Art has endured for as long as man. Societies show evidence of it through figurines, prints, structures, or beautifications and even implements. Art from culture and pre-historic works from the year c.20,000 to 15,000 BCE is named ‘Solutrean Art’ after a region in eastern France (Abadía et al.). In this era, a vibrant and enduring metamorphosis occurred. Later on in the 18th
century came realism, an art movement that focused on representing reality (Knudsen). The two movements mentioned form the basis of this essay. In the next paragraphs, I will discuss, highlight artists, give examples, compare and contrast and relate the influence of the culture on ours today.
Solutrean art was upper Paleolithic art and culture. Outstanding artworks included engraved pictographs and stone friezes, (Abadía et al.). Pot-bellied and Short-limbed animals were often drawn, with both technique and expression showing mastery in the use of stone tools. Whereas preceding art from this era focused on dangerous animals like rhinos, bears, and lions, Solutrean art was dominated by big herbivores like bison and horses. The variation in art suggests a rapidly evolving culture with less fear of danger due to enhanced tool making. Other symbols, signs, and expressions of this culture showed some astronomical knowledge.
‘Realism’ refers to the truth in something. The culture began after the revolution in France in the 1840’s to the 1880’s. Harris, in Art History: The Key Concepts contends that it is two dimensional. It carefully depicts elements and also expresses sensitivity, selection, and psychological emphasis, (Harris). Further, there was rendering that evokes physical nature and material nuances in objects and human bodies. Gustave Courbet is a pronounced artist from this age.
The similarities of Solutrean and realism art cultures can be summarized into three based on the use of color, perspective and representation of reality. Perspective refers to the technique of creating illusions of depth and space on a flat surface (Abadía et al.). Through this, art appears real since it has form and distance. In some Solutrean works like cave art, there was twisted perspective such that an animals body was depicted in an outline configured in such a way that some details like horns can be seen from the front (Abadía et al.). In Realism like A Burial at Ornans, Courbet used linear perspective to ensure that the heads of all mourners are almost level, (Knudsen). In this way, he ensures that there is no prominence of anyone more than the other.
The use of color in images first appeared during the Solutrean period. Colors were used to achieve a dramatic effect in artworks. To make them, mineral oxides such as carbon, and either iron or manganese were used, (Abadía et al.). Their palette, therefore, had three colors red, yellow and black often used singly to create specific meaning. In Realism, the use of color was similarly used to achieve the desired meaning. In A Burial at Ornans colors used are not only dim but also monochromatic, (Knudsen). The purpose is to match the mood of the event as well as the faces of the mourners.
Solutrean art like Realism attempted to present real art. Cave art from the period depicts animal representations, geometric signs, and imprints of human hands among others. Fortifications in some of the caves have black depictions of rhinoceroses, horses, mammoths and other beasts that lived then, (Abadía et al.). Realism art as well as attempts to create subjects that truthfully represent the subject matter, (Abadía et al.). In a painting like A Burial at Ornans, a dog is clearly painted, so are the people, vegetation and everything else, (Knudsen). The purpose is to provide clarity.
Two major differences exist in the two art cultures: the lack of uniformity and the strictness in the use of figurative images. Whereas Realism art culture consistently produced similar artworks that generally fit the same criteria, Solutrean art did not, some works had realism while others did not. therefore, realism only existed in arts in which it was the main purpose in the art (Abadía et al.). The realism in Solutrean art was affirmed only when the focus was on figurative images, (Abadía et al.). However, some art from the period also had non-figurative images like geometric shapes which contrasts with the pureness of Realism that tended to capture only real objects.
Our culture today appreciates both realism and pre-historic art since the two cultures exemplify human creativity seen through the use of different media in creating different art forms. Art culture today is chronicled through modern studies like anthropology and archaeology. Masterpieces from the stone age art and realism have been translated into video art, video games and animations such as ‘The Croods’ (Wolf). Additionally, some of the geometric and other abstract shapes from the time are now symbols and shapes in modern subjects like Mathematics, (Wolf). The advancements in the use of photography today mirrors the need to present things in the manner in which they naturally occur.
In conclusion, the movements discussed in this essay clarify that realism and Solutrean art cultures shared significant similarities but also major differences. Nonetheless, society has built on these ideas to both reconstruct early history and adopt such art in modern culture. Despite the differences, the two share universal success in telling how art has evolved with culture across timelines.
Works Cited
Abadía, Oscar Moro et al. "'Naturalism’ And The Interpretation of Cave Art". World Art, vol 2, no. 2, 2012, pp. 219-240. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/21500894.2012.689258. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.
Harris, Jonathan. Art History: The Key Concepts. 1st ed., New York, Routledge, 2006,.
Knudsen, Stephen. "Gustave Courbet Overview and Analysis". The Art Story, 2018, https://www.theartstory.org/artist-courbet-gustave.htm. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.
Wolf, Justin. "Modern Art - Modern Art Terms and Concepts". The Art Story, 2018, https://www.theartstory.org/definition-modern-art.htm. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.
