primitive art

Introduction 2

Stone Age Art 3

Art of the Bronze Age 10

Conclusion 12

References 13

Introduction

In this work, I want to give a brief overview of the development of primitive art in the Stone and Bronze Ages.

There is no definite answer to the question of what prompted a person to think of depicting certain objects. Ancient people could come up with the idea of ​​depicting objects not in one, but in many ways. Perhaps the first step towards creating images was body painting, or a person guessed the familiar silhouette of an animal in a random outline of a stone and, having cut it, gave it a greater resemblance. Perhaps the shadow of an animal or a person served as the basis for the drawing, and the imprint of a hand or foot precedes the sculpture.

Until recently, scholars held two opposing views on the history of primitive art. Some experts considered cave naturalistic painting and sculpture to be the oldest, while others considered schematic signs and geometric figures. Now most researchers are of the opinion that both forms appeared at about the same time. For example, among the most ancient images on the walls of caves of the Paleolithic era are prints of a human hand, and random weaves of wavy lines, pressed into the wet clay with the fingers of the same hand.

Stone Age Art

The Stone Age is the oldest period in the history of mankind when tools and weapons were made of stone. It began over 2 million years ago and continued until the 6th millennium BC. e. The Stone Age is divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.

Primitive or, in other words, primitive art territorially covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day.

Stone Age people gave an artistic appearance to everyday items - stone tools and clay vessels, although there was no practical need for this. The reasons for the emergence of art are the human need for beauty, the joy of creativity and the beliefs of that time.

The oldest surviving works of art were created in the primitive era, about sixty thousand years ago. These are primitive human figurines, mostly female. Often their surface is dotted with depressions, which probably meant fur clothing. In addition to the "dressed" figurines, there are nude figures, the so-called "Paleolithic Venuses" - primitive female figures, very far from real resemblance to the human body. All of them have some common features: enlarged hips, abdomen and chest, lack of feet. Primitive sculptors were not even interested in facial features. They did not reproduce a specific nature, but created a certain generalized image of a woman - a mother, a symbol of fertility and the keeper of the hearth. The vast majority of their faces are only outlined, but individual parts of the body are very specific and sharply exaggerated. The primitive artist with an impressionable soul wanted to convey not the grace, not the harmony and bliss of the young female body, but the strict geometric lines and volumes - the strength, the heavy, life-giving power of the ancestor and protector of the hearth. In addition to women, animals were depicted: horses, goats, reindeer, etc. Male images in the Paleolithic era are very rare. That was the time of matriarchy, the domination of the maternal clan, when a woman led the life of the collective and. kinship was determined through the female line. Mistress, mother, source of well-being of the family and its inexhaustibility. People did not yet know metal, and almost all Paleolithic sculpture was made of stone or bone.

Beautiful monuments of the Stone Age are associated with beliefs - painted with paints, as well as images engraved on stone, which covered the walls and ceilings of underground caves - cave paintings . Primitive people believed that with the help of paintings and other images it was possible to influence nature. It was believed, for example, that it was necessary to hit a drawn animal with an arrow or spear in order to ensure the success of a real hunt. The same is true of the art of contemporary backward peoples. Their picturesque, graphic and sculptural works, close in spirit and character to the samples of the art of the ancient Stone Age, were made primarily in order to use the means of witchcraft and magic to influence real beings, to gain irresistible power over them, in particular, to ensure successful hunting.

The exact time of the creation of cave paintings has not yet been established. The most beautiful of them were created, according to scientists, about 20 - 10 thousand years ago. At that time, most of Europe was covered with a thick layer of ice, only the southern part of the mainland remained habitable. The glacier slowly receded, and behind it the primitive hunters moved north. It can be assumed that in the most difficult conditions of that time, all human strength went to the fight against hunger, cold and predatory animals. Nevertheless, he created magnificent paintings. Dozens of large animals are depicted on the walls of the caves, which they already knew how to hunt; among them there were also those that would be tamed by man - bulls, horses, reindeer and others. Cave paintings have preserved the appearance of such animals that later completely died out: mammoths and cave bears. Primitive artists knew very well the animals on which the very existence of people depended. With a light and flexible line, they conveyed the poses and movements of the beast.

Subsequently, the cave images lost their liveliness and volume. Stylization (generalization and schematization of objects) has intensified. In the last period, realistic images are completely absent. Paleolithic painting returned to where it started: on the walls of the caves appeared chaotic weaves of lines, rows of dots, vague schematic signs.

In the Mesolithic era, or the Middle Stone Age (XII-VIII millennium BC), the climatic conditions on the planet changed. Some of the hunted animals disappeared and were replaced by others. Fisheries began to develop. People created new types of tools, weapons (bows and arrows), tamed the dog. The primitive communal system developed and strengthened already with the predominance of patriarchy, that is, the paternal principle, paternal clan, over matriarchy. And most importantly, simple gathering and hunting as the main sources of food were gradually replaced by agriculture and cattle breeding. This is a very significant point.

These changes had an impact on the consciousness of primitive man, which was reflected in art.

In the XII millennium BC. e. cave art reached its peak. The painting of that time conveyed volume, perspective, bloom proportions of figures, movement. At the same time, huge picturesque "canvases" were created that covered the vaults of deep caves. Central to the rock art are hunting scenes in which hunters and animals are linked in a vigorously unfolding action. Hunters follow the trail or chase the prey, sending a hail of arrows at it on the run, inflicting the last fatal blow, or fleeing from an angry wounded animal

Previously, the focus of the ancient artist was the animals he hunted, now - the figures of people depicted in rapid movement. If the cave Paleolithic drawings represented separate, unrelated figures, then in Mesolithic rock art, multi-figure compositions and scenes begin to prevail, which vividly reproduce various periods in the life of hunters of that time. Large paintings were replaced by small ones. The detail of the compositions and the number of characters are striking: sometimes there are hundreds of images of humans and animals. Human figures are very conditional, they are rather symbols that serve to depict mass scenes. Man for the primitive artist is, first of all, an embodied movement. the figures were freed from everything that would interfere with the transfer and perception of complex postures, action, the very essence of what is happening. Thus, in the Mesolithic, the art of multi-figure composition was born, in which a person often already plays a dominant role.

At the same time, images of dramatic episodes of military clashes between tribes appeared. In some cases, apparently, we are even talking about execution: in the foreground is the figure of a lying man pierced by arrows, in the second is a close row of archers who raised their bows. Images of women are rare, they are usually static and lifeless.

The melting of glaciers in the Neolithic, or New Stone Age (5000-3000 BC), led to the settlement of new territories. The person was threatened by the worst of dangers - another person. New settlements arose on islands in the bends of rivers, on small hills, that is, in places protected from a surprise attack. Intensified intertribal struggle for the possession of the most favorable hunting grounds, for the seizure of new lands.

In the New Stone Age, people learned how to burn clay, turning it into a solid waterproof substance. The appearance of ceramics is one of the main features of the Neolithic era, which is therefore sometimes called the Ceramic Age. Moreover, this invention marks a true revolution, an event of great importance in the development of mankind. After all, before that, a person used only what was given to him in finished form by nature. By firing clay, he created a new material unknown in nature.

Ceramics was also of great importance in the development in him of that unconscious feeling, which, standing out from others, later became called aesthetic: decorating the vessels he made with a whimsical pattern, a person gradually improved the art of ornament, marked by greater geometric harmony, the rhythm of colors and lines born by him. creative inspiration.

Rock art in the Neolithic era becomes more and more schematic and conditional, the images only slightly resemble a person or animal. This phenomenon is typical for different regions of the globe. Along with stylized drawings of people and animals, there are various geometric shapes (circles, rectangles, rhombuses and spirals, etc.), images of weapons (axes and daggers) and vehicles (boats and ships). Reproduction of wildlife fades into the background.

