenistic era - the next stage in the development of ancient artistic culture - art was enriched with new and diverse aspects of the perception of life. It became emotionally intense, imbued with drama and dynamics, but lost its harmonic clarity. At the last stage of its development, during the era of the Roman Republic and Empire, ancient art came to affirm the importance of an individually unique personality. The art of the era of the late empire - the era of the decline of ancient culture - contained in the embryo what would bear fruit later. Thinkers and artists turned to the inner world of man, charting the path for the development of European art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The historically determined limitations of ancient art lay in the fact that it ignored social life and social contradictions. Ancient art addressed itself mainly to free citizens.
Although the topic of this article is primarily related to anthropology and, in particular, to anthropogenesis, art and its manifestations have been an extremely important part of human society throughout its history. Art is an integral part of the human mind, and in primitive times it was it that formed what can be called the information space of those distant times. That is why I want to talk about the chronology of the oldest works of art discovered so far by archaeologists.
Pebbles from Makapansgat.
This archaeological find is among the oldest known evidence of “inappropriate actions.” It is natural that our ancestors were concerned only with purely utilitarian things, issues related to survival. The activities that we now call art do not help in survival. However, in the Makapansgat Cave in what is now South Africa, an amazing pebble was discovered - a red, round pebble with natural holes that looked like a face. The pebbles were found among the remains of so-called Australopithecus africanus, which lived in South Africa between 3.5 and 2.5 million years ago. Australopithecines are the ancestors of humans so distant that they are united with us only by a common family - they and we are hominids (apes). Australopithecines were not even fully upright, not to mention intelligent, although they used the most primitive tools.
Australopithecus africanus. Reconstruction carried out by Roman Evseev (1)
Scientists who examined the Makapansgata cave and, in particular, this funny stone, found that the rock from which it consists is not characteristic of that area, and was transported by ancient hominids to their site no less than 30 kilometers away.
Makapansgata Cave (2)
Although that pebble weighing about 250 grams cannot be called a work of art of the ancients, but in view of the fact that they moved it over such a significant distance, and its only natural feature is its resemblance to a face, we can conclude that this is what attracted our ancient ancestors. Despite the natural origin of the pebble, the representative of the ancient hominids treated it unnaturally and performed an inappropriate action with it, especially considering the fact that African australopithecus did not have bags and, especially, clothes with pockets in which all sorts of trinkets could be carried. Such a find shows that Australopithecines had some kind of artistic vision, the emergence of imagination and abstract thinking. The emergence of artistic perception in hominids is, of course, associated with the development of the brain and visual system. As anthropologist and candidate of biological sciences Stanislav Drobyshevsky notes in his work on the development of the brain of primitive people: “The occipital lobe is responsible mainly for vision. Obviously, it was the evolution of the occipital lobe (of course, together with the frontal lobe) that made the development of visual images possible.”(3)
Head stones.
During excavations of various sites of ancient people, archaeologists discovered many stone artifacts resembling human heads or faces. The most famous are the stones from Olduvai (Tanzania, about 1.8 million years ago) and Pampau (Germany, about 400 thousand years ago). Of course, such finds could be considered simple pebbles that took this form by chance, but the abundance of artifacts of the same type near ancient sites allows one to judge that they were not accidental. Most likely, our ancestors saw in them the same thing as we do, so they were collected and, possibly, made. In addition, about 400 thousand years ago, literally manufactured monuments of symbolic thinking began to appear - various bones with notches applied to them in the form of parallel lines, and some kind of schematic ornament, sometimes reminiscent of human figures. All these finds, including the oldest from Tanzania, already date back to the time of the appearance of the first people, namely Homo habilis. Around the same time (about 1.9 million years ago), people began to use fire for cooking. It should be noted that there are so many finds from Olduvai and they were of such importance for science that an entire cultural layer was named after this place. The Olduvai culture is the most primitive stone-working culture and dates from 2.7 to 1 million years ago.
Stone heads from various places and times.
Bone with notches Paleolithic Venus.
