Rock Art in South AfricaGrade 10 Art History

Background:

Late Stone Age people in South Africa who were

ancestors of the San, created most of the rock

art in South Africa.

Rock art is found on rock faces that form

shelters or overhangs.

Even though there was no contact between the

people overseas and in South Africa, the rock art

has many similarities.

Lascaux, France

South Africa, Eland Hunt

Materials and Techniques:

Two types of techniques: Petroglyphs-

engravings/carvings and Pictographs- paintings.

Pigments (colouring): clay, charcoal, plants, mixed

with blood or animal fat and other natural liquids.

Application: Animal hair tied to a stick, a little

flattened twig, fingers dipped in the paint, a

hollow bone or reed that releases the sucked up

paint as the finger is lifted.

Petroglyphs:

These are engravings or carvings made by drawing with

a sharp rock onto a rock face. These seem to be older

than the rock paintings.

They are found in open plains rather than in shelters.

They are usually of symbols or outlines of animals.

There are few descriptive lines but the images are very

natural and characteristic of the animal and it’s

appearance and behavior.

The drawings are very skilled and the artists must have

observed the animals for long periods.

Outline engraving of a Rhino

Petroglyphs found in Namibia

Characteristics of Rock Paintings:

At first the rock paintings were of symbols and simple

figures in a single colour (monochrome), either black or

red.

Later the paintings became tonal from dark red, red,

brown and white and a mixture in colours appeared.

Polychrome graded paintings of animals appeared.

Subjects included trance dances, rainmaking rituals,

and hunting activities.

After colonisation the San painted wagons and men on

horseback with guns.

The San were a short people, but they painted themselves with elongated proportions, as if they were seeing themselves with more power to run longer distances in a hunt. This is just an educated guess.

The proportions for the animals were naturalistic and detailed, yet the San used very few lines in their paintings.

There are no backgrounds in their paintings.

Images of children are very rare. This could be because the image became a spiritual reality and could not be taken lightly.

Function:

The art of the San people is linked to their lifestyles

and beliefs therefore, it was not simply decoration.

The hunters respected their prey and would even

paint themselves with animal features and paint with

the blood of the eland to bring power to the images.

The Trance Dance:

The Shaman would perform a ritual whereby they

would go into a trance in front of the paintings for

a successful hunt, call for rain or for healing.

The trance state would come about with music,

rhythmic dancing and sometimes by eating

narcotic plants.

The Shaman enters the spirit world on behalf of

the people.

In paintings of the Trance Dance, the shaman may be

shown with blood dripping from their nose or

droplets of sweat.

Energy lines show the connection of man to animal.

Arrows near or through the animals means they may

have simulated a successful hunt.

Two sticks are also used to suggest an animal with

four legs, perhaps a technique used in a hunt or

showing the transformation between man and

animal.

Shaman healing ritual

The figure on the left is

clapping, the figure on the

right is showing the man,

to animal transformation in

the trance dance.

Walter Battiss:

Walter Battiss was a South African artist

fascinated by the San, he even stayed with a

small group of San people.

He would make tracings of their rock paintings

and even published a book about them.

His paintings that were inspired by the San people

would look similar to their paintings, simple, flat

and lacking perspective.

Symbols of Life, 1967, oil on canvas

►The river in the middle is the

life bringing source to the

animals around it.

►The figures resemble San

figures, though not exact

copies, Battiss was inspired by

the rock art.

►The painting is flat, like the San

paintings.

Mantis Dance, screen-print

Battis was inspired by the

trance dance in this artwork.

The figures in the background

resemble the figures that would

be dancing and clapping in a

ritual.

The figure in the foreground

resembles the transformation.

The figures and background is

flat and simplistic.