It is significant that the art characteristic of the Neolithic continued to exist for a long time among the African tribes, who retained primitive communal relations. So, in South Africa, it was alive before the penetration of Europeans there. The remarkable Bushman rock art is Neolithic in inspiration and style.

Art of the Bronze Age

It is impossible to reflect all the diversity of Bronze Age art within the framework of this work. Let us dwell only on some of the most interesting materials.

The Bronze Age got its name from the then widespread alloy of metals - bronze. The Bronze Age began in Western Europe relatively late, about four thousand years ago. Bronze was much easier to work than stone and could be molded and polished. Therefore, in the Bronze Age, all kinds of household items were made, richly decorated with ornaments and of high artistic value. Ornamental decorations consisted mostly of circles, spirals, wavy lines and similar motifs. Particular attention was paid to jewelry - they were large in size and immediately caught the eye.

During the Bronze Age, man occupies an increasing place in the art of primitive society. If in the Stone Age animals were depicted much more often than people, in the Bronze Age the ratio is reversed.

In III-II millennia BC. e. original, huge structures made of stone blocks appeared, owing their appearance also to primitive beliefs - megaliths (from the Greek "megas" - "big" and "lithos" - "stone"). Megalithic structures include menhirs - vertically standing stones more than two meters high. On the Brittany Peninsula in France, the so-called fields stretched for miles. menhirs. In the language of the Celts, the later inhabitants of the peninsula, the name of these stone pillars several meters high means "long stone". Other structures have been preserved - dolmens - several stones dug into the ground, covered with a stone slab, which originally served for burials. The megaliths also include cromlechs - complex structures in the form of circular fences with a diameter of up to one hundred meters from huge boulders. Megaliths were widespread: they were found in Western Europe, North Africa, the Caucasus and other regions of the globe. In France alone, about four thousand have been found.

Numerous menhirs and dolmens were located in places that were considered sacred. Especially famous are the ruins of such a sanctuary - a cromlech in England near the city of Salisbury - the so-called. Stonehenge(II millennium BC) . Stonehenge is built from one hundred and twenty boulders weighing up to seven tons each, and thirty meters in diameter. Modern geologists believe that boulders fell into the vicinity of Stonehenge with glaciers from different places. It is assumed that they worshiped the sun. Similar architectural structures are widespread in Europe. For example, only in France there are 5 thousand of them.

Conclusion

Primitive art played an important role in the history and culture of ancient mankind. Man's imagination is embodied in new form being - artistic. Fixing his life experience and attitude in visible images, primitive man deepened and expanded his ideas about reality, enriched his spiritual world. Having learned to create images (sculptural, graphic, pictorial), a person has acquired some power over time. Primitive art reflected the first ideas of man about the world around him, thanks to him knowledge and skills were preserved and transferred, people communicated with each other. In the spiritual culture of the primitive world, art began to play the same universal role that a pointed stone played in labor activity. The conversion of primitive people to a new type of activity for them - art - is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind.

List of used literature

Alekseev V.P., Pershits A.I. History of primitive society: Textbook for universities. - M.: graduate School, 1990.

Larichev V.E. Cave sorcerers. - Novosibirsk: West Siberian Book Publishing House, 1980.

Lyubimov L.D. Art of the Ancient World. - M.: Enlightenment, 1996.

Tylor E. B. Primitive culture: Per. from English. – M.: Politizdat, 1989.

Encyclopedia for children. T. 7, part 1. Art. Architecture, fine and decorative arts from ancient times to the Renaissance. - M.: Avanta +, 1999.

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MOSCOW STATE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY (MGIU)

ESSAY

ON CULTUROLOGY

ON THE TOPIC: "Primitive Art".

Student: Chuikov A.A.

Group: 2291

Teacher:

Moscow 2001

Introduction page 3

Paleolithic art pp. 4-7

Mesolithic Art pp. 7-8

Neolithic Art pp. 8-10

Conclusion page 10

List of references page 11

PRIMIAL ART

Introduction

The oldest surviving works of art were created in the primitive era, about sixty thousand years ago.

Primitive (or, in other words, primitive) art territorially covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day.

The conversion of primitive people to a new type of activity for them - art - is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind. Primitive art reflected the first ideas of man about the world around him, thanks to him knowledge and skills were preserved and transferred, people communicated with each other. In the spiritual culture of the primitive world, art began to play the same universal role that a pointed stone played in labor activity.

What prompted a person to think of depicting certain objects? How do you know if body painting was the first step towards creating images, or if a person guessed the familiar silhouette of an animal in a random outline of a stone and, having cut it, gave it a greater resemblance? Or maybe the shadow of an animal or a person served as the basis for the drawing, and the imprint of a hand or a step precedes the sculpture? There is no definite answer to these questions. Ancient people could come up with the idea of ​​depicting objects not in one, but in many ways.

Until recently, scientists held two opposing views on history. primitive art. Some experts considered cave naturalistic painting and sculpture to be the oldest, while others considered schematic signs and geometric figures. Now most researchers are of the opinion that both forms appeared at approximately the same time. For example, among the most ancient images on the walls of caves of the Paleolithic era are prints of a human hand, and random weaves of wavy lines, pressed into the wet clay with the fingers of the same hand.

Paleolithic Art

The Stone Age is the oldest period in the history of mankind (began over 2 million years ago, lasted until the 6th millennium BC), when tools and weapons were made of stone (hence the name of the era - the Stone Age); divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.

The first works of primitive art were created about 30 thousand years ago, at the end of the Paleolithic era, or the ancient Stone Age.

The oldest sculptural images to date are the so-called “Paleolithic Venuses” - primitive female figures. They are still very far from a real resemblance to the human body. All of them have some common features: enlarged hips, abdomen and chest, lack of feet. Primitive sculptors were not even interested in facial features. Their task was not to reproduce a specific nature, but to create a certain generalized image of a woman-mother, a symbol of fertility and the keeper of the hearth. Male images in the Paleolithic era are very rare. In addition to women, animals were depicted: horses, goats, reindeer, etc. At that time, people did not yet know metal, and almost all Paleolithic sculpture was made of stone or bone.

In the history of cave painting of the Paleolithic era, experts distinguish several periods. In ancient times (from about the 30th millennium BC), primitive artists filled the surface inside the outline of the drawing with black or red paint.

Stone Age people gave an artistic appearance to everyday items - stone tools and clay vessels, although there was no practical need for this. Why did they do this? One can only speculate about this. One of the reasons for the emergence of art is considered to be the human need for beauty and the joy of creativity, the other is the beliefs of that time. Beautiful monuments of the Stone Age are associated with beliefs - painted with paints, as well as images engraved on stone, which covered the walls and ceilings of underground caves - cave paintings . People of that time believed in magic: they believed that with the help of paintings and other images, one could influence nature. It was believed, for example, that it was necessary to hit a drawn animal with an arrow or spear in order to ensure the success of a real hunt.

Later (approximately from the 18th to the 15th millennium BC), primitive masters began to pay more attention to details: they depicted wool with oblique parallel strokes, learned to use additional colors (various shades of yellow and red paint) to paint spots on the skins of bulls , horses and bison. The contour line also changed: it became brighter and darker, marking the light and shadow parts of the figure, skin folds and thick hair (for example, horse manes, massive buffalo manes), thus conveying volume. In some cases, the contours or the most expressive details were emphasized by ancient artists with a carved line.

In the XII millennium BC. e. cave art reached its peak. The painting of that time conveyed volume, perspective, bloom proportions of figures, movement. At the same time, huge picturesque “canvases” were created that covered the vaults of deep caves.

