Art 100 Introduction to Art History - Time Changes Perceptions

Claudine Castro

ART 100 Introduction to Art History

2 May 2015

Time changes perceptions

Throughout many Centuries art has played an important role in representing the needs, beliefs, identity, and culture of different nations around the world. And from the beginning of time art has been in the lives of people for many different purposes. And in order to figure out why art is important to some and considered insignificant to others, we will have to find the reasons the artwork was made in the first place

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Paleolithic Art

Art has been a part of life since the beginning of time and people all around the globe have used, revered, loved art for countless reasons. At any given time throughout the world the artist has been viewed as either common or held at high esteem depending on that particular societies views on art. I believe that over time attitudes towards art has changed, because people’s needs have changed. So viewing art at different time periods will help us to better understand why art is the way it is today. Beginning with the Paleolithic period we can see that during these years some of the most beautiful and misunderstood pieces of art were made. The cave art and sculptures from this time period are believed to have been created by Nomadic hunters and gatherers with ivory, wood, and bone. These figures and paintings were thought to be symbolic and have some magical or ritual relevance. A very important sculpture created during this period was the Venus of Willendorf which is a fertility statue. This sculpture and others similar to it were believed to bring about good fertility to whomever worshipped the fertility goddess. According to Getlein another reason for the statues in the eyes of the Paleolithic people was to “Make sense out of the universe and to exert some control over the forces of nature.” (Getlein, 2010) These early people believed that art was necessary to obtain even the basic necessities in life. And without the worship of the statues (which represented the gods and goddesses) needs would not be met and life would come to an end.

Neolithic Art

Moving on to Neolithic art we can see that they too held things of value in high esteem. But unlike the hunter gathers of the Paleolithic age, Neolithic people were advancing and becoming more developed. These people were gaining knowledge about their environment that generations before them never would have imagined. They learned to cultivate fruit and grain, from there farming was born, they began to domesticate animals for eating and service work, and irrigated channels to give access to water for everyone.