Topic Question Essay 1: Them and Us

Essay #1a

Them and Us

Figure 1 Source Link - The Great Black Bull -- Paint on Limestone, Unknown Artist, c. 15,000 BCE

Figure 2 Source Link - The Crossed Bison (Lascaux Cave) -- Paint on Limestone, Unknown Artist, c. 15,000 BCE

Figure 3 Source Link - Bison -- Unbaked Clay, Unknown Artist, c. 13,000 BCE

QUESTION: How artistically similar, or different, do you think prehistoric people were compared to modern man and, what singular force or need continues to drive the artistic needs and human expressions of the 21st century?





PART ONE:

SUMMARY: In my attempt to answer this question, I discovered my own feelings about making art that had previously been hidden from me. Through this paper and my research, I am better able to articulate what motivates me to create. I also learned to look at a work from the artist’s perspective, as the two are inseparably linked. I have a much greater appreciation for many works that I did not previously understand.

REASON: The reason this question was asked is to force the writer to question his own ideas about what art is and the role the artist plays in a work. This question is also meant to explore man’s origin as a creator and examine the sophistication of prehistoric art that may look rather simple at first glance.

PURPOSE: As stated in the reason, this question is intended to help the writer critically examine his preconceived notions about art, form a more full definition, and investigate why humans are driven to create it.

DIRECTION: In the course of answering this question, I was able to form a fuller and more articulate idea of how art is defined and what purpose it serves our brains. I also learned a great deal about how skillfully executed the art of prehistoric men were, especially cave paintings.

IMPRESSIONS: Before my research I had assumed, as most people do I am sure, that cave paintings are very simplistic and childlike. I now realize this has more to do with the materials available to these men, something I can sympathize with as an artist. I am sure that if they had the same advanced tools of the Ancient Greeks, the hunter-gatherers would have created "Venus de Milo"s of their own. I am also astonished at the amazing mind of Pablo Picasso, whose ideas I had never examined until my research for this essay.


PART TWO:

Upon examination of prehistoric peoples’ art, it appears that they shared similar thought processes to that of modern man. Prehistoric peoples of Europe left many traces of their artistic history for their ancestors to discover. Pictured in Figure 1 and Figure 2 are examples of the numerous paintings of assorted prey animals found on the walls of Lascaux Cave in southern France. Figure 1 depicts a bull and Figure 2 features two bison. These works are believed to have been created around 15,000 BCE. (Art History Volume 1 4th ed., Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 9) Figure 3 shows a meticulously detailed clay sculpture of two bison discovered in a French region close to the Lascaux site. This work is dated to about 13,000 BCE. (Art History Volume 1 4th ed., Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 12) The animals represented in these works and similar art found during this time period are shockingly true to life. The ancient artists appear to have taken great care to capture the essence of the beasts. Since the discovery of such beautiful sculptures and paintings, art historians have speculated that these peoples likely attributed magical qualities to this type of artwork. One theory suggests that the men believed that if they depicted something in their art, it would happen in reality. “It seems fairly certain that sympathetic magic was at the bottom of most of the cave drawings. Such magic decrees that the image of a being possesses such affinity with its original that an injury to one causes a corresponding injury to the other.” (Art and Civilization, “Prehistoric Art,” Dina Portway Dobson, Books for Libraries Press Inc, 1967, p. 51) Further indication of a magical connection can be found in the choices the artists made for the location of much of their cave work. Many sites where the paintings appear are rather inaccessible. Evidence of heavy foot traffic also indicates that these places were for ritual or group activities, once again suggesting that the paintings held some importance to the people. (Art History Volume 1 4th ed., Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 9)

