The human artist and creator

   We will probably never know at what point men began to sing and dance for the first time, or to narrate and represent events that had moved them.

   The first men who did it, died long before the written documents appeared. We know that they danced and sang already 15,000 years ago; We know this because some cave paintings of that period represent men dancing and singing.

   When men began to paint and chisel the stone to represent animals and humans, the main purpose was magical: they believed that the objects they created contained occult powers capable of controlling natural events. According to this belief, a hunter who drew a deer gained some power over the real deer.

     Around these first drawings probably developed fixed series of words and gestures that were repeated on certain occasions, thus giving rise to the ritual. Magic and rites gave man the first impulse towards perfecting the use of voice, body and hand, which we call "art". Prehistoric men probably did not possess any word equivalent to "art", but drawings and sculptures were the main elements of their magic, although some of those men found some artistic pleasure in what they were doing. Apparently, in these first forms of art-magic, perhaps 99,000 years ago, it was tried to imprison forever the shadows by drawing their profiles on the rock.

Man-Bison playing the flute, (Trois-freres)
Perhaps they want to represent one of the masked dancers who participated in the stone-age hunting rituals

Figurine woman (Austria)
It is probably thought that this figurine ensured fertility

Horse pierced by arrow (Lascaux)
It is considered that these reproductions propitiated in success in hunting.

     Some experts claim that these early mechanical attempts at drawing may have been magical guarantees that some of the author's personality would have survived his death, and I wish that modern man also manifests to become immortal through a portrait or a photograph. In any case, even without fully understanding the motives that inspired primitive man in everything that has bequeathed us, we can be interested and even make conjectures about the reason for his creation.

     For us it is difficult to relate the activity of our artists with that of the prehistoric ones, while we imagine them willing to execute the rites when they painted on the walls of the cave. Actually, the relationship is narrower than we suppose. We have seen that two of the main elements of prehistoric art are magic and ritual: now, both elements in one form or another, are also among the artists of our time.

     Although it has few points of contact with the art of our society of high industrial level, magic still plays an essential role in the life and art of the primitive peoples of today. The Sepik of New Guinea, the babuca of the Congo, the numerous tribes of the Amazon jungle, the Australian aborigines, are just some of the hundreds of primitive peoples that practice magic art in their songs, dances, dramas, sculptures or paintings.

     Consider, for example, the Australian aborigines, many of whom still have few contacts in the civilized world. One of the main themes of aboriginal painting is the so-called wondjina (faces of a vaguely human form, with spots in the place that corresponds to the eyes, equipped with a nose, but lacking a mouth), which we find painting many times. Why? "To provoke the rain," say the aborigines, who believe that the mere act of painting the wondjina can provoke it. And why do wondjina lack mouths? Because, explain the authors, if they had it, the rains would come in torrents and cause disastrous floods.

Kangaroo - Australian Aborigines

Elephant Stone age

Wolf devouring human body (Kwakiutl), Western Canada

     The above images show the general belief of primitive men, according to which by pictorially reproducing the vital organs of a human being or an animal, a magical power of life or death is acquired over it. Therefore, magic, as a reason for the creation of artistic objects, survived in the art of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, mainly among primitive peoples.

Chinese ritual cauldron (1776 - 1122 b.C.)

Calendar of North American Indians

     In these two images (drawing and geometric object), eyes can be seen. The traditional drawings and objects based on the human face are perhaps due to the beliefs of the primitive peoples in the magical power of the representation of the eyes to ward off any evil.

     On the other hand, the rite, is another element of prehistoric art, is inherent in all artistic manifestations of any type of society. An example in this respect is evident in Greece with Dionysian rites that gave birth to Greek theater; in Japan, the origin of the Kabuki theater can be traced back to Japanese religious dances; in short, certain public demonstrations, such as processions or carnival parades, have imposed a planimetry in the cities where they take place.

     In our times, the rite has also been a factor of great importance in life and in art: religious practices, solemn processions and ceremonies, traditional parades, political meetings, sporting events, carnivals and many others, each of which implies a gender determined of rite and each of these, in turn, a diverse art. Masks and posters are prepared for carnivals and political meetings; in the assemblies the walls are decorated with flags, red ribbons, balloons, etc .; for many solemn ceremonies, the composers, cultores, exhibitors and other artists are in charge of the execution of works that remember the event.

