WESTERN

ART
HISTORY
 HISTORY OF
WESTERN

 Western philosophy was born during the Archaic age
of Greece (ca. 800-500 BC), when Greek thinkers
broke with purely mythological explanations of the
world by attempting to explain nature logically.
Apparently the first to do so was Thales (the "father of
Western philosophy"), who initiated a search for the
fundamental substance of all matter (see History of
Science). Thus did Western philosophy begin with the
field of science (aka "natural philosophy").
 HISTORY OF
WESTERN

The history of western art begins with Italian
Renaissance, which is regarded as a golden
age of art, music and literature. The period has
thus inspired many art works for centuries
with iconic works by legendary artists like
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo
serving as muses. Beginning from the 14th
century.
 HISTORY OF
WESTERN

Italian Renaissance Italian Renaissance was a
cultural movement roughly spanning the 14th
century through the mid-17th century. The
movement took painting to a higher level through
the use of perspective, the study of human
anatomy and proportion, and through the
development of an unprecedented refinement in
drawing and painting techniques.
WESTERN ART MOVEMENTS

 Pre-historic Art (40,000- 4,000 B.C) rock carvings,
engravings, pictorial imagery, sculptures, and stone
arrangements.
 Rococo Art (1699-1780) offered a softer style of
decorative art compared baroque's exuberance; easily
translated to silver, porcelain, and french furniture.
 WESTERN ART
MOVEMENTS

 Baroque (1600-1750) Ornate, over the top visual arts
and architecture; painters used an intense contrast
between light and dark and had energetic composition
matched bu rich color palettes.
 Medieval Art (500-1400) centered around the church;
biblical subjects and scenes from classic mythology;
illuminated manuscript and gothic architecture.
 WESTERN ART
MOVEMENTS

Neoclassicism (1750-1850) Focused on idealism
Romanticism (1780-1850) emphasized the
individual and imagination; also focused on
passion, emotion, and sensation over intellect and
reason.
 WESTERN ART
MOVEMENTS

 Renaissance Art (1400-1600) focused nature and
individualism; artists used linear perspective and
created depth through intense lighting and shading.
 Mannerism (1527-1580) style and technique
outweighed the meaning of the subject matter; figures
had graceful.
IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS
OF WESTERN ART

Western Art is the portrayal, in two or three
dimensions, of the history, people, landscape and
wildlife of the area confined to the western
regions of North America, in a highly realistic or
realistic impressionist style and is inextricably
linked to the culture of the American West.
IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS
OF WESTERN ART

One of the greatest characteristics of ‘Western Art’
is that it polices its own quality. In other words, it
has managed to create and maintain the highest,
most exacting standards, equal to any found
anywhere or at any time in history. It also speaks
of the best in the spirit of the American people
and is a wonderful and truly American
phenomenon.
 HISTORY BACKGROUND


Art history is the academic study of objects of art
in their historical development and stylistic
contexts (i.e., genre , design, form , and style ).
Art conveys political, religious, and philosophical
themes and judgments that arise as much from the
artist's environment as they do from his or her
creative impulse.
 FACTORS

Factors of Socio-political concerns that led to
making arts primary function of expression:

1. The twentieth century was one of particular

worldwide upheaval, ranging from wars to economic
downturns to radical political movements.
 FACTORS

2. The years between 1900 and 2000 were years of
extreme change for artists all over the world.
3. Classical art was being challenged more and more
as waves of nationalism and imperialism spread over
the world in the early half of the twentieth century.
 FACTORS

4. Artists explored extreme and varying themes in
the years before and after World War I, and those
same themes were revisited in the aftermath of
World War II, creating an interesting parallel.
5. Fauvism was the short lived name for the longer-
lasting art movement called Expressionism that gave
importance to the primary function of art.
 FACTORS

