1. Art History
Sketchbook Reviews

2. Pre-Historic Art
Europe in 30,000 BC – 2,500 BC
Gravettian Culture – Austria
Venus of Willendorf
24,000 – 22,000 BC
Oolitic limestone – yellowish, traces of ochre
 One of three figurines recovered from Paleolithic
archeological sites at Willendorf in Austria
 One of many similarly shaped, female carvings -
known as "Venus Figurines” - found across
Europe and made during this time period
 Discovered in 1908 by Austrian archeologist
Josef Szombathy
 11 cm high and a max. of 4 cm wide
 Thought to represent fertility, OR a higher social
status – obesity leading to abundance of food,
etc.

3. Pre-Historic Art
Europe in 30,000 BC – 2,500 BC
 Nearly 2,000 figures, grouped into
three categories - animals, human
figures and abstract signs
 Mostly horses (364 total, 90 are
stags); also cattle, bison, felines, a
bird, a bear, a rhinoceros, and a
human
 One of the bulls is 17 feet long
 Crossed hind legs show the ability to
Southwestern France use perspective
 No vegetation or environment is
Caves of Lascaux
portrayed around the animals
15,000 BC
 Discovered in 1940
painted onto walls using  2000 – fungus appeared; 2006 –
mineral pigments as well as black mold; 2008 – cave closed
incised into the stone except for 20 minutes once a week
to monitor conditions

4. Pre-Historic Art
Europe in 30,000 BC – 2,500 BC
 1st phase – a bank & ditch
arrangement called a henge, built
5,000 years ago
 Temple for worship of ancient
deities?
 Astronomical observatory?
 Prehistoric calendar?
 Sacred site for burial of high-ranking
citizens?
England, County Wiltshire  100 feet diameter, 24 feet tall
Stonehenge  89 stones weighing up to 4 tons each
3,000 – 2.000 BC  Years later stones weighing 40-45
Large standing bluestones tons were moved in
and sarsen stones set within  Blue stones are made of spotted
dolerite (volcanic rock) so rare it’s
earthworks
only found in one known location

5. Non-European Art
30,000 BC – 1,600 CE
Benin, Nigeria
The Ivory Mask (African)
16th Century
Ivory, Iron, Copper
 Among most celebrated pieces of African
art
 Keep evil away from the Edo peoples
 Portrait of Idia, mother and close advisor to
one of the tribes most powerful leaders
 Hollowed back suggests that it was both a
pendant and a receptacle
 possibly containing medicines to
protect the king during ceremonial
occasions
 9 3/8 in. tall
 Top decorated with heads, symbolizing
Portuguese – alliance with and control over

6. Non-European Art
30,000 BC – 1,600 CE
 Large Pre-Columbian city
built by the Maya
Civilization
 Famous for it’s “traveling
serpent”
 Step pyramid demonstrates
the accuracy and
importance of Maya
astronomy
 365 steps – one for each
day of the year… each of
the temple’s four sides has
Yucatan state in Mexico 91 steps, and the top
The Temple at Chichen Itza platform makes the 365th
750 – 900 CE  named one of the New
Stone Seven Wonders of the
World

7.  On Spring & Fall
equinox the serpent
descends from the
heavens along the
temple walls
 As sun sets,
shadowy snake
descends steps to
join a stone serpent
head at the base of
the staircase

8. Non-European Art
30,000 BC – 1,600 CE
China
Tomb of Emperor Qin
aka The Terracotta Army
246-209 BC
Terracotta Sculptures
 Discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a water well
 Form of funerary art buried with Qin
 To protect Qin in afterlife, and to make sure that he had people to rule
over
 Figures vary in height according to roles, with the tallest being the
generals
 Three pits containing the Terracotta Army
 Over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry

9. Non-European Art
30,000 BC – 1,600 CE
 Manufactured in workshops by
700,000 local craftsmen
 Head, arms, legs and torsos
were created separately and
then assembled
 Eight face molds most likely
used, and then clay was added
to provide individual facial
features
 Vary in height, uniform and
hairstyle in accordance with
rank – all life-size
 Most originally held real
weapons such as spears,
swords, or crossbows
 Were painted vibrant colors

10. Egyptian
3100 BC – 30 BC
Sculptor: Thutmose
Nefertiti Bust
1345 BC
Limestone, Gypsum, Crystal, Wax, Stucco
 Nefertiti: literally "the beautiful one has
come”
 The bust is 19 in tall, weighs about 44 lbs
 Face is completely symmetrical and
almost intact, but the left eye lacks the
inlay present in the right
 Pupil of the right eye is of inserted quartz
with black paint and is fixed with beeswax
 Exact function of the bust is unknown,
though it is theorized that the bust may be
a sculptor's model

11. Egyptian
3100 BC – 30 BC
 German archaeological team led by
Ludwig Borchardt discovered the
bust in 1912 in Thutmose's
workshop in Amarna, Egypt.
 Kept in several locations in
Germany
 Was CT scanned in 1992 and 2006
 Wrinkles found on neck and bags
under her eyes, suggesting the
sculptor had tried to depict signs of
aging
 Inner face has creases around her
mouth and cheeks and a swelling
on the nose
 Become "one of the most admired,
and most copied, images from
ancient Egypt”