The exact time of the creation of cave paintings has not yet been established. The most beautiful of them were created, according to scientists, about 20 - 10 thousand years ago. At that time, a thick layer of ice covered most of Europe; only the southern part of the mainland remained habitable. The glacier slowly receded, and behind it the primitive hunters moved north. It can be assumed that in the most difficult conditions of that time, all human strength went to the fight against hunger, cold and predatory animals. Nevertheless, he created magnificent paintings. Dozens of large animals are depicted on the walls of the caves, which they already knew how to hunt; among them there were also those that would be tamed by man - bulls, horses, reindeer and others. Cave paintings have preserved the appearance of such animals that later completely died out: mammoths and cave bears. Primitive artists knew very well the animals on which the very existence of people depended. With a light and flexible line, they conveyed the poses and movements of the beast. Colorful chords - black, red, white, yellow - make a charming impression. Mineral dyes mixed with water, animal fat and plant sap made the color of the cave paintings especially bright. To create such great and perfect works then, as now, one had to learn. It is possible that the pebbles with images of animals scratched on them found in the caves were student works of the "art schools" of the Stone Age.

In 1868, in Spain, in the province of Santander, the Altamira Cave was discovered, the entrance to which had previously been covered with a landslide. Almost ten years later, the Spanish archaeologist Marcelino Sautuola, who was excavating in this cave, discovered primitive images on its walls and ceiling. Altamira was the first of many dozens of similar caves later found in France and Spain: La Moute, La Madeleine, Trois Frere, Font de Gome, and others. Now, thanks to targeted searches, about a hundred caves with images of primitive time are known in France alone.

An outstanding discovery was made quite by accident in September 1940. It so happened that it was the children, and quite by accident, who found the most interesting cave paintings in Europe. The Lascaux Cave in France, which has become even more famous than Altamira, was discovered by four boys who, while playing, climbed into a hole that opened under the roots of a tree that had fallen after a storm. The painting of the Lascaux Cave - images of bulls, wild horses, reindeer, bison, rams, bears and other animals - is the most perfect work of art from those that were created by man in the Paleolithic era. The most spectacular are the images of horses, for example, small dark undersized steppe horses resembling ponies. Also of interest is the clear three-dimensional figure of a cow located above them, preparing to jump over a fence or a pit-trap. This cave has now been turned into a well-equipped museum.

In the cave of Montespan in France, archaeologists have found a statue of a clay bear with traces of spear blows. Probably, primitive people associated animals with their images: they believed that by “killing” them, they would ensure success in the upcoming hunt. In such finds, there is a connection between the most ancient religious beliefs and artistic activity.

Similar monuments are also known outside of Europe - in Asia, in North Africa.

The huge number of these murals and their high artistry are striking. At first, many experts doubted the authenticity of the cave paintings: it seemed that primitive people could not be so skillful in painting, and the amazing preservation of the paintings suggested a fake.

In the future, cave images lost their liveliness, volume; stylization (generalization and schematization of objects) intensified. In the last period, realistic images are completely absent. Paleolithic painting returned to where it started: on the walls of the caves appeared chaotic weaves of lines, rows of dots, vague schematic signs.

Along with cave paintings and drawings, various sculptures were made from bone and stone at that time. They were made with primitive tools, and this work required exceptional patience. The creation of statues, no doubt, was also associated with primitive beliefs.

Mesolithic Art

In the era of the Mesolithic, or the Middle Stone Age (XII-VIII millennium BC), the climatic conditions on the planet changed. Some of the hunted animals have disappeared; they were replaced by others. Fisheries began to develop. People created new types of tools, weapons (bows and arrows), tamed the dog. All these changes, of course, had an impact on the consciousness of primitive man, which was reflected in art.

This is evidenced, for example, by rock paintings in the coastal mountainous regions of Eastern Spain, between the cities of Barcelona and Valencia. Previously, the focus of the ancient artist was the animals he hunted, now - the figures of people depicted in rapid movement. If the cave Paleolithic drawings represented separate, unrelated figures, then in Mesolithic rock art, multi-figure compositions and scenes begin to prevail, which vividly reproduce various periods in the life of hunters of that time. In addition to various shades of red paint, black and occasionally white were used, and egg white, blood, and possibly honey served as a stable binder.

Central to the rock art were hunting scenes, in which hunters and animals are linked in a vigorously unfolding action. Hunters follow the trail or chase the prey, sending a hail of arrows at it on the run, inflicting the last fatal blow, or fleeing from an angry wounded animal. At the same time, images of dramatic episodes of military clashes between tribes appeared. In some cases, apparently, we are even talking about execution: in the foreground is the figure of a lying man pierced by arrows, in the second is a close row of archers who raised their bows. Images of women are rare: they are usually static and lifeless. Large paintings were replaced by small ones. But the detail of the compositions and the number of characters are striking: sometimes there are hundreds of images of humans and animals. Human figures are very conditional, they are rather symbols that serve to depict mass scenes. The primitive artist freed the figures from everything, from his point of view, of secondary importance, which would interfere with the transfer and perception of complex poses, action, the very essence of what is happening. Man for him is first of all an embodied movement.

Neolithic art

The melting of glaciers in the Neolithic, or New Stone Age (5000-3000 BC), set in motion peoples who began to populate new spaces. Intensified intertribal struggle for the possession of the most favorable hunting grounds, for the seizure of new lands. In the Neolithic era, man was threatened by the worst of dangers - another person. New settlements arose on islands in the bends of rivers, on small hills, that is, in places protected from a surprise attack.

Rock art in the Neolithic era becomes more and more schematic and conditional: images only slightly resemble a person or animal. This phenomenon is typical for different regions of the globe. These are, for example, rock paintings of deer, bears, whales and seals found in Norway, reaching eight meters in length. In addition to schematism, they are distinguished by careless execution. Along with stylized drawings of people and animals, there are various geometric shapes (circles, rectangles, rhombuses and spirals, etc.), images of weapons (axes and daggers) and vehicles (boats and ships). Reproduction of wildlife fades into the background.

Rock art has existed in all parts of the world, but nowhere has it been as widespread as in Africa. Carved, embossed and painted images have been found in vast areas - from Mauritania to Ethiopia and from Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope. Unlike European art, African rock art is not exclusively prehistoric. Its development can be traced approximately from the VIII-VI millennium BC. e. up to our days. The first rock carvings were discovered in 1847-1850. in North Africa and the Sahara Desert (Tassilin-Ajer, Tibesti, Fezzana, etc.)

The Stone Age was followed by the Bronze Age (it got its name from the then widespread alloy of metals - bronze). The Bronze Age began in Western Europe relatively late, about four thousand years ago. Bronze was much easier to work than stone and could be molded and polished. Therefore, in the Bronze Age, all kinds of household items were made, richly decorated with ornaments and of high artistic value. Ornamental decorations consisted mostly of circles, spirals, wavy lines and similar motifs. Particular attention was paid to decorations - they were large size and immediately caught my eye.

In III-II millennia BC. e. unique, huge structures made of stone blocks appeared, owing their appearance also to primitive beliefs - megaliths (from the Greek "megas" - "big" and "lithos" - "stone"). Megalithic structures include menhirs - vertically standing stones more than two meters high. On the Brittany Peninsula in France, the so-called fields stretched for miles. menhirs. In the language of the Celts, the later inhabitants of the peninsula, the name of these stone pillars several meters high means “long stone”. Other structures have been preserved - dolmens - several stones dug into the ground, covered with a stone slab, which originally served for burials. The megaliths also include cromlechs - complex structures in the form of circular fences with a diameter of up to one hundred meters from huge boulders. Megaliths were widespread: they were found in Western Europe, North Africa, the Caucasus and other regions of the globe. In France alone, about four thousand have been found.

