A Very Brief History of
Western Art
Prehistory to the Modern Day
Prehistory
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Where and When: Europe (mostly modern day France,
_________ and Germany) from about 30 000 BCE-2500 BCE
Important Characteristics:
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Cave paintings and ________________
Twisted perspective
Limited range of ________________ (mostly earth tones obtained
from mineral pigments)
______________ subjects were animals like bison, aurochs & deer
Some sculptures, mostly of ________________ female figures
Most famous examples:
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Caves of Lascaux, Altamira and Chauvet
Venus of Willendorf
Mesopotamian
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Where and When: Ancient Near East (modern day _________)
from about 3500 BCE-539 BCE
Important Characteristics:
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Sculpture, often of worshippers, royal figures and _____________ figures
Huge reliefs, especially of ________________ scenes
Mosaics
Conservative, ______________________ style
Most famous examples:
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Standard of _________
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
Ishtar Gate from Babylon
Lamassu statues from the palace of Sargon II
Limestone ____________ from King Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud
Egyptian
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Where and When: Egypt from about 3100 BCE-30 BCE
Important Characteristics:
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Focused on _____________ and the afterlife
Conservative, ________________ and distinctive style
Figures in _________________ with size indicating status
No ____________________; events depicted in sequence with
necessary explanations in hieroglyphic captions
Optimistic
Most famous examples:
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The Great Sphinx
The Pyramids
Bust of Nefertiti
The Book of the _______________
Greek and Hellenistic
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Where and When: Greece and its surrounding territories from
about 850 BCE-31BCE
Important Characteristics:
 First realistic portrayal of human figures, often ________________
 __________________ emphasized, focus on musculature
 Naturalism and ___________________, balance and proportion
 Emotional _________________ achieved through dynamic
expressions, gestures & body positions
Most famous examples:
 The Parthenon
 The Death of Laocoön and his Sons
 The Discus Thrower
 Venus de Milo
 ________________ of Samothrace
Roman
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Where and When: Europe (modern day Italy, but also other areas
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Important Characteristics:
______________________ by Rome) from about 500 BCE-476 CE
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Heavily influenced by ______________ and Etruscan art
Emphasis on ________________, more practical and down-to-earth
than Greeks
More focused on government than gods, including portraits &
_________________________ of leaders & narrative relief carvings
celebrating achievements of emperors
Mosaics and landscape & portrait painting decorated ____________ of
wealthy
Most famous examples:
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Trajan’s Column
Garden ____________ from the Villa di Livia
Pantheon
Medieval
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Where and When: Europe from about 500-1400
Important Characteristics:
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Straightforward ________________________ intended to teach
Christian history & beliefs
____________________ and full of mostly Christian symbols
A variety of art forms: reliefs, _____________________,
illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, carved devotional objects, etc.
Most famous examples and artists:
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The Book of ______________
Stained glass windows of cathedrals, like Chartres and Notre Dame
Bayeux ___________________
Giotto, Italy, 1270-1337
Renaissance
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Where and When: Europe (especially __________ and Northern Europe)
from about 1400-1550
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Important Characteristics:
 Rebirth of interest in ______________________ themes
 Influenced by humanism, which emphasized reason and individual
_______________________ over religious teachings
 Use of realistic perspective and ______________
 Realistic portrayal of __________, texture, the natural world, human
figures & emotions
Most famous artists:
 Jan van Eyck, Belgium, 1390-1441
 Sandro Botticelli, Italy, 1445-1510
 _______________________, Italy, 1452-1519
 Michelangelo Buonarotti, 1475-1564
Mannerism
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Where and When: Italy (mostly Florence, ____________
and Venice) from about 1525-1600
Important Characteristics:
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Long, ______________________ out figures
Unusual or contorted poses/____________ expressions
________________ colours and lighting and imaginary settings
___________________ composition
Most famous artists:
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Parmigianino, Italy, 1503-1540
Agnolo Bronzino, Italy, 1503-1572
Jacopo Tintoretto, Italy, 1518-1594
El Greco, __________________, 1541-1614
Baroque
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Where and When: Europe and parts of ______________
from 1600-1750
Important Characteristics:
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Provided Catholic _______________ during Counter-Reformation
________________, contrasting colours
Dramatic subjects with plenty of activity and motion; authentic
portrayal of ___________________ & psychological states
__________________-scale pieces
Protestant artists favoured ____________ people in real situations
Most famous artists:
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Caravaggio, Italy, 157-1610
Peter Paul Rubens, Belgium, 1577-1640
Rembrandt van Rijn
Neoclassicism
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Where and When: Europe from about 1750-1850
Important Characteristics:
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Scenes from history & ___________, especially of Greece & Rome
Balanced & ________________ compositions
