Art Appreciation: Prehistoric & Ancient Mediterranean

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Prehistoric & Ancient Mediterranean Art Appreciation T,R, 9:30-10:50AM Professor Paige Prater

description

A brief overview of art history from prehistoric through the Roman empire. Based on the "Gateways to Art" textbook (2012).

Transcript of Art Appreciation: Prehistoric & Ancient Mediterranean

Page 1: Art Appreciation: Prehistoric & Ancient Mediterranean

Prehistoric & Ancient Mediterranean

Art AppreciationT,R, 9:30-10:50AM

Professor Paige Prater

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Map it!

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Black horse, 27,000–19,000 BCE. Painting on top of finger tracings. Cosquer Cave, France

• 1985, Henri Cosquer discovered it.

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The Dordogne: Lascaux Cave• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnSq0c7jM-A

• 600 animals drawn, multi-cave composition• This is an exact replica

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Çatalhöyük, Anatolia – 6150 BCE • Landscape with volcano eruption, detail of watercolor copy of a wall painting

from Level VII, Çatalhöyük, Turkey, c. 6150 BCE. Wall painting: Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Turkey. Watercolor copy: Private collection

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Cyclades 3000-2000 BCE

• Sea-faring, agriculture, herding, crafts, and trade (Egypt and Near East)

• Lots of white marble available! (Naxos & Paros)

• Low quality clay (since 6000 BCE)• Gravetop sculptures (lying on top)• Obsidian scrapers and chisels• Emery polishing stones

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Cycladic Figures• Geometric• Hand-held size• May have laid on back• Fertility • More females than males found

Reclining female figure of the Late Spedos variety, Cyclades, 2500–2400 BCE. Island marble, 23⅜” high

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Palace of Knossos, Greece• 1900 CE - Sir Arthur Evans; restoring Minoan

palace using his own funds• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYS2DUr3C8g (from 1:50)

• 1300 + rooms!

Bull-leapers, from Palace of Knossos, Crete, Greece, c. 1450–1375 BCE. Archaeological Museum, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

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Drawing of Knossos Palace Complex

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Mesopotamia

• Tigris & Euphrates rivers• Fertile crescent• Sumerians: great power, cuneiform• Akkadians: conquered Sumerians; divine rulers• Assyrians• Babylonians

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Sumerian• Standard of

Ur, Early Dynastic III, c. 2600–2400 BCE; War (top) and Peace (bottom). Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 7⅞ × 18½”. British Museum, London, England

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Head of an Akkadian Ruler: 2300-2200 BCE

• Earliest known major work of hollow-cast copper sculpture in the Ancient Near East

• Theft: ancient & 2003

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Assyrian• 1400BCE-600BCE – by end of 9th century, they controlled

most of Mesopotamia• Slave labor built palace at Nimrud• Hunting & battle scenes depicted

Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions, 850 BCE

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Assyrian

• Lamassu– Mind of man– Strength of lion– Sight of eagle

Human-headed winged lion (lamassu), from gateway in Ashurnasirpal II’s palace in Nimrud, Mesopotamia, Neo-Assyrian, 883–859 BCE. Alabaster (gypsum), 10’3½” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Babylonian: The Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE)

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Babylonian• Ishtar Gate from Babylon (Iraq), reign of Nebuchadnezzar II

(605–562 BCE), Vorderasiatisches Museum, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

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Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egypt: Key Highlights• Polytheistic• After-life: Mastaba

to Pyramid• Twisted

perspective• Static sculpture• Hieroglyphs• Hieratic/hierarchic

scale

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Great Pyramids & Sphinx, Giza, Egypt, 2558–2532 BCE

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Menkaure & a Queen

• ruled 2490-2472 BCE• static

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Twisted Perspective/ Hieroglyphs

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Rosetta Stone

– translation of hieroglyphs possible

• 1822 - Jean-François Champollion

– Carving of edicts by Ptolemy V

– Written in three languages

• Hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek

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Funerary mask of Tutankhamun, 1333–

1323 BCE

• 1922 – royal tomb discovered by Howard Carter

• Minor king, richest tomb discovered

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Ancient Greece

• “Man is the measure of all things” – Protagoras, Greek philosopher

• Polytheistic• Acropolis as city

center

Reconstructive Drawing of Greek Acropolis in Athens, early 4th century BCE

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• Dedicated to Athena

• Exterior columns: Doric

• Interior frieze columns: Ionic

Parthenon, Athens, Greece, 447–432 BCE

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Washington, D.C.

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Columns: 3 Orders

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Metope frieze from exterior of Parthenon

• Now in British Museum

• Lord Elgin:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

uKZ_ilKcsEM

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Greek Pottery

• Amphora: long body, 2 handles• Black-figure vs. Red-figure

– Slip: watered-down clay; used to outline figures– Incised designs

• Getty: Making Greek Vaseshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhPW50r07L8&feature=youtu.be

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Andokides Painter, Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice, c. 525–520 BCE. Black figure and red figure (bilingual) two-handled jar (amphora), 21” high. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

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Greek Sculpture

• Archaic (600-480BCE)

• Classical (480-323BCE)

• Hellenistic (323-30BCE)

COMPARE

Statue of a kouros (youth), Naxian, c. 590–580 BCE. Marble, 6’4⅝” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Kora figures: Athens, 530 BCE

• Gravemarkers• Clothed• Archaic smile

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Greek Sculpture• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88gX

WW3qN7o

• Contrapposto!

Roman version of the Doryphoros (Spear-bearer) of Polykleitos,120–50 BCE, after a bronze original of c. 460 BCE. Marble, 6’6” × 19” × 19”. Minneapolis Institute of Arts

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• More expressive

• Idealized• Influenced

Renaissance artists

Hellenistic Sculpture

Laocoön and his Sons, copy of bronze original probably made at Pergamum c. 150 BCE. Marble, 6’½” high. Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome.

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ROMAN ART

• Influenced by Greek (especially Corinthian order)

• Absorbed cultures/gods• FORUM (marketplace) = center city district• Art focused on emperors/civic leaders (vs.

gods)• Valued age, life-like portraits

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Pompeii• Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79CE• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn14wkg0mhM

Alexander the Great Confronts Darius III at the Battle of Issos, 310BCE, floor mosaic, Pompeii

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Roman Sculpture

• Verism• Death masks• Patricians vs.

Plebeians• Clothed

Patrician carrying death-masks of his ancestors, c. 80 BCE. Marble, life-size. Barberini Museum, Rome, Italy

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CONCRETE: arches, vaults, and domes

Arch of Titus, 81 CE

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Pantheon

• Completed under Emperor Hadrian, 125 CE

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Pantheon: Interior View

• Dome/oculus

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Arch of Constantine:312-315 CE