Art Historical Periods

De Stijl Movement

De Stijl's philosophy and visual forms developed from the pure, geometric abstraction in the paintings of Piet Mondrian. The visual vocabulary of de Stijl artists was reduced to red, yellow, blue; black, gray, white; straight horizontal and vertical lines; and flat rectangular or square planes. Deeply concerned about the spiritual and intellectual climate of their time. Universal harmony through mathematical structure.

Analytic Cubism

Early 20th c. The first phase of Cubism, developed jointly by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, in which the artists analyzed form from every possible vantage point to combine the various views into one pictorial whole. Unlike the paintings of the Fauves and German Expressionists the Cubists used subdued hues to focus the viewers attention on form.

Environmental art

Environmental art, sometimes called Earth Art or Earthworks emerged in the 1960s and included a wide range of artworks, most site-specific and existing outdoors. Many artists associated with these sculptural projects also used natural or organic materials, including the land itself. This art form developed during a period of increased concern for American environment.

Carolingian Art

European art from the 780-900, given impetus and encouragement by Charlemagne's desire to restore the civilization of Rome. Charlemagne, King of the Franks and later Holy Roman Emperor, instigated a cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance. This revival used Constantine's Christian empire as its model, which flourished between 306 and 337. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and left behind an impressive legacy of military strength and artistic patronage. Figurative art from this period is easy to recognize. Unlike the flat, two-dimensional work of Early Christian and Early Byzantine artists, Carolingian artists sought to restore the third dimension. They used classical drawings as their models and tried to create more convincing illusions of space.

Impressionism

Impressionism focused even more acutely than realism on the present. 1870s into the 1900s. Impressionist paintings incorporate the qualities of sketches - abbreviation, speed, and spontaneity. brush strokes are defined and not blended to create smooth tonal gradations. Focused on images relevant to the new post-Industrial Revolution life, including scenes of new types of entertainment that became popular.

Landscape Painting in the United States

In America, Landscape painting was most prominently pursued by a group of artists known as the Hudson River School, named because its members drew their subjects primarily from the uncultivated regions of the Hudson River Valley. Like the early-19th C. landscape painters in Germany and England, the Artists of the Hudson River School not only presented Romantic panoramic landscape views but also participated in the ongoing exploration of the individual's and the country's relationship to the land. Acknowledging the unique geography and historical circumstances of each country and region, American landscape painters frequently focused on identifying qualities that rendered America unique. First half of the 1800s most prominent

Feminism

In the 1970s, the Feminist movement focused public attention on the history of women and their place in society.

New Kingdom Egypt

the period 1550 BC-1050 BC where Egypt reached the height of its power and glory; King Ahmose key figure The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period between the sixteenth century and the eleventh century BCE, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power.

Old Kingdom Egypt

- Era of pyramid building - 2700 BC-2200 BC

Middle Kingdom Egypt

(2040 BCE - 1640 BCE) The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Thirteenth Dynasty, between 2055 and 1650 BCE. Period in ancient Egyptian history characterized by internal strife and hardships, and the invasion, and subsequent take over by the neighboring Hyksos.

Hellenistic Greece

(323-30 BC) In order to achieve this lifelike aesthetic, Hellenistic sculptors skillfully incorporated three characteristics into their work: expressive movement, realistic anatomy, and ornate details. Architecturally, the scale of structures vastly increased, as can be seen with the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, and some complexes even terraced their surrounding landscape in order to create spectacular vistas as can be seem at the Sanctuary of Asklepios on Kos. Upon the defeat of Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E., the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt and, simultaneously, the Hellenistic Period came to a close.

