Art as a Culture

1. Functions of Early Art
 A. The cave artists were trying to express the most important elements of survival and life in their seasonal form. The spatial layout of the caves, markings on the animals, and location of the paintings suggests their value to the people drew them and their dependance on time to create future yields.
B. I think there were more animals painted because there were more animals than people at that early point in human history. Furthermore, those animals sustained life by providing those early people with food and tools.
C. These paintings can tell us that these Paleolithic people intelligent enough to adapt and distinguish themselves from animals. Humans lives, in most cultures, are considered more sacred than "animal" lives. Also, the fact of cave dwelling and evidence of hunting proves that they understood and provided sound shelter for themselves an knew when to take the necessary dangers of hunting to survive. This sophistication cannot be found in animals.
D. A significant  difficulty these people face were supplies to paint and where to paint. Different colors has to be laboriously made from natural products that were local enough to use a high amount of. Also, they have to physically reach high and deep into these caves. Even by today's standards, making all the resources necessary to make these paintings would be very labor intensive, proving the value theses paintings had to these people.
E. One speculation of function of early art would be as an expression of accomplishment for surviving an thriving in a world where natural selection dominates. Another would be to provide an example for following humans of the seasons that the earth offers and how to manipulate their environment. Lastly, I think the art reflected early human understandings of beauty. An appreciate of what life has to offer.

2. Commonalities in Function
The most common thing I see in art is the value of life that is expressed. From the Lascaux Caves we see that early humans wanted to leave a visual mark on how they endured life, and today art is an attempt to recreate the feeling someone experiences when encountering beauty, which to modern and old people are the same. Notice these cave paintings didn't express the trifles in life, like sleeping against a rock or something else trivial. Also in modern art nobody awes at the beauty of a painting of a guy washing his hands in the bathroom. Humans like art. We like to see paintings of sunsets, sculptures, creations of inanimate objects that apply to the human experience.

3. My Favorite Art
A. This painting is called "Liberty Leading the People." This Romantic form of art is an expression of a nations sacrifice and bloodshed to achieve the liberty they all united for. Though a shirtless woman did not in fact relieve France of their tyranny, "Lady Liberty" is a manifestation of the ideal of freedom and beauty.
B. There is a form to this picture because the dress and attire of the people shows the blending of middle and lower classes to oppose their governments. A boy pauper in the painting represents the resources required to succeed; risking the life of a youth. Also a man in a proper Top Hat is fighting to represent a middle class.
C. This kind of art benefits society because it allows a moment in time to resonate and endure for all generations to come. The same way that hunting was a victory an defining moment of time for the Lascaux people, someone who experienced the French Revolution wanted the future generations to mortality and morality.