The human figure in art

An example of Greek art

The fact that women in the Stone Age were shown as child bearers and life givers. They may not have even wanted to be seen only as that. They may have wanted to be portrayed as beautiful women as well as mothers/ life givers. It seems that in this day and age that the beautiful woman is represented in a way that expresses her physical beauty as of that of being young and skinny. I feel that in our culture today that too much importance in given to the way people look and how much money that they make, rather than what is in their hearts. Our culture just seems to judge people without even giving them a chance. You see it in the tabloids, on TV, at school, at work, and even in our own homes. Our culture seems to have that “you have to look perfect” mentality. We as a culture are like picking favorites, making any people that look a certain “perfect” way feel special. When we all should feel special and worth something .We as a culture should be more supportive of one another rather than fighting about who is better than the next. It sure would make the world a nicer place to live! Don’t you think so?

In the Medieval Period of Greek and Roman art, the view for human beauty seemed to be very high. I did enjoy the marble sculpture called Head of an Old Man (25 B.C.E.-10 C.E.)the most because the Romans portrayed more of a realistic interpretation of the human figure. The Romans sculptures gave their art work careful physical details and imperfections which give character to the people’s faces. They did this by careful observation and recording these physical details and imperfections. Thus showing more of a realistic portrayal of the human figure.

The Role Of The Human Figure In Art

"Head of an Old Man"

For my second discussion question I choose to write about question 2 (discuss the role of the human figure in the periods studied in chapters 14 and 15).

In chapter 14 The Limestone Woman of Wiledorf (25,000-20,000 B.C.E.) is portrayed as a woman with big hips and breasts that seems to imply that women of that time were seen as child bearers or life givers. Prehistoric people may have given main credit to women for just that reason. Today in our time it does not seem like women are given much credit for that fact. You don’t really see that many pregnant models (or not so skinny women) on TV, movies, or in the magazines. Maybe pregnant women (or not so skinny women) back in the Paleolithic period were considered beautiful. Now in this day and age it doesn’t seem like pregnant (or no so skinny women) are given much credit or made to feel very beautiful or important. So it seems like our view of beauty has changed over the times. I feel that everyone should be made to feel good about them and feel important no matter what their size is.

Art in Egypt usually showed the human figure in a completely front view or in a profile view. Egyptian artists showed each object and each part of peoples bodies (carved or drawn) from what they saw as its most characteristic angle. Just like artists do now a days. They showed people and objects in their most characteristic angel to avoid causing random or chance angels of view. The Wall Painting from tomb of Nebamun is an example of avoiding random or chance angles or views and avoiding ambiguity. This painting shows a great deal of detail without making the painting confusing. This painting also shows a great deal of information. The nobleman in the paintings feet, head, hips, and legs and shoulders are shown from a front view. The family in this painting shows us what their day to day life was like. The nobleman hunted while the rest of his family (his wife and his daughter) were on a boat made from papyrus leaves with him. This painting also shows us how the people of the Egyptian times dressed and how they looked.

In chapter 15 it explains that Greece came into its classical period/phase in 480 and ended in 323 B.C.E. The Spear Bearer is one example of the Greeks classical art style. The Greek artists of that times main concern/goal was to only create the ideal individual (the “perfect” human being). The Spear Bearer shows this interpretation of the “perfect” human being form quite well. The Greeks classical interpretation of art empathized on simplicity, order, and restrained emotion. This classical style of art made human figures have more of a relaxed pose with a broad attention to detail of the human anatomy. This classical style of interpreting human beings gave sculpture almost a sense of movement and life while being ever so naturalistic. The Greeks gave their sculptures what they believed to be perfect proportions of the human form. They actually made observations and made mathematical calculations to figure out what they perceived to be perfect human form. Although the real Spear Bearer no longer exists there are later copies and documents to prove what the sculpture looked like. Which kind of reminds me of how the media and out culture thinks and shows us (well makes us believe) that we as human beings should look. For women we should have a very skinny waist, big hips, big breasts, dress however the media tells us to. This is just not realistic. We should be/ look like whatever we want to and no one should judge us. As for men they should by the medias standards be tall dark and handsome and have six pack abs. Also dress like however the media wants them to. This is also not realistic. But the Greeks most of their media still survives which depicts “perfect” looking people. I wonder did they ever make art work out of people that did not look exactly like that. I hope that some of our media does not survive as long as theirs because to me it shows that we as a human beings haven’t really evolved out of that “you have to look perfect” mentality. We as a culture are like picking favorites, making any people that look a certain “perfect” way feel special. When we all should feel special and worth something.

