The idea that paleolithic men were artists simply because they appreciated beautiful things, and that therefore their artistic work had no special functional aim, was rejected very early on, mainly on the basis of one simple argument. As pointed out by Reinach,[1] the context of paleolithic art precluded any art for art’s sake interpretation, for no-one would go deep down into caves which were not used as living places in order to decorate walls which would not often be looked at, unless they had a very special reason for so doing. The important reason could not be simply that they were “artistic,” for they would then have carried out their artistic works in places where they could at least see the results.

From Peter J. Ucko and Andrée Rosenfeld’s Paleolithic Cave Art, New York and Toronto: World University Library, 1967, pp. 165-166.

Footnote

1. “L’art et la magie,” L’Antropologie, Vol. 14, 1903.