Week 7: The Culture of Art

1. I think the cave artists were trying to say many things with the cave paintings. I think they could have been trying to say practical things such as writing down information or a story. I also think they were trying to display beauty and while they might have been trying to say other things, I think they were doing art for the sake of art. The saw beauty or spiritualness in animals and so they drew the animals to show the beauty they saw. Underneath all of arts messages, there is a beauty to it and the purpose of capturing something beautiful.
2. I think the majority of paintings were animals because they were not egotistical as a culture. They  maybe saw more beauty in animals then they did in themselves. I think they saw something spiritual, magical, or mysterious in the animals. They saw something that they admired or were curious about is what I think. They is also the possibility that to be able to hunt the animal they needed to know the animal better, so they drew what they knew about the animal. It did say that when humans were drawn, they were simplistic and shown in hunting parties. 
3. The paintings tell us that they were hunters. They saw value in the paintings because it took hard work to paint them especially in some areas. It could have been a form of communication or written history. They were most likely a spiritual culture and they were smart. They used lamps, portable light sources, developed pigments, and used scaffolds to create these paintings. 
4. They encountered several difficulties. They needed light because the caves went deep and were not supplied by natural light. Some areas were too high and they needed scaffolds to reach the areas. The developing of the paint to paint the drawings. The rock formation was also a difficulty. Some areas of the rock were formed so that it was hard to paint on it or so that it was hard to engrave on it.
5. As the website discusses, they do have a seasonal pattern that is consistent in all of the paintings. The cave artists could also be trying to give their people something beautiful to look at or trying to tell a story. They could have also been trying to show something spiritual or magical. I think it is combination of all three reasons and there could also be other other reasons we have not discovered or  may never discover. 

2. I think all of the functions of art in early humans still exist today. They are still present in our art forms even if more functions have been added to modern art. Art is still used for story telling, recording of history, spiritual or magical purposes, and the capturing of beauty. Art still exist and is still being made that performs at least one of these functions. Every art form you can think of, dance, paintings, music, literature, all have been used for all of these functions. The Lascaux caves could have been used as a calendar or to copy information down. Modern art also has this is all art forms like poems and paintings. It could have been used for spiritual or magical purposes. This is even more common in modern art, think of poems or music. It could have also been for beauty. This is in every form of modern art, think of dance, literature, and paintings. 


3. 

1. This image displays two of my favorite art forms. This image is a painting by Degas. Degas is an impressionist and a realist painter. I love the art form of painting and impressionism and realism are my favorite types of paintings. The second art form is the form of dance called ballet. Degas has many paintings centered on ballerinas. Dance is another type of art form I love and ballet is my favorite type of dance. Paintings are trying to communicate a message. Degas is trying to communicate beauty and realism. Often his paintings try to show the loneliness, such as in this painting. Ballet has the function of displaying beauty as perfection and storytelling. Every ballet is a story through dance and not words.
   
2. There is a culture around every art form and there are subcultures in that culture. There is an art culture that is filled with artists, art enthusiast, museum curators, gallery owners, art collectors, and others. I would say they all behave more sophisticated and there are different dress between the different members of the culture. Mostly, the dress more sophisticated. Within that culture, there are subcultures surrounding different types of art. For example, abstract, impressionism, and surrealism. Ballet also has its own culture filled with ballerinas, artistic directors, choreographers, and people who go and see ballets on a regular schedule. They also behave sophisticated. The ballerinas want perfection. On stage, there is a certain type of costume the ballerinas wear and you dress formally when attending ballets. 
3. The art form does not have any detrimental affects. Art can please, shock, or repulse you and that is what it is supposed to do. It is supposed to give you a perspective on something and provoke thoughts. It is also to capture a moment in time and to capture beauty. Although all art forms may not appear beautiful, I think in all of their own ways each art form is beautiful. It has a certain magical element to it. It benefits society because it makes you think and gives you different perspectives. It opens your eyes to history and to new things.