FINE1001: Introduction to Western Art History Lecture #2
Prof. Greg M. Thomas Sept. 6, 2018
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The Origins of Western Art
THEME: What is civilization?
OUTLINE: (main topics of the lecture)
1. Prehistoric art: making sense of life and time (c.30,000 B.C. – c.3,000 B.C.)
a. the magical functions of art
b. cosmology and early ‘architecture’
2. Defining western civilization
a. the two meanings of “civilization”: complex organization vs. civilized society
b. defining civilized society: technology, morality, culture
c. who has civilization?: the agency of creating, possessing, or enacting
d. where is civilization?: boundaries of space and time
3. Civilization in ancient Mesopotamia (c.3500 B.C. – c.1800 B.C.)
a. cities, writing, and ideology
b. communicating with the divine: temples and temple art
c. asserting royal power: public sculpture
4. Civilization in ancient Egypt (c.3100 B.C. – c.1100 B.C.)
a. reinforcing religion and power both symbolically and physically
b. visualizing authority: royal sculpture (sign vs. resemblance)
c. visualizing life and the afterlife: early forms of painting (sign vs. resemblance)
IMAGES: (main images, which you can access via Moodle; dotted lines indicate divisions
