Types and features of the art of primitive society. Rock painting. Ancient petroglyphs. Primitive art. Images and symbols Subjects and images of primitive images
Most works of primitive art are characterized by conventionality, generalized forms, symbolic character, and conventional figurative language. Expression, a sense of plasticity and rhythm are clearly expressed. There is a sense of symmetry, correctness in the ratio of volumes. One of the features of primitive art is the peculiar homogeneity of its forms everywhere where it existed (similarity in details of Paleolithic “Venus”; similarity of plots, compositions, style of Neolithic rock paintings).
The most important feature of primitive art - syncretism, was expressed both in the fusion of the functions of art with other spheres of culture, and in the richness of semantic interpretations of the same subject. Actually, the artistic principle in our understanding was absent from him. In primitive times there were no objects that had a purpose aesthetic enjoyment, which did not exclude their decorative nature.
Archaic art served as an instrument of cognition: by fixing an image, it made it accessible to perception and research. Through grouping objects and emphasizing details, art revealed the meaning and essence of the object.
The first examples of primitive art are considered to be handprints on the walls of caves, which, apparently, were a magical sign of power. Probably, animal figures painted on the walls of caves, sculpted from clay, and engraved on bone and stone also served magical purposes. Along with hunting magic, a fertility cult with erotic magic also developed. Hence the stylized image of the feminine principle in the form of an almond shape or triangle, characteristic of primitive art.
In Paleolithic art both naturalistic and schematic images are combined: imprints of a human hand and random wavy lines, parallel strokes that cover naturalistic images of female figures. In the figures there is extreme conventionality of the arms, legs and face, elaboration and hypertrophy of the abdomen, hips, chest (Paleolithic “Venuses”). The object, its materiality, weight, color, volume, texture predominates. Cave paintings also appear. The first objects depicted in them were animals, which were drawn in profile at approximately life-size. People were often depicted frontally in slightly enlarged proportions. Although human images are in fact early period rare. The depiction of the figures was contour, carved with a stone tool or applied with red ocher. Inside, the outline was completely empty. Already in the Ormnyak period (30 thousand years ago), attempts appeared spatial image: hooves and horns of animals are drawn from the front or three-quarters. In the Late Paleolithic, the sizes of animals and people increased or decreased. For example, the image of a man (“The Great Martian God”) found in the Sahara is 6 meters long. The contours are filled in (the eyes, nostrils of animals, the coloring of their skins are drawn, for people - clothes, tattoos).
In Mesolithic art the person already occupies central place. Even images of animals can take on an anthropomorphic character at this stage. It is not the object that predominates, but the action, the movement. Hence the increasing stylization and schematism of human figures, the predominance of multi-figure compositions. Occasionally you can see images of people whose faces are drawn in profile, and their chests and shoulders are drawn frontally.
In the Neolithic There is increasing stylization and symbolization. In the late Neolithic, signs in the form of circles, crosses, swastikas, spirals, crescents were widespread, there were stylized images of animals and people, and ornamental motifs (ribbon and spiral).
In the art of the Bronze and Iron Ages, both the stage and ethnic principles are clearly distinguished, which determine the specifics of art schools.
Thus, the evolution of primitive art first follows the path of detailing, polychrome, the desire for volume, and then returns to schematism, stylization and symbolization. At the same time, objectivity and staticity are replaced by action and movement. The development of primitive art is also associated with overcoming the disorder of images and creating compositions.
Primitiveness seems to us today as the distant past of humanity. And the remains of archaic tribes are perceived as exotic museum pieces. However, traces of primitiveness continued to exist throughout the history of mankind, organically intertwined with the culture of subsequent eras. At all times, people continued to believe in omens, the evil eye, the number 13, prophetic dreams, fortune telling on cards and other superstitions that are an echo of primitive culture. Developed religions have retained a magical attitude towards the world in their cults (belief in the miraculous power of relics, healing with holy water, the sacrament of unction and communion in Christianity). Folklore contained echoes of magic and myth in songs and fairy tales. Artistic culture has constantly used myths for its subjects and images. In the 20th century the influence of myth on literature is manifested in the complication of symbolism, the attraction to parables, and the semantic multi-layering of literary texts (B. Pasternak, A. Platonov, O. Mandelstam, F. Kafka, G. Marquez, T. Mann). The ideas of primitive people are also reflected in modern linguistic phraseological units. For example, the mythological image of the “robber wolf” led to the emergence of the phraseological unit “wolf’s grip.” Binding as a magical action is reproduced in the expressions “untie the tongue”, “bind hand and foot”. The mirror as a magical symbol of the boundary between the earthly and otherworldly worlds gave rise to phraseological units “like looking into water”, “like looking into a mirror”. There is a large group of phraseological units, the correct understanding of which requires knowledge of the myth: “Sisyphean labor”, “Ariadne’s thread”, “Heraclitus’ fire”, “Cain’s seal”.
It is safe to say that the basic structures of the primitive worldview live in the depths of everyone’s psyche modern man and under certain circumstances break out. Crisis state of society; phenomena that science cannot explain and deadly diseases that it cannot cure; unpredictable, dangerous, but significant situations for a person - this is the foundation on which old myths and superstitions are revived and new ones grow.
Primitive art, despite its external simplicity and unpretentiousness, has great value in the history of mankind as a whole. The development of its various types continued for thousands of years, and in some regions of the planet - for example, in Australia, Oceania, and some in America - it existed in the twentieth century, changing its name to “traditional art”.
art
The most ancient monuments of art of the primitive world date back to the Old Stone Age - Paleolithic (approximately 40 thousand years BC). These were mainly rock paintings on the ceilings and walls of caves, in underground grottoes and galleries in Europe, North Africa. Early drawings were extremely primitive and depicted only what people saw in their everyday life: animals, prints of human hands smeared in paint, etc. Earth paints, ocher, black manganese, and white lime were used for painting. As art develops primitive period The drawings became multi-colored, and the plots became more complex.
Thread
In addition, wood and bones developed intensively, people learned to make full-fledged figurines. Most often, animals were depicted: bears, lions, mammoths, snakes and birds. When making such figurines, people tried to recreate the silhouette, texture of wool, etc. as accurately as possible. It is believed that the figurines served our ancestors as amulets, protecting them from evil spirits.
