Ideas about the function and purpose of art have changed dramatically since the emergence of ‘fine art’ in the 16th century. European oil paintings like this 18th-century image of an unidentified, lavishly dressed gentleman by Joseph Blackburn (below) were used by the wealthy as a way to demonstrate their status through their clothing, possessions, and houses. However, the art encountered in archaeology is more difficult to define. For example, many controversial interpretations have been proposed for cave art, including a suggestion that paintings of animals, like this bison from Chauvet Cave (bottom), were used as teaching aids for apprentice hunters.
We start with a quotation from an art exhibition handout:
The artist brings the viewer face to face with their own preconceived hierarchy of cultural values and assumptions of artistic worth. Each mirror imaginatively propels its viewer forward into the seemingly infinite progression of possible reproductions that the artist’s practice engenders, whilst simultaneously pulling them backwards in a quest for the ‘original’ source or referent that underlines Levine’s oeuvre.
