The lakeside village surrounded by the Alps：Hallstatt

  

＜　a full view of Hallstatt　＞

We visited Hallstatt in the Austria Alps in late October 2009.

We took the bus from Salzburg and went up the ravine deep.

Once, I was impressed by looking at the lake in Zurich and Luzern in Switzerland.

Although my heart beat fast, it became the weather of light rain unluckily.

 

＜　A scenery on the way　＞

The grass and the house on the way are Austrian style.

And the long waterfall and the lake could be seen from the bus window in some places.

 

＜　a full view of Hallstatt lake　　＞

The steep mountains surrounding Ｈallstatt lake were covered with the arising clouds.

As I looked back, the village of Ｈallstatt stood in obscurity between the mountain and the lake.

The scenery of the village carried me back to the middle ages of Europe.

It had atmosphere different from Luzern or Zurich that is a city.

 

＜　a full view of the village, a spire is a church.　＞

 

＜　lakeside houses　＞

The village had been extended long and slender along a lakeside way.

The house made of wood has a rustic atmosphere.

A long waterfall was falling in back of the village immediately.

 

＜　a waterfall　＞

 

＜　folk handicrafts of a stand　＞

I felt nostalgia for those folkcrafts of woodworks.

A small charch stood modestly on a central square in the village.

The scenery is truly a mountain village, and I was impressed by oneself.

 

＜　a central square in the village　＞

In this way, my emotional time finished in a flash.

However, in several days, I remembered that I forgot an important thing on here.

The ruins of Celtic culture that heralded the start of the Europe Bronze Age were located here.        

People who went into along the Danube in Europe from the east made culture first here.

I was standing on the same ground as people of 3000 years ago.

The heart-stopping beauty of the scene has made me forget about that

Finally, I am regrettable that photos are bad because of the light rain.

Next time, I will report about sequel of " birth of primitive art ".

Birth of primitive art 7: After glacial epoch fine arts

 

＜ a rock art in the Levant, a mother and a child、Ｍinateda, Spain、＞

Eventually, the glacial epoch fine arts that emitted luster had declined.

This decline caused stagnation and new deployment.

We look at this big change easily.

＜　Azilian culture, painted stones and bone tools ＞

At 10000 years ago, the colorful cave paintings and movable fine arts that felt vital force no longer were made.

On the other hand, new movements happened at some places a little distant from France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and northern Spain.

One is the painted stone at 11000 years ago. Figures like characters were drawn with several red lines on the stones.

Although bone tools are also found simultaneously, the ornamented things are not found at all.

Azilian that made these on the south of the Pyrenees (Spain) disappeared within 1000 years.

＜　rock arts in the Levant　＞

                   

From 11000 years ago to 5000 years ago, many rock arts appeared in the Spain southeast part.

These are the small paintings of animal and person that are drawn on lee of rock in ravines only by red.

Although animals is drawn realistically, persons are deformed and formalized, and are also humorous.

The themes are hunting, war, a dance, Sherman, etc.  It has composition that has motion with many persons and animals.

The drawn animals are game animals and domesticated dogs, then insects such as spider and fly, etc.

The figure subjects are more male than the woman. The male take a bow and put on bracelet, a hat, etc. The woman put on a skirt and ribbon.

 

＜　Arctic art、Rock Drawings of Alta　＞

A little late, from 6000 to 2000 years ago, many petroglyphs appeared on rocks near the Northern European (especially Norway) sea and rivers.

Many of petroglyphs are carved with a line or flat surface, and they are applied with red. A large thing is a whale 8 m in length.

Many of the themes are game hunting and fishing scenes and the everyday sight are drawn in the style of a tale on it.

The drawn things are reindeer, deer, seal, whale, salmon and sled, boat.

What of the fine arts changed?

Simplify

The cave painting was lost and turned into rock-art

Human and life scene were thought as important.

＜　air temperature change during the past 160,000 years　＞

What brought about this change?

