Early Humans: Culture Cave Art c. 15,000 BCE Chauvet & Lascaux Caves (France)
Artist’s “Canvas” People of prehistoric times were excellent big- game hunters consistently brought home food. Did not need to work very hard and had plenty of leisure time Art = FUN! Art during this time may have been a teaching tool for kids to learn lessons about the hunt.
Sympathetic Magic Sympathetic Magic making an image of something gives the artist power over whatever the image represents Drawing wounded/incomplete animals could create real wounded, dead, or weakened animals = EASY to hunt
Vision Quest Walls & floors of caves = boundaries between this world and the spirit-world Shaman communicates with and interprets the supernatural: – Dark, silence, isolation) – Hallucinogenic drugs – Pain (handprints on cave walls sometimes show mutilated hand prints) Cave art = PORTAL to the supernatural world