12. Egyptian
3100 BC – 30 BC
 Oldest known monumental
sculpture
 Statue of a reclining sphinx (a
mythical creature with a lion's body
and a human head)
 66 feet high and 240 feet long from
front paws to tail-end
 Built by ancient Egyptians during
the reign of the Pharaoh Khafra
 Possibly covered with plaster like
bust of Nefertiti
 Pharaoh Khafre is believed to be
West Bank of the Nile in Giza the man responsible for building
Great Sphinx of Giza, with the the Sphinx
Pyramid of Khufu  Theory is that the erosion was
2558 - 2532 BC caused by wind sandblasting the
Carved Limestone Bedrock figure, however it was concluded

13. Egyptian
3100 BC – 30 BC
THEORIES:
 Sphinx was originally a statue of
the Jackal-Dog Anubis, the God of
the Dead
 Face was recarved in the likeness
of a Middle Kingdom pharaoh,
Amenemhet II
 Traces of paint seen around one
of the Sphinx's ears - believe that
it was once colorfully painted

14. Egyptian
3100 BC – 30 BC
 It is not a book – modern name of
an ancient Egyptian funerary text
 Consists of magic spells intended
to assist a dead person's journey
through the underworld into the
afterlife
 most commonly written in
hieroglyphic or hieratic script on a
papyrus scroll
 190 – 200 spells are known
The Book of the Dead  Once prepared, the collection of
spells was packed carefully away
Used from 1550 – 50 BC
with their other grave goods, to be
written on papyrus and tomb placed in their tomb
walls

15. Egyptian
3100 BC – 30 BC
 They imagined the afterlife as a kind of journey you had to make to get
to paradise – but it was quite a hazardous journey so you’d need
magical help along the way
 Papyrus of Ani is one of the finest and most complete examples of this
type of Egyptian funerary text to survive. The Papyrus of Ani now
resides in The British Museum, London.

16. Greek
850 BC – 31 BC
 Most of what we know about Greek art comes
from the pictures they painted on pottery –
about daily life, and they were used in daily life
 Pots came in all sorts of shapes and sizes
depending on their purpose
 Painted scene reflected what the pot was used
for
 Greek painted pottery changed over time
 Tells us about how life was in Athens and other
ancient Greek cities
 Greeks believed that goddess Athena invented
earthenware pots, and was the patroness of
Greek potters
 Pots are the most valuable tools archeologists
Greek Pottery use for the study of ancient Greek history
1050 – 600 BC  Thought of the pots as if they were people -
Clay, Slip used human terms to describe parts of the

17. Greek
850 BC – 31 BC
 Periods of Greek Pottery:
 Protogeometric
 Geometric
 Orientalizing
 Black figure
 Red figure
 White ground technique
 Hellenistic Period
 Forms of Greek Pottery
 Amphora – olive oil as prize for
winning athlete
 Krater – for mixing wine with water
 Kantharos – drinking cup
 Alabastron – perfumes & oils
 Hydria – collecting water

18. Greek
850 BC – 31 BC
Alexandros of Antioch
Venus de Milo
130 – 100 BC
Marble
 Currently at the Louvre Museum in Paris
 One of most famous works of ancient Greek
Sculpture
 Believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek
goddess of love and beauty
 She is 6 feet 8 inches high
 Discovered on April 8, 1820 by a peasant
named Yorgos Kentrotas, inside a buried niche
within the ancient city ruins of Milos
 Comprised of several parts which were
sculpted separately (bust, legs, left arm and
foot) then fixed with vertical pegs, a technique
which was fairly common in the Greek world

19. Greek
850 BC – 31 BC
 She may have held an apple, a
crown, a shield, or a mirror in
which she admired her reflection.
 Right side is worked more
carefully and finished in greater
detail than the left side or back,
indicating that the statue was
intended to be viewed in profile
from its right.
 Would have been painted, as was
the Greek custom for statuary
 Originally wore metal jewelry –
bracelet, earrings, and headband
– only the fixation holes remain

20. Greek
850 BC – 31 BC
 Dedicated to the goddess
Athena Pallas or Parthenos
 Main function was to shelter the
monumental statue of Athena
that was made by Pheidias out
of gold and ivory
 Temple of the Doric order: 8
columns at the façade and 17
columns at the flanks,
conforming to the established
ratio of 9:4. *Ratio governed the
Iktinos, Kallikrates, Karpion vertical and horizontal
The Parthenon proportions of the temple as well
447 – 432 BC as many other relationships of
Limestone, Pentelic Marble the building like the spacing
between the columns and their
height

21. Greek
850 BC – 31 BC
 All Greek temples designed to be
seen only from outside - viewers
never entered a temple and could
only glimpse the interior statues
through the open doors
 Epitomizes all the ideals of Greek
thought during the Classical era
through artistic means.
 Concepts in Athens that set them
apart from barbarians: idealism of
Greek way of living, attention to
detail, understanding of a
mathematically explained harmony in
the natural world
 Represented in perfect proportions of
building, intricate architectural
elements, and anthropomorphic

22. Roman
500 BC – 476 AC

23. Medieval
500 – 1400

24. Renaissance
1400 – 1500

25. Baroque
1600 – 1750

26. Impressionism
1865 – 1885

27. Post-Impressionism
1885 – 1910

28. Expressionism
1900 – 1935

29. Cubism
1905 – 1920

30. Surrealism
1917 – 1950

31. Abstract Expressionism
1940s – 1950s

32. Pop Art
1960s

33. Assemblage
1970 +

34. Recycled
1970 +