Numerous menhirs and dolmens were located in places that were considered sacred. Especially famous are the ruins of such a sanctuary - a cromlech in England near the city of Salisbury - the so-called. stonehenge(II millennium BC) . Stonehenge is built from one hundred and twenty boulders weighing up to seven tons each, and thirty meters in diameter. It is curious that the Preselli Mountains in South Wales, from where the building material for this structure was supposed to be delivered, are two hundred and eighty kilometers from Stonehenge. However, modern geologists believe that the boulders came to the vicinity of Stonehenge with glaciers from different places. It is assumed that they worshiped the sun.

Conclusion

Primitive art played an important role in the history and culture of ancient mankind. Having learned to create images (sculptural, graphic, pictorial), a person has acquired some power over time. The imagination of a person was embodied in a new form of being - artistic, the development of which can be traced in the history of art.

List of used literature

Alekseev V.P., Pershits A.I. "History of Primitive Society". M, 1991.

Tylor E.B. "Primitive Culture". M, 1993.

“Architecture, fine and decorative arts from ancient times to the Renaissance”. Encyclopedia "Avanta +" (vol. 7). M, 2000.

It took primitive man hundreds of thousands of years

to go from a rough ax to a sharp thin chisel,

which the first images were engraved on stone.

The same activity developed hand mobility

and made capable of artistic creativity.

V.B. Mirimanov.

The amazing ability of a person to perceive and recreate the images of the world around him has its roots in the depths of millennia. Primitive art developed over a very long time, and in some parts of the world - in Australia and Oceania, a number of regions in Africa and America - it existed until the 20th century. under the conditional name "traditional art".

The specificity of primitive art lies in its fusion with other forms of social consciousness. It reflects all spheres of society - economic, social and religious. Most often, ancient sculpture is found in special places of worship or in burials. This speaks of its inseparable connection with religious ideas and rituals. The consciousness of ancient people was a complex interweaving of realistic and illusory principles, and this syncretism of primitive thinking had a decisive influence on the nature of creative activity.

Primitive fine arts from the very beginning developed in two directions. The first of them includes monumental forms (drawings in caves and on rocks, megaliths), the second is represented by small art monuments: small sculpture, clay plastic art, stone, bone and wood carving.

Entire areas of ancient artistic creativity have disappeared without a trace in the depths of millennia. Even a tree is preserved only in special conditions - in the extremely wet soil of peat bogs, and materials such as birch bark, fur, fabrics are extremely short-lived and are extremely rare in archaeological excavations. Ethnographic observations indicate that they were widely used by primitive people for the manufacture of art objects. But those few monuments of primitive art that have come down to us are extremely diverse and expressive.

2.1 Chronology of primitive art.

Stone Age(from 4 million ~ 4 thousand years BC)

Paleolithic(ancient stone age)

lower paleolithic

Middle Paleolithic

Upper Paleolithic (from 40 thousand ~ 8 thousand years BC)

Magdalenian period (from 20 thousand ~ 10 thousand years BC)

Mesolithic(Middle Stone Age)

Neolithic(new stone age)

Bronze Age(from 4 thousand ~ 1 thousand years BC)

iron age(from 1100 ~ to 19th century AD)

2.2 Art of the Paleolithic.

The Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) is the earliest and longest period in human history. Moreover, art originated only in the late (upper) Paleolithic, that is, about 40 thousand years BC, when, according to archaeologists, all types of visual arts.

At its core, Paleolithic art is naively realistic. He is characterized by a powerful elemental sense of life, masculinity and simplicity. At the same time, being vigilant towards individual items, primitive man could not yet grasp the whole picture of the world, generalize and connect phenomena between himself and nature. He did not master the composition, did not give a detailed plot, did not feel the space.

Monuments of the Paleolithic era have been found in large numbers in Europe, South Asia and North Africa. An outstanding place in this series is occupied by paintings on the walls and ceilings of caves, in the depths of underground galleries and grottoes. Early drawings are primitive: contour images of animal heads on limestone slabs (La Ferracy caves, Peche-Merle in France); random weaves of wavy lines, pressed into the damp clay with fingers - the so-called "pasta" or "meanders"; prints of human hands outlined in paint - the so-called "positive" or "negative" handprints. Monumental images were applied with a flint chisel on stone or paint on a layer of wet clay on the walls of caves. Earth paints, yellow and brown ocher, red-yellow iron ore, black manganese, coal and white lime were used in painting.

The art of the Paleolithic era reached its peak in the Madeleine period (25-12 thousand BC). In rock paintings, the image of the beast acquires specific features, animals are depicted in motion. In painting, a transition is made from the simplest contour drawing, evenly filled with paint, to multi-color painting, volumetric forms are modeled by changing the strength of tones. The most characteristic examples of the Madeleine period are associated with cave paintings - single images almost life-size, but not connected by action into a single composition: Altamira (Spain), Lascaux, Nyo (Nio), Font-de-Gaume (France), Kapova Cave (Russia) ) and etc.

AT late XIX in. cave painting was still unknown. In 1877 in Spain, in the province of Santander, archaeologist Marcelino de Savtuola discovered images on the walls and ceiling of the Altamira cave. The discovery was published, but the material turned out to be so unexpected and sensational that the archaeological community considered it a fake. Only in 1897 did the French archaeologist Emile Riviere manage to prove the authenticity of the images he discovered on the walls of the La Moute cave (France). To date, as a result of targeted searches, about a hundred caves with images and other traces of primitive man have been found in France alone.

In September 1940, one of the most famous primitive caves, Lascaux (Lascaux) in France, was discovered quite by accident. This cave, which modern researchers call the "prehistoric Sistine Chapel", was discovered by four boys who, while playing, climbed into a hole that had opened under the roots of a tree that had fallen after a storm. Lascaux has now been turned into a first-class equipped museum. Lascaux painting is one of the most perfect works of art the Paleolithic era. Its oldest images date back to approximately 18 thousand BC. The cave complex consists of several "halls". The most perfect part in terms of the quality of painting and excellent preservation is considered to be the “Great Hall” or “Hall of the Bulls”.

Shulgan-Tash Cave, better known as Kapova, is located in the Southern Urals in the Belaya River Valley on the territory of the reserve of the same name (Republic of Bashkortostan). Images of animals on the walls of the Kapova cave were discovered in 1959. They were contour and silhouette drawings made with red ocher based on animal glue. At present, speleologists have discovered 14 drawings of animals. Among them are mammoths, horses, rhino and bison. Most of the images are concentrated in the "Hall of Drawings", in addition, images were later found on the south wall in the "Hall of Chaos". In addition to the identified images of animals, geometric signs, anthropomorphic images and fuzzy contours shaded with ocher are marked on the walls of the cave.

In the era of the Upper Paleolithic, carving on stone, bone, wood, as well as round plastic art, developed. The oldest figurines of animals - bears, lions, horses, mammoths, snakes, birds - are distinguished by the exact reproduction of the main volumes, the texture of wool, etc. Perhaps these figurines were created as a receptacle for souls, which is in good agreement with the data of ethnography, they served as amulets-amulets that protected people from evil spirits.

The image of a woman - one of the main subjects in the art of the Late Paleolithic - was brought to life by the specifics of primitive thinking, the need to reflect in a "tangible" concrete-figurative form the idea of ​​the unity and kinship of primitive communities. At the same time, a special magical power was attributed to these images, the ability to influence the successful outcome of the hunt. The figurines of dressed and naked women of that period - "Paleolithic Venuses" - in terms of the perfection of forms and the thoroughness of processing, testify to the high level of development of bone-carving skills among the hunters of the Ice Age. Made in the style of naive realism during the period of matriarchy, the figurines with the utmost expressiveness convey the main idea of ​​this generalized image - a woman-mother, ancestor, homemaker.

