Reply To: Prehistoric Abstraction

[Dean Riley]

The first point is that most of the sculptures and paintings were not meant to elicit joy in those viewing them. They were meant to perform a function. As long as a general understanding of what was trying to be represented was gained, an accurate depiction was not needed. Another point is that the carving, drawing, and painting implements that prehistoric artists were using were rudimentary at best. They were not using brushes and chisels. They were using branches and sharp rocks. When using those items, details would not be easily obtained and therefore the final piece was more abstract. A third point is in many of the carvings they wanted to draw attention to different areas such as a large belly and large breasts to show fertility.