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Throughout history wall art has been used for a variety of purposes, for religion, decoration or as propaganda. The choice of media for wall art has also evolved through the ages. The first examples of wall art began with nomadic cave paintings and evolved into fresco and relief sculpture until the discovery of mosaics which transformed churches and mosques. This gallery will take a look at the evolution of wall art starting with Paleolithic art and ending with Islamic art. More specifically this gallery will explore the evolution of techniques and materials, as well as the relationship between the materials used and the intended function of the wall art throughout history.

Our journey begins with the Paleolithic cave paintings found on the ceilings of the Lascaux Caves. Paleolithic people lived in unstable nomadic societies, these people were constantly struggling to survive, and their art reflects this struggle. Hunting was a huge part of their survival which is why in Lascaux Caves - Hall of Bulls there are many depictions of animals such as bulls. They drew animals in order to try and control the uncontrollable aspects of the world around them. Nomadic people were on the move most of the time so the cave was a semi permeant place that they could return to and add to generation to generation.

Overtime people are able to settle down in one place because of the domestication of land and animals. As a result, people had more time; with this extra time people felt inclined to start burying and caring for the dead. Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt is a relief sculpture that was created to honor the dead. This piece would have been buried with Ti and the Egyptian people thought that it could help guide him to the afterlife. More free time also meant that people had more times to experiment with new types of art. We start to see fresco used to create ornamental pieces for the interior of palaces. Fresco is the technique of adding water-based pigments to wet or dry plaster. Dolphin Frescos is an early example of this technique. Dolphin Frescos also introduces a stylistic change, for the first time we see an artist trying to accurately depict the world around them. Evidence of this is in the vein-like background that attempts to mimic the way that light passes through water. The Greeks and Romans master this and it is later called naturalism. In addition to changing media people also had the free time for recreational activities. Bull Leaping Fresco is one of the earliest depictions of recreational activities. It is important to note that the figures and bull in this piece are highly stylized in order to emphasis movement. Many figures at this time are elongated and depicted in profile to show the most descriptive view of the figure which will change in the near future.

The domestication of civilization brought its own challenges, instead of struggling with nature to survive people started to fight each other for resources. This led to an increase in militarization and a new purpose for art emerged: propaganda. The Ishtar Gate is a goliath brick structure that stands at the entrance of Babylon it is a visual and propagandistic way to show the political and militaristic strength of the city. The gate also stood as a warning to those approaching the city. Bulls as we have already seen in Hall of Bulls are very common subjects for art and they have come to represent strength and power. Putting the image of the bull on the gates is another visual way they show their power to visitors.

The rise of Greek and Roman culture turned the focus toward the individual. The human figure became the focus of art and the introduction of the cannon of proportion and contrapposto make it possible for artists to achieve highly naturalistic sculptures. The human form became the muse for representing abstract ideas such as religious figures. The Elgin Marbles depict scenes from the life of the Greek Goddess Athena. And Female Personification (Tellus?) personify the ideas of Pax Romana, victory, prosperity and harmony. Sculpture has become the leading media for art allowing Romans to take naturalism to the next level with an interest in verism or hyper-realism. Until a new media emerged with early Christian art.

Increasing instability in the Roman Empire brought about the rise of Christianity when Emperor Constantine became a patron of Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century. Churches and Mausoleums began to pop up everywhere and with them art to decorate the walls. Mosaics became the most popular media to use inside churches because light would reflect off the mosaics and add to the heavenly quality of the space. Christ as Good Shepherd, has an other-worldly feel because of the striking blues and golds used to represent divinity. The interior of the Mausoleum of Galla Pacidia is covered with mosaics. What is interesting is that the outside of the Mausoleum is very plain with little ornament. This intentional choice is meant to create contrast between the unholy world outside and the divinity of heaven on earth. Justinian, Bishop Maxinianus, and Attendants, is another mosaic with a different purpose. This piece is meant to act as a surrogate for Justinian to establish his eternal presence at Christian mass.  Yet another use of mosaics is in Islamic mosques. Unlike Christian mosaics Islamic mosaics take an aniconic approach, meaning that their religious art rejects depictions of humans and animals. Mihrab (Prayer Niche) combines geometric patterns with calligraphy to create symbolic representations of their beliefs.

