Paleolithic period: The figure below shows a cave painting of bulls crafted during the paleolithic period which was approximated to be 15,000 BC (Boundless, 2014). The painting is found within the region of South Western France and is tittled ‘The Great Hall of the Bulls’. It is found within the caves where Paleolithic human beings made several drawings of animals especially bulls.
The figure above is the oldest among the three shown herein with a poorly developed art work. Though the artist employed various artistic aspect in the painting, the picture is considered primitive in nature. It is a picture of animals in the grazing field but does not show the geographical background of the landscape. The artist,however, employed the usage of element position within a picture with the animals found at the front being bigger than those found at the back which shows that the bigger animals were closer than the ones appearing smaller.
Neolithic period: The next figure shows drawings of horses also found within the archives in southern France.
The art work is more recent compared to the first figure which clearly shows the presence of cave debris at the time it was being made (Fotosearch, 2014). The second figure combines unique techniques such as the usage of lighter areas as well as dark areas within a drawing to achieve smoothness. The artist also used the movement suggestion within the picture as he etched out the picture outlines with the scene made more complex as it shows some level of interaction among the animals within the picture.
Bronze age: The figure below is of a bison and shows the latests stages of art in the bronze age.
Compared to the previous two art works, the figure above depicts a more complex art work (The Human Journey, 2014) . The artist employed the usage of different colours within a picture to make it more complex. Even though the element of a three dimension art work does not come out very clear in the picture, the general view of the picture shows that the artist had that in mind. The geographic landscape is also shown within the picture with the horns of the bison appearing to lock with what appears to be horns of another bison. Here, the artist has used the aspect of interaction among animals within the artwork.
References
Boundless. (2014). Art History. https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/prehistoric-art-2/the-paleolithic-period-45/cave-paintings-273-10732/
Fotosearch. (2014). Paleolithic stock photos and images. Fotosearch.
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/paleolithic.html
The Human Journey. (2014). Pre-Axial Thought: Paleolithic Beginnings http://www.humanjourney.us/PaleolithicBeginnings.html
