SCULPTURE IN PREHISTORIC ART
Prehistoric art is dominated by parietal art, such as cave painting and cave petroglyphs. Sculpture, being a form of portable or mobiliary art and thus more prone to destruction or loss, is less common, though no less significant in revealing the intellectual and artistic progress of the culture or artist involved. After all, plastic art is invariably more challenging and complex than two-dimensional arts such as drawing or painting. Not surprisingly, therefore, as Stone Age tools improved in quality - from primitive all-purpose implements to highly specialized instruments with differing shapes, blades and weights - so did Stone Age art. Not surprisingly, therefore, the arrival of anatomically modern man, who replaced Neanderthal Man during the period (c.50-20,000 BCE), had a major impact on both tool culture and sculpture in the Upper Paleolithic era, notably during the Aurignacian, Gravettian and Magdalenian periods.
Below is one major work of Prehistoric Sculpture :
Woman or 'Venus' of Willendorf
c. 28 000 - 21 000 BCE, lime stone
The meanings and the characteristics of this sculpture :
- Reproductive organ emphasized : huge breasts, belly, buttocks, navel
- Hair in clumps arranged in rows, or maybe it is a woven hat
- Deemphasized arms, face, legs, no feet
- She was never meant to stand up
- Face may have been painted
- Traces of paint on the body
- Venus is a name given to the object after its discovery as a way of comparing it to the ancient goddess of beauty
- Its true purpose is unknown