If images of obese women with hypertrophied female forms are characteristic of Eastern Europe, then female images of Siberia of the Upper Paleolithic do not have such exaggerated modeled forms. Carved from mammoth tusk, they represent two types of women: "thin" with a narrow and long torso and "massive" with a short torso and deliberately exaggerated hips.

2.3 Mesolithic art.

In the era of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone Age), the development of the population of the south and north went in different ways. This difference was especially pronounced in economic activity, most closely associated with specific natural conditions each of the two zones. The law of uneven development of different regions came into force. And if in the southern regions during this period people begin to lead a settled way of life - tribes of farmers and pastoralists appear, then in the north traditional forms of economy continued to develop - hunting, gathering. With the retreat of glaciers in Europe, warming begins. Profound changes in climatic conditions have led to significant changes in flora and fauna. The reindeer, which served as the main prey of the Madeleine hunters, finally disappears in southern and central Europe. The object of hunting is elk, red deer, bison, wild boar, small animals, waterfowl. Fishing is developing intensively. The processing of stone tools is being improved, thanks to the invention of the boat, very vast spaces are beginning to be actively explored, the appearance of bows and arrows makes hunting more efficient. The emergence of patriarchy complicates relations between people. The role of magic intensifies, the naive perception of nature disappears.

These changes were reflected in art, especially in rock art. If Paleolithic cave painting consists of separate, unrelated figures, then Mesolithic rock art is dominated by multi-figure compositions that vividly reproduce various episodes from the life of hunters. Colorful and engraved images of a small size on the open rocks of Eastern Spain, the Caucasus, and Central Asia demonstrate a distinct new approach to the solution of the plot scene, due to the appeal to the compositional principle of the organization of visual material, on the basis of which an expressive and semantic whole is created, the narrative beginning develops.

The central place, both in terms of quantity and quality of images, belongs to the scenes of hunting and battles. "Fighting Archers" is one of the most striking Mesolithic compositions (Eastern Spain). The content of the image is related to the person. The battle itself is reproduced with the help of eight human figures. They are variants of a single motif: a person in rapid motion is depicted by somewhat zigzag dense lines, slightly expanding in the upper part of the “linear” torso, and a rounded spot of the head. The main pattern in the arrangement of figures is their repetition at a certain distance from each other.

2.4 Neolithic art.

Significant changes in the life of primitive society made it possible to call this period in the development of history the "Neolithic Revolution". The melting of glaciers, which left a mark in the memory of mankind in the form of a legend about the global flood, set in motion peoples who began to intensively populate new spaces. The most significant change was the transition to a productive economy, which involves a settled way of life with permanent settlements. Man learned to build new types of dwellings - on piles, structures made of sun-dried brick (raw), learned to defend his settlement. In the art of that time, images of people began to play an increasingly important role, the activity of the collective became the central theme of art.

The fine art of the population of Eurasia in the Neolithic era is represented by two areas: monumental rock paintings and small-scale art monuments - wooden, stone and bone sculpture, clay plastic and images on ceramics.

Ceramic production is one of the oldest on earth. The presence of an easily accessible material - clay - led to the early and almost universal development of ceramic craft. Initially, back in the Paleolithic, the main type of pottery was thick-walled vessels with porous shards and a round or conical bottom. They were molded by hand by building up individual bundles of clay. Crushed shells and crushed granite were added to the clay so that it would not crack when fired over an open fire. According to numerous fingerprints, it was established that the oldest ceramic vessels were made by women.

In the Neolithic era, mankind first learned how to skillfully make pottery. The richness of forms (jugs, bowls, bowls), ornamentation of Neolithic vessels allow us to consider them as artistically designed works of art. It is possible to trace the development of the ornament from the simplest patterns extruded with a stamp and a point (the so-called pit-comb type), covering the entire outer surface of the vessels in various combinations, to much more diverse and artistically expressive paintings, consisting of rhythmically alternating spirals, concentric circles, wavy lines , mesh and chess patterns, etc. The patterns were often multicolored. Combinations of red, white, black and other colors were used.

Neolithic masters knew and appreciated a clear rhythm, symmetry in the arrangement of the pattern, proportionality of forms and a strict ornamental composition. It is ceramics in its more or less mass production, due to its uniformity and slow evolution of decorative elements, that provides archaeologists with reliable chronological landmarks and allows us to talk about one or another archaeological culture, most often in one region.

The earliest samples include pottery from the settlements of Karadepe and Geoksyur in Central Asia. All signs of painting have a certain meaning associated with the emerging animistic (animate) perception of nature. In particular, the cross is one of the solar signs denoting the sun or moon.

Trypillian ceramics (Trypillia village, Ukraine) marks the next stage in the development of ceramics, dating back to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Significant changes are taking place in the content of the paintings. Trypillian ceramics depict wavy, zigzag lines, a running spiral, rhombuses, crosses, as well as people, animals - in other words, many elements. However, all abstract pictorial forms full of semantic significance. A wavy line is a river, a running spiral is the continuous run of the sun, the movement of time, rhombuses are symbols of a female deity who sends “heavenly moisture” to the earth, a cross is a solar disk, a zigzag line is a snake, the patroness of the house, mediator between heaven and earth, a symbol of rain , "herringbone" - a plant or cereal ear.

Ceramic painting was a kind of narrative about the surrounding reality in all its versatility and diversity. In the spotlight human consciousness no longer a single phenomenon (the beast), not a single action of people, a specific event in life human society(battle, hunting, dance, etc.), and the diversity of the surrounding world is a new, higher and more complex stage in the development of consciousness (including abstract thinking) of primitive man.

Separately, it is necessary to say about the development of the ornament, which appears not only on clay vessels, but also on other household items. The simplest ornament appears as a trace of weaving smeared with clay. In the future, geometric patterns appear (parallel stripes, double spirals, zigzags, concentric circles, etc.), plant motifs that have a variety of semantic meanings.

AT ancient sculpture Neolithic hunters-fishers found their embodiment two main themes: man and beast. Especially clearly the continuation of the traditions of Paleolithic art can be traced in zoomorphic sculpture. It is characterized by a realistic interpretation of the image, the thoroughness of modeling the muzzle of the beast, the stability of visual techniques in the transfer of individual details. The sculpture is dominated by images of individual animal heads, which is one of the features of primitive animalistic art. In the eyes of the ancient hunter, the head personified the very essence of the beast. The specificity of primitive thinking forced him to express this idea visually, and therefore the head was made disproportionately large, and its details were written out with particular care. This pattern is also observed when depicting the full figure of the animal.

Anthropomorphic figurines were made from the same materials as household items (wood, clay, bone, horn, stone). However, in certain historically formed groups, a certain selectivity of the material is traced, which is probably due to ethnic tradition and the purpose of specific images. One can also speak about the predominance of one or another type of image in individual centers of ancient art. The discovery of figurines of foreign types in such a focus indicates the existence of contacts between the population of different regions. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, conveying certain images of ancient mythology, were undoubtedly integral accessories of very specific religious rites. Anthropo-zoomorphic figurines, found in small quantities, symbolized the inseparable connection of man with the nature around him.

Another characteristic genre of fine art in the Neolithic era was petroglyphs - multi-figure plot compositions dominated by images of humans and animals. Petroglyphs were common in Northwestern Europe, the Urals, Siberia, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. They were knocked out on rocks or rocky river banks (“Boats, deer”, II millennium BC, Karelia).

2.5 Art of the Bronze Age.

Usually, two large periods are distinguished - the Eneolithic (Copper Stone Age) - the transition period from the Stone Age to the Metal Age and the Bronze Age (III - II millennium BC). Important milestones in the history of mankind are connected with the Bronze Age. First of all, this is the further spread of the productive economy - agriculture and cattle breeding and the development of a new material - metal, primarily copper and its alloys. At the beginning of the metal era, there was an expansion of contacts between peoples who lived in vast territories. This process was especially noticeable on the territory of the steppe Eurasia, where a productive cattle-breeding economy has been developing since the Paleometallic era. This was largely due to the new technical inventions, in particular, with the appearance of a wheeled cart, and in the Late Bronze Age, with the use of a horse for riding.