In a later period (about 200 thousand years), the so-called Paleolithic Venuses appeared - the first man-made works of art, which were anthropomorphic stone figurines. These figurines depict women, hence the name “Venus”. The first figurine, Venus from Berekhat Rama (Dimensions: 3.5 by 2.5 by 2.1 cm) 150 - 280 thousand. The second - Venus from Tan-Tan (Dimensions: 5.8 by 2.6 by 1.2 cm .) has not yet been thoroughly analyzed, and giving its age would be risky. Although some incisions are clearly visible on both figurines, giving them a characteristic shape, their man-made origin is questioned by some archaeologists.
Venus of Berekhat Rama and Venus of Tan-Tan.
The first manifestations of art.
Subsequently, starting from about 85 thousand years ago, art began to firmly enter the life of ancient people (4). All kinds of jewelry in the form of beads made from shells, bones and teeth are found everywhere. These finds are mainly concentrated in Southern, Northern and Eastern Africa, the homeland of modern humans, particularly at Taforalt in Morocco and Blombos Cave in South Africa. It was then that the first burials of people with signs of ritual behavior were discovered - individual graves with certain symbolic things in them, for example, horns and jaws of animals in the hands of the dead from the burials of Qafzeh 11 and Skhul 5 (Israel, 90 thousand years ago). However, this is not a confirmed fact - there is no certainty that the dead were buried in this way, and not that these objects got there by accident, or that this was simply an error during excavations and further interpretation. In the same places, the first burial of two people in one grave, similar in antiquity, was discovered - a mother and child.
The first archaeological finds of ocher (a natural dye found in the form of stones of varying densities) in ancient caves date back to approximately 78 thousand years ago. And although, subsequently, ocher was widely used to make paint, there is no evidence that it was used for the same purposes even then. Ocher could also be used to tan hides, and applied to the skin to protect against insects. But there are finds of pieces of ocher with primitive patterns applied to it. However, wooden sticks with traces of powdered ocher are also found; apparently they were used to paint something. For it is difficult to imagine any other use for them.
Shell beads from Blombos Cave 
Ocher with ornament
Modern use of red ocher by Namibian girls
Neanderthal jewelry.
It should be noted that the bulk of the finds of that time relate to Africa. Neanderthals who lived in Europe and Asia had practically no signs of artistic activity, although they also made scratches on bones and stones (4). In a later period, Neanderthals also began to make beads from drilled teeth, but this was a very rare phenomenon, and it dates back to about 30 thousand years ago, i.e. already during the period when they coexisted with the Cro-Magnons for quite a long time.
Neanderthal beads Of interest is the “mask” from La Roche-Cotard (France). It is a piece of stone with a natural hole and a fragment of animal bone planted in it. In principle, this design may resemble a human face, but it is important to note that while we are now judging from the point of view of modern humans, it is completely unclear what Neanderthals saw in this. Perhaps this find has nothing to do with artistic activity at all. Although it is hard to believe that this artifact appeared by chance as a result of some other action, since the bone inserted into the hole is fixed there with small stones.
"Mask" from La Roche-Cotard. In the left “socket” the same fixing stones are visible
But, despite the “neglect” of art, the Neanderthals developed their minds to a primitive understanding of ritualism and certain spiritual manifestations. Thus, at sites in the mountains of Switzerland and Yugoslavia, monuments called the “cult of bear skulls” were discovered - caches with skulls of cave bears. Meanwhile, Neanderthals still practiced burying their dead, although no utensils or burials of multiple people were found in their graves. The oldest burial was discovered at Sima de los Huesos in Atapuerca (Spain) about 325 years ago (5). It was simply a deep shaft where corpses were thrown. This burial is called “hygienic” - presumably the shaft was used to remove corpses from the home, because animal corpses were also dumped there. However, characteristically, only the bones of predatory animals were found in the mine and not a single one of a herbivore. This hints that those who lived there associated themselves with predators. Neanderthals, in the period from 68-78 thousand years ago. they literally dug graves for each deceased (exclusively single ones) and sometimes even placed on them certain “monuments” in the form of stone slabs of uncharacteristic shapes or noticeable objects. But we cannot say that these were precisely monuments in our understanding. With the same success, these could just be marks about the location of the grave, so as not to accidentally dig it up in the future. By the way, they were buried in some kind of cemetery - a specially designated place, at a distance from the parking lot.