Wall art has slowly evolved from this point to the modern wall art we know today as wallpaper or graffiti. Both of these modern examples have very different purposes just like the examples of wall art that influenced them. From this moment forward wall art will continue to change and evolve to conform to new purposes and desires, but it was the nomadic cave painting, Minoan frescos, Greek sculptures, and Byzantine mosaics that shaped the world we live in today.

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START HERE
Throughout history wall art has been used for a variety of purposes, for religion, decoration or as propaganda. The choice of media for wall art has also evolved through the ages. The first examples of wall art began with nomadic cave paintings and evolved into fresco and relief sculpture until the discovery of mosaics which transformed churches and mosques. This gallery will take a look at the evolution of wall art starting with Paleolithic art and ending with Islamic art. More specifically this gallery will explore the evolution of techniques and materials, as well as the relationship between the materials used and the intended function of the wall art throughout history.

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-Paleolithic-                     Lascaux Caves - Hall of Bulls, Lascaux, France, c. 15,000-10,000 BCE, Paint on Limestone. [Lascaux, France] 

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-Paleolithic-                     Lascaux Caves - Hall of Bulls, Lascaux, France, c. 15,000-10,000 BCE, Paint on Limestone. [Lascaux, France] 

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During this time Paleolithic people lived in nomadic societies where nature dictated many aspects of their daily lives. The subjects of these pieces are often animalistic in nature because of their reliance on hunting for survival. The animals are depicted in composite view and are highly stylized. This cave is a generational site meaning that over time different people would contribute their own piece to the walls. Paleolithic people purposefully painted on the ceiling to ensure the longevity of the site.

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-Ancient Egyptian-               Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, Tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Fifth Dynasty, c. 2450-2350 BCE, Painted limestone relief. [Saqqara, Egypt]

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-Ancient Egyptian-               Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, Tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Fifth Dynasty, c. 2450-2350 BCE, Painted limestone relief. [Saqqara, Egypt]

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The subject of this piece is a government official by the name of Ti, this piece was created to be placed in his tomb. In the piece Ti is engaged in a hippopotamus hunt which is a representation of his power and influence because he policed the Nile when he was alive. Hierarchy is very important in Egyptian art, in this piece Ti is the largest figure in the piece to represent that he is above the common person.

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Catalogue Entry (1)                      Comparison of Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt and Bull Leaping Fresco.

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Catalogue Entry (1)                      Comparison of Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt and Bull Leaping Fresco.

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Bull Leaping Fresco is a snapshot in the evolution of wall art. It has very clearly been influenced by Egyptian culture and the styles and religious symbols in the fresco will inform wall art created after. Egyptian wall art such as Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt continues to use the composite view of the figure that has been consistent in all the pieces you’ve seen so far starting with Hall of Bulls from the Paleolithic Period. The Egyptians do start to use hierarchy to emphasis the most important parts of the piece. For example, Pharaohs and depictions of gods are larger and take up more room in a piece of art to show their status. In Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt the largest figure is Ti himself while the rest of a hunters are much smaller than him and are rendered more realistically.  Bull Leaping Fresco is implementing the same composite view of the figure, but the Minoans start to stylize the figure by elongating them and synching the waist.

It is important to note that unlike Egyptian wall art the figures in Bull Leaping fresco seem to be floating with only a border and blue background to keep them from jumping right off the wall. The color blue is significant because it symbolizes divinity. And we see this same idea used in Early Christian art for example in the mosaic Christ as Good Shepherd. In Byzantian mosaics we see this idea evolve and gold is used in the background to represent a holy space. You will be seeing an example of this later in the exhibit.

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-Minoan-                       Dolphin Fresco, Queen Megaron, Palace at Knossos, c. 1500 BCE, Fresco. [Knossos, Crete]

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-Minoan-                       Dolphin Fresco, Queen Megaron, Palace at Knossos, c. 1500 BCE, Fresco. [Knossos, Crete]

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This Fresco is depicting a birds-eye view of the ocean with dolphins, fish and sea urchins or barnacles around the edges. The Minoans have started to take an interest in realism. The artist is attempting to mirror the world around them, there is a vein-like affect in the background that mimics the way that light passes through water. Similar to the Hall of Bulls this site was also a generation space, where each generation would add collaborative elements (you can see this in the border).