A central _____________________ figure
A _________________ message: artists believed the power of
reason would improve the world
Most famous artists:
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Jacques-Louis David, France, 1748-1825
Antonio Canova, Italy, 1757-1822
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, France, 1780-1867
John Flaxman, England, 1755-1826
Romanticism
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Where and When: Europe & ______________ from
about 1780-1850
Important Characteristics:
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Emphasis on intuition, instinct and ____________________
Emotional, ___________________, spiritual
Landscapes, scenes depicting the power/grandeur of ____________
Scenes of _______________/supernatural
Most famous artists:
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__________________, Great Britain, 1757-1827
Théodore Géricault, France, 1791-1824
Francisco de Goya, Spain, 1746-1828
Caspar David Friedrich, Germany, 1774-1840
Realism
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Where and When: Europe (mostly France) from 1848-1900
Important Characteristics:
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Ordinary people doing everyday _________________
Not idealized; often shows _________ or distasteful subject matter
Influenced by _________________________
________________ of existing social and working conditions
Most famous artists:
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Gustave Courbet, France, 1819-1877
Jean-François Millet, France, 1814-1875
Honoré Daumier, France, 1808-1879
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, France, 1796-1875
Impressionism
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Where and When: Europe (especially France) and America from
1865-1900
Important Characteristics:
 Scenes from nature and ________________, spontaneous poses
 Unusual points of view
 Wanted to capture a quick impression of a scene:
 Used __________________ brush strokes
 Painted _________________ to capture changing effects of light
 Mixed colours on the _________________
Most famous artists:
 Mary Cassatt, United States, 1844-1926
 Claude Monet, France, 1841-1895
 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, France, 1841-1919
 Edgar Degas, France, 1834-1917
Neo- & Post-Impressionism
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Where and When: Europe and North America1880-1910
Important Characteristics:
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Personal, emotional and ____________________ in nature
Bright, ____________________ colours and light
Geometric shapes, _________________ forms
Pointillism (use of small ___________ of pure colour)
Most famous artists:
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Georges Seurat, France, 1859-1891
Vincent van Gogh, _____________ and France, 1853-1890
Paul Gaugin, France and Polynesia, 1848-1903
Paul Cézanne, France, 1839-1906
Cubism
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Where and When: Europe (mostly France and _______________)
from 1907-1917
Important Characteristics:
 Subjects broken up into simple ____________________ shapes
 _______________, few realistic details
 Shallow ___________________
 All ________________ seen at once (multiple viewpoints)
 Muted colours (__________________, greys, blacks)
Most famous artists:
 Pablo Picasso, Spain, 1881-1973
 George Braque, France, 1882-1963
 Juan Gris, Spain, 1887-1927
 Fernand Léger, France, 1881-1955
Early Abstract Art
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Where and When: Europe and America from 1909-1932
Important Characteristics:
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No recognizable forms from the ____________________
Based on geometric figures or free ______________ and lyrical
Patterns, colours and shapes & how they _________ to each other
Open to interpretation, like ______________
Most famous artists:
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Wassily Kandinsky, Eastern Europe, 1866-1944
Constantin Brancusi, Romania & France, 1876-1957
Piet Mondrian, Europe and New York, 1872-1944
Surrealism
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Where and When: Europe and United States from about 1915-1945
Important Characteristics:
 Expression of unconscious, __________________ inspirations
 Elements of ___________, free association, uncensored thought
 Dreamlike
 “Impossible” scenes with _____________ that don’t fit together
 Semi-automatic techniques
Most famous artists:
 Salvador Dali, Spain, 1904-1989
 Max Ernst, _______________, 1891-1976
 René Magritte, Belgium, 1898-1967
Abstract Expressionism
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Where and When: America (mostly _______________)
and Europe, late 1940s-late 1950s
Important Characteristics:
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________________ canvases
Abstract
Full of _____________________
Spontaneous
Emphasis on the __________________________ of painting
Most famous artists:
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Willem de Kooning, Netherlands, 1904-1997
Jackson Pollock, United States, 1912-1956
Mark Rothko, United States, 1903-1970
Pop Art
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Where and When: Britain and United States from mid1950s to late __________________
Important Characteristics:
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___________________ distinction between “high” and “low” art
Disliked the __________________________ of abstract art
Bold, stylized imagery with ______________ lines and flat colours
Everyday & pop culture images (e.g. ________________, product
labels) used as art
Irony and ___________________
Most famous artists:
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Jasper Johns, United States, 1930Roy Lichtenstein, United States, 1923-1997
Andy Warhol, United States, 1928-1987
Minimalism
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Where and When: America and Europe in the 1960s &
1970s
Important Characteristics:
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Neither painting nor ________________________
Great ________________________
Materials not ______________________ for art
Basic shapes
Black and white, colour _________
Little evidence of the “artist’s hand”
Most famous artists:
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Eva Hesse, America, 1936-1970
Dan Flavin, America, 1933-1996
Agnes Martin, American, 1911-2004