The origin of ancient painting.
The most famous monuments of the artistic activity of ancient people are undoubtedly rock paintings. Of course, they look the most vivid and memorable, but at the same time, the oldest drawing from the Apollo 11 site in Namibia, in principle, is not that old. This small limestone slab with an image of some kind of animal, probably a predator, was originally dated to approximately 26-28 thousand years ago, but subsequent, more careful analysis showed its age to be 59 thousand years ago.
The oldest drawing from the Apollo 11 site in Namibia
Of course, looking at this drawing it is difficult to understand what exactly it depicts, but one cannot fail to note the relatively good quality of the drawing - the artist clearly tried to maintain proportions and reflect the anatomical details of the animal depicted. Theoretically, the presence of some kind of painting in earlier periods cannot be ruled out, because ocher, the main dye of the ancients, was found at sites many tens of thousands of years earlier. But no material evidence of this has survived, or it has not yet been found.
Virtually all cave paintings were created by sapiens; the oldest, of course, are in Africa. In Europe, they begin to be found approximately 40 thousand years ago, from the moment of the migration of the first sapiens. The Neanderthals who lived there previously had no artistic inclinations. The oldest Neanderthal drawing recently discovered in caves in Spain near Malaga dates back to 43 thousand years ago. This is according to New Scientist magazine (6), and it is important to note that this is not an official scientific article, so the age data is not official.
Drawing from a cave in Malaga
The article says it shows seals. However, looking at this extremely primitive drawing, it is difficult to understand what it is, although some resemblance to seals is still visible. But the aforementioned Drobyshevsky, in his commentary article, doubts the involvement of Neanderthals in the drawing. He recalls that the first sapiens appeared in Europe around 42 thousand years ago. and they could well have been in Spain. In addition, sapiens, unlike Neanderthals, loved the sea and seafood. Neanderthals practically did not use such food. (7)
From about 30 thousand years ago Cave paintings are beginning to become almost commonplace for ancient people. Now we can observe a huge variety of such monuments of varying quality. It is noteworthy that sometimes we see very good works of art, which now could be called paintings, such as images of animals from the Chauvet Cave, (France, about 30 thousand years ago) where the use of composition and perspective is clearly visible. Or color paintings from Font-de-Gaume (France, about 17 thousand years ago), in which the unique style used by the artist is visible. At the same time, there are also much more “simple” drawings that a teenager or even a child could easily draw now, as in Kapova Cave (Bashkiria, 36 thousand years ago).
Chauvet Cave
Cave of Font-de-Gaume
Kapova Cave
There is also an interesting trend in the motifs of ancient rock paintings. Thus, in Europe, images of animals predominate. Whereas in Africa, images of humans and geometric figures are more common. At the same time, the main motif of the images are hunting scenes. There are also prints of human hands everywhere. There is also a ceremonial meaning in handprints, although perhaps this is only the simplest way to depict some relatively complex texture.
African cave paintings of hunting
Cueva de las Manos, Cave of Hands. Argentina, around 9000 BC
Of particular interest are those drawings that, oddly enough, were not intended for general attention. A lot of them were also found. Such drawings are made in deep and narrow crevices inside the cave, where sometimes a person can hardly fit.
Archaeologists Dirk Hoffman and Alistair Pike. On the left is assistant Gustavo Sanz Palomera.
Photo: Department of Education, Culture and Sports, Government of Cantabria, Spain.
The photo above shows researchers at the Arso Bi cave in Cantabria, Spain (8), studying one of these paintings. The photo clearly shows that the design on the vault would now be difficult to even photograph. It is completely unclear for what purpose such paintings were made. Perhaps they have to do with some kind of initiation rituals or something like that. Or it was really done “for oneself”, let’s say, as personal diaries are kept now.
Rock art existed actively for a very long time, until approximately the Bronze Age, and in some places until our era. However, even now, rock paintings are used in shamanic practices by various tribes of Indians and Africans.
Ships in the Laja Alta cave, Spain (estimated around 6000 BC)
Rock paintings from the Tassilien-Adjer plateau, Algeria. Dated to approximately 200-700 AD. These drawings belong to the "Camel Period" according to the periodization of rock art in Africa.
