Paleolithic: Art

“Originality” and “variety” in expression were not important to the artists of the Paleolithic period like they are to artists today. The aim of the painter above all was to create a convincing image of the subject - to create a naturalistic/ realistic documentation of life.

Paleolithic: Old Stone Age [paleo=old] c. 30,000 - c.10,000 B.C.E.

• Man lived in caves or shelters dug in the earth. Roofs were made with hides supported on branches or tusks and sometimes covered with earth.
• Man fashioned weapons [such as spears] and tools out of bone, tusk, and flint rock.
• Man was concerned with the afterlife. This is indicated by evidence of ceremonial burials.
• Man was interested in personal adornment, and the beautification of his surroundings. This time period contains the beginning of “art” as we know it - the first evidence of painting, sculpture and jewelry.
• This time was the end of the Neanderthal Period and beginning of the Cro-Magnon period in the development of man.

The major values expressed in the art of Paleolithic society were:
Reproduction Nourishment Regeneration Survival

paleolithic Venus Figures

“Venus” figures have been interpreted as:
1.Fertility symbols
2.Expressions of ideal beauty
3.Erotic images
4.Ancestor figures
5.Dolls to help young girls learn women’s roles.


Figures always contain large, heavy breasts, a protruding belly, and wide hips. The other appendages were much less important - if they we carved at all, they were highly simplified.

[This is a good example of abstraction - the reduction of shapes and appearances to basic yet recognizable forms that are not intended to be exact replications of nature]