Carnival of Binche - Belgium.
The tradition according to an ancient rite of unknown origin, prohibits men wearing these feather caps, leaving the city or dancing in the other festivities

     Let us cite some examples: the kedive of Egypt celebrated the opening of the Suez Canal by building a new opera house in Cairo and entrusting to Verdi an Egyptian atmosphere opera, "Aida", first performed in 1871. In 1950 Pablo Picasso he drew a symbolic pigeon that was reproduced in many parts of the world on flags and manifestos on the occasion of peace meetings. Shortly before his death, in 1954, a contemporary of Picasso, Henri Matisse, drew decorations of bright colors and mainly abstract plot for the chapel of a convent in Vence, France.

     That is why the ritual is today a stimulus of art as it could be for our ancestors of the caverns, but it is often an external stimulus: indeed, the rites may also require works whose religious or social reasons do not reflect the personal convictions of the artist. Let us see, then, the imperatives that arise from the intimacy of the artist, that is to say, that internal stimulus that receives the name of "creative faculty".

     A great artist of the Renaissance, Miguel Angel, worked for four years to carry out a cycle of frescoes for the Sistine Chapel, and most of this time he spent painting face up, with great discomfort that caused an irreparable breakdown of his health. A tenacity like his demonstrates the enormous power that, in the artist, has the creative impulse and the necessary that is such an impulse for him in the moment of shaping the skill that belongs to him.

     We are often asked if this ability is innate or acquired: naturally, no one is born with such artistic gifts as to dispense with the education of one's own abilities, but it is also obvious that training alone is not enough to make man an artifice. In conclusion, for all artists professional instruction and innate qualities are two fundamental requirements. For example, Wolfgang Amadeo Mozart, the famous Austrian composer of the eighteenth century, began his career as a composer at the age of 5 years and at 7 he gave concerts throughout Europe. Obviously, such exceptional talent was mainly due to his innate ability, but even this precocious skill needed exercise and technical preparation.

     An important aspect of the artist's education is the discovery of the limits and possibilities of his artistic capacity: long before his own capacity is revealed, the child who will become an artist can develop his own capacity by playing: Games, whether they are potential artists or not, are a vital factor in the growth process. Games such as "dads and mums", for example, teach children something of the adult world and, at the same time, a large part of the fun that children produce fiction unconsciously derives from the discovery of limits and possibilities of his own personality. Under this aspect, the artist is a man who never stops playing: his work is a continuous discovery of his own capacity.

The emotion or interest that children experience in the world around them is expressed spontaneously and does not reveal the influences of conventional techniques.

     Among the factors that, in specific times, can put limits to art, we find rules aimed at regulating ideas and methods. In the past some artists preferred to work according to sets of fixed rules; In the 18th century, the French painter Nicolás Poussin created his compositions according to long-considered norms, which he had deduced from his studies of the great painters of the Renaissance. Numerous artistic academies were founded in those days in the conviction that they could be painted simply by following rules already dictated. In reality, this is not enough for the created spirit: the authentic artist needs the freedom of choice since any experience and idea can be useful.

The game of the little shops, serves as a complement to the instruction of the smaller students because while entertains helps them learn to write and do accounts, and at the same time develops their personality by teaching them something of what happens in the world of adults.

     Since in art there are no safe rules, the artist takes a risk every time he ventures into a virgin land: the work of a great artist is not, therefore, marked only by successes, which have made us know his greatness, but also of failures. Beethoven, for example, wrote the "Vicoria de Wellington", a set of patriotic motifs described in a symphony, and which is generally considered the worst of his works.

     A creative and brilliant work requires a great technique, which only very few can acquire without a long time of trials and attempts: as history teaches us, most artists produce their best works between 30 and 40 years. Many exceptions escape this rule, such as the French painter Paul Gauguin, who began to dedicate himself seriously to painting at the age of 35, while other artists reach the apex of their creative capacity at an advanced age.