ART AS CULTURE
ART AS CULTURE 1. Functions of Early Art: As I virtually walked through the Lascaux cave paintings, I wondered what the animals and symbols meant. It seemed like the ancient artists were connected to nature and relied on hunting for food. There were many animal pictures, but few people. I think the paintings were a way for them to tell stories about their environment and how they fit into it. The paintings might also have been used for ceremonies, showing their spiritual world. The many animals shown suggest they respected and relied on nature. I think that the absence of human figures in the paintings is due to their focus on showcasing their relationship with the natural world, daily challenges and visualizing themselves hunting those animals through sympathetic magic. Mainly because most of the animals painted in the caves were predators, such as cave bears and lions, rather than prey. The ancient practice of sympathetic magic involves causing harm to an image of an animal, bel
