The Ancient World

The first ever recognised piece of artwork recorded in the world is known as the 'Venus of Willendorf'. 'The Venus of Willendorf is a sculpture of a woman, whom has no arms, Large breasts, small legs, no feet and no facial features. However, there is a reference to the hair style through through a rough pattern on top of the head. The statue is only roughly 11cm in height and 4cm in width. Which is very small. However you can see the beauty within the small sculpture, especially as the artwork has been dated back to roughly around 25,000 BCE.

Venus of Willendorf [1]

I have found some artwork which was created by an artist called, 'Jaqueline Cavalanti', which to me resembles the 'Venus of Willendorf', in how the sculpture has no arms and no real features. The stance of the sculptures are nothing alike, just the basic and simple ways in which they have been produced. You can tell that both sculptures are people, however you can't make out anything but them being of women, due to the representation of the breasts and womanly form. In addition the modern piece of artwork is created using different materials, the 'Venus of Willendorf is created using stone, whereas the 'Sensual Woman' is created using bronze.

Sensual Woman [2]

Now onto other artworks from 'before civilisation' in Egypt. We are looking at the 'caves of swimmers', which is ancient artwork of paintings of people on cave walls. The paintings are known to have been created i the neolithic period, around 8,000 years ago. They are called the 'caves of swimmers' due to the figures painted looking as if they are swimming on the walls of the caves.

Caves of Swimmers [3]

Looking at the cave paintings. You can look at other artists such as 'Alberto Giacometti' who I believe has used the 'caves of swimmers' as influence to some of his own work. You will be able to see the comparisons in that the figures are quite simple/abstract, and the lines are not very flowing. The lines will be rigid on the cave walls due to the rocky surface, but I believe that Giacometti purposely created a rough texture in his sculptures. He used bronze to create the following sculpture which shows 3 tall and slim figures and is known as 'Three Men Walking'.

Three Men Walking [4]

You can see the influences in the work of Giacometti by comparing the sculptures to that of the cave paintings. It shows how artwork from thousands of years ago can still influence artists centuries after it was created.

Moving onto Ancient Greece, I am now going to look at is some greek pottery and how modern artists of today have used this to influence their own work. Greek pottery was very symbolic and included oats of visual representations. Most of their pottery is based around their cultural beliefs and the everyday life of their society. The prime time for greek pottery was between 1000 and 400 BCE. Below is an example of greek pottery which doesn't use many colours. It uses black and yellow/red/orange colours.

Greek Pottery [5]

Th artist who I am going to look at and compare the greek pottery to is called 'Grayson Perry' who is a well recognised British artist. He has created modern day pottery which is the typical rounded vase shape. But it contains symbolic references of todays society/world. I really like this style of vase, it shows representations of buildings, aeroplanes, bikes, cctv and many other things. I believe he has used the greek pottery to influence his work by purely the idea of todays society. He doesn't really have any repetitive patterns like the greek pottery, but he does also use very simple and boring colours, in the black, white/cream and orange/brown colours.

Grayson Perry 'The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman' [6]

Through the examples I have shown above, you can see how artwork, no matter when it was created, influences future artwork. I believe that the modern examples of the artwork are just developed versions of the older artwork. The Ancient World was a platform for the artwork we see in today's world and the work being created now will be a platform for artwork for centuries to come.

Image Reference
[1]http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venus_of_Willendorf_frontview_retouched_2.jpg
[2]http://sculpture.novica.com/abstract/bronze/bronze-sculpture-sensual-woman/170935/
[3]http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/africa/gilf_kebir_cave_of_swimmers/index.php
[4]http://www.fondation-giacometti.fr/en/art/16/discover-the-artwork/
[5]http://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Pottery/
[6]http://artobserved.com/2012/02/london-grayson-perry-the-tomb-of-the-unknown-craftsman-at-the-british-museum-extended-through-february-26-2012/