6. The artist employed bright, vivid colors and
emotional images and subjects in 1905 to 1910 to
explore emotions in new ways.
7. This movement is most well known for capturing
the creations of such famous artists as Henri Matisse
an elderly man who makes art representing human
figures and faces with colors. The shades in the
painting are darker hues of different colors.
 FACTORS

8. Pioneered by Pablo Picasso, Cubism sought to
deepen the consideration that expressionist artists
had created by rendering objects and ideas from
different angles, seeking to break up and analyze
things.
9. In the late 1940s, Abstract Expressionism sprang
up with the idea of expressing a state of mind.
 FACTORS

10. Abstract Expressionism movement wanted
viewers to really reach deeply for understanding of
an image.
11. They wanted the ideas about the painting to be
free of conventional thinking and believed that their
images would have a unique, instinctive meaning for
each viewer.
 FACTORS

12. Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, using
splatter-paint and other unusual methods to
create abstract works of art.
13. Neo-Expressionism and the Feminist
movement sought to invoke strong emotions with
their works of art.
 Socio Politics issue

The Nexus of Art and Politics in the 20th Century
Art and politics are inextricably linked in much of Western
art. To take a famous example, Picasso painted Guernica in
response to the 1937 German bombing of a Basque town
during the Spanish Civil War. In a trenchant anti-war political
statement, Guernica shows the brutality of warfare. A horse
rearing, a fallen soldier, a civilian with upraised arms, a
roaring bull, a mother with a lifeless child – all appear in the
painting contorted in pain, consumed by despair. Picasso
worked for 35 days on this masterpiece, which created a
sensation first exhibited at the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris
Expo in 1937.
The Three Art Classification

1. Representational art can describe any artwork
which depicts easily identifiable or recognizable
subjects. Representational or figurative art is the
most widely accepted art, recognized by the masses.
2. Abstract art takes subjects or inspiration from
reality but presents them in ways that are different
from how we view the same subjects in our
everyday reality.
The Three Art Classification

3. Non-objective art takes nothing from reality. It
may be mistaken for abstraction but differs because
there is no basis in reality.
 The three types of visual arts

1. Fine art Fine art is a style of art that is developed primarily
to be aesthetically beautiful. This definition distinguishes and
elevates fine art above those decorative and commercial arts,
which also serve some practical function. High art allows for
the full expression and display of an artist’s imagination,
unrestricted by any commercial or practical considerations
such as functionality. The three fine arts of painting, sculpture,
and architecture are sometimes also called the “major arts”,
with “minor arts” referring to commercial or decorative art
styles.
 The three types of visual arts

2. Decorative arts are often overlooked as art forms
because they are both functional and beautiful to
look at. Decorative arts may be used interchangeably
with “crafts”; the design and manufacture are both
beautiful and functional.
 The three types of visual arts

3. Commercial art, like decorative arts, can be both
functional and beautiful. Commercial art is a
creative service, which is created for commercial
purposes, such as advertising.
 Western Art Era

Western painting is in general distinguished by its
concentration on the representation of the human
figure, whether in the heroic context of antiquity
or the religious context of the early Christian and
medieval world.
In Western cultures, oil painting and watercolor
painting have rich and complex traditions in style
and subject matter.
“The Mona Lisa”
by Leonardo da
Vinci

Almost everyone is familiar with

the Mona Lisa‘s enchanting smile.
The Mona Lisa was painted
with oil paints on a poplar wood
panel and measures 30 in tall by
20 in wide.
“The Sistine
Chapel Ceiling” by
Michelangelo

The most important artworks in

the chapel are the frescoes by
Michelangelo on the ceiling and
on the west wall behind the altar.
The word “fresco” means “fresh”
in Italian, referring to the damp
lime plaster which frescos are
typically painted on.
 Western Art Era

A portion of the history of painting in both
Eastern and Western art is dominated by religious
art. Examples of this kind of painting range from
artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery,
to Biblical scenes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, to
scenes from the life of Buddha (or other images of
Eastern religious origin).