MUSIC AND ARTS IN THE Kto12

WESTERN ART FORMS

LEARNING CONTENTS

R. AGUILAR
Prehistoric Art
 Prehistoric Background

Paleolithic Neolithic
(“Old Stone Age”) (“New Stone Age”)

-people cultivated the earth and raised livestock

-people were hunter-gatherers -people lived in organized settlements
-people used caves and other natural shelters -people divided labor into occupations
as homes -people constructed the first homes
-people were unsettled (moved frequently)
Prehistory = all human existence before writing

Even before writing, people were:

-carving objects
-painting images
-creating structures/shelter

Wall Painting with Horses,

Rhinoceroses, and Aurochs
(oxen). Chauvet Cave, France
30,000-28,000 BCE.
Paint on limestone
Prehistoric Sculpture
-all portable
-most are very small
-carvings on cave walls
make use of natural
modulations in the wall
surface to enhance the
image

Woman or “Venus” of Willendorf contours of stone

c. 28,000 – 21,000 BCE, limestone used as a starting point for
carvings on cave walls
 Altamira, Spain

Lascaux, France
Cave painting theories:
-a way to strengthen clan bonds
-a ceremony to enhance animal fertility
-expressions of sympathetic magic (the painting might come true!)
-religious or magical function
-visual record of hallucinations
-visual record of real life happenings
-just people enjoying the creative process
 BIRD-HEADED MAN WITH BISON
Shaft scene in Lascaux Cave. c. 15,000 BCE.
Paint on limestone, length approx. 9’

LASCAUX CAVES
15,000-13,000 BCE
Dordogne, France

• Natural products used to make paint: charcoal, iron ore, plants

• 650 paintings: most common are cows, bulls, horses, and deer
• Animals placed deep inside the cave, some hundreds of feet in
•Bodies seen in profile, frontal or diagonal view of horns, eyes, and hooves; some
animals appear pregnant
 Stonehenge, England c. 2100 BCE (sandstone)

lintel
heel stone

-Whoever stood at the exact center on the morning of the summer solstice 3,260
years ago would have seen the sun rise directly over the heel stone.
-There are five “trilithons”- pairs of upright stones topped by lintels.
-What is it? Some sort of observatory? A place for public ceremonies? Who
knows?
Classical Arts
1. Egyptian Arts
A major contributor to late Neolithic art, Egyptian culture is probably the best known form of ancient art in
the Mediterranean basin, before the advent of Greek civilization (c.600 BCE).

Petroglyphs

Pyramids (Great Sphinx of Giza,

Pyramid of Khufu, Pyramid of
Khafre, and Pyramid of Menkaure)

Papyrus

Anubis (Half Human-Half Jackal)

Bastet (Half Human-Half Cat)
Horus (Half Human-Half Falcon)
2. Greek Arts
In around 450 B.C., the Athenian general Pericles tried to consolidate his power by using public money, the dues paid to
Athens by its allies in the Delian League coalition, to support the city-state’s artists and thinkers. Most of all, Pericles
paid artisans to build temples and other public buildings in the city of Athens.

The Parthenon

Temple of Poseidon

Greek Mythological Sculptures

Greek ARCHITECTURAL ORDER
An architectural order describes a style of building. In classical architecture each order is readily identifiable by means
of its proportions and profiles, as well as by various aesthetic details.

IONIC DORIC CORINTHIAN

3. Roman Arts
The Romans controlled such a vast empire for so long a period that a summary of the art produced in that time can only
be a brief and selective one. Perhaps, though, the greatest points of distinction for Roman art are its very diversity, the
embracing of art trends past and present from every corner of the empire and the promotion of art to such an extent that
it became more widely produced and more easily available than ever before. 

The Panthenon

The Arch of Titus

Medieval Arts
1. Byzantine Arts
Byzantine art include a departure from classical art forms that were highly realistic in nature. Byzantine artists were
less concerned with mimicking reality and more in tune with symbolism, religious symbolism in particular.
2. Romanesque Arts
Combining features of Roman and Byzantine buildings and other local traditions, Romanesque architecture exhibits
massive quality, thick walls, round arches , sturdy piers , groin vaults , large towers, and symmetrical plans. The art of
the period was characterized by a vigorous style in both painting and sculpture.
3. Gothic Arts
Gothic art flourished during the 12th and 13th centuries. This was because people began to want lighter and taller church
buildings. An Italian writer named Giorgio Vasari used the word "Gothic" in the 1530s, because he thought buildings
from the Middle Ages were not carefully planned and measured like Renaissance buildings or the buildings of ancient
Rome.
Renaissance Arts
RENAISSANCE ART
produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the combined influences of an increased
awareness of nature, a revival of classical learning, and a more individualistic view of man. Scholars no
longer believe that the Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values, as is suggested by the
French word renaissance, literally “rebirth.” Rather, historical sources suggest that interest in nature,
humanistic learning, and individualism were already present in the late medieval period and became
dominant in 15th- and 16th-century Italy concurrently with social and economic changes such as the
secularization of daily life, the rise of a rational money-credit economy, and greatly increased social
mobility.
RENAISSANCE ART: Notable Artworks

The Creation of Adam

Sistine Chapel, The Vatican, Rome │Michelangelo Buonarotti
Pieta
Sculpture, Marble│Michelangelo Buonarotti
RENAISSANCE ART: Notable Artworks

The Last Supper

Mona Lisa Painting│Leonardo da Vinci
Painting│Leonardo da Vinci

The Vitruvian Man

Sketch Art│Leonardo da Vinci
RENAISSANCE ART: Notable Artworks

Mary Magdalen
Sculpture│Donatello

La Belle Jardinière
Painting│Raphael
Baroque Arts
BAROQUE ART
The Baroque style is characterized by exaggerated
motion and clear detail used to produce drama,
exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting,
architecture, literature, dance, and music. Baroque
iconography was direct, obvious, and dramatic,
intending to appeal above all to the senses and the
emotions.
BAROQUE ART: Notable Artworks

Prometheus Bound Bodies and Shadows

Painting│Peter Paul Rubens Painting│Caravaggio
Neoclassical Arts
NEOCLASSICAL ART
Neoclassicism is characterized by clarity of form,
sober colors, shallow space, strong horizontal and
verticals that render that subject matter timeless
(instead of temporal as in the
dynamic Baroque works), and Classical subject
matter (or classicizing contemporary subject matter).
NEOCLASSICAL ART: Notable Artworks

The Oath of the Horatii The Death of Socrates

Painting│Jacques-Louis David Painting│Jacques-Louis David
NEOCLASSICAL ART: Notable Artworks

Oedipus and the Sphinx

Painting│Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne
Painting│Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Romantic Arts
ROMANTIC ART
The reflection, in art, of a late 18th-
century literary and philosophical movement in react
ion against the intellectuality and rationality of Neo-
Classicism. It produced no single artistic style or cha
racteristic but strongly influenced the ideals of imagi
nation, emotion, and the freedom of expression in ot
her media.
ROMANTIC ART: Notable Artworks

The Third of May Saturn Devours His Son

Painting│Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes Painting│Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes
ROMANTIC ART: Notable Artworks

Liberty Leading the People The Raft of Medusa

Painting│Eugene Ferdinand Victor Delacroix Painting│Theodore Gericault
MUSIC AND ARTS IN THE Kto12

WESTERN AFORM
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R. AGUILAR