In the Bronze Age, with the introduction of new forms of economy and metal tools, a major social division of labor took place, which created conditions for regular exchange and increased property inequality. The craft is separated from agriculture, male labor is becoming increasingly important, which finally leads to the establishment of patriarchy, unquestioning obedience to the elder in the tribal community.

Since the end of the Neolithic, art has been enriched with more and more new subjects. The themes of images are expanding, new methods of conveying images are emerging, the role of figurative symbolism is sharply increasing, and the tendency to depict fantastic characters is becoming more and more tangible. On the other hand, there is a desire for stylization, simplification of the drawing. Images of animals appear less and less. Geometric ornament spreads everywhere, for which the main thing is the sign.

The art of the Bronze Age has a number of features. It is becoming more diverse and widely distributed geographically. Petroglyphs, images on stone steles and slabs, sculpture, small plastic art, ornament, use artistic images in the design of tools and household items - all this becomes a ubiquitous phenomenon. In the art of this time, for the first time, it is possible to trace vivid plots associated with the mythology of the ancient peoples, in particular the Indo-European ones. The images of ancient art become a kind of "pictorial language", a sign system understandable to related groups of the population. This feature of ancient art continues to manifest itself most clearly in the ornamentation of ceramics and other household items.

In the fine arts of the Bronze Age, two main areas can be distinguished: anthropomorphic and zoomorphic sculpture and household items - wooden, clay, stone, bone and bronze, as well as buildings of megalithic architecture.

For the ancient art of the European northwest, a kind of anthropomorphic clay plastic is extremely characteristic. A special group in it is made up of small human figures with a strongly curved body. Despite the plastic properties of clay, which make it possible to vary widely in forms, these images are made in strictly regulated canons. The image itself is extremely generalized: the arms are missing, the legs are transferred together. Details such as a massive protruding nose and a “visor” hanging over the face are accentuated.

Among the early monuments of primitive canonized art are anthropomorphic sculptures that are widespread in the southern regions of Europe and the Mediterranean, including the so-called “stone women” of the Northern Sea and the Sea - vertically standing, roughly hewn stone slabs with a more or less clearly marked head and arms folded on their chests. . Among the additional elements (bow, mace, staff), the images of a belt and a human foot are the most canonical. The signs of gender are not always indicated on the stelae, however, some indirect evidence indicates that most of the anthropomorphic sculptures of the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age correspond to their Russian nickname "stone woman". In France, where such images are found not only on steles, but also in the form of reliefs carved on the walls of numerous caves, they are considered the personification of the Neolithic goddess - the "patron of the dead."

There are also images of people in a tree (Eastern Trans-Urals). The variety of forms of anthropomorphic sculpture in the Early Bronze Age clearly shows that already at that time, as a result of the awareness of the social essence of man by the primitive collective, his image occupies one of the central places in the work of ancient masters.

Mastering the technique of bronze casting expanded the creative possibilities of the ancient masters. Bronze items, tools, weapons appear. Quite often the hilts of bronze daggers are crowned with the heads of animals, in particular elks. Made in metal, they continue the tradition of ancient wood and horn carving.

The art of bronze casting was especially evident in the objects of the Galich treasure (middle of the 2nd millennium BC), found in the Kostroma region and now located in the State Historical Museum in Moscow. Particularly interesting is the bronze dagger, the hilt of which is crowned with the head of a snake with an open mouth. In the slot of the handle there is an image of a crawling snake. Among the objects of the treasure there is a bronze mask-mask, repeating the main features of the faces of anthropomorphic male idols. It is crowned with two profile images of animals looking in opposite directions. The hollow figure of an animal with a long tail and a "beak-shaped" muzzle is also included in the hoard. In general, the bronze items of the Galich treasure are probably attributes associated with the formation of shamanism.

The most important phenomenon, almost universally characterizing the Bronze Age, was megalithic architecture. Monuments of megalithic architecture were closely associated with religious and cult tasks and thus went beyond the scope of direct utility. The relatively uniform nature of these ancient architectural structures, approximately the same time of their appearance in Europe, a huge number of them and an unusual wide use testify to the existence of some kind of homogeneous beliefs that existed among various peoples who erected these gigantic monuments everywhere from Ireland to Burma and Korea, from Scandinavia and Madagascar. Only in France there are about four thousand of them.

There are three types of megalithic structures:

• Menhirs - single cigar-shaped stone pillars up to 20 meters high - carry the features of both architecture and sculpture. Sometimes reliefs were carved on them, sometimes their shape approached the human figure (conventionally, “stone women” can also be attributed to menhirs). They were erected on a hill, and the power of impact on the viewer was achieved by contrasting the proudly rising vertical mass of a powerful monolith with the surrounding small wooden huts or dugouts.
• The architectural beginning is most strongly expressed in dolmens - most likely burial structures of several sheerly placed stones, covered with a wide horizontal stone slab. Dolmens are widespread in Western Europe, North Africa, the Crimea and Kakaz.
• More complex buildings - cromlechs. The most grandiose of them was erected at Stonehenge (beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, England) from huge roughly hewn tetrahedral blocks of blue stone. In plan, this is a round platform with a diameter of 30 meters, closed by four rings of vertically placed stones, connected by beams lying on them, forming a kind of giant round dance. The inner ring, in the center of which there is a stone slab, possibly an altar, is made up of small menhirs.

As a result of archaeological excavations inside megalithic monuments, either under them or near them, burial places are often discovered. This leads archaeologists to interpret the monuments as places of special significance for the funeral rituals that the agricultural communities of the area adhered to.

In New Grange (Ireland) there is a huge 11-meter mound of stones and peat. A corridor stretches 24 meters deep through the base of the mound, lined with massive stones from above and below. It ends with three rooms, also lined with stone. On certain days, the rays of the rising sun penetrate the corridor and illuminate the central hall, located in the very depths.

In Carnac (Brittany, France), rows of vertically standing stones stretched for several kilometers along the plain. Today, only 3,000 of the original 10,000 stones remain. Although not a single burial was found under the Karnak menhirs, there are many megalithic graves not far from them.

The hypothesis of some unknown unified cultural tradition is also supported by the fact that not only the very idea of ​​such structures, but also some symbols and decorative elements associated with them, including solar signs, are spreading. The possibility of connecting megalithic structures with the cult of the sun is also indicated by the fact that some of them (for example, Stonehenge) are oriented with their main axis to the point of sunrise on the day of the summer solstice.

2.6 Art at the beginning of the Iron Age.

The widespread use of iron finally supplanted stone tools and gradually completely replaced bronze tools in the 1st millennium BC, which led to further rapid development of human economic life.

The most famous works of art of that period are bronze and iron items found in Scythian mounds.

For the first time, the world learned about the Scythians more than 2.5 thousand years ago from the Greeks, who then began to explore the Northern Black Sea region and encountered warlike semi-nomadic tribes of skilled horsemen here. A whole book was dedicated to the Scythians in his "History" by Herodotus (5th century BC), who, it is believed, himself visited the Black Sea region and drove through these places.

There are two understandings of the term "Scythians": ethnographic and geographical. Actually, the Scythians lived in the Black Sea region, between the Danube and the Don. Greek and Latin texts have preserved several Scythian names and toponyms, from which it is clear that their language belonged to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. From modern languages closest to Scythian is the Ossetian language. In their appearance, as well as in the numerous definitions of skulls from excavated burials, the Scythians were undoubted Caucasians. Therefore, Blok's "slanting and greedy eyes" is a fantasy of the great poet. Conventionally, such tribes of the Scythians are called "European".