Man-lion and ancient sculptures.
But we must not forget about the development of sculpture, which was given very little space in this article. In general, its development progressed in a similar way, although it was associated with certain difficulties in processing hard materials, especially stone. Ancient sculptures, as well as drawings, were mainly carved images of animals, often made from mammoth tusks. Particular attention should be paid to the figurine called “Man-Lev” (9).
The Lion-man (German: Löwenmensch, English: Lion-man) is a figurine carved from mammoth tusk, found in the Swabian Alb near the city of Ulm, Germany. The age of the figurine is approximately 40 thousand years. The interesting thing about it is that it is the oldest discovered zoomorphic image. The 29.6 cm tall figurine is a cross between a man and a lion - an almost human body with a pronounced lion's head. Initially, researchers regarded the Lion Man as a man, but further research conducted by Elisabeth Schmid suggested that it was a woman. However, there is no objective data indicating the gender of the figure; all these assumptions are mainly of an ideological nature. As with the vast majority of artistic works of ancient people, it is now impossible to establish its purpose, although it is easy to assume some kind of sacred meaning, a connection between man and nature, the mystical ideas of ancient people.
All these figures are united by one characteristic feature - pronounced genitals and breasts, as well as a large belly, possibly reflecting pregnancy; little attention is paid to the limbs and head, or they are absent altogether. Perhaps the most likely meaning of Venus is mystical - an amulet of fertility and fertility. Although, again, this is only an assumption, which may be contradicted by the fact that not absolutely all “Venuses” pay so much attention to feminine aspects.
It is also worth mentioning that during excavations in Hole Fels, next to the Swabian Venus, another interesting artifact was discovered - a bird bone with holes, most likely serving as a flute. The age of the flute is also about 35 thousand years. This is probably the most ancient musical instrument. However, this is a topic for a completely different story.
Swabian bone flute
In conclusion, it should be noted that, in principle, the title of this article is incorrect and is put here “for the sake of words.” Those monuments of ancient culture that were reviewed in this article should not be called art. Art as such, in the form in which we understand it now. It would be correct to call this an artistic activity. Now we can do no more than speculate about what they are, and most importantly, why they were made. Of course, they are the object of some kind of information plan, information exchange, development of perception and society. But if we talk about the most ancient monuments, we do not have any confirmed data about what exactly it was. At the same time, many discoveries made quite a long time ago have not received confirmation. And others, after a detailed study, find themselves in a completely different place than previously thought. Often just plain garbage.
Most likely, the origins of that art, which is akin to what we understand, should be sought around the period of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (about 12,000 years BC) and a little earlier, during the transition from hunting and gathering to a productive economy and settled life.
Despite the fact that we do not have a clear idea of the development of the imagination and culture of our distant ancestors, as well as the mind in general, even the existing picture is extremely interesting and vivid. Three million years ago, a humanoid creature found a small red stone with a face and carried it in his hand for thirty kilometers because it interested him.
And three million years later, we bring funny pebbles home from our walks. We also create amazing works of a wide variety of art, fly into space and develop artificial intelligence, actively seek ways to combat old age, and create amazingly destructive weapons.
Special thanks to Elena Marchukova for her help.
Materials:
1. http://other-worlds.ucoz.ru/
2. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/915
3. General trends in the evolution of the human brain. Anthropogenez.ru (online resource) http://anthropogenez.ru/zveno-single/156/
Updated: September 22, 2018 by: Roman Boldyrev
crib
All dates are approximate.
Prehistoric art
-2.5 million years BC - 800 BC
prehistoric art and culture - Mesolithic and Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages.
petroglyphs (rock paintings), cave painting
Paleolithic art. Lascaux Cave (France)
Antique art 800 BC - 450 AD
The art of the ancient period is characterized by sculpture, frescoes and various pottery. Encaustic - wax painting - predominates in fine art.
Sculptural frieze “Pergamon Altar of Zeus”;
Sculpture "The Dying Gaul";
Sculpture “Discus Thrower”;
Ancient Greek temple - Parthenon;
Army of Terracotta Warriors in China;
The beginning of Hellenistic art;
The beginning of Christian art;
Christian frescoes in Rome;
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Dark Ages period /450-1450.
