Art from the beginning

Venus of Wilendorf

The ancient art is divided into three period- The Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic era.“Palaeolithic” means old stone (palaeo=old; lithic=stone). Their subjects are usually animals and humans so you could say that the style they use is naturalism and the people back then used stones and pigments as their medium. Here, we’d find the oldest arts there ever were and one of these are the cave paintings.The famous hall of bulls from Lascaux,France.And one of the famous art of paleolithic art is the venus of wilendorf .It seems that cave painting started the origin od doodle.This  was also the beginning of writing which first came in the form of petroglyphs . The arts in the old stone age were the last ones before ice age came. 

The famous cave painting "Hall of bulls"- Lascaux,France

After the ice age, the Mesolithic Era or Epipaleolithic took place. The style here is naturalism, the same with the Palaeolithic era, but with more focus on people. 

Next came the Neolithic Era or the New Stone Age (neo=new; lithic=stone). What I remember the most from this era is the Stonehenge. Who knew that it would be the start of architectural design. 

Stonehenge

There are civilizations in the East (Mesopotamia) that had a huge impact in the art we know today. These are in:

Sumer – crafts mostly made out of clay and about gods

Akkad – about violence, kings, gods; used by the royalties to show power; steel, clay, and stone as medium

Babylonia – about laws; clay and brick as medium

Assyria – about military; Assyrians conquered Babylon and “copied” their art; stone as medium

Persia – one of the richest arts; a mix of cultures due to conquests;  includes architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, metal weaving, and stone masonry; their columns were thinner, modelled after the Greek’s, and uses images of animal heads for the capitals instead of the normal ones; makes use of frieze/embossments; featured royalties

The three that made so much influence on art:

1.       EGYPT. Their subjects were mostly about kings and queens and their medium was granite; style used was naturalism; The most famous bust from Egyptian art is the bust of Nefertiti. 

Bust of Nefertiti

2. GREECE. Aegean art divided into three categories:

Mycenaean – art style used was naturalism and representational; famous for its gold masks; mostly architectural; featured large stones and high walls

Cycladic – subject was highly stylised forms of women (representations); marble as medium

Minoan – also representational; bricks as medium; their columns are simpler

3. JERUSALEM. This is the home of the three greatest religions in the world namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The common architecture that Jerusalem used is domes. Their are style is naturalism. Their subject matter focuses on domes and the famous dome is the dome of the wall where all religion is united.

"The Dome of the wall"

In conclusion, I say that this era has really taught me were art really and it will make way for improvements. Just because art has already evolved so much since the ancient times, it doesn't mean that we've improved enough already so we should just stop now. No. We never stop learning. We will keep on progressing.