ART HISTORY

● Art history is the study of objects considered within their period.

● Mission of art history is to establish authorial origins of artwork, i.e. discovering who created a
particular artwork, when and for what reason.
● It merely means that it was a study of art concerning the period when it was created. These
masterpieces are not just for a scheme decoration in a new building or some university, we may be
uncertain what to do with art, but one thing is for sure, it has a social purpose.

PRE – HISTORIC PERIOD (CAVE ART)

Paleolithic - refers to the prehistoric period when humans made stone tools.
- The earliest known human-made stone tools date back around 2.6 million years. Crafted and used
by Homo habilis (sometimes known as “handy man”),
- Sharpened stones (Oldowan tools): 2.6 million years ago ( HAMMER STONE) USED to chip other
stones into sharp-edged flakes. They also used hammer stones to break apart nuts, seeds and
bones and to grind clay into pigment.
- Most of the makers of Oldowan tools were right-handed, leading experts to believe that
handedness evolved very early in human history.
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Mesolithic -  Middle Stone Age, is an archaeological term describing specific cultures that fall between
the
Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods.
- Art objects include painted pebbles, ground stone beads, pierced shells and teeth, and
amber.

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Neolithic - Neolithic period is also called the New Stone Age.
- The Neolithic period is significant for its megalithic architecture, the spread of agricultural
practices, and the use of polished stone tools.

HISTORIC PERIOD
CLASSICAL ART
● Classical Art encompasses the cultures of Greece and Rome and endures as the cornerstone of Western
civilization.
● Classical art is renowned for its harmony, balance and sense of proportion.
● In its painting and sculpture, it employs idealized figures and shapes, and treats its subjects in a non-
anecdotal and emotionally neutral manner.
●
GREEK CLASSICAL ARTS

ROME CLASSICAL ART

MEDIEVAL PERIOD

● According to historians, one of the finest early medieval art pieces were the Irish and Anglo-Saxon
illuminated manuscripts which were created by scribes and monks from the scriptorium of abbeys and
monasteries across Northern England and Ireland.
● Characteristics of medieval art include elaborately decorative patterns, bright colors, iconography, and
Christian subject matter. Artworks such as mosaics, frescoes, and relief sculptures were often found
inside churches and monasteries to assist monks in the teachings of the Christian Bible.

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● The strangeness that we see in medieval art stems from a lack of interest in naturalism, and they
veered more toward expressionistic conventions," Averett says. In turn, this made most of the people
in medieval art look similar.

3 classification of Medieval art

Early Medieval Art - Early medieval art shared some defining characteristics including iconography,
Christian subject matter, elaborate patterns and decoration, bright colors, the use of precious metals,
gems, and other luxurious materials, stylized figures, and social status.

GOTHIC ART - Gothic style can vary according to location, age, and type of building, it is often
characterized by 5 key architectural elements: large stained glass windows, pointed arches, rib vaults, flying
buttresses, and ornate decoration.

ROMANESQUE ART - Romanesque architecture is characterized by towering round arches, massive

stone and brickwork, small windows, thick walls, and a propensity for housing art and sculpture depicting
biblical scenes.

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 RENAISSANCE PERIOD
● Through their research, a cultural 'rebirth' or 'Renaissance' of this ancient art, literature and philosophy
took place. Petrarch founded a school of thought known as Humanism, based on the ancient texts of
Cicero.
● Characteristics of the Renaissance include a renewed interest in classical antiquity; a rise in humanist
philosophy (a belief in self, human worth, and individual dignity); and radical changes in ideas about
religion, politics, and science.

FINE ART PERIOD

● Fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics or beauty, distinguishing it from decorative
art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork.
● Fine art might be beautiful or convey ideas and emotions, but it has no other purpose than to be art.

BAROQUE ART - The Baroque artists were particularly focused on natural forms, spaces, colors, lights,
and the relationship between the observer and the literary or portrait subject in order to produce a
strong, if muted, emotional experience.

Things to Look for in Baroque Art:

1. Images are direct, obvious, and dramatic.
2. Tries to draw the viewer in to participate in the scene.
3. Depictions feel physically and psychologically real.
4. Extravagant settings and ornamentation.
5. Dramatic use of color.

ROCOCO ART
● The word “rococo” derives from rocaille, which is French for rubble or rock.
● Rococo art, sometimes called a "feminized" version of the Baroque style, is associated with the
aristocracy.
● Typically the paintings depict aristocrats or aristocratic leisure-time activities -- like courtship
rituals, picnics in a harmonious natural environment, excursions to romantic places.
● Originated in early 18th century Paris, is characterized by soft colors and curvy lines, and depicts
scenes of love, nature, amorous encounters, light-hearted entertainment, and youth.
● Rococo colour scheme is characterized by azure blue, soft pink, white, ivory, cream and gold and
they all complement each other, being soft, airy and feminine.