Nomadic tribes, close to the Scythians in language and culture, occupied a much larger territory - the entire belt of steppes from the Don to the Baikal region, including the foothills and mountain valleys of the Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Altai and Sayan. Recent excavations have found typically Scythian items not only in Xinjiang, where this is not surprising, but also in the hinterland of China, in Iran and Anatolia. Among the horsemen of the Asian steppes and foothills there were also many different tribes, whose names are mentioned in various ancient sources. In Greek, Iranian and Chinese texts, they were called, respectively, "Sauromates", "Massagets", "Saki", "se". These are the "Asian Scythians". Among the numerous finds in the burial mounds of European Scythia, along with objects bearing elements of the Greek and ancient Eastern artistic traditions, one can also see a “purely” Scythian style, the same in its stylistic features as in the images found in Central Asia and South Siberia.

Since the Scythians led a nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life, the main knowledge about their material culture was formed from the results of excavations of burial mounds, which are conditionally called "royal", since it was in them that the most luxurious, precious things were found. The brightest and richest finds from the Scythian and later Sarmatian mounds are presented in the Hermitage collection, which has accumulated over 200 years. At first (since 1726) it was kept in the first Russian museum - the Kunstkamera, and since 1859, since the creation of the Imperial Archaeological Commission - in the Hermitage. Now the ancient art objects of the Scythians and related tribes of the steppe Eurasia are also in many other museums in Russia (in Moscow - in the State Historical Museum) and foreign countries. They are also kept in the museums of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, in the museums of Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, in the USA (Metropolitan), in France (Guimet, Saint-Germain en Le), in England (British Museum) and in a number of private collections (for example, A. Sackler's collection in New York). Siberian museums store thousands of items of Scythian artistic bronze found in different time starting from the 17th century. and until today. Numerous gold and silver ornaments come from Siberian barrows.

The most famous burial mounds are Chertomlyk (right bank of the Dnieper) and Kul-Oba (Crimea). In each large Scythian mound, servants and concubines of the deceased were buried, as well as up to several dozen bridled and saddled horses. In one of the large burial mounds, about 400 horse skeletons, a whole herd, were found. A traditional "set" of personal adornments of the leader, adornments of horses and weapons, household items (in particular goblets) was found in the mounds. Numerous and varied weapons were decorated with gold plates, with embossed images covering almost the entire surface of scabbards, quivers, handles, axes, etc. characteristic feature Scythian arts and crafts is the dominance of the so-called "animal style", where the full-blooded image of the animal was combined with the ornamental solution of details.

For example, a find is considered unique - a goblet from the Kul-Oba burial mound. A rounded electric goblet, decorated in the lower part with a typical Greek pattern, in the upper half is covered with images arranged in a circle, representing a kind of sequential visual storytelling. There are seven figures of male Scythians on the goblet, six of them are arranged in three pairs, and one Scythian drawing a bow is shown separately. This emphasis allows you to see the central figure in it. Another bow hangs from his belt. Since only one bow was included in the usual set of Scythian weapons, the question immediately arises, what is the function of the second one? In 1970, the famous Moscow Scythologist prof. D.S. Raevsky carefully studied various variants of the Scythian genealogical legend, fragments preserved in Greek and Latin texts. From these options, the following pivotal plot of the legend about the origin of the Scythians was formed. In the mythology of every nation, there is a primordial ancestor, as a rule, a king. Among the Scythians, such an ancestor was King Targitai, born from the marriage of Heaven and Earth (usual for all Indo-European peoples mythologeme). He had three sons (also a very popular situation that turned into fairy tales): Kolaksay, Lipoksay and Arpoksay. Feeling the approach of old age and thinking about the heir, Targitai set a condition for his sons: the one who can pull his bow and gird himself with the royal armored belt will ascend the kingdom. The eldest son began to draw the bow, but the bow escaped from his hands and hit him on the jaw; the middle son's shin was injured by a rebellious bow, and only the youngest son coped with the task and became king.

2.7 Conclusions.

Art in its early stages historical development has not yet emerged as an independent sphere of human spiritual life. In primitive society, there was only nameless artistic creation, which belonged to the whole society. It was closely intertwined with primitive beliefs, but by no means determined by them. Primitive art reflected the first ideas of man about the world around him, thanks to him knowledge and skills were preserved and transferred, people communicated with each other. Art was associated with human labor activity. Only everyday work experience allowed the ancient masters to create works that not only go beyond their original purpose, most often a cult, but still excite us with the expressiveness of their artistic images.

With the emergence of civilizations, the knowledge and content of art deepens, its cognitive and aesthetic possibilities expand, all its types and directions develop, and professional artists appear. This process is accompanied by the loss of the naive immediacy characteristic of primitive art.

Lascaux (France)

Dolmen Crimea

Cova del Covalis (Spain)

Altamira (Spain)

Types of megalithic structures

• menhir - a single vertically standing stone
• cromlech - a group of menhirs forming a circle or semicircle
• dolmen - a structure made of a huge stone, placed on several other stones
• taula - a stone structure in the shape of the letter "T"
• trilith - a structure made of a block of stone, installed on two vertically standing stones
• seid - including a building made of stone
• cairn - a stone mound with one or more rooms
• covered gallery
• boat-shaped grave

Purpose

The purpose of megaliths cannot always be established. For the most part, according to some scientists, they served for burials or were associated with a funeral cult. There are other opinions as well. Apparently, megaliths are communal structures with a socializing function. Their construction was a most difficult task for primitive technology and required the unification of large masses of people. Some megalithic structures, such as the complex of over 3000 stones at Carnac (Brittany) France, were important ceremonial centers associated with the cult of the dead. Other megalithic complexes have been used to determine the timing of astronomical events such as the solstice and the equinox. In the area of ​​Nabta Playa in the Nubian desert, a megalithic structure was found that served for astronomical purposes. This building is 1000 years older than Stonehenge, which is also considered a kind of prehistoric observatory.

The art of primitive man. Elena Orlova.

ART OF THE PRIMARY MAN

"Looking for a better life humanity will remember more than once the free man of antiquity: he was close to nature, lived with her soul to soul, knew her beauty. He knew something that we have not known for a long time.
The movements of the ancient are whole, his thoughts are strictly expedient, his sense of proportion and striving for decoration are acute. To understand the Stone Age as a wild lack of culture would be a mistake of ignorance. In the pages of the time of the stone that have come down to us, there is no bestial primitiveness. In them we feel a special, too distant culture from us.
N.K. Roerich Stone Age.

It is customary to mistakenly believe that our distant primitive ancestors were ignorant savages, completely devoid of modern sophistication, grace, taste and sense of beauty. But this is far from true. And evidence of this is the art of primitive man, free and proud, inextricably linked into a single whole with Mother Nature, subtly and sensitively feeling her true beauty and striving to display it, to decorate his life in all available ways.
We still have a lot to learn from the so-called "savages" of antiquity. And, above all, the ability to subtly feel the beauty in the surrounding world and timid attempts to convey this beauty in his first works of art. What is art, if not a passionate desire to decorate, to improve what we see around us, to bring Beauty into the space around us, to create something with our own hands as beautiful and better as possible? Art can just as well adorn our everyday life as the galleries of luxurious palaces and museums. In the same way, primitive man strove for beauty, convenience and order in his everyday life, for that he is a man, and not a beast, in order to live at random. It is art and the bright ability to create that distinguishes man from the beast and elevates him to God. For the destiny of man is Creativity, which ultimately leads him to Cosmic Creativity.

The art of primitive man is replete with a variety of graphic drawings and silhouettes, bright picturesque images made with mineral paints, miniature sculptures carved in stone or skillfully molded in clay; as well as decorative stone and bone carvings; reliefs and bas-reliefs, fancy ornaments.
If such an art existed at that time, then we can say with full confidence enough high level culture of the Stone Age man and refute the speculation about his supposedly primitive "savagery".