During this period, Byzantine and medieval art, Orthodox iconography and mosaic painting.
The trend to create works of religious content remains relevant for a long time. Many ideas of this direction influenced the masters of later times.
Kiss of Judas. Giotto.
European Renaissance
(Start)
The Proto-Renaissance era develops under the influence of the Gothic style.
A large number of architectural monuments are being created. New Gothic cathedrals, temples and churches are decorated with panos, stained glass windows and gabilenes.
Some masters begin to paint works in tempera on wood.
Synopsis:
Ceramic and porcelain tableware (China);
Altarpiece;
Works of Christian themes from unknown masters;
Portrait of the Arnolfini couple.
"Madonna and Child and Anne." Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance Italian Early Renaissance (1400-1490)
Three main centers of the Italian Renaissance:
Florence, Rome and Venice.
This stage of development was the first major expression of classicism in world art.
In the field of sculpture, it is worth noting the master Donatello, whom many experts recognize as the best.
Italian High Renaissance(1490-1530)
.
The further work of the three great masters, who need no introduction, influenced the entire world of fine art. Synopsis:
A famous example of linear perspective:
Lamentation of the Dead Christ (Mantegna);
A masterpiece on a mythological theme:
Birth of Venus (Botticelli);
The first masterpiece of High Renaissance painting:
The Last Supper (Da Vinci);
Mona Lisa (Da Vinci);
Sculpture of David (Michelangelo);
Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel (Michelangelo);
Stanzas of Raphael.
The Golden Age of Dutch Painting
The heyday of art in the Netherlands is associated with the names of Jan Van Eyck (portrait of the Arnolfini couple, a man in a red turban)
and Hieronymus Bosch (seven sins, the garden of earthly delights, etc.).
Painting of Germany
Despite the rapid technological development of Germany at that time,
Festival of rose wreaths. Oil, poplar board (1506)
one of the greatest artists of the North
The Renaissance is the German Albrecht Durer.
1530-1860.
Mannerist era (1530-1600)
Golden age Venetian painting came thanks to creativity
Giorgiana, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.
The Greek artist El Greco moved to Spain, where he began to paint, contributing to the cultural code of the time.
It was during this period that the outstanding art critic of the time, Vasari, published the famous work “Lives of the Artists”.
Baroque (1600-1700)
The Baroque era of painting and architecture became bold, dramatic and colorful thanks to
Caravaggio, Velazquez and Rubens.
The new style combines
naturalism, religious and mythological motifs,
and also generates a lot of imitators of leading masters.
Synopsis:
The first art academy in Europe appears in Florence;
Opening of the Academy of Arts in Paris;
Sculptures by Bernini;
Construction of the Taj Mahal and the development of Mongolian architecture; Allegorical still lifes (Vanitas).
American colonial art
(1700-1770)
Rococo era
and architectural design reflects the decline of the French government through a capricious and decorative style.
The emergence of neoclassical artists
(Goya, Ingres and Jacques-Louis David)
and similar architecture
(the buildings combined Greek-style columns and classical roofs, Renaissance bathhouses).
Important museums: Catherine the Great creates the Hermitage (St. Petersburg). Opening of the Louvre, one of the largest art museums.
Romanticism(1800-1860)
Romanticism is characterized by the ideas of the heroic ideals of the French Revolution.
Among the romantics, the leading ones were
Delacroix, William Blake, Thomas Cole, John Constable, Caspar David Friedrich
and others.
DELACROIX EUGENE Still life with lobster and trophies of hunting and fishing
The Nazarene movement is formed in Germany
(Originally, Friedrich Overbeck and Franz Pforr),
which is characterized by romanticism, realism and many other popular trends in German art of the 19th century.
Synopsis:
Painting “Liberty Leading the People”, Delacroix;
French artists lay the foundations of impressionism;
Beginning of photography; Pre-Raphaelite movement founded by Dante Rossetti.
Dante's Vision (about the death of Beatrice)
1870-1960
Lesser-known movements of the mid- and late 19th century included the Florentine style, Japonism, popular in Great Britain and France, French naturalism, symbolism, the mystical religious school of arts and crafts "Nabi" and others.