On the other hand the Romans portrayed more of a realistic interpretation of the human figure. An example of this is the Head of an Old Man in chapter 15. The Romans sculptures gave their art work careful physical details and imperfections which give character to the people’s faces. They did this by careful observation and recording these physical details and imperfections. Thus showing more of a realistic portrayal of the human figure.

Written By: Gutter Chic of Gutter Chic Inc. 2010

Sources: Preble's Artfroms

Source type: Text Book

Animals in Art

I choose to write on the topic of why do animals play such an important role in ancient art? My first paragraph will discuss animals in history. Mainly discussing Paleolithic art. My second paragraph will discuss art in the Neolithic period. The third paragraph discusses my own feelings about what I have read from books about the topic of animals in art.

Animals in art history make animal history visible and accessible to people. It is a record of how people in the past lived, felt, and acted in different parts of the world toward animals. We are being told a story without using words. About 40,000 years ago, the first carvings and paintings of animals on cave walls that were deep in the earth were found. Hunter-gatherers followed animals that they hunted for food and carved/ painted images of what they saw. Which gives us an insight as to how they must have lived and what they did from day to day. It also gives us an insight into how they hunt and gathered what they ate. In central France the oldest known cave paintings were found. There were dozens of them. Among all of the paintings there were paintings done with charcoals and earthen pigments of animals. The paintings showed animals such as horses, rhinoceroses, tigers, and other large animals. The Cave paintings also showed animals that are now extinct. In southern France there are images of large and small animals. The depictions of animals were done so by careful observation of the animals as well as human contact with the animals. It has been believed by scholars “that the purpose of naturalistic Paleolithic art was to bring the spirits of animals into rituals related to the hunt.” It is now to be believed that the purpose was for sanctuaries where the children were initiated in ceremonies that were based on symbolic and metaphysical associations while the animals that are in the images/paintings. There are many paintings of animals that were found all over the world.

In the Neolithic period the motifs/dominant themes used were used on clay pots and were usually inspired from plant and animal forms. Unlike Paleolithic art Neolithic art was abstract. Paleolithic art was more naturalistic. For example Wall painting of animals is naturalistic and Earthenware beaker is more of an abstract art piece. Animals have also been portrayed in early medieval art. Like the bronze 5^th century art piece Scythian Animal made by the Scythians. This is an abstract animal form that influenced (according to books on the topic of animals in art) groups in the British Isles, Scandinavia, and China. This style has been seen later in woodcarvings, stone carvings, and metal work. I think that animals play such an important role in ancient art because it gives us a look at what kind of animals were around at the time that the art works were made. It also shows us which animals are now extinct and also what animals have survived. Animals in art also give us an insight as to how people interact with animals. It brings up questions like did they hunt them, eat them, worship them, or sacrifice them for spiritual rituals? Sometimes art shows you without words what happened in the past. Lastly I think that animals play such an important role in ancient art is the fact that they gave people inspiration for something to draw, paint, carve, or use as any other art depiction. Just the beauty of all the different kinds of animals makes some people want to depict them in art work.

Gutter Chic Inc. 2010

The Nature of Art

Art evokes feelings, memories (good and bad), passions, drives, pleasures, and pains. People come in to contact with art in their daily lives every day even without sometimes realizing it.