Primitive man for the first time masters such materials as bone, stone and clay, then metal, he takes the first timid steps, trying at first clumsily and slightly rudely to process them. He tries his hand and every time his work becomes more beautiful and perfect. What an indescribable joy in these first attempts to embellish your life, clothes, appearance, how much sincere genuine enthusiasm is hidden in these first creations of primitive art! Imagine how these little masterpieces were created: rock paintings, figurines of ancient goddesses, amber beads and pendants, how much painstaking work, patience and love for their creation was invested in them.

How much charm is fraught with the ancient stone age. How many more mysteries and mysteries we have to unravel, how much to think ... What did primitive people think about, how did primitive people live, what did they worship? The main deity of ancient man was the sacred Fire, Agni. They worshiped fire, prayed, made sacrifices. He was deified. Without fire, there would be no life. Fire warmed, food was cooked on it. He was considered the life-giver and keeper of life. Worshiped by ancient people and the feminine. The woman was revered as a goddess and the keeper of the hearth.*

Paleolithic art reflects the rich inner world of primitive man. Cave painting, bone engraving, primitive sculpture were closely connected with the life and magical beliefs of people.
Primitive artists most often used in their work mineral and vegetable paints, chalk, coal, ocher. The drawing process itself was considered magical and was accompanied by special spells and rituals. The sculptural images of animals and people abounded with decorative ornaments, which also contained a magical meaning, since magic played a huge role in people's lives.

The painting of primitive man is unusually expressive. Depicting the animal, the primitive artist tried to convey the remarkable strength of the beast, its greatness and formidable power in the most realistic way. What inspiration comes through in these seemingly unrelated numerous murals depicting animal grace in motion, hunting scenes, etc.
How virtuosic are the ornate inscriptions in the Altamira cave. They are made with special grace, care and airy lightness. Soft smooth lines of the picture are woven into a complex pattern. Overweight clumsy figurines "Venus" ** embody the ideal of femininity of ancient man. In his own way, he knew how to see and appreciate female beauty. His vision of beauty was expedient. This vision included the veneration of the female deity and the female essence, as the progenitor of the clan, the protector, the coast. A woman, with her appearance and presence, brings peace and harmony, harmony and order to the family, therefore she is worshiped as a goddess.
The advent of ceramics introduces a new, fresh, clean stream into primitive art. Chaotic matter in the hands of a reasonable person before his eyes turns into a malleable material, and then into a harmonious harmonious creation. This is a new victory over the blind forces of material nature. The harmony of creation triumphs over chaos, just as reason triumphs over flesh. A new conquest brings new possibilities and polishes new facets of human skill.
This skill was reflected in the intricate decoration of the vessels, the more complex pattern of the ornament, its geometric harmony and proportionality. There is more and more room for creative inspiration and imagination of the artist. Clay is a softer and more malleable material than stone, and the primitive potter can realize his designs with greater ease. Painting acquires more decorative and harmonious features. The images are dynamic, graceful, despite the lack of perspective and sketchiness, they seem to float in the air and this makes them seem even more airy, light and elegant. Stylized fantastic images of Tassili-Adzher are a whole symphony and a riot of colors... Intricate petroglyphs on the shores of Lake Onega, mysterious rock signs are evidence of long-forgotten magical cults. In these drawings, the main idea is clearly visible - to assert the power of man over Nature, to become its king and triumph over the surrounding world. How majestic this attempt is to subjugate the forces of Nature. Let with the help of magic and rituals, but to curb the recalcitrant chaos, make the world around us a harmonious, organized whole and master it. This idea, reflected in primitive art, contains the greatest audacity of a person to become not a slave, but the master of the world around him, to conquer it instead of blindly submitting to it.

Literature
L. Lyubimov Art of the Ancient World
Russia and the world Reader for basic school, book 1. ID ASPU, 1997
Childhood of mankind Uch. History guide. Comp. E. Schneidstein, Astrakhan-1993.

* With the advent of settled life, continuing to use rock canopies, grottoes and caves for living, people began to arrange long-term settlements - parking lots, consisting of several dwellings. The so-called "big house" of the tribal community from the settlement of Kostenki I, near Voronezh, was of considerable size (35x16 m) and apparently had a roof made of poles.It is in this kind of dwellings, in a number of settlements of mammoth and wild horse hunters dating back to the Aurignac-Solutrean period, that small sculptural figures depicting women were found carved from bone, horn or soft stone (5-10 cm). Most of the statuettes found depict a nude standing female figure; they clearly show the desire of the primitive artist to convey the features of a woman-mother (breasts, a huge belly, wide hips are emphasized).
Good examples of such figurines were found in Western Europe (figurines from Willendorf in Austria, from Menton and Lespug in southern France, etc.), and in the Soviet Union - in the Paleolithic sites of V villages Kostenki and Gagarino on the Don, Avdeevo near Kursk, etc. Figurines of eastern Siberia from the sites of Malta and Buret related to the transitional Solutrean-Madlenian time are more schematically executed.

** The earliest primitive sculpture is the so-called. "Paleolithic Venus" from Willendorf (about 30 thousand years BC). It is difficult to judge how much this first statue is connected with reality. It is hard to believe that this creature with a huge, hypertrophied lower part and sagging breasts from constant feeding was the standard of beauty for the people of that time. Perhaps there is some exaggeration of volumes here, conveying the idea of ​​motherhood, fertility, femininity. The face is not shown on this small figurine: it is covered by a cap of curly hair. Most Venuses of that time can be called faceless.

Curiously, the sculptures Paleolithic Venuses common in the glacial region and do not go far to the south. It is no coincidence that they "choose" a cool climate. Two seasons of the year are clearly distinguished here: summer - hunting, "male", and winter - sedentary, "female". And the more stable the settlement, the higher the role of a woman in the life of the community, the stronger the unity of the clan around her.

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Primitive art, despite its external simplicity and unpretentiousness, is of great importance in the history of mankind as a whole. The development of its various types continued for millennia, and in some regions of the planet - for example, in Australia, Oceania, and some of America - it existed in the 20th century, changing its name to "traditional art".

art

The most ancient monuments of art of the primitive world belong to the ancient Stone Age - the Paleolithic (approximately 40 thousand years BC). Basically, these were rock paintings on the ceilings and walls of caves, in underground grottoes and galleries in Europe, North Africa and Early drawings were extremely primitive and displayed only what a person saw in his Everyday life: animals, prints of human hands smeared in paint, etc. Earth paints, ocher, black manganese, white lime were used for painting. As the art of the primitive period developed, the drawings became multicolored, and the plots became more complicated.

Thread

In addition, wood and bone were intensively developed, people learned to make full-fledged figurines. Most often, again, animals were depicted: bears, lions, mammoths, snakes and birds. When making such figures, people tried to recreate the silhouette, the 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 settled way of life and needed a permanent, reliable home. Depending on the habitat of a particular people, many new types of houses appeared - on stilts, from dried bricks, etc.

Ceramics

The most important place in the history of art is occupied by ceramic products. For the first time they also began to be made in the Neolithic era. People learned to use an accessible and easy-to-process material - clay - long before that, in the Paleolithic, but they began to make really 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 Trypillian 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 the burial places.

Decorations

Throughout all stages, primitive people sought to decorate themselves and their clothes. Jewelry was made from all available materials: shells, prey bones, stone, clay. Over time, having learned to process bronze, iron and other metals, including precious ones, people acquired skillfully made jewelry, which still amaze us with its beauty and elegance.

The art of the primitive era is of paramount importance, because it is with its appearance that the strongest leap in evolution is often compared, which forever separated man from the beast.