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 MODERNISM PERIOD ( 19TH - MID 20TH CENTURY)
● Modernism was a response to the rapidly changing conditions of life due to the rise of industrialization
and the beginning of wartime, with artists looking for new subject matter, working techniques, and
materials to better capture this change.
● One of the major changes in the modernist era is a break from tradition which focuses on being bold
and experimenting with new style and form and the collapse of old social and behavior norms.

IMPRESSIONISM ART
●  Impressionist artists were not trying to paint a reflection of real life, but an 'impression' of what the
person, light, atmosphere, object or landscape looked like to them

The 5 Impressionism Art Characteristics

● Quick, loose brush strokes.
● Bright paintings.
● “En plein air” (Painting Outside)
● Relative color.
● Clearer picture from further away.
●

POST IMPRESSIONISM ART - Post-Impressionists both extended Impressionism while rejecting its
limitations: the artists continued using vivid colors, a thick application of paint and real-life subject matter,
but were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, distort forms for an expressive effect and use
unnatural and seemingly random colors.

1. SYMBOLISM - The emphasis on emotions, sentiments, ideas, and subjectivity rather than realism is
what links the numerous artists and styles linked with Symbolism. Their works are personal and convey their
views, such as the belief in the artist's ability to disclose reality.

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2. EXPRESSIONISM - Focused on capturing emotions and feelings, rather than what the
subject actually looks like. Vivid colors and bold strokes were often used to exaggerate these
emotions and feelings.

3. Abstract art - is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but
instead use shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.

A. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM - They often use degrees of abstraction; i.e., they depict
forms unrealistically or, at the extreme end, forms not drawn from the visible world
(nonobjective).

B. ABSTRACT DISTORTION - any change made by an artist to the size, shape or visual character of a
form in order to express an idea, convey a feeling, or enhance visual impact.

C. ELONGATION - is when the art subject is lengthen, protracted or extended

D. MANGLING - This shows subject or objects which are cut, lacerated, mutilated or hacked with repeated
blows.

E. CUBISM - emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane

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 4. FAUVISM - The fauvists favored pairing complementary colors, like purple and yellow, magenta and
green, or orange and blue. Look for patches and splotches of shockingly bright colors, One color in particular
dominates Fauvist paintings: Red. Vibrant, blazing red, Look for drawings with non-naturalistic, simplified
design.

NEO – IMPRESSIONISM
● Relying on the viewer's capacity to optically blend the dots of color on the canvas, the Neo-Impressionists strove
to create more luminous paintings that depicted modern life.

● With urban centers growing and technology advancing, the artists sought to capture people's changing
relationship with the city and countryside

1. REALISM - Broadly defined as "the faithful representation of reality", Realism as a literary movement is
based on "objective reality."
- It focuses on showing everyday activities and life, primarily among the middle- or lower-class
society, without romantic idealization or dramatization.

2. OP ART OR OPTICAL ART - The word optical is used to describe things that relate to how we see.
Have you seen an optical Illusion before?
● Op art works in a similar way. Artists use shapes, colours and patterns in special ways to create
images that look as if they are moving or blurring.

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3. POINTILISM - (initially known as divisionism and chromoluminarism) is a painting or drawing technique that
involves placing small dots of color in close proximity to each other on a canvas to create a larger image.

4. Surrealism - movement in visual art and literature, flourishing in Europe between World Wars I and II.  
-  is an artistic movement stressing on the artists subconscious, where the artist focuses on their
imagination, for imagery or to exploit unexpected juxtapositions. These juxtapositions are unexpected,
because the appearance of the forms/subjects don't look real and oppose reality.

5. Dadaism - Dadaists rebelled against traditional interpretations of art. They were inspired by illogical
associations found in dreams. Visual arts were also influenced by the introduction of new materials and the
acceptance of imperfection.

6. FUTURISM - futurism are a focus on the technical progress of the modern machine age, dynamism,
speed, energy, vitality and change.
- Today, the Futurist movement is known for its embracing of speed, violence, and youth
culture in an attempt to move culture forward
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 NEW MEDIA ART
● New Media Art is a comprehensive term that encompasses art forms that are either produced, modified,
and transmitted by means of new media/digital technologies or, in a broader sense, make use of “new”
and emerging technologies that originate from a scientific, military, or industrial context

POP ART - The concept that there is no hierarchy of culture, and that art may borrow from any
source has been one of the most influential characteristics of Pop Art.

- Since colors were often vivid it was no surprise that the predominant colors seen in pop art works
were the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow.

PHOTO REALISM - Photo-realism, also called Super-realism 

● Photo-realist painters created highly illusionistic images that referred not to nature but to the reproduced
image.
● A style of painting or drawing in which images look so real that they are hard to distinguish from photographs.

Minimalism - is about avoiding the unnecessary , it's about simplicity, utility, elegance and a
monochromatic palette with colour used as an accent. It's all about “LESS IS MORE” in terms of embracing
the most of fewer things.

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