Paleolithic Art Analysis

Prehistoric art ……. Figure 1-8 of the Bison painting on the ceiling shows two bison heads each about 5’2 ½” long, painted on large flat stones. The bison heads are facing each other and appear to be agitated and ready to attack each other. The animals are painted in red, black and yellow pigments, using the black to create a shadow and contour effect for the animals. The painter seems to have tried to make a 3-D effect because of these shadows and contour effect that makes the paintings distinctively appear to be in motion. During Paleolithic and Neolithic era, animals were a huge importance in art. Their cave walls paintings told narrative stories and many ceremonies included animals. The animals included bisons, rhinoceros and bulls and they

The relationship between hunter-artist to his environment was always ongoing, in the sense that the artist saw the spirit and power in these animals enough to tell stories about. They used the geography and fauna to depict the way of life during that time. Some say that animals were such a huge aspect in Paleolithic art because the animals represented life, strength, and belief in the world. It was the only thing they truly knew about. They needed to know the actions and behavior of the animals in order to hunt them, which therefore leads to respect and honoring of the animals. Religion was based off of animism or spirits. They showed this by their cave paintings that honored the animals that provided food, clothing and shelter. They wanted the animals to continue living and prospering so they may also do they same. Each image was a continued story, and possibly advice to next generation to

The man is standing- naked-with dominant power, and his body is strongly structured and muscles clearly shown. He is holding a sword pointing down against his collarbone, and the pierced skin is shown to be bleeding out of the wound as well. His face is confident and he is wearing what seems to be a wrapping around his neck. The woman is wearing full clothing and is slouched over on the ground, lifeless, and the man is holding one of her arms up. The scene is very dramatic and and intense. The sculpture is said to represent the victory of Attalos I over the Gauls. The Gauls are known to have long and bushy hair with and long neck bands, which I know now, are called Torques. The Gallic chieftain stabs himself with a sword, killing himself, instead of surrendering. He is known to be heroic because he avoided the capture of his wife, who would have been sold to slavery, but instead took her life. In order to look at the whole sculpture , you need to walk around and get a good view of each of the man and woman’s expressions. This sculpture is from the Roman Hellenistic era. Originally, the sculpture was grouped with many others, and is from the acropolis of the kingdom of Pergamon. The men and women were represented as Gauls because the hair on the sculptures did not look nice or healthy, so historians think that they were barbarians at the time. They also believe that the man and