paraphrasing

Through the course, there were the artworks that changed and affected across cultures and time periods. As art is a product of context, it serves as a medium which allows evaluation of theculturesin the distinctive past from the present time. By evaluating the aspects of particular artworks, we can derive a general idea of how art influenced the cultures. Before we evaluate the artworks, it is important to mark the relationship between the development of art and of religion. Each time periods and each culture contains numerous influences in the area of art from the religion.

During the Paleolithic period, the artworks produced during this period are reflecting the pure instinct of human desire which is to survive. In other words, artworks were not granted any further meaning other than to express individual inspiration. As the society was in its primitive form that the interaction among human being was solely for survival, the common subjects for artworks were female human forms, such as Venus of Willendorf and Laussel Woman. Both figures have exaggerated breasts and pubic area that they are representations of people’s preoccupation with women. Such preoccupation of desire to expand population of the community since it was the only way to ensure the survival of the species.

However, as the primitive society developed into a more organized society, Neolithic society, the formation of religion started emerging. As people shifted from primitive life style, food gathering and hunting, to agriculture, people could enjoy the more stable life. The development of agricultural society contributed to the formation of art and religion. People’s preoccupation of female’s birth giving capacity was substituted with hope for continuous good weather for prosperous harvest. However since the weather was beyond human being’s ability to control, people started seeking for a supernatural power. As a result, it gave a birth to religion. People believed that they can have good weather through religious rituals. This people’s way of seeking a supernatural power was also expressed in artworks.

Compared to the artworks from Paleolithic period, to simply express a community’s desire, the Romanesque artworks convey more sophisticated goals. As the Christianity emerged and started holding a great influence over the public, it often served social and political purpose. Since Christian beliefs became the most common social conventional laws for people’s daily life, the artists portrayed Christian subject matters with strategic purpose. In particular, during the Romanesque period, in order to enforce the highness of clerics who often ruled even above kings, many religious artworks such as South portal of Saint-Pierre and colophon of the commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus, were created. They often take Christian subject, the last judgment, to implant a sense of fear among the public in order to enhance the social leverage of clerics. This type of strategic use of artworks is often found in current days also.

The degree of development of cultures during the three periods, Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Romanesque were different that the degree of artworks was also different. The purpose of artworks changed from simple expression of community’s desire to enhancement for political leverage the religion has. These artworks which were exemplified above are surely products of their contexts which allow us to examine the development of artworks from ancient time.