Výtvarná rekonstrukce pravěku a evoluce člověka

The book introduces the reader to the developmental changes in the artistic reconstruction of the prehistoric world, especially the Upper Palaeolithic period. Attention is devoted to the artistic production of Czech and foreign artists from the 19th to the beginning of the 21st century. The exposition traces the gradual development and basic milestones of the artistic reconstruction of prehistory and human evolution in Europe and the United States. The creators of artistic reconstructions portray the physical appearance and way of life of our evolutionary ancestors, emphasizing the visualization of evolutionary changes in the morphology of the genus Homo in the context of prehistoric natural ecosystems, flora, and fauna. This artistic production was supported by gradually increasing scientific knowledge and empirical data from the fields of prehistoric archaeology and paleoanthropology. In many cases, artists worked with contemporary assumptions, archaeological fragments and speculative ideas, opening up space for imagination, creative freedom or escape from official artistic currents. Therefore, it was not only scientifically oriented artists such as Charles R. Knight, Rudolph Franz Zallinger and Zdeněk Burian who devoted themselves to the artistic reconstruction of prehistory and human evolution, but also artists such as Mikoláš Aleš, Jaroslav Panuška and Jan Konůpek. The world of prehistory is currently depicted by John Sibbick, Julio Lacerda, Cícero Moraes, Élisabeth Daynès, the Kennis brothers, Pavel Dvorský and Petr Modlitba.