Welcome to Art History

Welcome to Art History

What is art and how is it made?ContentContextFormFunction

Apollo 11 stones Namibia, Africac. 25,500 25,300 BCE Charcoal on stone

Great Hall of the Bulls Lascaux France Paleolithic Europe, 15,000 13,000 BCE

Venus of WillendorfAustria, 28,000 25,000 BCELimestone

Subtractive sculpture6Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canineTequixquiac, central Mexico 14,00-7,000 BCE Bone

Running horned woman. Tassili nAjjer, Algeria 6000 4000 BCE Pigment on Rock

Beaker with ibex motifsSusa, Iran4200 3500 BCE Painted terra cotta

Anthropomorphic steleArabian Penninsula4th millenium BCE Sandstone

Mayan Steles, Hondurus

Almost nothing is known about the anthropomorphic stele of Saudi Arabia that Batrice Andr-Salvini, head of the oriental antiquities department at theLouvre, refers to as the Suffering Man on account of his look of resigned pain. The only certainty is that it dates from the fourth millennium BC, was found near Ha'il in the north and has never been exhibited. That is true of two-thirds of the 320 items on show at the Louvre. With good reason. The "official" history of the country starts in the seventh century with the coming of Islam. The Suffering Man and two similar stelae, regarded as representations of the idols the Prophet destroyed, are a revelation.

10Jade congLiangzhu, China c. 2500 BC, Neolithic periodcarved jade

JadecongChina, Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture, about 2500 BCCong, essentially tubes with a square cross-section and a circular hole, are among the most impressive yet most enigmatic of all ancient Chinese jade artefacts. Their function and meaning are completely unknown. Although they were made at many stages of the Neolithic and early historic period, the origin of thecongin the Neolithic cultures of south-east China has only been recognised in the last thirty years.Thecongis one of the principal types of jade artefact of the Liangzhu culture (about 3000-2000 BC) around Lake Tai in Jiangsu province. Spectacular examples have been found at all the major archaeological sites. The main types ofconghave a square outer section around a circular inner part, and a circular hole, though jades of a bracelet shape also display some of the characteristics ofcong.The principal decoration oncongof the Liangzhu period was the face pattern, which may refer to spirits or deities. On the square-sectioned pieces, like this example, the face pattern is placed across the corners, whereas on the bracelet form it appears in square panels. These faces are derived from a combination of a man-like figure and a mysterious beast.J. Rawson,Chinese jade: from the Neolith(London, The British Museum Press, 1995, reprinted 2002)

11StonehengeWiltshire, UK Neolithic, c. 2500 1600 BCESandstone

The Ambum StoneAmbum Valley, Enga Providence, Papua New Guinea c. 1500 BCE Grey wacke

This exquisite and exceedingly rare sculpture, discovered in a cave in the early 1960s, was made more than 3500 years ago and is one of the earliest known Pacific works of art. Ancient stone mortars and pestles from Papua New Guinea are often fashioned into the forms of birds, humans and animals. However, theAmbum stoneis on a higher sculptural level than other prehistoric pestles and has a greater level of figurative detail. When the process involved in producing theAmbum stoneis taken into consideration it is all the more magnificentworking with the tough greywacke stone would have involved many weeks of laborious chipping and hammering at the surface with stone tools.Despite the various animalistic features such as the nose tip, which resembles that of a fruit bat, theAmbum stonemay depict a juvenile long-beaked echidna (spiny anteater), an animal thought to have been revered for its useful fat deposits prior to the introduction of pigs.The significance and function of theAmbum stoneremains obscure, as little is known about the people who produced this beautiful work. Such objects are often considered sacred and credited with supernatural powers by present-day people in the region, where they are used as spirit stones in sorcery and other rituals. 13Tiatilco female figurineCentral Mexico, 1200 900 BCECeramic

Although the key food plants of Mesoamericamaize, beans, and squashwere domesticated by 5000 B.C., settled village life only became widespread by around 2000 B.C. As the Mesoamerican lifestyle grew increasingly sedentary, artists began to produce ceramic objects, including vessels and small figurines, in a variety of localized styles. The site of Tlatilco, in the Valley of Mexico, is known for its distinctive figurines, particularly the famous pretty ladies that were found in abundance in burials. In addition to these local forms, Tlatilco objects include vessels carved with stylized motifs as well as figurines with slit eyes and downturned mouthsbelying awareness of the burgeoning Olmec civilization of the Gulf Coast.

14Terra cotta fragment, LapitaSolomon Islands, Reef Islands 1000 BCEterra cotta (incised)