The glacial epoch finished. :  Air temperature rose abruptly from 15000-year ago, and 10,000 years ago, it became the same as the present. By this, the glacier and the reindeer went away to the north and Europe became a forest and the world of small animals from the ground of snow and ice.

Their life changed suddenly :  They repeated movement in quest of the small animals which do not make a group. It dispersed the previous big group. Preservation of meat became impossibility.  When they took all games, they moved to next place. This was the same as the hunter-gatherers of the forest before civilization.

The agricultural had diffused from the Balkan Peninsula, and spread throughout Europe at the time 5000 years ago.

At last, the brightness of fine arts in Europe had been lost until the Bronze Age comes.

Culture and art were greatly influenced by change of natural environment and a social aggregation.

Ｎext time, we look at prehistory fine arts other than Europe.

Birth of primitive art 6: perspective of glacial epoch fine arts

＜　a bison looking back：　Madeleine, 20000 years ago　＞

We have seen until now the glacial epoch fine arts that happened in Europe.

This time, we consider the meaning of the glacial arts.

＜　transition of Venus statue: left side, Czech, about30000 years ago. right side, Germany, 15000 years ago. ＞


The feature of glacial epoch fine arts

1.       What was drawn and sculpted

Although horse, bison and deer were drawn plenty, fish and reindeer that could be caught easily were not drawn little. A natural scene also was not drawn. The mammoth that could be caught rarely, the pregnant female, and the animal of one pair of male and female animals are conspicuous in there. Although the scene where peoples hunted animals were not drawn, an animal in which bow and spear were stuck, and something like trap or cage were drawn.

Male design was simple thing of two points by the circle and another was symbolization of genitals. As for female design, shape of a body was emphasized, and relief in cave and sculpture was only female images. Other sculptures of whole body were half beast and half man or personalized thing.

Else, There are hand paintings that lacked any fingers and simple and various figures. It seems that the numbers were recorded by the condition of lacked finger in hand paintings, and engraved lines recorded the calendar too. Some simple figures were broadly common.

＜　 transition of cave pictures: lift side, hyena, France,32000 years ago. right side, bison, Spain,14500 years ago ＞

2.        Technique of drawing and sculpting

The pictorial expression began from the monochromatic outline of a line, and progressed to the line drawing with inflection.

Subsequently, the details like hair were drawn additionally, the contrasting density was expressed in connection with widely painting, and then it progressed to polychromatic drawing from 2-color drawing.

Although most animal images were drawn by the side view, only the hoof was drawn by the front view. This will be because the hoof that shows health condition was thought as important. This brings my mind back to the mural painting of ancient Egypt.

Paints were devised very much and obtained the multiple colors that mixes various minerals with oil and fats, and is liquid. In Altamira, the charcoal that obtains black was selected carefully by the wooden kind. In Lascaux, the bone of the animal was burned at 400 degrees, and calcite was mixed with it, and also it became hot at 1000 times, and used it.

3．　others

There is many cave painting in the inner part of the caves that not get any sunlight. There is it in the entrance used as the place of the life. Moreover, the mural painting is drawn also on the cave in which it does not live. The animal of the cave paintings was almost painted-over picture, and probably, the peoples in those days didn’t put importance on good-looking picture.

In 20,000 years, although cave painting came to have a rich expression, Venus statue of end-stage half became a simple design. Although this Venus statue image had a commonality by the side view, it reflected the diversity of the region.

＜　hand painting in cave: France ,32000 years ago. Flute: made of bone, German, about 35000 years ago.　＞

What changed?

1.        have magical thinking　：　They expressed things that they wished and accept a value through paintings and statue, and people present their wishes to it.

2.        manipulated number and technology :  They began to record a notation or a calendar by combining. Technology was developed similarly.

3.       created and place importance on formality : Although fine arts change with the times and  reflect the diversity of the region, have a commonality.

4.      cherished these with groups : They taught pictures technique, left cave painting to the specific person, and occasionally performed the festival.

