Deep history

Humans have been making art since well before the last ice age. Starting with handprints on cave walls, maybe the simplest form of self-expression, people have been reaching out to the eternal. What lasts and gets found is only a tiny sliver of all that has been made, which makes these pieces even more special.

A warty pig painted in red ochre on a limestone cave wall — Sulawesi warty pig

Before c. 43,500 BCE

Leang Tedongnge, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Red ochre on a cave wall. A mineral layer over the painting establishes a minimum age of about 45,500 years. The painting could be older.
Griffith University / ARKENAS
Enhanced view and tracing: Oktaviana · CC BY-SA 4.0

An upright figure with a lion's head and a partly human body, carved from ivory — Lion Man

c. 38,000–34,000 BCE

Hohlenstein-Stadel, present-day Germany

A lion-headed, partly human figure carved from mammoth ivory. Its meaning is unknown, but the imagined being is unmistakable.
British Museum background
Photo: Dagmar Hollmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Catalog record

A small dark fired-clay human figure with rounded forms — Venus of Dolní Věstonice

c. 29,000–24,000 BCE

Dolní Věstonice, present-day Czechia

A small fired-clay figure, among the earliest surviving ceramics. People were making ceramic sculpture long before farming.

Photo: Petr Novák, Wikipedia; guidance: Danny B. · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Catalog record

A carved bison with its head turned back toward its body — Bison Licking Insect Bite

c. 13,000–12,000 BCE

La Madeleine, present-day France

A bison carved from reindeer antler, turning its head back toward its body. The pose fits the small fragment it was carved from.

Photo: Thilo Parg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Catalog record

A pale plaster human figure with large dark-outlined eyes — ʿAin Ghazal figure

c. 6500 BCE

ʿAin Ghazal, present-day Jordan

Plaster shaped over a reed framework, with dark-outlined eyes. A striking human presence from an early farming settlement.

Photo: Michael Gunther · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Catalog record

A green jade seated figure with a bovine head and pointed horns — Jade figure with a bovine head

c. 4700–2920 BCE

Northeast China, probably Hongshan culture

Carved nephrite jade. Holes near the shoulders suggest this small seated figure was suspended as a pendant.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

An earthenware portrait head with a stirrup-shaped spout — Portrait Head Vessel

200–550 CE

North Coast, Peru · Moche

An earthenware vessel shaped as a human head, finished with colored slips. Made on Peru’s north coast in the Moche tradition.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

A colorful tile painting of Fitna carrying a bull before a mounted king. — Bahram Gur and Fitna

c. 1625–1650 CE

Iran

A story told across painted tiles: Fitna carries a bull, demonstrating to King Bahram Gur what practice can achieve.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art · Public domain

A starling perched among the leaves and blossoms of a neem branch. — Brahminy Starling on Neem Tree Branch

1780 CE

India · Sheikh Zain al-Din

A natural-history study from the Impey Album, painted by Mughal-trained artist Sheikh Zain al-Din in opaque colors and ink.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art · Public domain

Mount Fuji rendered as a red slope beneath a blue sky with bands of clouds. — South Wind, Clear Weather

1830–1833 CE

Japan · Katsushika Hokusai

Also known as Red Fuji. Hokusai turns the mountain into a bold arrangement of color and shape, printed from carved woodblocks.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art · Public domain

Hands holding wooden puppet controls and fine strings in a monochrome photograph. — Hands of the Puppeteer

1929 CE

Mexico City, Mexico · Tina Modotti

Modotti focuses on the hands and strings behind a puppet performance. A gelatin silver print, photographed in Mexico City.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art · Public domain

A white mosque with a steep, tent-like folded roof and four slender pointed minarets, set against green hills — Faisal Mosque

1986 CE

Islamabad, Pakistan · Vedat Dalokay

Dalokay replaced the traditional dome with a folded concrete shell, often compared to a desert tent. Four slender minarets stand at its corners.

Photo: Ali Mujtaba · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Catalog record

A black stencil of a masked man throwing a colourful bouquet of flowers, painted on a white garage wall — Love Is in the Air

c. 2003 CE

Beit Sahour, West Bank · Banksy

A masked protester winds up to throw, but the bomb is a bouquet of flowers. Banksy stencilled it on a garage wall beside the main road into Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem.
Wikipedia background
Photo: jensimon7, cropped · CC BY 2.0