Impressionism
The era of impressionism, which originated in France, began with the works
Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Pissarro and many others.
Alfred Sisley Canal Loix in Saint-Mammé. 1885
The Impressionists focused on painting natural landscapes, however, after some time, most of them began to paint indoors and studios.
In the 1880s one can see the manifestation American impressionism
(Chace, Robinson, Cassatt). Synopsis:
The culmination of French painting;
"Impression. Rising Sun", Monet;
The Dawn of Australian Impressionism;
"Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat.
Expressionism and Post-Impressionism
The prolific period of the Dutchman Vincent Van Gogh greatly influenced Expressionism.
He has such masterpieces as
"Wheat field",
“Vase with sunflowers”, “Coffee terrace at night” and many others.
The post-impressionist style is rightfully associated with Gauguin and Emile Bernard.
Modern
Secession and Art Nouveau strive to break away from official rules and frameworks in art. Art Nouveau is characterized by the idea of combining fine art, sculpture and architecture.
Often, this ideology was perceived with skepticism by critics, and exhibitions of modernists caused controversy.
Development of poster art (1860-1980);
The Classical Renaissance in modern art is a reaction to the naturalism of the Impressionists;
The Birth of Expressionism(Edvard Munch, Henri Matisse, “Favism”, German “Blue Rider”);
The emergence of primitivism in the West;
"Blue Period", "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and Pablo Picasso's cubism;
Radiant landscape Mikhail Fedorovich Larionov 1912, 94.5×71 cm
Mikhail Larionov (Russia) invented the style "rayonism" (1912-1913).
English "Vorticism" (1913-1915),
developing the ideas of cubism;
Rene Magritte: Golconde
Dada style (1916-1924), which used shocking, banal imagery;
Abstract direction“Suprematism” (1913-1920), associated with Natalia Goncharova and Malevich;
Surrealism
Andrey Gorenkov
(1920s) In Europe, surrealism emerges under the influence of Dadaism, Cubism and communist philosophy.
The movement is characterized primarily by works
Salvador Dali, Joan Miró, Rene Magritte and Marcel Duchamp.
At this time, Pablo Picasso painted the famous “Guernica”;
Development of abstract expressionism (1940-1950)
and neo-expressionism.
Pop art (1960s)
The ideas of pop art were championed by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.
Pop artists tried to give banal objects and images the status of works of art.
The sixties were also characterized by the growing popularity of photorealism (aka superrealism) and minimalism.
since 1970.
Postmodernism
"Cordoba" Mimmo Paladino 1984 (postmodernism)
Art historians like to call the period after 1970 “postmodernism.” This style represents a triumph of style over substance, and the artists tend to use new means of communication, emphasizing the importance of communication between artist and audience.
Synopsis:
Conceptual art;
Video art;
Avant-garde works.
based on materials site
Today, examples of rock art can be seen in various parts of our planet. And they always - whether they are illustrations of the ancients about their life or ritual drawings - arouse special interest among scientists. After all, in each such drawing the secrets of the history of our civilization are hidden.
1. Neolithic birth picture
In 2005, geologists made a discovery that dates back to the Neolithic or Paleolithic era, but it is still very relevant today. Once upon a time, a child was born in a small cave in the Sahara Desert in Egypt and someone painted this scene on the ceiling of the cave.
Often compared to the much more famous "nativity scene" painting, this image predates the famous birth of Jesus by 3,000 years. A newborn baby is raised between parents as the greatest value. Also, a star in the east is visible. But such a picture was painted long before the emergence of Christianity.
2. Sudanese excavations
There are 15 sites in Sudan where ancient rock art is found. In 2011, similar images were also found in about 30 different places in the desert valley of Wadi Abu Dom. The collection of these images was expanded over time by various artists. Drawings made 1,500 years ago perfectly depict the period when Christianity appeared in Sudan: crosses, churches and even St. George on his horse. Livestock can be seen in 3,000-year-old images. But 5,000-year-old cave paintings puzzle even experts.