Architecture
After the Ice Age, the so-called Neolithic Revolution took place. An increasing number of tribes chose a sedentary lifestyle and needed permanent, reliable housing. Depending on the habitat of a particular people, many new types of houses appeared - on stilts, made of dried bricks, etc.
Ceramics
Ceramics occupy an important place in the history of art. They also began to be made for the first time in the Neolithic era. People learned to use an accessible and easy-to-process material - clay - long before, in the Paleolithic, but they began to make truly beautiful dishes and other products from it a little later. Gradually, more and more new forms appeared (jugs, bowls, bowls and others), almost every item was decorated with painted or carved ornaments. A striking example of art can be considered Tripoli ceramics. The painting on various products of this people reflected reality in all its diversity.
Bronze Age
Considering the forms of primitive art, one should pay attention to which marked the beginning of a completely new era in the history of human development. It was during this period that menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs appeared, which, according to historians, carried religious overtones. As a rule, megaliths were located near burial sites.
Decorations
Throughout all stages, primitive people sought to decorate themselves and their clothes. Jewelry was made from all available materials: shells, bones of prey, stone, clay. Over time, having learned to process bronze, iron and other metals, including precious ones, people acquired skillfully made jewelry, which to this day amazes us with its beauty and elegance.
Art has vital importance, because it is with its appearance that the strongest leap in evolution is often compared, which forever separated man from the beast.
Painting of the primitive era. "Animal" style.
Primitive culture covers mainly the art of the Stone Age; it is a pre- and non-literate culture. Primitive art is the art of the era of primitive society. It arose in the late Paleolithic around 33 thousand years BC, reflecting the views, conditions and lifestyle of primitive hunters (primitive dwellings, cave images of animals, female figurines). Neolithic and Chalcolithic farmers and herders developed communal settlements, megaliths, and pile buildings; images began to convey abstract concepts, and the art of ornament developed. In the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Ages, the tribes of Egypt, India, Western, Central and Minor Asia, China, Southern and Southeastern Europe developed art associated with agricultural mythology (ornamented ceramics, sculpture). Northern forest hunters and fishermen had rock paintings and realistic animal figurines. The pastoral steppe tribes of Eastern Europe and Asia at the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages created the animal style.
Animal style is the conventional name for stylized images of animals (or parts thereof) common in ancient art. The animal style arose in the Bronze Age and was developed in the Iron Age and in the art of early classical states; its traditions were preserved in medieval art and folk art. Initially associated with totemism, images of the sacred beast over time turned into a conventional motif of the ornament.
Primitive painting was a two-dimensional image of an object, and a sculpture was three-dimensional or three-dimensional. Thus, primitive creators mastered all the dimensions that exist in modern art, but did not master its main achievement - the technique of transferring volume on a plane (by the way, the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, medieval Europeans, Chinese, Arabs and many other peoples did not master it, because the discovery of reverse perspective occurred only during the Renaissance). In some caves, bas-reliefs carved into the rock, as well as free-standing sculptures of animals, were discovered. Small figurines are known that were carved from soft stone, bone, and mammoth tusks. The main character of Paleolithic art is the bison. In addition to them, many images of wild aurochs, mammoths and rhinoceroses were found.
Rock drawings and paintings are varied in the manner of execution. The relative proportions of the animals depicted (mountain goat, lion, mammoth and bison) were usually not observed - a huge aurochs could be depicted next to a tiny horse. Failure to comply with proportions did not allow the primitive artist to subordinate composition to the laws of perspective (the latter, by the way, was discovered very late - in the 16th century). Movement in cave painting is conveyed through the position of the legs (crossing legs, it turns out, depicted an animal on the run), tilting the body or turning the head. There are almost no motionless figures.
Megalithic architecture.
Megaliths (Greek μέγας - large, λίθος - stone) are prehistoric structures made of large blocks. In the limiting case, this is one module (menhir). The term is not strictly scientific, so the definition of megaliths and megalithic structures includes a rather vague group of buildings. As a rule, they belong to the pre-literate era of the area. Megaliths are distributed throughout the world, mainly in coastal areas. In Europe, they mainly date from the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age (3-2 thousand BC), with the exception of England, where megaliths date back to the Neolithic era. Megalithic monuments are especially numerous and varied in Brittany. A large number of megaliths are found on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, Portugal, parts of France, the west coast of England, Ireland, Denmark, the southern coast of Sweden and Israel. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was widely believed that all megaliths belonged to one global megalithic culture, but modern research and dating methods refute this assumption. Types of megalithic structures: menhir - a single vertical stone. A cromlech is a group of menhirs forming a circle or semicircle. A dolmen is a structure made of a huge stone placed on several other stones. thaula is a stone structure in the shape of the letter “T”. trilith - a structure made of a block of stone mounted on two vertical stones. seid - including a structure made of stone. cairn - a stone mound with one or more rooms. indoor gallery. boat-shaped grave. The purpose of megaliths cannot always be determined. For the most part they, according to some scientists, served for burials or were associated with the funeral cult. There are other opinions. Apparently, megaliths are communal buildings with a socializing function. Their construction represented a most difficult task for primitive technology and required the unification of large masses of people. Some megalithic structures, such as the complex of more than 3,000 stones at Carnac (Brittany) France, were important ceremonial centers associated with the cult of the dead. Other megalith complexes have been used to determine the timing of astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes. In the Nabta Playa area in the Nubian desert, a megalithic structure was found that served for astronomical purposes. This structure is 1000 years older than Stonehenge, which is also considered a kind of prehistoric observatory.
In 3 - 2 thousand BC. unique, huge structures made of stone blocks appeared. This ancient architecture called megalithic. The term “megalith” comes from the Greek words “megas” - “large”; and "lithos" - "stone".
Megalithic architecture owes its appearance to primitive beliefs. Megalithic architecture is usually divided into several types: 1. Menhir - a single vertical stone, more than two meters high.