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-Minoan-                             Bull Leaping Fresco from the east wing of the palace of Knossos, c. 1400 BCE, Fresco.[Knossos Crete]

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-Minoan-                             Bull Leaping Fresco from the east wing of the palace of Knossos, c. 1400 BCE, Fresco.[Knossos Crete]

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This fresco depicts a man performing a flip over a charging bull such as would have taken place in bull sports important to Minoan culture. All the figures are highly stylized with wasp waists and delicate muscles. The figures are also wearing ornamental clothing suggesting that this might be depicting a rite of passage ritual. The bull is also stylized to emphasis movement. The blue background tells us that there is a religious element because blue is associated with a divine space.

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-Neo-Babylonian-          Ishtar Gate, Babylon Iraq, c. 575 BCE, Glazed brick. [Berlin State Museum, Germany] 

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-Neo-Babylonian-          Ishtar Gate, Babylon Iraq, c. 575 BCE, Glazed brick. [Berlin State Museum, Germany] 

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The Ishtar Gate stood at the north entrance to welcome guests into ancient Babylonia.  It was constructed for King Nebuchadnezzar and is dedicated to Ishtar the goddess of fertility, love, and war. This gate also had a propagandistic function it represented Babylon’s political and militaristic function. The use of lapis lazuli, an expensive material, is a statement of Babylon’s wealth and power. Sacred animals are depicted in a strict profile and placed in a pattern meant to exemplify the Kings ability to control the world around him.

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Wall Text(1)                           The Rise of Naturalism

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Wall Text(1)                           The Rise of Naturalism

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With the rise of Greek culture there is an emphasis on the worth of the individual called humanism. Humanism is about creating work that stresses the importance of the human figure instead of divine or celestial forces. When we do see the representation of Gods/Goddesses they are very realistic and resemble ordinary people. Where depictions up to this point created a distinction between divine and ordinary people through contrast of scale and material. There is a growing interest in sculpture and naturalism. Naturalism is the practice of accurately representing the world through detail. Roman artists took this idea to the next level with Verism or hyper-realism. Many artists moved away from fresco and started to master stone, marble and bronze sculpture. The introduction of contrapposto and the cannon of proportion only added to the realism and sculptural reliefs started becoming a crucial part of Greek and Roman architecture.

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-Greek-                              Elgin Marbles, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, c. 447-432, BCE, Marble relief carving. [The British Museum, London] 

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-Greek-                              Elgin Marbles, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, c. 447-432, BCE, Marble relief carving. [The British Museum, London] 

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The Elgin Marbles were once sculptures part of the Parthenon. These specific pieces used to be part of the east pediment or the triangular part of the roof. The figures are depicting scenes from the life of the Greek Goddess Athena. The figures themselves are naturalistic in the way they are rendered, but not only are they realistic, their form follows the slope of the pediment; as if interacting with the environment and architecture around them.

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-Roman-                         Female Personification (Tellus?), Marble East Façade of the Ara Pacis Augustae, c. 13-9 BCE, Marble relief carving. [The Museum of Ara Pacis, Italy]

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-Roman-                         Female Personification (Tellus?), Marble East Façade of the Ara Pacis Augustae, c. 13-9 BCE, Marble relief carving. [The Museum of Ara Pacis, Italy]

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The Ara Pacis was dedicated to peace, an ideal instead of a God/Goddess. The sculptural elements reinforce the idea of Pax Romana. The alter is a fusion of portraiture, politics, religion and allegory imagery. Which is fitting because it’s a frieze meaning that the images all connect as they wrap around the alter. One of the reliefs depict an allegorical figure that represents how Augustus’s rule is bringing prosperity and harmony between the Roman people and nature.

