Art History Timeline
30,000 BC- present
England
Ireland
Stone Age
30,000-10,000 b.c.
• 40,000 years ago
• Humans were hunter-gatherers– day revolved around food
• Portable art- could take with them
• Stationary art- cave walls, stayed forever
• Art was about FOOD or FERTILITY
• Artists unknown
Egyptian
5,000 b.c.- 300 a.d.
• Painting and sculpture
• Symbolic: animals, colors, size
• Emphasis on life after death
•
•
•
Classical Art’s main medium was sculpture
Greek: Athletics, Mythology, Daily life, Doric/Ionic
columns
•
•
•
Athens
Most famous temple: Parthenon (dedicated to Athena)
Perfection, balance, idealism
Roman: Mythology, Real people, Historical events,
Corinthian columns
•
•
•
Rome
Most famous temple: Pantheon (dedicated to 7 gods)
Practical, realism
CLASSICAL ART
Greek & Roman
1700-1400 b.c.
Roman Art
The Senate
Ancient Ruins
Sarcófago Ludovisi–
The Battle of Rome
Pantheon
Colosseum
Vatican City- St. Peter’s Basillica
Asian
653 b.c-1900 a.d
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chinese, Japanese, Indian
Oldest and continuous kind of art– traditional
Painting, sculpture, pottery, decorative arts
Ceramic factories showed wealth and power of
emperors (still have today)
Serene, meditative art; Nature
Ink on silk or paper
Chinese Art
Hanshan Temple- bell rings
at Chinese New Year- there
is one in Japan too
Hanging Temple- for 3
religions: Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Taoism
Terracotta Soldiers–
more than 7,000 total
Buddha- Yungang Grottoesover 51,000 Buddha statues in
this cave
Byzantine
a.d. 476-1853
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Eastern Rome
More abstract & symbolic than Roman art
Flat or One-dimensional
•
•
Why the change? Debate over whether there was a
decline in artistic talent or if there was an oriental
influence.
Artists were members of the religious house
Long, Narrow, Solemn faces– Bodies faced front
Religion- icon image of Jesus Christ
Dedication of Constantinople- capitol city, ruled
by Constantine
Illumination of biblical texts
Ivory reliefs, no sculptures-- idolatry
Byzantine Art
San Vitale Basillica
in Ravenna, Italy
Mosaics
Giunta
Pisano,
Crucifix in
Bologna,
Italy
Islamic
a.d. 476-1453
• Architecture, calligraphy, painting, glass, ceramics, textiles (rugs)
• Maze-like designs, repeating elements- arabesques
•
•
Only God is perfect
Infinite and indivisible nature of God
• People were not portrayed in art- idolizing
•
Secret miniatures
• Architecture: Mosque, Tomb, Palace, Fort
Middle Ages
500-1400
•
•
•
Also known as the Dark Ages: decrease in prosperity, stability, and
population
Art was associated with churches because it was costly, so almost all art was
religious
Over 1,000 years of art in Europe; includes many major art movements:
•
•
Romanesque: Piestic paintings- religious, large churches, no portraits, muted colors
Gothic art: brighter colors, sculptures, realism, naturalism, stained glass, symmetry
Middle Ages Art
fresco
Vaulted ceilings & Flying buttresses
Renaissance
1400-1550
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rebirth of Classical traditions– but apply scientific advancements & religious
changes
Naturalism, 3D, lifelike
“rescuing and restoring art” from the “crude Byzantine style”
Anatomy & human emotion
Themes: religious altar pieces, fresco cycles, and small works for private
collections
Techniques: perspective, foreshortening, sfumato, chiaroscuro, balance,
proportion
Renaissance Techniques
foreshortening
sfumato
chiaroscuro
Mannerism
1527-1580
•
•
•
•
•
•
Break rules
Artifice over nature
Intellectual sophistication
Beautiful, “has style”
Compositional tension & instability rather than balance & clarity of the
Renaissance
Elongated proportions, stylized poses, no clear perspective, theatrical lighting,
strange settings
Baroque
1600-1750
•
•
•
•
•
Started by Catholic church- the arts should
communicate religious themes
Art as a weapon in the religious wars- church wanted
to speak to the illiterate, not just the well informed
To impress visitors– express triumph, power, & control
The name was at first given as an insult– too many
unnecessary details, noisy--translates to “elaborate”
Exaggerated motion, clear details
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
Sea of Ice, Wreck of Hope
•
•
•
•
Romanticism
1780-1850
The Nightmare
Liberty Leading the People
Not love romance, but GLORIFICATION– glorified concepts such as
liberty, survival, ideals, hope, awe, heroism, despair, and the various
feelings that nature evokes in humans (views & sunsets)
First start seeing feelings of the artist, not everyone feels the same
Creation from nothingness– originality
Characteristics:
•
•
•
•
Emotional emphasis
Nature can kill you (shipwrecks, lots of shipwrecks)
Current events
No exact style, technique, or subject matter
The Raft of the Medusa
The End of the Working Day
Realism
1848-1900
•
•
•
•
•
•
Focus on every day life
Represent art truthfully– portray exactly what they saw
Rejected Romanticism– avoided over exaggerated
emotionalism and drama, instead portrayed things as
they really were with no emotions involved
Included all classes of people in all aspects of life (even
if it was ugly)
Ordinary people in ordinary life
Photography was introduced and became popular
Bonjour, Monsiuer Corbet
The Arnolfini Portrait
Impressionism
1865-1885
•
•
•
Began in Paris by a group of artists
Haystacks
Name comes from Monet’s painting, “Impression Sunrise”
Characteristics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Small, thin, visible brushstrokes
Ordinary subject matter
Capturing effects of natural light & how it changes
Unusual visual angles
Movement
Colors often aren’t mixed, instead laid side by side
Avoids using black paint, grays (complimentary colors to shade)
Didn’t wait for paint to dry
Painted in evenings to create shadows & studied natural colors of light
Lydia Leaning on Her Arms
Post-Impressionism
1885-1910
•
•
•
•
•
Continued impressionist style, but
emphasized geometric forms
Exaggerated an aspect of
impressionism
Impasto- thick application of paint–
shows off texture and paint marks
Used unnatural color
Pointillism
Fauvism
1900-1910
• Led by Matisse and Derain
• Only had 3 exhibitions, lasted a short time
• Wild brushstrokes
• Strong color
• Not realistic; abstract; simple
• Color theory study
Cubism
1905-1920
•
•
•
•
•
Considered most influential
movement of 20th century
Objects are analyzed, broken up,
and rearranged
Many viewpoints instead of just
one
Abstract
Inspired movements in other art
forms (music, literature, theatre)
•
•
•
•
•
Painting dreams
Surrealism
1917-1950
Exploring the unconscious– automatic writing
Illogical scenes that looked realistic
Made creatures out of every day objects
Element of surprise
Abstract Expressionism
1940-1960
•
•
•
First American-only influenced movement-- NYC
Spontaneous, automatic, subconscious
“It’s better to catch the spirit of the sea, rather than all it’s tiny
ripples.”
Modernism
1960-present
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Freedom of expression
Experimentation
Pop-Art
Consumerism
Radicalism
Startled audiences
Collage, installations
“ready-mades”
Performance art