I (Steve) have been interested in sculpture all my life. I used to make models out of plasticine and pipe cleaners when I was a kid. I was never really interested in things like airfix kits, only stuff made from raw materials from scratch. When I went to Art School in the 1960’s, apart from losing what little faith I had in my ability, the main thing I got out of it was the joy of working in three dimensions.
I made an occasional something over the years, out of wood, play dough, sand or snow, some more realistic, some abstract. I have recently revisited metal sculpture. I have studied Art History throughout my life and talk to people about sculpture, making and landscape at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
I think humans have always had a need to make things that remind us of the world, that have some sort of meaning to us, that try to communicate with others, that are visually arresting, that stir up some sort of emotion, that retain something seen in found objects of material, that reflect and adapt to their surroundings. It is a drive I have, whether I am ‘good’ or not.
Here are some examples.
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- Art the Early Days
Chimp keeping up with the craze for grass in the ear decoration That picture is serious. Scientists have discovered that chimps adopt self decoration fads and crazes like grass in the ear.
This first bit of our art history covers a nice vague stretch from ‘the beginning’ to some time over three thousand years ago. As the latest indications are that hominids and probably Home Sapiens have been making tools since around 2.7 million years ago, that is a long time. Indications are also that different types of hominids overlapped, and in some cases, interbred for a lot longer than previously thought, so the history isn’t limited to Homo Sapiens.
Those early tools were made for over 300,000 years in the area around Kenya. That means that there was a consistent culture passing on ideas and skills. As animals use props to impress others, it is highly likely that humanoid groups did the same. Unfortunately evidence is slim. Apart from rare preservation specimens (like Ötzi, the Alpine hunter preserved in ice from around 5,000 years ago), most artifacts made by early people are hard to find. The most commonly preserved things are hard materials like bone, stone and metal. Metal items particularly can be associated with richer individuals. Even large objects, such as canoes, are rare. The earliest so far, 10,000 years ago, is quite likely not the first. Items used by everyday people may not be as long lasting.
The earliest known musical instrument is a flute from around 50,000 years ago but even before that there may have been less robust noise makers and alongside that people will have vocalised and danced. They will almost certainly also have decorated themselves in some way.
In Australia indigenous art dates back beyond 20,000 years and that is from a people who had to migrate over millennia before they got to Australia. Discoveries are still being made using better dating techniques and both in Australia and Indonesia it is thought that examples may date from over 50,000 years ago.
When talking to people about art, I often mischieviosly refer to larger artworks and buildings as Totalitarian art. By this I mean work where someone has so much power and ego that they can commision art that is grandiose. Unfortunately people often admire this sort of art without thinking too much about the conditions involved in its production. I think all forms of craft and art have value. Some just grab you visually or emotionally and this effect varies from person to person. Some have more intellectual content or more subtle emotional effect than others and these often benefit from more study. No matter what the artist puts into the work, or thinks about it can sometimes be completely at odds with what people take from it. Interpretation is a personal and difficult thing. The further back in time we go, and the further from our own cultural assumptions, the more we need to take care before judging the work.
This post is a work in progress and I will add some visual examples of work and more detailed discussion to it over time.
Below is a list of selected early artifacts by date. The obvious, non building, art is in bold, but there will be art in later buildings, such as Knossos.
When (years ago 2025) What Where 2,750,000 Earliest stone tools, continous 300,000 year use Kenya 2,700,000 Neanderthal fossils UK 1,500,000 Bone tools Tanzania 500,000 Shell Jewelry Morocco 300,000 Homo Sapiens, oldest currently known remains Morocco 120,000 Fur and Hide clothing Morocco 73,000 Abstract crayon drawing South Africa 52,000 Rock art Indonesia 50,000 Bone Flute Germany 40,000 Venus of Hohle Fels, female figurine Germany 12,000 Tel Qaramel stone towers Syria 11,000 Deer head mask Yorkshire Karahan Tepe, building remains Turkey 10,000 Tower of Jericho Palestine Pesse Canoe Netherlands 9,000 Mhergarh ,large stone buidling remains Pakistan Dayan Mask, carved mask Israel 7,000 Barmenez ‘the Prehistoric Parthenon’ France 6,000 La Houque Bie, Passage grave Jersey Knap of Howar, Stone house Scotland 5,500 Sechin Bayo Peru 5,250 Tarxien Temples Malta 5,000 Tarkhan Dress, oldest known woven clothing Egypt Otzi, preserved hunter and artifacts Tyrol 4,700 Egyptian Pyramids Egypt 4,600 Dholavira, Large buildings and well planned town India 4,330 Fortified pyramid China 3,800 Knossos Crete 2,600 Temple of Cyrene, comparable to Parthenon Libya 2,400 Parthenon Greece