The origin of painting
What is the meaning of drawing a picture? What kind of mental and spiritual exchange can we experience directly through drawing and painting? Is it about maintaining mental and emotional well-being? In this time and age, the impact of art is highly scrutinized and also highly appreciated, especially in the context of a mental and emotional culture. When we take time to understand the purpose and impact of painting and art in general, then we are able to understand the cultural code of the era we are in. Drawing is not just a technical learning process. It is a natural, innate, and creative act.
When a child holds a crayon in his hand, he begins to express something on paper, even if he is not yet able to speak. Painting is the language of the spiritual world, and it gives a child the access to express their inner world with dots, lines, and colors, even before learning any earthly language.
Children’s drawings and prehistoric drawings have something very important in common with each other. Neither of them draw what they see, but instead they draw what they know. The artist can draw an image solely depending on the way their eyes are perceiving the object at hand, or they can draw the image by expressing their comprehensive understanding of the object at hand. Children are free to express themselves on any subject they wish to draw. They draw their pictures by exaggerating and conversely reducing what they think is important, without omitting everything they know about the subject. It is their own unique perspective and self-expression of their understanding of reality. Likewise, the prehistoric artist does not only draw using their eyes, but by using their own personal understanding of the object at hand. They conveyed entire ideas into one seemingly simple symbol.
A child’s drawing may be a picture of the cosmic world before he entered the mother’s womb. Even as an embryo, human beings have an antenna of spiritual connection to God the Creator. In particular, there are many points in the drawings of children under 3 years old. Lines are expressed in circles and spirals. The dots, lines, and circles of children’s drawings are the most primitive components of drawings. Some people think that the moment when a human being, a cosmic being, is born on Earth is the moment of creation. When points and dots are connected, they become a line. When a line and more lines are connected, they become a face. When planes and planes are connected, it finally becomes a space. It may be a bit metaphysical, but everything is the beginning of creation. The point is the beginning of life and the beginning of existence, and that existence wants to communicate with the Creator of the Universe.
No matter which civilization in human history, imagery has always preceded writing. It is difficult to understand the thoughts of the people of ancient civilizations because of the lack of written records. But even without text, we can still infer their lifestyles and rituals from the cave paintings left for us to find.
Lascaux Cave and Altamira Cave are famous for their well-known Paleolithic cave paintings. Lascaux murals in France painted between 15,000 and 17,000 BCE are a good example of prehistoric art. When I see pictures of the drawings of horses, deer, and bison drawn with the spiritually representative colors of the people (such as red, black, and yellow), I get the feeling that they were really well drawn.
If you look at the murals in the Altamira cave, you can see how outstanding their artistic talent was. The movement of the skeletons and muscles of the animals that look like bulls, and the expression of light and darkness, both aspects feel like the drawing was made with the objects and animals right in front of the artist. The murals of this cave show a world of prehistoric art comparable to that of Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Perhaps the cave painting artists of that time were conceived of as spiritual leaders who opened channels of communication with God within their own groups.
How did they paint realistic paintings such as the Altamira cave paintings? Perhaps he remembered the animals he saw while hunting, then returned to the cave and drew a picture based on that memory. Perhaps he filled the walls with drawings of all the animals he saw, while imagining with the eyes of the spirit. The cave paintings are clearly not intended to decorate living spaces, as they are painted very deep in the cave where the lighting is very dark, making it almost impossible to appreciate the paintings. The general view of scholars is that of a magical purpose. The people from these times understood the concept, “Seeing is believing”, and “Ask and you shall receive”.
The act of painting was to foretell the desired outcome, and it was like making a wish to the gods and making a magical prayer. If you look at it visually like this, you will develop your faith, and when you go out to hunt in an exchange with the gods, you must have caught a lot of animals according to the picture. They knew that “to see is to believe”, was not taught by anyone but learned instinctively.
There is a story like this in a book I read. When an explorer went to an Indian village and drew a bison in a sketchbook, the Indian said: “That man puts our bison into his book. He took all the bison, so we won’t be able to see them anymore…” This is an example of believing that the prophetic meaning is strong, as he believes in the significance of the picture being drawn.
The cave drawings were naturally simplified, as if it were a recognizable text form, so that everyone knew what each symbol meant.. There is a unique painting deep inside Lascaux Cave. The body is a human, but the head is a drawing of a bird. Other murals detailed the appearance of the subject, but this painting was simply drawn with a few lines, leaving only the most symbolic meaning. This is the beginning of the pictogram. Pictograms have long been a way of communication for mankind. Chinese characters, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Sumerian cuneiform are all pictures. Characters were created from the beginning of painting, and the characters recorded history and blossomed alongside human culture. Even today, ancient characters have the special power to make us feel the true essence of Life beyond time just by looking at it - as if the past was speaking to us.
Painting is one of the most precious talents given to us by God. It is a way of communication between mankind and the Creator God, and it is also an expression and a prophetic ability. The history of mankind started like this, and even today, art is the spiritual code that creates the culture of the times.
- Janet Hyun
