Importance of Ancient Artwork
Importance of Ancient Works of Art Artwork has and still remains a very important part of people’s lives. The visual and performing arts allow people to express their beliefs and feelings in an open manor. People have been doing this for over 30,000 years. Since most art expresses the feelings and beliefs of a person, the art also express much of their culture. Historians and students can learn from this artwork about a certain culture. Most prehistoric and ancient cultures do not have many written documents and without this artwork we would know very little to nothing about them. That is why artwork from any culture, especially Ancient ones is so important.
About 30,000 years ago, man first started making art. This artwork was very basic but by studying it, historians have got a large insight into the way that ancient people thought and acted. The paintings are simple cave paintings of wild animals inside a cave in Chauvet, France (Janson 39). To the naked eye these paintings look very insignificant, but they tell a great deal of detail. They tell us how these nomadic people lived and what they ate. The paintings depict people hunting bison-like animals along with horses running wild. This allows historians to see what animals were alive at this time too (Fiero 4-5).
Another very important item to Ancient people was fertility. Without fertility no one would survive and when a civilization has a limited number of people, fertility is the number one issue. This is especially present in the Venus of Willendorf, which dates back from 25,000 to 20,000 BCE (Janson 41). This first sculpture known by man is a much distorted women that shows fertility. The Venus has enlarged breasts and waists, which suggests she is pregnant. Also, there is not a clear image of her face. It is unknown why her face is not depicted clearly; it might be because the artisans of that time did not have the skill level to depict a face. But more-likely, her face did not show
About 30,000 years ago, man first started making art. This artwork was very basic but by studying it, historians have got a large insight into the way that ancient people thought and acted. The paintings are simple cave paintings of wild animals inside a cave in Chauvet, France (Janson 39). To the naked eye these paintings look very insignificant, but they tell a great deal of detail. They tell us how these nomadic people lived and what they ate. The paintings depict people hunting bison-like animals along with horses running wild. This allows historians to see what animals were alive at this time too (Fiero 4-5).
Another very important item to Ancient people was fertility. Without fertility no one would survive and when a civilization has a limited number of people, fertility is the number one issue. This is especially present in the Venus of Willendorf, which dates back from 25,000 to 20,000 BCE (Janson 41). This first sculpture known by man is a much distorted women that shows fertility. The Venus has enlarged breasts and waists, which suggests she is pregnant. Also, there is not a clear image of her face. It is unknown why her face is not depicted clearly; it might be because the artisans of that time did not have the skill level to depict a face. But more-likely, her face did not show
Cited: Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition Vol. 1 : Prehistory to the Early Modern World. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages, 2005. 1-130. Janson, Anthony F. History of Art. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2004. 38-136.