On the Brittany Peninsula in France, the so-called fields stretch for kilometers. menhirov. In the language of the Celts, the later inhabitants of the peninsula, the name of these stone pillars several meters high means “long stone”. 2. Trilith - a structure consisting of two vertically placed stones and covered with a third. 3. Dolmen - a structure whose walls are made of huge stone slabs and covered with a roof made of the same monolithic stone block. Initially, dolmens served for burials. Trilith can be called the simplest dolmen.
Numerous menhirs, trilithons and dolmens were located in places that were considered sacred. 4. Cromlech is a group of menhirs and trilithes.
Paleolithic art.
The first examples of Paleolithic art were found in caves in France in the 40s of the 19th century, when many, influenced by biblical views on the past of man, did not believe in the very existence of Stone Age people - contemporaries of the mammoth.
In 1864, in the La Madeleine cave (France), an image of a mammoth on a bone plate was discovered, which showed that people of that distant time not only lived with the mammoth, but also reproduced this animal in their drawings. 11 years later, in 1875, the cave paintings of Altamira (Spain) that amazed researchers were unexpectedly discovered, followed by many others. In the Upper Paleolithic, hunting techniques became more complex. House-building is emerging, a new way of life is taking shape. As the clan system matures, the primitive community becomes stronger and more complex in its structure. Thinking and speech develop. A person’s mental horizons expand immeasurably and his spiritual world is enriched. Along with these general achievements in the development of culture, the specifically important circumstance that Upper Paleolithic man now began to widely use the bright colors of natural mineral paints was of great importance for the emergence and further growth of art. He also mastered new methods of processing soft stone and bone, which opened up previously unknown possibilities for him to convey phenomena of the surrounding reality in plastic form - in sculpture and carving. The vital, realistic character of Paleolithic art is not limited to mastery of static depiction of animal body shapes. He found his most complete expression in the transfer of their dynamics, in the ability to capture movements, to convey instantly changing specific poses and positions.
Even in those cases where large accumulations of drawings are observed, no logical sequence, no definite semantic connection is found in them. Such, for example, is the mass of bulls in the Altamira painting. The accumulation of these bulls is the result of repeated drawing of figures, their simple accumulation over a long time. The random nature of such combinations of figures is emphasized by the piling of drawings on top of each other. Bulls, mammoths, deer and horses randomly lean on each other. Earlier drawings overlap with subsequent ones, barely visible underneath. This is not the result of a single creative effort of thought of one artist, but the fruits of the uncoordinated spontaneous work of a number of generations, connected only by tradition. Nevertheless, in some exceptional cases, especially in miniature works, in bone engravings, and sometimes also in cave paintings, the beginnings of narrative art and, at the same time, a unique semantic composition of figures are discovered. These are primarily group images of animals, meaning a herd or herd. The appearance of such group patterns is understandable. The ancient hunter constantly dealt with herds of bulls, herds of wild horses, and groups of mammoths, which for him were the object of a collective hunt - a corral. This is exactly how they were depicted in a number of cases, in the form of a herd. Such a character is, for example, a wonderful frieze of shaggy, hook-nosed horses galloping one after another in the Lascaux cave (France) or a schematic drawing on a bone depicting a group of wild donkeys or horses in the form of a line with their heads facing the viewer. This also includes an image of a group of deer, in which only branched antlers are visible; it vividly conveys the immediate impression of a “forest of antlers” that still arises in our time when first looking at a herd of deer in the bare Chukchi tundra. Even more interesting is the colorful drawing from the Font-de-Gaume cave (France). On the left you can see a group of horses with their heads turned in one direction, where a lion with an arched back and arched tail stands on the same level with them, ready to jump on the horses.
Paleolithic art gave people of that time satisfaction with the correspondence of images in nature, the clarity and symmetrical arrangement of lines, and the strength of the color scheme of these images.
Abundant and carefully executed decorations delighted the human eye. The custom arose of covering the simplest everyday things with ornaments and often giving them sculptural forms. These are, for example, daggers, the handle of which is turned into a figurine of a deer or a goat, and a spear thrower with the image of a partridge. The aesthetic character of these decorations cannot be denied even in those cases when such decorations acquired a certain religious meaning and magical character.
Paleolithic art had a huge positive significance in the history of ancient mankind. Consolidating your labor in living images of art life experience, primitive man deepened and expanded his ideas about reality and gained a deeper, more comprehensive knowledge of it, and at the same time enriched his spiritual world. The emergence of art, which meant a huge step forward in human cognitive activity, at the same time greatly contributed to the strengthening of social ties.
The first works of primitive fine art that have come down to us belong to the mature stage of the Aurignacian era (approximately 33 - 18 thousand BC). These are female figurines made of stone and bone with exaggerated body shapes and schematized heads - the so-called “Venuses”, apparently associated with the cult of the ancestral mother and symbolizing fertility. Similar “Venuses” were also found in Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia and many other countries.
At the same time, generally expressive images of animals appear, recreating character traits mammoth, elephant, horse, deer.
The most ancient monuments arts were found in Western Europe. Originally primitive art, not isolated in special type activities related to hunting and labor process, reflected a person’s gradual knowledge of reality, his first ideas about the world around him.
Some art historians distinguish three stages of visual activity in the Paleolithic era. Each of them is characterized by the creation of a qualitatively new visual form:
natural creativity - composition of carcasses, bones, natural layout;
artificial figurative form- large clay sculpture, bas-relief, profile outline;
Upper Paleolithic fine arts- painting of caves, engraving on bones.
Similar stages can be traced when studying the musical layer of primitive art. The musical principle was not separated from movement, gestures, exclamations, and facial expressions.
The simplest flutes, similar to whistles, with three to seven holes for the fingers, were found during excavations in France, Eastern Europe and Russia. French examples of these instruments are made from hollow bird bones, while examples from Eastern Europe and Russia are made from deer and bear bones. The oldest musical instruments were also rattles and drums.
IN primitive era all types of fine art arose: graphics (drawings and silhouettes), painting (images in color, made with mineral paints), sculpture (figures carved from stone or sculpted from clay), architecture (Paleolithic dwellings).
