Font De Gaume Cave-Bison Scene
Spanish-Mesolithic Cave
In Paleolithic
and Mesolithic cave art there are both similarities and differences. The
example of the bison from Font de Gaume above is a good example of the stylistic
characteristics of Paleolithic art. The shaman/artist
portrays the bison standing alone, using shading, naturalistic characteristics, and anatomical correctness. The shaman would have recognized that animals were the
critical element for human survival so they would draw and paint them in
order to harness the animal's power through a ritual and combine
it with their own. The Hunting Magic Theory developed by Henri Breuil
connected the power of the animals through the shaman with the survival
of primitive man. Mesolithic cave art is quite different than that of
Paleolithic. The Mesolithic art is more narrative,
its figures are shown in action and appear to be more abstract. The viewer
can obviously see the humans are involved in a hunt. In
Paleolithic art the animals seem more powerful than man, whereas in
Mesolithic man dominates the animals.
Stonehenge-the Winter Solstice sun
shown rising through the trilithon
Fajada Butte-Sun Dagger showing summer
solstice
Nancy Holt-Sun Tunnels showing summer
solstice
All throughout
human history people have become dependent on seasonal notations to survive.
Stonehenge, the Sun Dagger and the Sun Tunnels are all different structures,
which measure the seasons and their solstices. Stonehenge, a Neolithic
structure in England, is formulated in a way where one could view
the winter solstice. At the winter solstice the sun will rise directly through
one of the great trilithons at the center of the circle. This was how Neolithic man would mark the winter
season and also orient the earth to the celestial heavens.
The Sun Dagger at Fajada Butte has the same function but uses a simpler
method. The Anasazi or Ancient Pueblo peoples constructed a spiral
petroglyph on the face of the rock in such a way that allows the sun at
mid-summer to shine through narrow rock openings and form a vertical
line of light (the sun dagger) directly through the center of the
spiral. The Sun Tunnels were the creation of
a contemporary earth artist, Nancy Holt. She used massive modern pipes
and at the summer and winter solstices the sun would rise and set through
the pipes.
Great Serpent Mound, Ohio
Robert Smithson-Spiral Jetty
The two
artworks above have obvious
similar traits in their building makeup. They are both
artworks of the earth, but have different functions. The Spiral Jetty
by Robert Smithson is the large earthwork from around 1970, which projected into the Great
Salt Lake, and serves as a glorification to the earth, and was inspired
by earthworks of the Native Americans. The Spiral Jetty, shows the symbolic
representation of the spiral, and unites it with the natural elements
of life and creation. It connects to the Great Serpent Mound built around
c. 400 AD by Native Americans in its inspirational reference to the earth.
The Serpent Mound itself has a more supernatural purpose, forming a spiraling
serpent which is 11/4 miles long. Researchers believe it was a place where
it's builders would gather and perform religious and environmental ceremonies.
Picasso-Head from Demoiselles
Mbuya Mask
Picasso-Demoiselles
The influences
of tribal art over Pablo Picasso's Cubist works are unmistakable. In the
images above, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and the Mbuya (sickness)
mask of Pende, the Congo, We see similar similar stylistic traits. In the
Demoiselles three of the five women have abstract, elongated and disfigured
facial characteristics which, if compared to the Mbuya mask doesn't look
that dissimilar. For example the figure sitting on the right looks especially
comparable to the Mbuya mask. Both of their faces are broken up into two
sides, they share the same elongated nose, and disproportion eyes and
mouths. But why would this be? Why would such a gifted artist turn to
such primitive forms of art? The answer lies with in the Mbuya mask itself.
The Mbuya mask is a sickness mask used in healing ceremonies, which is
why it is divided and colored in the traditional fashion of light and
dark. The dark meaning sickness and the light meaning health then balances
its overall composition. Picasso was very interested in the
healing qualities of African Art.