Pictorial Space throughout Art History: Cézanne and ... - ARAS

ARAS Connections Issue 2, 2012
Plate 16: Paleolithic sculpture
In La Dame de Sireuil the overall
geometric form, a cylinder, is strongly felt. There
is strong tension between the mass of the
buttocks which pull up and right and the mass of
the belly which pulls down and left. The
shoulders also pull up and right against the
belly. There is also tension between shoulders
and thighs; here the shoulders pull up and right
and the thighs pull down and left. The figure is
highly plastic.
In the sculpture of a bison, the overall
geometric form (a brick shape) is again strongly
felt. There is powerful tension between the
Plate 16-1 La Dame de
Sireuil. Translucent calcite,
height 35/8". From Sireuil,
Dordogne, France. 35,000
BC. Musée des Antiquités
nationales, Saint-Germainen-Laye.
shoulders and the hindquarters, and between the head and the hindquarters.
There is also strong tension between the forelimbs and the hindquarters, between
the fore and hind limbs,
and between the hind
limbs and the hump of the
back. Again, the figure is
highly plastic.
Plate 16-2 Bison. Reindeer antler, length 4". From
La Madeleine, Dordogne, France. 20,000 BC.
Photo: source unknown.
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