Post on 25-Dec-2014
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AP Art HistorySummer Slides
Prehistoric Architecture
Stonehenge (c. 3100 BCE)
• Post and lintel construction
• Megaliths are 21 to 24 feet tall, including height of lintel, and buried four feet in the ground
• Solar and lunar orientation
• Stones dragged from far away to this site
• Circle of megaliths embrace structure, enclosing it
• Inside circle of megaliths is a larger horseshoe-shaped group of megaliths which frame an “altar stone”
Mesopotamian Periods
• Sumerian (3500 – 2340 BCE)• Akkadian (2340 – 2180 BCE)• Guti?Neo-Sumer (2180 – 2125 BCE)• Babylonian (2125 – 1750 BCE)• Hittites (1640 – 1200 BCE)• Assyrian (1000 – 612 BCE)• Neo – Babylonian (605-539 BCE)• Persia (539 – 331 BCE)
Sumerian Art (c. 3500 – 2400 BCE)
• Development of Cuneiform
• Building of Ziggurats
• Small Scale Sculpture in marble, diorite, hammered gold and lapis lazuli
• The writing of Gilgamesh
Sumerian Art Ziggurat at Ur
• Mud-brick construction• Solid, no interior• Large ceremonial staircases• Temple at top now missing• Functioned as religious site
and center of civic pride• Holes in surface used to
show flags• Oriented by the points of the
compass • Painted surface
Sumerian Art Statuettes from Tell Asmar
(c. 2700 BCE)• Short compact statues• Arms folded in front• Inscription on back “Always
praying”• Huge eyes with giant pupils• Men have long flowing beards
that ripple down chest• Compact statues• Arms cut away at side• Wear kilts
Standard of Ur
(c. 2600 – 2400 BCE)
• Hierarchy of Scale• Narrative in art• King inspects defeated
enemies• Horses placed behind each
other to suggest depth• Enemies nude to suggest
defeat and debasement• Repetition of forms
The Standard of Ur
A mysterious object with one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army
From Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BC
This object was found in one of the largest graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, lying in the corner of a chamber above the right shoulder of a man. Its original function is not yet understood. Leonard Woolley, the excavator at Ur, imagined that it was carried on a pole as a standard, hence its common name. Another theory suggests that it formed the soundbox of a musical instrument.When found, the original wooden frame for the mosaic of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli had decayed, and the two main panels had been crushed together by the weight of the soil. The bitumen acting as glue had disintegrated and the end panels were broken. As a result, the present restoration is only a best guess as to how it originally appeared.The main panels are known as 'War' and 'Peace'. 'War' shows one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army. Chariots, each pulled by four donkeys, trample enemies; infantry with cloaks carry spears; enemy soldiers are killed with axes, others are paraded naked and presented to the king who holds a spear.The 'Peace' panel depicts animals, fish and other goods brought in procession to a banquet. Seated figures, wearing woollen fleeces or fringed skirts, drink to the accompaniment of a musician playing a lyre. Banquet scenes such as this are common on cylinder seals of the period, such as on the seal of the 'Queen' Pu-abi, also in the British Museum.
Akkadian Art
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (c. 2230 BCE)• Naram-Sin as a god ruling with three gods
symbolized as stars• Defeats his enemies: one thrown off cliff, one
begs for mercy; one has a spear through his throat
• Naram-Sin acts with the gods’ blessings, but is independent of them
• He wears the horned crown of divinity• He and his army climb a mountain• Narrative in art• Hierarchy of scale• Relief sculpture• Rigid ground lines discarded• Regimentation of winners as opposed to the
scattered defeated
Detail
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
Babylonian Art
Stele of Hammurabi c. 1792 – 1750 BCE)• 300 law codes at bottom• Punishments depend on social standing• Earliest body of laws in existence• Hammurabi standing saluting god Shamash• Hammurabi rules with the permission of the
god• Shamash hands the code to him• Divinely inspired law• Shamash has a coil-shaped crown, an
extremely long beard and flames (wings?) coming from his back
• Cuneiform writing for text
Assyrian Art
Lamassu (c. 700 BCE)• Guardian figure protects
entrances into palaces• Combination of man and
animals• Winged, hoofed• Has five legs: two if you look
from the front, four as you look from the side
Assyrian Archers Pursuing Enemies (from the Palace of Nimrud c. 883 – 859 BCE)
• Detail of wall-relief sculpture• Assyrians attacking a city and city giving up• Enemies are fleeing by swimming away, afloat on inflated
skins• Hierarchy of scale: people are larger than the city they occupy• Meant as a warning and message to visiting dignitaries
Assyrian Art
Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions, Dying Lioness (from the Palace of Nineveh c. 883 – 859 BCE)
• Relief sculpture• Animals show emotion, humans none• Ruthless rendering of lions• Chaotic arrangement of lions• Organized arrangement of humans• Humans as stoic and severe
Persian
• Palace Complex of Darius and Xerxes at Persepolis
• Founded by Darius the Great c. 518 BCE• Meant as reception center demonstrating great
wealth• Looted and burned by Alexander the Great in
331-330 BCE• (note Xerxes leading invasion of Greek mainland
in 480 BCE)
Persian Art Persepolis, Iran (c. 515 BCE)
• Palace complex• Apadana with huge columns
60 feet tall• 36 columns with bull-shaped
tops• Reliefs on walls symbolize
Persian guards called Immortals
• 10,000 Immortals protected the city and ruler
• Large ramps leading to apadana enable chariots to enter hall
Audience Hall at Persepolis (c. 500 BCE)
Egyptian ArtPredynastic Periodc. 4500 - 3150 BCEArchaic Period3150 - 2700 BCE
The Old Kingdom2700 - 2213 BCEFirst Intermediate Period2213 - 2061 BCE
The Middle Kingdom2061 - 1668 BCESecond Intermediate Period1668 - 1560 BCE
The New Kingdom1560 - 1069 BCEThird Intermediate Period1069 - 767 BCE
Late Period767 - 525 BCEPersian Period525 - 332 BCEGreek Period332 - 30 BCERoman Period30 BCE - AD 395
Palette of Narmur
(reverse side)
(circa 3000 BCE)
•First Historical Document currently known.