This art is simply inexplicable. It looks like spirals, "wound" so precisely that some consider them to be the earliest mathematical representation. Another type of image is more geometric and looks similar to a fishing net. Archaeologists also found “stone gongs.” When you hit such a stone, it makes a clear, ringing sound. Their age has not even been determined, but some believe that such stones could be signaling devices.
3. Tiny hands
In the Sahara, the “Cave of Beasts” got its name from the strange headless creatures depicted on its walls. In 2002, the cave also found 13 children's handprints on the walls, some of which were inside adult handprints. This scene was perceived as touching until one anthropologist noticed that the children's handprints were not proportional to the correct size. The 8,000-year-old prints were smaller than even those of premature newborns.
Also, the fingers were abnormally long and clearly did not belong to humans. Tests showed that they belonged to animals, probably desert monitor lizards. Since monitor lizard prints were made around the same time as human handprints, and they also used the same pigment, the reason for this phenomenon remains a mystery.
4. Venus of Hole Fels
The next example differs from "usual" cave art - it is an ivory figurine. Venus Hohle Fels was found in the cave of the same name in Germany. It is a 40,000-year-old figurine of a naked female without arms or head. It is called the oldest human sculpture. "Venus" may symbolize prehistoric beauty and health, but perhaps the carver simply wanted to depict a doll of a naked woman. Most scientists agree that today it is no longer possible to prove what the figurine was intended for.
5. Scottish curls
The mysterious Kochno stone was found in Scotland. Someone a long time ago tried to artistically decorate this stone with geometric swirls. Although such art is not unique, the stone is among the best examples of such spiral images in Europe. The Glasgow artifact was dug up in 1887, but by 1965 it had been badly damaged by vandals and weather. For further preservation, the stone was reburied. In 2016, the 5,000-year-old slab was excavated, scanned, photographed for better study, and reburied.
6. Footprints
When it comes to limb prints, they are not always hand prints. A thousand years ago, the Pueblo culture of New Mexico's Chaco Canyon clearly revered feet. They left similar marks on everything. Interestingly, the Pueblos had a common physical trait: polydactyly, that is, an extra finger or toe. Naturally, not everyone had an extra toe, but among the Pueblos the percentage of such people was phenomenally high. Most of the footprints of bare feet were left at the entrances to “important” rooms.
7. Acoustic art
One study has discovered a remarkable connection between prehistoric scribblings and sound. This kind of art is mainly found in places where there is a loud echo. In addition, many of the paintings in such places depict scenes associated with the sounds of thunderstorms. It is possible that prehistoric people did not fully understand the nature of echoes, but considered them a manifestation of something sacred.
8. "Higgs Bison"
The Higgs Bison represents one of the few instances where science has been directly "connected" to ancient rock art. After testing the DNA of an ancient bison, the results were unexpected. Their DNA was found not to be closely similar to modern European aurochs. Rather, they were related to some mysterious bison ancestor, which researchers dubbed the “Higgs bison.” Here the name “Higgs boson” was played on - a mysterious particle whose existence could not be proven in any way.
9. Aliens from Charam
Indian archaeologists suddenly remembered words like "UFO" and "aliens" when they looked inside a cave in 2014. In the village of Charama in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, this is not the first time that residents have encountered 10,000-year-old paintings. Their ancestors told them about legends when the so-called “Rohela” people came to the village. These little people allegedly landed in a circular object and interacted with several villagers before flying off.
In the past, the Charama tribe even worshiped paintings dedicated to this event. Prehistoric images show humanoids dressed as astronauts and weapons-like objects. The creatures depicted were flexible, orange in color and had no mouths or noses. Also found on the wall of the cave was an image of an object in the form of a disk with three legs and “antennas.”
10. The mystery of the Neanderthals
In Spain, an underground cave has caused quite a stir in the scientific community. The walls of the El Castillo cave were painted with red dots and handprints. These creations are over 40,800 years old, making them the most famous examples of cave art. What's most interesting is that people couldn't make them. At that time, this area was inhabited by Neanderthals, so most likely it was they who left behind these signs. Neanderthals have always been considered a separate species of hominin, but such art can “reclassify” them as a race of people.
Rock paintings are not the only ancient mystery that worries scientists. There is also, at a minimum, .
