DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0024
PREHISTORIC PERIOD IN EUROPE
It is ill these implements of the Reindeer Age that we find our
first works of art; and we notice that they are the everyday
things of life, embellished.
The purpose of the Head of a Whinnying Horse (Pl. i c) is un-
Fig. 4. How the Modem Eskimo (Y) and t^ie Australian (s)
Use the Dart-Thrower. (Dechelette)
piece of ivory tusk. (De Mortillet)
known, for it is a fragment. This tiny work well expresses the
spirit of the wild horse, a few firm lines revealing all the essential
features of form and spirit. And this was done, we must remem-
ber, with only
a piece of flint for an instrument. In the Charging
Mammoth (Fig. 5) we
have the entire figure
in silhouette, with no
indication of perspec-
tive, and with two legs
only. The huge
monster is infuriated,
with head and tail
raised in anger. Yet
only a few essential
lines have been used to
indicate the form, both
as a structure and as an
expression of the angry passion that dominates it. There is no
shading, no unnecessary detail, no background.
In contrast to the vigorous movement of the wild horse and
the raging mammoth, we find in the Grazing Reindeer (Fig. 6) a
quiet aspect of animal life. How truthfully is expressed the weight
of the head, heavy with the great antlers, as the animal lowers
It is ill these implements of the Reindeer Age that we find our
first works of art; and we notice that they are the everyday
things of life, embellished.
The purpose of the Head of a Whinnying Horse (Pl. i c) is un-
Fig. 4. How the Modem Eskimo (Y) and t^ie Australian (s)
Use the Dart-Thrower. (Dechelette)
piece of ivory tusk. (De Mortillet)
known, for it is a fragment. This tiny work well expresses the
spirit of the wild horse, a few firm lines revealing all the essential
features of form and spirit. And this was done, we must remem-
ber, with only
a piece of flint for an instrument. In the Charging
Mammoth (Fig. 5) we
have the entire figure
in silhouette, with no
indication of perspec-
tive, and with two legs
only. The huge
monster is infuriated,
with head and tail
raised in anger. Yet
only a few essential
lines have been used to
indicate the form, both
as a structure and as an
expression of the angry passion that dominates it. There is no
shading, no unnecessary detail, no background.
In contrast to the vigorous movement of the wild horse and
the raging mammoth, we find in the Grazing Reindeer (Fig. 6) a
quiet aspect of animal life. How truthfully is expressed the weight
of the head, heavy with the great antlers, as the animal lowers