Day 151 - Neolithic Near Eastern art
May 9, 2019
Galley 402 goes even further back in time and contains what must be some of the museum's oldest objects, some dating to the 8th millennium B.C.E. Most come from Israel, Iran, and Turkey. Those lent by the Israel Antiquities Authority are, not surprisingly, of particular interest to me. Excavated from a site near the Golan Heights and dating from the 7th millennium B.C.E, they include pebbles incised with lines - yet another suggesion that the impulse to create art out of the simplest resources imaginable may be a general human instinct. There are also small clay figures of women that, according to the placard, may have been images of fertility goddesses. Of course I realize that monotheism arose in response to something different; nonetheless, it's a bit jarring to me to see these goddess figures that hail from the land where the belief in one god was presumably born. I also learn that, by a few millennia later (the 4th millennium B.C.E., to be exact), the art of casting copper by the lost-wax method had been developed in Israel; some fine examples are on display.
I chose two objects for today because they exemplify what seem to me to be two key themes in Neolithic art: the importance of the female form and the sensitive rendering of animals. The first is a small (perhaps 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches high) alabaster figure of a reclining woman made during the late 7th millennium B.C.E. in Southwestern Anatolia. She lies on her side in a fetal position, her knees drawn up. I can't make out her head or arms, but her huge breasts, pendulous belly, and massive buttocks instantly identify her gender. In her fleshiness, she reminds me of the paintings of Lucian Freud. We associate heavy bodies with middle age, I think, but I wonder if in the Neolithic period they were instead markers of youth and fecundity. This figure certainly looks as though she could be a fertility symbol.
The second object, from southwestern Iran, is a silver pendant of an antelope, perhaps 4 inches long, dating to 3100-2900 B.C.E. (I wish the placard included an explanation of how the object is thought to have been used and what it was suspended from.) The animal is finely made - I note in particular its sagging belly, upturned tail and ears, and, especially, its curving horns, which are almost as tall as the creature's body. The maker of this object was evidently deeply familiar with the animal; his work seems to capture its essence.
I chose two objects for today because they exemplify what seem to me to be two key themes in Neolithic art: the importance of the female form and the sensitive rendering of animals. The first is a small (perhaps 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches high) alabaster figure of a reclining woman made during the late 7th millennium B.C.E. in Southwestern Anatolia. She lies on her side in a fetal position, her knees drawn up. I can't make out her head or arms, but her huge breasts, pendulous belly, and massive buttocks instantly identify her gender. In her fleshiness, she reminds me of the paintings of Lucian Freud. We associate heavy bodies with middle age, I think, but I wonder if in the Neolithic period they were instead markers of youth and fecundity. This figure certainly looks as though she could be a fertility symbol.
The second object, from southwestern Iran, is a silver pendant of an antelope, perhaps 4 inches long, dating to 3100-2900 B.C.E. (I wish the placard included an explanation of how the object is thought to have been used and what it was suspended from.) The animal is finely made - I note in particular its sagging belly, upturned tail and ears, and, especially, its curving horns, which are almost as tall as the creature's body. The maker of this object was evidently deeply familiar with the animal; his work seems to capture its essence.
Upon reflection, it makes sense that, during an age when human life was iffy -- when agriculture was still in its infancy and wild beasts remained an important food source -- fertility and animals were important motifs for Neolithic artists.
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