Later stages of the development of primitive culture date back to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and the time of the spread of the first metal tools. From the use of finished products of nature, primitive man gradually moves on to more complex forms of labor; along with hunting and fishing, he begins to engage in cattle breeding and agriculture.
Pyramids.
When it comes to pyramids, a reader or tourist usually remembers the Cheops pyramid. Indeed, this pyramid is the most grandiose and monumental, and the perfection of its proportions is the result of complex mathematical calculations. Its height reached 146.59 m, the length of each of the four sides of the base was 230.35 m. The construction of this pyramid required 2,590,000 square meters. m. blocks of stone (or, as many scientists believe, Egyptian builders used a solution similar in its properties to modern cement mortar), piled up on a surface of about 54,000 square meters. The lining of its outer walls was apparently covered with a dense layer of plaster, and this is what gives rise to the Arabic name “painted pyramid.” Many misunderstandings arose in connection with the layout of its internal corridors and the so-called main royal chamber with an empty sarcophagus. As is known, from this room a narrow passage - a ventilation duct - leads outside at an angle, and above the chamber there are several empty unloading rooms, built in order to reduce the enormous pressure of the stone mass. The base of the pyramid, located on the 30th parallel, was oriented to the 4 cardinal directions, but due to the movement of the spring and summer equinox points over the centuries, this orientation is no longer as accurate as before.
The pyramid itself is only a part, or rather the main element of a whole series of buildings that form a single funeral ensemble, the location of which was closely connected with the royal funeral ritual. Funeral procession with the remains of the pharaoh, leaving the palace, she headed to the Nile and crossed on boats to the western bank of the river. Near the necropolis, along a narrow canal, the procession sailed to the pier, where the first part of the ceremony began, taking place in the so-called lower mortuary temple. A covered corridor or an open ramp led from it, along which the participants of the ceremony passed to the upper temple, consisting of a main corridor, a central courtyard and - since the time of Mikerin - 5 niches where statues of the five pharaohs were installed. In the depths there was a chapel with false gates and an altar. Next to the upper mortuary temple, on its western side, there was the pyramid itself, the entrance to which during the Old Kingdom was located in the northern wall; After placing the body of the pharaoh in the underground burial chamber, it was carefully walled up. On four sides of the pyramid, in the recesses of the rock, four wooden boats were placed, intended for the travel of the pharaoh - the living Horus - through the other world. The recently discovered boat, located at the Cheops pyramid, is 40 m long. Near each pyramid there was a huge burial ground with mastabas, which served as tombs for the Egyptian nobility.
The architectural ensemble surrounding the pyramid, being closely connected with the long-established royal funeral ritual, reflects the simultaneously dominant culture in Egypt. public relations. In that city of the dead, as in the city of the living, the highest place was occupied by the pharaoh, whose glorification and deification was essentially the main idea of the pyramid. At the foot of the pharaoh's tomb, the king's entourage, influential dignitaries and high officials with whom the king encountered in his earthly life and whose proximity might have been pleasant to him were buried. the afterlife. For important state dignitaries who were executors of royal power, the opportunity to build themselves a tomb next to the pyramid of the pharaoh was undoubtedly the highest honor. For, thus, even after death they were close to God, as Pharaoh was considered to be during his life and after death. Cheops' successors Chefren and Mikerin also built magnificent pyramids for themselves, although smaller in size.
Temples of Luxor and Karnak.
On the eastern bank of the Nile, in the vicinity of Thebes, a whole complex of religious buildings is gradually being formed, which took shape over the course of 1500 years. This is a complex of temples in Karnak. The most significant building here was the temple of the main god of Thebes - Amun. Using his example, one can understand all the main features of the temple architecture of Egypt of that period. The temple was understood, first of all, as the earthly dwelling of God. It, like every residential building in Egypt, was divided into three main parts: an open courtyard, a reception hall and internal living quarters, only the place of the reception hall was taken by the so-called hypostyle hall - a hall with many columns, and the place inner chambers occupied the sanctuary. The temple, like a residential building, was surrounded by a blank wall and had a main entrance decorated with a monumental pylon gate. Side entrances led to utility rooms. But a temple is significantly different from a residential building. The composition of the temple is based on the principle of strict symmetry, and everything in it is designed to create a special impression on the viewer. A paved road led from the pier near the river to the temple, along which there were sphinxes (alley of sphinxes). This long row of identical figures sets a solemn mood and prepares the viewer for the perception of the temple. The alley ends at the gate, which consists of two massive towers. This was followed by an open courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, followed by a hypostyle hall, which in the Temple of Amon in Karnak is 103 m wide and 52 m deep. The huge size of the hall and columns made an overwhelming impression on a person, as if lost in this fantastic stone “forest”. The third part of the temple - the sanctuary of the god - was accessible only to the pharaoh or priests. As you approach the sanctuary, the temple space becomes lower and narrower. The Temple of Amun in Karnak began to be built in the 16th century. BC, and was completed in 332 BC. Each pharaoh sought to add something of his own to it. The composition includes three small temples: the temple of Thutmose III, the temple of Ramses III, the temple of Seti II. In the 12th century. BC. Pharaoh Ramses III built the temple of Khonsu, which was connected by the avenue of sphinxes to the road to Luxor. The Temple of Amun in Luxor was built by Amenhotep III in the 15th century. BC. The temple was built according to the traditional plan, but was not completed in part of the hypostyle hall: only its central part was built with two rows of columns 20 m high. This unfinished hall turned into a gallery with the courtyard of Ramses II, built later. As a result, the temple acquired an elongated and curved plan. The main attention turns to the interior; the façade has a simplified monumental character. On the western bank of the Nile, in the vicinity of Thebes, a whole complex of royal rock tombs is gradually being formed, called the “Valley of the Kings” (the modern Arabic name is Deir el-Bahri). About 60 burials of pharaohs and members of their families were discovered here. Some of them are entire underground palaces. The walls of the tombs are covered with paintings and reliefs that give an idea of the life, way of life, beliefs and customs of the Egyptians of the New Kingdom era. Mortuary churches here are already separated from burials: they were built in the river valley. The time of Hatshepsut was marked by the appearance of a talented architect, Senmut, who occupied a high position at court. Senmut led construction work in the temples of Amun (in Karnak and Luxor), in the temple of Mut in Karnak, by carving obelisks for the temple of Amun in Karnak. His main work was the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Kings. This outstanding work of Egyptian architecture opens a new stage in the development of ancient Egyptian architecture.
