How Animals in Art Can Reflect Cultural Values Essay Example

small delicate brush strokes, so it looks perfect and like paradise in a storm. The Lascaux cave paintings cover the wall of several caverns known by names like the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery. The images are of bison, horses, deer, and big cats, all animals from Paleolithic times. Some of the animals appear a bit distorted and the length of the largest bull is 18 feet. In the Lascaux cave paintings there are only earthy colours used. These images were scratched and painted using tools made of stone and bone.

Many of the images are made on top of each other. Most of the images use strong line and are a sideways view. Some of the images show perspective, in one painting one bison overlaps another, and some paintings have a three dimensional effect. There is no design element or style of painting; the animals were painted for spiritual and cultural reasons, not for pleasure or decoration, so there is not much hidden meaning behind the pictures. These pictures are not meant to be decoration, but were part of the culture of the new Stone Age people.

Animals are sometimes used to symbolize ideas and concepts that are important to particular cultures. As cultures differ, many types of art develop and some symbolized ideas or concepts influenced by that society or culture. Other influences may be race, gender, scientific or technological innovation. This is called the cultural frame. The cultural frame is there so that we can ask why an artwork is created and what its purpose is. In Surprise, which was painted in 1891 Rousseau was influenced by the idea that

jungles were amazing, exotic places with untouched beauty or paradise.

Rousseau painted what he though ‘paradise’ would look like, with animals roaming free, green plants intertwined, flowers blooming endlessly. Rousseau lived in a time of developing technology, with the link to the telephone and radio signals evolving. He was hearing about the beauty of foreign lands. He was inspired by botanical books from France, and used his mind to create an image of perfection. Rousseau was a relatively wealthy man through his teachings of the piano and art so it was easy for him to access art supplies and buy materials.

People admired his work, though because of his childish manner of painting, he earned himself many critics as well. The childlike qualities of his work resulted from a trend amongst some artists of the time to revolt against the idea that art was a sophisticated and difficult process. They felt they were in danger of losing their artistic souls and becoming manufacturers of paintings and sculptures. The only way to avoid this was to paint using simplicity, which they felt could not be learnt. The ideas behind the Lascaux cave paintings are simple.

It is thought our ancestors may have drawn pictures of animals hoping for a successful hunt and to celebrate the kill. We don’t know much about the artists who created these images, and details of their cultural framework are sketchy and based on assumptions. Prehistoric people depended on animals for their existence as they were sources of food and clothing. The art that is left from this time reflects this dependence as there is very little else depicted apart from animals in the cave

paintings. There are no plants or landscapes, and relatively few people represented.

Animals were of basic fundamental importance to these people and the fact that they are chief among their images is only natural. As shown by these examples, animals can be used to reflect cultural values in art. They are important in many aspects, and represent the artist’s thought, feelings, dreams or religion. Art reflects the artist’s values and intent. Therefore subject matter, its purpose and the manner in which it is depicted will also reflect something of that culture in which the artist exists.