•Ceremonial Palette
•Represents the Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmur
•Demonstrates the power and strength of the Pharaoh through imagery
•Utilizes Hierarchical scale
Egyptian Old Kingdom Architecture
Step Pyramid, Saqqara(c. 2750 BCE)• Built by Imhotep: first
known architect - for Pharaoh Zoser)
• 6 unequal steps• Largest pyramid• Giant staircase• Pharaoh buried inside• Outgrowth of the early
mastaba burial structures
Egyptian Old Kingdom Architecture Three Pyramids of Gizeh
(Giza) (c. 2570 – 2500 BCE)
• Used no mortar• Largest Pyramid for Cheops,
also Mycerinus and Khafre)• Stone casing• Burial of the pharaohs• Sides of the pyramids face
north, east, south, west• Pyramids face rising run• 2.3 million stone blocks
weigh 2.5 tons each
Egyptian New Kingdom Art
Mortuary Chapel of Hatshepsut
(c. 1480 BCE)• Memorial to most important
female pharaoh of Egypt• Three colonnaded terraces• Two ramps• Suited to setting• Interplay of horizontals and
verticals• Verticals match landscape
behind• Decorated to evoke the Nile
Egyptian New Kingdom Art
Akhenaten (c. 1360 BCE)• Uniques in Egyptian style –
breaks with severe formulas• Represents Pharoah who
promoted monotheism for the the sun god Aten
• Frontal pose• Epicene body • Curving contours• Slack jaw• Full lips• Big hips• Belly hangs over belt
Aegean Art
• 2500 – 1100 BCE
• Pre-cursor to the Greeks
Cycladic Art •Folded Arms
•Slight & Virginal
•Delicate proportions
•Subtle contours
•Most Likely Painted
c. 2500 – 1100 BCE
Minoans
• Little Concern for defense or religion (no fortifications or temples)
• Utilized Metals
• System of writing
• Urban, mercantile civilization
• Emerging in Neolithic Age
• Found on the Island of Crete
Minoan Vessels Tossed in dump sites
c. 1800 BCE c. 1500 BCE
Painting
•Murals done in Fresco (c. 1500 BCE)
•Large gaps filled in by modern restorers
•Extremely curvilinear and lyrical line
•Vibrant colors, smooth lines and sense of nature
Palace of Knossos, Crete (c. 1600 – 1400 BCE)
•Rambling and not pre-planned
•Labyrinthine in nature
•Columns larger at top, taper to bottom
•Bulbous round tops of columns
•Megaron (chamber composed of straight angled intersecting walls and a door opening to the outer space)
•Low ceilings, intimate rooms
•Terraces and open galleries
•No armaments or fortifications
Toreador Fresco
(c 1500 BCE)
•From the fresoes at the Palace of Knossos
•Red-brown color of men
•Yellow of women
•Curving lines
•Religious ritual?: jumping over the bull
•Bull appears decorative and non-threatening
•Thin waists
•Inspired by Egyptian art
Snake Goddess (c. 1600 BCE)
•Very small (apporx. 1 foot tall)
•Frontal
•Symmetrical
•Quilted skirt, no visible legs
•Pronounced breasts
•Astonished expression
•Thin waist
Harvester Vase (c. 1550-1500 BC)
Carved in low relief – note overlapping to depict space
Rhyton Bull from Knossos (c. 1550 – 1500 BCE)
•Incised lines
•Inlaid shell and rock crystal in eyes
Mycenaean Arton the mainland of the Greek peninsula
Mycenaean civilization was overwhelmed and destroyed around 1100 BCE – a time in
which Greece entered a period known as the Dark Ages
Mycenaean Art Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece• Propylon (columned
gateway)• Heads of animals made of
separate pieces of stone or metal, don’t survive
• May have been sphinxes, not lions
• Huge rocks grooved in place without mortar
• Outer protected entrance of a Mycenaean citadel
• C. 1250 BCE
Mycenaean Art
Treasury of Atreus, Mycenaean• Dome of corbeled stones• Unknown function (tomb?)• Largest vaulted interior space
built up to at that time, and until the Roman Pantheon
• Each stone gently curved to create a circular interior
• C. 1250 BCE
Funerary Mask (c. 1500 BCE)
•Repoussé
•Death mask
•Curly-cue like ears
•Life-like yet primitive quality
•Beard, moustache and eyebrows rendered in short thick strokes
•Claimed as the Mask of Agemmemnon by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876