The Temple of Karnak is a unique temple, the largest ancient religious building in the world. Unlike many Egyptian temples, Karnak was built by more than one pharaoh or even one dynasty. Construction began in the 16th century BC. and lasted more than 1300 years. About 30 pharaohs contributed to the complex, adding temples, pylons, chapels and obelisks dedicated to the gods of Thebes. The Karnak Temple consists of three large structures, several smaller temples located within the main area, and several temples outside its walls.
Fayum portrait.
Fayum portraits are funerary portraits created using the encaustic technique in Roman Egypt of the 1st-3rd centuries AD. e. They got their name from the site of the first major discovery in the Fayum oasis in 1887 by a British expedition led by Flinders Petrie. They are an element of the local funeral tradition modified under the Greco-Roman influence: the portrait replaces the traditional funeral mask with a mummy. To date, about 900 funerary portraits are known. Most of them were found in the Fayum necropolis. Thanks to the dry Egyptian climate, many of the portraits are very well preserved, even the colors still look fresh in most cases. Funerary portraits were first described in 1615 by the Italian explorer Pietro della Valle during his stay in the Saqqara-Memphis oasis. Early Fayum portraits were made using the encaustic technique (from the Greek word ἐγκαίω - I burn), which was very common at that time. This is wax painting with molten paints, which is distinguished by the volume (pastiness) of the stroke. The direction of the strokes usually follows the shapes of the face - on the nose, cheeks, chin and in the contours of the eyes, paint was applied in a dense layer, and the contours of the face and hair were painted more liquid paints. Paintings made using this method are distinguished by a rare freshness of color and are surprisingly durable. It should be noted that the arid climate of Egypt also contributed to the good preservation of these works. An important feature of Fayum portraits is the use of the finest gold leaf. In some portraits the entire background was gilded, in others only wreaths or headbands were made of gold, sometimes jewelry and details of clothing were emphasized. The basis of portraits is wood various breeds: local (sycamore, linden, fig, yew) and imported (cedar, pine, spruce, cypress, oak). Some portraits are made on canvas primed with glue. From about the second half of the 2nd century, wax tempera began to predominate in portraits. And later portraits of the 3rd-4th centuries were painted exclusively with tempera - a technique in which colorful pigments are mixed with water-soluble binders, often using animal glue or chicken egg yolk. Tempera portraits are made on light or dark backgrounds with bold strokes of the brush and the finest shading. Their surface is matte, in contrast to the glossy surface of encaustic paintings. Faces in tempera portraits are usually shown frontally and the elaboration of chiaroscuro is less contrasting than in encaustic panels.
In funeral portraits you can see different hairstyles. They provide invaluable assistance in dating. For the most part, all the dead were depicted with hairstyles that were in keeping with the fashion of their time. Numerous analogies exist in the hairstyles of sculptural portraits. Fayum portraits are the best surviving examples of ancient painting. They depict the faces of the residents ancient egypt in the Hellenistic and Roman periods in the 1st-3rd centuries AD. After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, the reign of the pharaohs ended. During the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty - the heirs of Alexander's empire, significant changes took place in art and architecture. Funerary portraiture, a unique art form of its time, flourished in Hellenistic Egypt. Stylistically related to the traditions of Greco-Roman painting, but created for typically Egyptian needs, replacing the funerary masks of mummies, Fayum portraits are strikingly realistic images of men and women of all ages.
Art of Sumer and Akkad.
The Sumerians and Akkadians are two ancient peoples who created the unique historical and cultural image of the Interfluve of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. There is no exact information about the origin of the Sumerians. It is known that they appeared in Southern Mesopotamia no later than the 4th millennium BC. e. Having laid a network of canals from the Euphrates River, they irrigated the barren lands and built on them the cities of Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, etc. Each of them was an independent state with its own ruler and army.
The Sumerians created a unique form of writing - cuneiform. Wedge-shaped marks were pressed with sharp sticks onto damp clay tablets, which were then dried or fired. Thanks to these tablets, we have gained a lot of information about Sumerian laws, religion, myths, etc. Natural materials suitable for construction (stone, wood) were absent in Mesopotamia; most Sumerian buildings were erected from unbaked brick - due to this architectural monuments Very little remains of this period. Of the buildings that have survived to this day (partially), the most significant are the White Temple and the Red Building in Uruk (3200-3000 BC). Temples in Sumer were typically built on a compacted clay platform to protect the building from flooding. The temple had a courtyard, on one side of which stood a statue of the deity, on the other - a table for sacrifices. The temple was illuminated through openings under the roof, as well as through high entrances designed in the form of arches. Excellent examples have survived to this day. Sumerian sculpture, created at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. A very common type of sculpture was the so-called adorant - a statue of a praying person with his hands folded on his chest, sitting or standing. Adorants were usually given to the temple. The huge eyes of adorants are especially expressive; sculptors often encrusted them. Feature Sumerian sculpture - in the conventions of the image. The objects found in the temple of Til Barsiba (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) and stored in the Iraq Museum and the University of Chicago emphasize volumes inscribed in cylinders and triangles, such as in skirts that are flat cones, or in torsos , similar to triangles, with forearms also having a conical shape. Even the details of the head (nose, mouth, ears and hair) are reduced to triangular shapes. The walls of Sumerian temples were decorated with reliefs that narrated both historical events that took place in the life of the city (such as military campaigns, foundation of temples, etc.) and everyday affairs (household work, etc.). The relief was divided into several tiers, successively reflecting a series of events. All characters were the same height, but rulers were usually depicted larger than others. A special place in the Sumerian cultural heritage belongs to glyptics - carving on precious or semi-precious stone. Many Sumerian carved seals in the shape of a cylinder have survived. The seal was rolled over a clay surface and an impression was obtained - a miniature relief with a large number characters and a clear, carefully constructed composition. For the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, a seal was not just a sign of ownership, but an object that had magical powers. The seals were kept as talismans, given to temples, and placed in burial places. In Sumerian engravings, the most common motifs were ritual feasts with figures seated eating and drinking. Other motifs included the legendary heroes Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fighting monsters, as well as anthropomorphic figures of the man-bull. In ancient times, this fabulous creature with the head and torso of a man, bull legs and tail was revered by cattle breeders as a protector of herds from disease and attacks from predators. This is probably why he was often depicted holding a pair of leopards or lions turned upside down. Later, he was credited with the role of guardian of the domains of various gods. It is also possible that Enkidu was depicted under the guise of a man-bull, who, having a human appearance, lived part of his life in the forest, with habits and behavior no different from an animal. Over time, this style gave way to a continuous frieze depicting fighting animals, plants or flowers.