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Wall Text(2)                              The Rise of Christianity

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Wall Text(2)                              The Rise of Christianity

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The Rise of Christianity started with Roman instability. Christians where heavily persecuted but continued to spread the word of the bible. Symbols or typologies were developed to represent Christian ideas, recognizable as religious only to the faithful. One example of this is the fish which is a Greek acronym for Jesus Christ, Son or God, Savior. The Conversion of Constantine helped end the persecution of Christians when he accepts Christianity as the only accepted religion of the Roman Empire. This brought around a boom of religious artwork and a new medium called mosaics. Mosaics are images created out of tiny pieces of glass or ceramics placed in mortar to hold them in place.

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-Early Christian-           Christ as Good Shepherd,  Mausoleum of Galla Pacidia, Ravenna, Italy c. 425- 450 CE, Mosaic. [Ravenna, Italy]

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-Early Christian-           Christ as Good Shepherd,  Mausoleum of Galla Pacidia, Ravenna, Italy c. 425- 450 CE, Mosaic. [Ravenna, Italy]

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This Mosaic is an iconic depiction of Christ as protector over his flock. He’s dressed in gold and blue for divinity, there are also hints of the sacrificial purple. The golden staff in the shape of a crucifix represents Christ’s salvation, which is appropriate because it’s directly over the spot where Galla Pacidia is buried. Mosaics are very expensive and time consuming to make, the small pieces of glass are meant to reflect light and add to the heavenly quality of the space.

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-Byzantine-               Justinian, Bishop Maxinianus, and attendants, Mosaic, North Wall of Apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, c. 547 CE. [The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

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-Byzantine-               Justinian, Bishop Maxinianus, and attendants, Mosaic, North Wall of Apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, c. 547 CE. [The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

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This piece depicts Justinian, Bishop, and attendants and soldiers. This mosaic acted as a surrogate for Justinian, it establishes his presence in Christian mass, though he never actually set foot in San Vitale. The gold background elicits a holy, eternal presence. Justinian’s wealth is represented in his clothing and the halo suggests that he is counting himself as the 13th apostle. There are religious symbols throughout the piece like the Chi Rho on the soldier’s shield.

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Catalogue Entry (2): Comparing Justinian, Bishop Maxinianus, and Attendants and Mihrab (Prayer Niche)

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Catalogue Entry (2): Comparing Justinian, Bishop Maxinianus, and Attendants and Mihrab (Prayer Niche)

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Both of these pieces are mosaics, but the subject matter is handled very differently despite the fact that these are both created for religious spaces. Mihrab (Prayer Niche) would have been located on the qibla wall and was meant to focus prayer. Its mosaic is very different from the Early Christian mosaics because of its lack of figurative imagery. For the Islamic faith human and animal motifs are not meant to be used in a religious place, this idea is called aniconic. Instead, Islamic mosaics rely on complex pattern and geometry paired with calligraphy to represent higher meaning. The complexity of the patterns are meant to stress the importance of unity and order. And the calligraphy spells out passages from the Koran in Kufic script. While having an aesthetic appeal it would also attempt to transmit text through ornament. Justinian, Bishop Maxinianus, and Attendants also has text in it is merely a label to point out Bishop Maxinianus. The Bishop was the one who was most likely in charge of the completion of the mosaic, so he had his importance exaggerated, which is why he is the front most figure and the only one labeled.

Aniconic imagery is not only practiced in the Islamic faith for a short time early Christians experienced iconoclasm or the destruction of religious icon. Many icons of Christ were placed in churches with the intention of being used to help guide people to prayer. Instead, people started to worship the icons causing a lot of controversy. As a result, many Christ icons were destroyed, and the cross was the only Christian symbol used for quite a while.

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-Islamic-                        Mihrab (Prayer Niche), Iran, Isfahan, c. 1354-55 CE, Mosaic. [The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

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-Islamic-                        Mihrab (Prayer Niche), Iran, Isfahan, c. 1354-55 CE, Mosaic. [The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

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The aniconic nature of the piece suggests it was built for a sacred place, because Islamic religion rejects the depiction of humans and animal in religious art. This object is a prayer niche that is decorated with elaborate blue mosaic designs that combine calligraphy and vegetal patterns. The patterns show the importance of unity and order to Islamic belief and the calligraphy, for those who couldn’t read it, is a visual depiction of the text.