Today, men might scoff at the thought of painting a bison in order to capture it in the real world. This connection to the mystical and magical, he will say, is absurd and has been since science has delivered us from our struggle to understand and control our world. However, the thought process behind these beliefs may be more nuanced than humans of today are aware. To many, the magic in their art may be hiding in plain sight, for they can’t quite articulate it. Regardless, an artist’s belief in his own paintings and their “supernatural” power seems to persist as a common thread between the minds of at least a few recent masters. For example, Jackson Pollock, commenting on his painting entitled “Full Fathom Five,” began a speech with the telling phrase, “When I am in my painting…” Pollock speaks of his painting as if it were a real living thing, adding, “The painting has a life of its own." (http://quote.robertgenn.com/auth_search.php?authid=73) Some may view that quote as a simple turn of phrase, but perhaps Pollock was articulating something special about the relationship between artwork and any man, prehistoric or contemporary. Turning to another master of recent decades, Pablo Picasso once said of his artistic process, “It is necessary that I live my work.” (Picasso on Art: A Selection of Views, Dore Ashton, Viking Press, 1972, p. 84) Picasso too seems to imply that his work takes on a form of life deeply connected but distinctly separate from his own. If we are to trust the thought processes of our own highly regarded contemporaries, it is safe to speculate that prehistoric men really did feel a sort of magic in their work. Regardless of whether the sympathetic magic theory is spot on, at the very least ancient men may have felt as if they were capturing or even creating a soul in these hyper-realistic depictions. This may also explain why such hard to reach areas were chosen to display these works. The men wanted the animal to persist beyond its physical life, into the life of a painting permanently hidden deep in a cave. In this way, the spirits are truly immortalized because art is considered to be a persisting event that can be experienced as long as it survives. (Art Through the Ages 5th ed., Helen Gardner, Harcourt, Brace and World, 1970, p. 2)

On the topic of what drove these men and all humans to create art, our living creations, aesthetic sense does not seem to be the key. It is true that men strive to bring visual balance and harmony to their creations and admire these qualities when they are present in nature, but this is not a uniquely human trait. There are unrelated species throughout the animal kingdom that appear to admire nature’s aesthetic oddities, such as the bowerbird who collects all manner of peculiar artifacts and displays them outside its home. (Larousse Encyclopedia of Prehistoric and Ancient Art, René Huyghe et al., Prometheus Press, 1962, p. 27) For this reason, man’s motivation to create art must not lie in simple aesthetics, but instead in a unique desire to express himself and discover a clear picture of his own identity. This explanation seems to be a vital factor in understanding the thousands of human depictions prehistoric peoples left behind, as the human form is the core of an individual’s identity. (Art History Volume 1 4th ed., Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 21)

To understand these motivations, it must be stated what art is in the simplest terms. Art can be defined as an emotional expression among other definitions. This “artistic impulse” appears to be present in not only the creators of art, but its viewers as well. (Art and Civilization, “Prehistoric Art,” Dina Portway Dobson, Books for Libraries Press Inc, 1967, 51) The theory that prehistoric man was simply attempting to literally capture buffalo with magical help from his cave drawings does not discount this view of art as emotional self-expression. After all, most humans share a primal desire to survive. The various cave paintings and sculptures of animals can be seen in this light as an important aspect of hunter-gatherer survival. (Art History Volume 1 4th ed., Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, 1) To survive would have been impossible if ancient hunters failed to capture their prey, some of which were, coincidently, the subject of their people’s works. (Art History Volume 1 4th ed., Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 13) The prey art, depictions of the life-givers, was the outlet through which these men expressed their deep, emotional aversion to death; Whether the hunter-gatherers were conscious of this connection is unimportant. The fact is simple: when a person saw these pictures of animals so realistically depicted that they were practically living on the walls of this cave, he felt hope and security.

Identity development plays a crucial role in understanding the human need to express. Once again we turn to Picasso who said, “The inner I is inevitably in my painting, since it is I who make it.” (Picasso on Art: A Selection of Views, Dore Ashton, Viking Press, 1972, p. 47) The desire to express one’s own identity, cultural or individual, is certainly featured in the Lascaux Painting. The animals here are immortalized out of respect and worship from the people they sustain. This idea would not be terribly unusual; many culture’s identities are wrapped up in the specific life-giving resources of their region. For example, Ancient Greek civilization is heavily associated with olives and this food and wood source appears numerous times throughout their artistic works and mythologies. Relating back to the mystical element of art, the Ancient Greeks believed their native olive tree, which provided them so many resources, was a gift to Athens from the goddess Athena. (Art History Volume 1 4th Ed, Marilyn Stokstad et al., Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 136)

Man cannot escape his need to form an identity through expression. It is all around us. Evidence of this need is seen not only in our paintings and sculptures, but also through the hundreds of languages humans have developed throughout history. People that live in different regions of the world develop their own words and dialects. Typically, cultures will fiercely defend and glorify their language as part of an important group identity. For example, Jamaicans consider their language to be a crucial form of self-expression. (http://www.globalexchange.org/country/jamaica/language) Why would maintaining their personal connection to a language be such a big deal? The answer is that language, like art, is a creation. The people are defending their own group creation, which has shaped and given them identity for centuries or sometimes millennia. Discovering identity through self-expression appears to be a recurrent theme throughout human artistic history, among other endeavors, and will continue to drive us as long as we continue on with our current, unaltered human nature.