At the end of the 24th century. BC e. The Akkadians conquered the territory of southern Mesopotamia. Their ancestors are considered to be Semitic tribes who settled in ancient times in Central and Northern Mesopotamia. The Akkadian king Sargon the Ancient (Great) easily subjugated the Sumerian cities weakened by internecine wars and created the first in this region centralized state- the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad, which existed until the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The conquerors treated the primordial Sumerian culture. They mastered and adapted the Sumerian cuneiform script for their language, and did not destroy ancient texts and works of art. Even the religion of Sumer was adopted by the Akkadians, only the gods received new names.
During the Akkadian period there appears new form temple - ziggurat. The ziggurat is a stepped pyramid with a small sanctuary on top. The lower tiers of the ziggurat, as a rule, were painted black, the middle tiers red, and the upper tiers white. The shape of the ziggurat obviously symbolizes the stairway to Heaven. During the Third Dynasty, the first ziggurat of colossal size was built at Ur, consisting of three tiers (with a base of 56 x 52 m and a height of 21 m). Rising above a rectangular foundation, it was directed to all four cardinal directions. Currently, only two floors of its three terraces have survived. The walls of the platforms are tilted. From the base of this building, at a sufficient distance from the walls, a monumental staircase with two side branches begins at the level of the first terrace. At the top of the platforms was a temple dedicated to the moon god Sin. The staircase reached the very top of the temple, connecting the floors with each other. This monumental staircase expressed the desire of the Sumerians and Akkadians for the gods to take an active part in worldly life. It was one of the best design solutions in Mesopotamian architecture. Later, the ziggurat at Ur was rebuilt, increasing the number of tiers to seven. Symbolically, the universe consisted of seven levels; the seven tiers of the ziggurat were identified with the levels of the universe. In subsequent years, the ziggurat experienced only minor changes, despite the diversity of cultures and peoples that inhabited Mesopotamia. During the reign of King Naramsin (2254-2218 BC), the Akkadian empire reached its peak. Naramsin was the grandson of Sargon, the founder of the empire, and the fourth ruler of the dynasty. The brilliant reign of Naramsin is reflected in fine arts, an example of which is the stela of King Naramsin, created to immortalize the military triumph of Naramsin over the Lullubi mountain tribe. For the first time, the artist refused to divide the image into registers, uniting the entire composition around the figure of the famous ruler. Soldiers of the Akkadian army climb steep mountain slopes, sweeping away any enemy resistance along the way. To the right of the trees growing on the mountainside, the defeated Lullubeys are depicted, expressing submission with all their appearance. The center of the composition is the massive figure of the king leading his army into the attack. The king tramples the body of the enemy with his foot. Nearby another enemy, pierced by an arrow, tries in vain to snatch it from his throat. Traditionally, the figure of the king is larger in size than the figures of the other characters. Following him, in front of the line of soldiers, are porters with bows and axes. Naramsin himself holds a large bow and an ax in his hands, and on his head he has a conical horned helmet - a symbol of belonging to the gods. The master managed to convey space and movement, the volume of figures and show not only the warriors, but also the mountain landscape. The relief also shows the signs of the Sun and Moon, symbolizing the patron deities of royal power. After the death of King Naramsin, the decaying kingdom of Sumer and Akkad was captured by nomadic tribes Gutiev. However, some cities in southern Sumer managed to maintain independence. One such city was Lagash, ruled by Gudea (2080-2060 BC). Gudea became famous for the construction and restoration of temples. About 30 statues of Gudea have survived, many of which are kept in the Louvre. These are portraits made mainly of diorite and carefully polished. During the Sumerian and Akkadian periods in Mesopotamia and other areas of Western Asia, the main directions of architecture and sculpture were determined, and over time they received further development.
Art of Assyria.
Assyria is a powerful, aggressive state, whose borders in its heyday stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Assyrians brutally dealt with their enemies: they destroyed cities, carried out mass executions, sold tens of thousands of people into slavery, and deported entire nations. At the same time, the conquerors paid great attention to the cultural heritage of the conquered countries, studying artistic principles foreign skill. Combining the traditions of many cultures, Assyrian art acquired a unique appearance. At first glance, the Assyrians did not strive to create new forms; all previously known types of buildings are found in their architecture, for example, the ziggurat. The novelty lay in the attitude towards the architectural ensemble. The center of the palace-temple complexes became not the temple, but the palace. A new type of city appeared - a fortified city with a single strict layout. An example of such a city is Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad, Iraq) - the residence of King Sargon II (722-705 BC). More than half of the city's total area was occupied by a palace built on a high platform. It was surrounded by powerful walls 14 meters high. Vaults and arches were used in the palace ceiling system. There were seven passages (gates) in the wall. In each passage, on both sides of the gate, there stood giant figures of fantastic shedu guards - winged bulls with human heads. Shedu were symbols that combined the properties of man, animal and bird and, therefore, were a powerful tool protection from enemies.
More than three million years ago, the process of formation of the modern species of people began. Sites of primitive man have been found in various countries of the world. Our ancient ancestors, exploring new territories, encountered unfamiliar natural phenomena and formed the first centers of primitive culture.
Among the ancient hunters, people with extraordinary artistic talents stood out, who left many expressive works. There are no corrections to be found in the drawings made on the walls of the caves, since unique masters there was a very steady hand.
