Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia
Shpak Larisa Y., Ph.D., ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6936-9426, e-mail: larusparus@mail.ru
Art as a part of human culture shapes human values, and the contribution of each individual to cultural creativity and the development of society is valuable and unique. Y.Y. Roginsky stated this in his works (1965, 1969) about «age-old types of characters», as well as the implications of paleolithic art for the anthropology. All existing hypotheses of the origin of art do not explain the reasons of human art activity. Y.Y. Roginsky (1982) proposed his origin of art hypothesis based on the biological basis of our perception. Ability and need of the human mind to be «excited with novelty» and to have aesthetic experience of the visual aesthetic stimuli lead to the development of visual art («art-image») and the need to eliminate the arrhythmic operations of our brain potentiates the development of musical and verbal creativity, and dance («art-rhythm»). Aesthetic forms of behavior are inherent to many animals, including primates. According to archaeological evidences, the manifestation of the aesthetic component of hominid tool usage begins with the Lower Paleolithic. The gradual awareness of aesthetic experiences in the Upper Paleolithic has culminated with the emergence of Homo sapiens’ art. The rhythm, the symmetry, the color, the proportion, the shape – these perceptual stimuli tuned our analyzers in phylogeny, they determined the development of a sense of beauty and harmony in hominids. In humans aesthetic experience is closely associated with emotional assessment, and the concept of «beauty» is identical to «good» to all peoples and all cultures. Ever since ancient times philosophers believed that beauty is related to such concepts as proportionality and order, in contemporary aesthetic biological bases of aesthetic sense are valued more and more often. Modern neuroaesthetic studies suggest that our brain responds directly to certain aesthetic stimuli according to universal laws and principles in the search of beauty and harmony in nature and the surroundings, same laws that allow us to perceive and evaluate art.
origin of art, paleolithic art, anthropology, Y.Y. Roginsky, aesthetic perception, biology of beauty
Цит.: Shpak L.Y. Aesthetic perception as biological characteristic of Homo sapiens (Y.Y. Roginsky’s opinion on the origin of art) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2015; 3/2015; с. 115-122
Download text