5.       moved broadly and trafficked with the long distance　：　We can guess from a stone tool, the similarity of design with fine arts, and stone tool material.

 ＜　People lived by rock shadow at 30,000 years ago　＞

What happened to human beings?

Cro-Magnon man began half-settled life with the group more than a family in arctic cold, in and around cave.

Two reasons made it possible was that they had to hunt much reindeer that do seasonal migration by group, and coldness enabled preservation of a lot of meat.

If it is hot, meat will rot. If it is cold, a reindeer will disappear and their heavy winter clothing becomes useless.

They were able to make the dress that matches their body by the needle made from a bone.

The intercommunion with a family, a group, and other groups influenced each other, and greatly developed language, child-rearing, and technology. Furthermore, culture and a sense of values (religion, art) were produced.

Next time, we will look at decline period of glacial epoch fine arts.

The election of despair７： very bad political culture ５

＜　sinking Japan　＞

Last time, we looked at the election situation of Britain, Germany, and Greece.

The tendency of small political parties also proceeded on any country.

Especially in Greece, many small parties have increased as a result of the economic crisis at a breath.

This time I will explore root causes of the problem and this series is finished.

How is the U.S. that a two-party system can regard as functioning well?

Although the President was chosen from the Democratic Party, on the House of Representatives, the Republican Party gets a majority in the election two years ago.

As the result, as well as Japan, the President faced difficulties in controlling of the government.

As shown on the chart, the long-term decline in political party approval ratings suggests the situation.

As for the decrease of party supporters, the floating votes will make the Administration unstable like Japan.

 

＜　political party approval ratings in U.S.  red＝Republican Party、blue＝ Democratic Party、black＝political independents　＞

＜　transition of voter turnout in six nations　＞

What has occurred in the West and Japan?

All the voter turnouts of major nations are in a downward tendency.

                   

 

＜　reliability to the politics in six nations　＞

Although the level of voter turnouts and reliability is not correlated, it together is in a downward tendency.

Especially note that only Japan is remarkably low.

As we have already seen, the increase in small political party and independents is progressing in parallel to decline in voter turnout.

As history illustrates, the increase in small political party causes political confusion increasingly, and it will also make collapsing society at the end.

Then, why is the distrust in politics increasing?

The situation common to these major nations has the following problem.

1.        economic stagnation: Although Japan, the U.S. and Europe powerfully accomplished economic growth after the war, but the economic growth become slowdown tendency from the 1980s. The average economic growth rate fell from 9% to 0.8% in Japan, and from 4% to 1% in EU.

2.        increase of economic differentiation: Gini coefficient is an index which shows the complaint of distribution of income and property. As shown on the chart, it shows a long-term upward tendency on many advanced nations.

 

＜　Gini coefficient in each nations、it take from 0 to 1,0= omniparity, 1= complete inequality　>

Expansion of economic stagnation and economic differentiation will be based on stiffness of social economy.

Advanced nations repeated the bubble by large credit expansion and fiscal expenditure performed after the 80s.

Each time, the economic differentiation in their nations became wide and choice of the government was increasingly restricted by the budget deficit.

On the other hand, people probably are increasing dissatisfaction and uneasiness gradually.

The People expressed dissatisfaction by refusing the existing politics.

However, it does not become the solution.

Even so, why is a situation of Japan severe?

1.        political awareness is low:  The consciousness that citizens support the politics of their country is not still growing. In the Meiji Restoration, the citizens did not become the political leading role.  The enforcement of universal suffrage was also slow.

2.       National Traits (favor to inner group etc.): Japanese people accommodate themselves to circumference and avoid conspicuous action. Although this is good when the society is in a safe state, if it become in a state of high anxiety, the people will do selfish action suddenly. This causes the result that they depend on a forcing leader by the presence of small political parties.

                                                   

I think that the signs have appeared now.

Even if the economy become well once, the fearful end may be waiting, after economic bubble burst.

I do not know the policy that overcomes this situation.

Please you be careful.

Thank you for having read for a long time.