Primitive thinking
The problem of the origin of primitive art, reflecting the lifestyle of ancient hunters, has worried the minds of scientists for several centuries. Despite its simplicity, it is of great importance in the history of mankind. It reflects religious and social sphere life of that society. The consciousness of primitive people is a very complex interweaving of two principles - illusory and realistic. It is believed that this combination had precisely the effect on the character creative activity the first artists had a decisive influence.
Unlike modern art, the art of past eras is always connected with the everyday aspects of human life and seems more earthly. It fully reflects primitive thinking, which does not always have a realistic coloring. And the point here is not the low level of skill of the artists, but the special goals of their work.
The emergence of art
IN mid-19th century, archaeologist E. Larte discovered an image of a mammoth in the La Madeleine cave. Thus, for the first time, the involvement of hunters in painting was proven. As a result of discoveries, it was established that monuments of art appeared much later than tools.
Representatives of homo sapiens made stone knives and spearheads, and this technique was passed on from generation to generation. Later, people used bones, wood, stone and clay to create their first works. It turns out that primitive art arose when a person had free time. When the problem of survival was solved, people began to leave a huge number of monuments of the same type.
Kinds of art
Primitive art, which appeared in the late Paleolithic era (more than 33 thousand years ago), developed in several directions. The first is represented by rock paintings and megaliths, and the second by small sculpture and carvings on bone, stone and wood. Unfortunately, wooden artifacts are extremely rare in archaeological sites. However, the man-made objects that have come down to us are very expressive and silently tell the story of the skill of ancient hunters.
It must be admitted that in the minds of our ancestors, art was not identified as a separate sphere of activity, and not all people had the ability to create images. The artists of that era had such a powerful talent that it burst out on its own, splashing out on the walls and roof of the cave with bright and expressive images that overwhelmed the human consciousness.
The Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) represents the earliest but longest period, at the end of which all types of art appeared, which are characterized by external simplicity and realism. People did not connect the events taking place with nature or themselves, and did not feel space.
The most outstanding monuments of the Paleolithic are considered to be drawings on the walls of caves, which are recognized as the first type of primitive art. They are very primitive and represent wavy lines, prints of human hands, images of animal heads. These are clear attempts to feel part of the world and the first glimpses of consciousness among our ancestors.
Paintings on rocks were done with a stone cutter or paint (red ocher, black charcoal, white lime). Scientists claim that along with the emerging art, the first rudiments of a primitive society (society) arose.
During the Paleolithic era, carvings on stone, wood and bone developed. The figurines of animals and birds found by archaeologists are distinguished by accurate reproduction of all volumes. Researchers say that they were created as amulets that protected cave dwellers from evil spirits. The most ancient masterpieces had magical meaning and guided man in nature.
Various tasks facing artists
Main feature primitive art in the Paleolithic era - its primitivism. Ancient people did not know how to convey space and endow natural phenomena with human qualities. The visual image of animals was initially presented as a schematic, almost conventional, image. And only after several centuries colorful images appear, reliably showing all the details of the external appearance of wild animals. Scientists believe that this is not due to the level of skill of the first artists, but to the various tasks that were set before them.
Contour primitive drawings were used in rituals and created for magical purposes. But detailed, very accurate images appear during the period when animals turned into objects of veneration, and ancient people thus emphasized their mystical connection with them.
The Rise of Art
According to archaeologists, the highest flowering of the art of primitive society occurred in the Magdalenian period (25-12 thousand years BC). At this time, animals are depicted in motion, and a simple contour drawing takes on three-dimensional forms.
The spiritual powers of hunters, who have studied the habits of predators to the smallest detail, are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. Ancient artists convincingly draw images of animals, but man himself does not receive special attention in art. In addition, not a single image of the landscape has ever been discovered. It is believed that ancient hunters simply admired nature, and feared and worshiped predators.
The most famous examples of rock art of this period were found in the caves of Lascaux (France), Altamira (Spain), Shulgan-Tash (Urals).
"The Sistine Chapel of the Stone Age"
It is curious that even in the middle of the 19th century, cave painting was not known to scientists. And only in 1877, a famous archaeologist who found himself in the Almamira cave discovered rock paintings, which were later included in the List World Heritage UNESCO. It is no coincidence that the underground grotto received the name " Sistine Chapel Stone Age." In the rock paintings one can see the confident hand of ancient artists, who made the outlines of animals without any corrections, using single lines. In the light of a torch, which creates a stunning play of shadows, it seems that three-dimensional images are moving.
Later, more than a hundred underground grottoes with traces of primitive people were found in France.
In the Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash), located in the Southern Urals, images of animals were found relatively recently - in 1959. 14 silhouette and contour drawings animals are made with red ocher. In addition, various geometric signs were discovered.
The first humanoid images
One of the main themes of primitive art is the image of a woman. It was caused by the special specificity of the thinking of ancient people. Magical powers were attributed to the drawings. The found figurines of naked and clothed women indicate a very high level of skill of ancient hunters and convey the main idea of the image - the keeper of the hearth.
These figures are very overweight women, the so-called Venus. Such sculptures are the first humanoid images symbolizing fertility and motherhood.
Changes that occurred during the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras
During the Mesolithic era, primitive art underwent changes. Rock paintings are multi-figure compositions in which one can trace various episodes from people’s lives. Most often scenes of battles and hunting are depicted.
But the main changes in primitive society occur during the Neolithic period. A person learns to build new types of housing and erects structures on stilts made of brick. The main topic art becomes the activity of a collective, and visual creativity is represented by rock paintings, stone, ceramic and wooden sculpture, and clay sculpture.
Ancient petroglyphs
It is impossible not to mention multi-plot and multi-figure compositions in which the main attention is paid to animals and humans. Petroglyphs (rock carvings that are carved or painted), painted in secluded places, attract the attention of scientists from all over the world. Some experts believe that they are ordinary sketches of everyday scenes. And others see in them a kind of writing, which is based on symbols and signs, and testifies to the spiritual heritage of our ancestors.