Art influences our lives in many ways. From the clothes that you wear, to the car you drive, to the dishes that you eat out of. Someone had to design them. We as human beings create almost every day. We create the way we want our lives to look and feel. Even such a simple act of dressing yourself or the way you decorate your house reflects the way that you perceive yourself as well as the way that you want other people to perceive you.

Art is a representation of an idea that is made with skill with the use of a medium. Artists use different kinds of media to express their ideas and feelings that they want to show others. There are many different kinds of media including clay, fiber, stone, wood, paint, video, computers, photography, music, dance, theater, literature, visual arts, and movies.

The nature of art is people expressing their feelings, views, and passions with different kinds of media. Art is visual expression that is made with skill and media. People can express some things with art that they otherwise could not express in words (or would rather not express in words). Like colors, shapes, political views, social views or religious views. Art can be enjoyed, understood, misunderstood, hated, or loved. Art is around us all the time in our homes, art galleries, and churches just to name a few. Art influences many things and it can take almost any form. In our day to day lives we are around art most of the time from the houses we live in, the art we hang up in our homes, to the ads we see in magazines.

Our languages, arts, beliefs and our traditions are a part of us as human beings. They show who we are and what we believe and what our culture is. Art can be made with many different kinds of medium. As technology advances so does the kind of mediums that artists have to choose from to work with. The kind of mediums that artists choose to work with shows a little about that period of time in which the art piece was made. It also shows what was available to work with at the time. It shows the artists skills that they used in making that art piece with the mediums that were used. Art can also give us an insight to the history surrounding that art piece. Art can make a statement, inform, embellish, inspire, excite, awaken, and thrill us. Art can also make us angry, sad, or humiliated. Art can also confuse us and make us ask questions and investigate and have more of an insight toward it. We may not always know what an artist had in mind when they made an art piece. But that evokes our inner curiosity and insight.

Art can tell stories fictional or true. Art can be practical and useful like flint knives, dishes, and cars. Art can serve useful purposes like the Blackfeet Parfleche rawhide envelop made out of rawhide that was used to carry personal goods in the nomadic Native American society. The dish from East Iran is another useful art piece that was used for day to day living. Both of these art pieces serve as useful objects as well as show the peoples who made them cultures. Art can also have spiritual meanings. The earliest cave paintings and cave carvings were thought of as having spiritual/magical purposes. The arts helped people in the stone-age hunt and gather. Art shows the quest for understanding that human beings have. Art can also be used for worship and ritual. Stonehenge is believed to have been used for various rituals. Many historians believe that Stonehenge was used to show humans their place in the universe. The Chalice made in 1986 made out of pottery could hold concentrated wine for Christian ritual. Art can also be used for personal expression. Rembrandt van Rijn showed his feelings that were directed toward life through his paintings. He had an inner need for self expression. Although not all art is meant to show the artists personality some do. Others provide less information about themselves like the designers of art that is produced cooperatively by many individuals like movies or building designers. All forms of art allow us to express ourselves and our feelings to some degree. Art can serve a social cause. It can show the good and bad events that have happened in the past. Like Francisco Goya’s drawing called The Disasters of War shows his outrage toward the Napoleonic Wars in his country. Art can even show good and bad events that can happen in the future such as Chaz Maviyane-Davies’s poster called Global Warming. Art can also be a visual delight. Art can evoke pleasure, delight, happiness, warm memories, enjoyment, amusement, joy, diversion, and embellishment in our lives. Art can bring beauty into our lives and make us feel good.

In conclusion this article covered the nature of art and about what art is. It talked about how make us feel and how we express ourselves through art. Art can be made with a verity of materials and it can make us feel and be inspired. Art can be in almost any form and you can show your creativity and self expression through it. Art can show out traditions, religions, and cultures to others. Art can describe things without the use of words. Art can also show our past and our future. Art can be very powerful, beautiful, and thought provoking.

-Gutter Chic Inc. 2009