In Russia, petroglyphs are called “pisanits”, and most often they are found not in caves, but in open areas. Made with ocher, they are perfectly preserved, since the paint is perfectly absorbed into the rocks. The themes of the drawings are very wide and varied: the heroes are animals, symbols, signs and people. Even schematic images of stars have been found solar system. Despite their very respectable age, the petroglyphs, made in a realistic manner, speak of the great skill of the people who made them.
And now research is ongoing to get closer to deciphering the unique messages left by our distant ancestors.
Bronze Age
During the Bronze Age, which is associated with the main milestones in the history of primitive art and humanity in general, new technical inventions appear, metal is being mastered, people are engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.
The themes of art are enriched with new subjects, the role of figurative symbolism, geometric ornament spreads. You can see scenes that are associated with mythology, and the images become a special symbolic system that is understandable to certain groups of the population. Zoomorphic and atropomorphic sculpture appears, as well as mysterious structures - megaliths.
Symbols, with the help of which a variety of concepts and feelings are conveyed, carry a great aesthetic load.
Conclusion
At the earliest stages of its development, art does not stand out as an independent sphere of human spiritual life. In primitive society there is only nameless creativity, closely intertwined with ancient beliefs. It reflected the ideas of the ancient “artists” about nature and the surrounding world, and thanks to it, people communicated with each other.
If we talk about the features of primitive art, then it is impossible not to mention that it has always been associated with the labor activity of people. Only labor allowed ancient masters to create real works that excite descendants with the vivid expressiveness of artistic images. Primitive man expanded his ideas about the world around him, enriching his spiritual world. In the course of their work, people developed aesthetic feelings and an understanding of beauty. From the very moment of its inception, art had a magical meaning, and later it existed with other forms of not only spiritual, but also material activity.
When man learned to create images, he gained power over time. Therefore, without exaggeration, we can say that the turn of ancient people to art is one of the most important events in the history of mankind.
He did not recognize himself as a man, but at the same time, he indicates that his consciousness was occupied with completely different images - images of hunting. The animalistic theme in the paintings of primitive hunters is quite natural. The practical significance of the object found emotional reinforcement in the art and mythology of totemism, which explains the origin of the people of a given tribe by birth (or transformation) from a beast.
Materials of fine art allow us to assume that the first impulse to comprehend what is truly human in oneself arises as an awareness of feminine nature, intuitively felt in relation to a female parent.
Paleolithic Venuses
The first images of humans are the so-called Paleolithic “Venuses”, created in the period of the XXV-XVIII thousand BC. Clay figurines found in many regions of Europe (Czechoslovakia, Italy, France), in the Far East, in Asia - all of them are stylistically very similar to the famous Venus from Willendorf (Lower Austria). Art critics noted the exaggerated signs of gender characteristic of the sculpture (large breasts, bulky belly, possibly indicating pregnancy, heavy wide hips). The absence of individual features (identical proportions, schematically shown limbs, similarity in the depiction of hairstyles, unprocessed faces, sometimes the head is only outlined) indicates that these images emphasized maternal qualities, the generalized features of a woman in her reproductive function. The female body was perceived as a source of life. The emphasized maternal features of the Paleolithic Venuses are a magical guarantee of procreation. In addition, in these small figurines, human features are clearly and naturally reproduced for the first time. In the phylogenetic process of self-knowledge, in contrast to the zoomorphic hypostasis, a person first perceives himself in a female form.
The image of a life-giving woman in primitive art is associated with a pattern of ideas about fertility not only in the human world, but also about the reproduction of animals, about successful fishing and the calendar reproduction of life cycles. The episodic appearance of male characters in Paleolithic painting is included in the same thematic cycle: seasonal fertility in the natural world, the cycle of life and death. Male characters became permanent heroes of art only by the Middle Stone Age (VIII-V millennium BC).
In Mesolithic compositions there is a constant pattern that determines the general style of the images:
- As a rule, these are very dynamic hunting scenes. Note that female Paleolithic images symbolize some ideas, but do not reproduce any plot. The emphasized dynamics of moving figures and the emphasis on the event plan encourages the belief that a person is now aware of himself as an active being. In addition, the hero of Mesolithic art has attributes that characterize meaningful work activity: bows and arrows, boats, chariots.
- In contrast to the naturalistic images of “Venuses,” the figures of hunters are depicted very conditionally. Movements are exaggerated, bodies are disproportionate. Women's images do not disappear in the Mesolithic era, but seem to lose their sacred significance. They appear in everyday scenes related to food production: rock paintings from Tassilien Ajjer and Fezzan in the African Sahara depict women collecting honey, women with cows near huts. Their figures are also conventional and disproportionate; the characters are depicted in action. Gender differences turn out to be insignificant.
- The images of animals preserve the realistic style of the Paleolithic. The schematism of anthropomorphic images in contrast with realistic profile images of animals persists not only in the Neolithic era. Similar features can be observed in the art of the emerging civilizations of Egypt and Crete. Stylistic originality can be explained by dominant semantic images of consciousness. The realism and detail of the depiction of animals indicates special close attention to the object of the hunt.
The different stylistics in the depiction of an animal (realism) and a person (conventionality) may be an indicator that the anthropos of the Middle Stone era isolated himself from the natural world and contrasted it. He realized that he was different, he overcame his zoomorphism as something inherent to him initially. Material from the site
The tendency to schematize the image of a person is observed in ancient art up to the birth of the styles of large civilizations. This process perhaps reflects a characteristic pattern: the more cultural objects a person surrounds himself with, the less the need to depict his physical appearance. This assumption is confirmed by numerous images of the Bronze Age: petroglyphs of the Central and Central Asia, Altai, Karelia, depicting a man on a chariot, resemble an ornamental pattern in which the eye does not immediately detect the plot. This may mean that a person defines himself not through physical qualities and external properties, but through the objects and attributes of activity and culture created and produced by him.
The conventionality and schematism of the images also indicate that man in ancient times was a tribal, collective being. In the fine arts of the beginning of civilizations, we are everywhere faced with a very generalized image of man. It is enough to recall the geometrized figures in the paintings of ceramic vessels of Homeric Greece, pre-dynastic Egypt, etc. The growth of realistic tendencies is observed only with increasing individual manifestations V