First Intermediate Period in Egypt

- A time of chaos and poverty - Nile floods ceased (no fertile soil, droughts) - Treasury was bankrupt due to pyramid building - Civil wars broke out and invaders fought against weak throne - Not able to farm, can't buy food - 2160-2055 BCE

Surrealism Characteristics

-artist's dream -everyday objects in unexpected situations -irrational -automatism -juxtapositions -exquisite corpse

Gothic Art

1200-1400 artwork of Central and Northern Europe which reflected Christian, and then secular, themes, from mid-12th to the 15th century In the 12th-13th century, feats of engineering permitted increasingly gigantic buildings. The rib vault, flying buttress, and pointed (Gothic) arch were used as solutions to the problem of building a very tall structure while preserving as much natural light as possible. Stained-glass window panels rendered startling sun-dappled interior effects.

Late Medieval Art

1250 to 1500 AD often shows a more intense turn towards realism and a shift away from the influence of Byzantine Aesthetics in Italy.

Late Gothic Style

13th century

Babylonian Art

1792-1750 BCE

Late Antique Art

200-550 CE .christianity began as prohibited and therefore was an "underground religion" -work done in catacombs and sarcophagi .inspired by classical past by influenced by constantinian artwork from late roman empire .buildings incorporated axially planned roman basilicas and centrally planned roman temple fronts .early jews also flourished during time period The characteristics of Late Antique art include frontality, stiffness of pose and drapery, deeply drilled lines, less naturalism, squat proportions and lack of individualism. Important figures are often slightly larger or are placed above the rest of the crowd to denote importance.

Imperial Roman Art

27 BCE-200 CE Augustus's rise to power in Rome signaled the end of the Roman Republic and the formation of Imperial rule. Roman art was now put to the service of aggrandizing the ruler and his family. It was also meant to indicate shifts in leadership. Imperial art often hearkened back to the Classical art of the past. "Classical", or "Classicizing," when used in reference to Roman art refers broadly to the influences of Greek art from the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Classicizing elements include the smooth lines, elegant drapery, idealized nude bodies, highly naturalistic forms and balanced proportions that the Greeks had perfected over centuries of practice. FRESCOS ARE FROM THIS PERIOD

Byzantine Art

395-1453 AD Generally speaking, the main characteristics of 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.

Republican Rome

509-27 BCE In the Republican period, art was produced in the service of the state, depicting public sacrifices or celebrating victorious military campaigns (like the Monument of Aemilius Paullus at Delphi). Portraiture extolled the communal goals of the Republic; hard work, age, wisdom, being a community leader and soldier. Patrons chose to have themselves represented with balding heads, large noses, and extra wrinkles, demonstrating that they had spent their lives working for the Republic as model citizens, flaunting their acquired wisdom with each furrow of the brow. We now call this portrait style veristic, referring to the hyper-naturalistic features that emphasize every flaw, creating portraits of individuals with personality and essence.

Hiberno-Saxon Art

6th-8th centuries, British Isles (Book of Kells)

Greek Geometric Period

875-700 BCE In the geometric style, narratives are displayed in narrow bands around the vessel. As Greek artistic practice evolved, this style would decrease the number of bands until a single narrative dominated the vessel.

Fauvism

A painting style developed by Henri Matisse in 1905 that formally lasted until 1908. The means "fierce animal." The style rejects Neo-Impressionism and expresses flat, bold, un-naturalistic color with impulsive brushwork; sometimes the blank canvas shows between brushstrokes.

Neoclassicism

A style of art and architecture that emerged in the later 18th century. Part of a general revival of interest in classical cultures, Neoclassicism was characterized by the utilization of themes and styles from ancient Greece and Rome. Following the discovery of the Roman ruins of Pompeii and also the publication in 1764 of a highly influential history of ancient art by German scholar Winckelmann, there was an intense flourishing of classicism in art, architecture and design in the eighteenth century. In Britain it can be seen in the paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West and James Barry and in sculpture in the work of John Flaxman, whose illustrations to Homer's Odyssey particularly reflect this interest. Neoclassicism was also an important influence on architecture, particularly in Scotland (Alexander 'Greek' Thomson) but also for example St George's Hall, Liverpool; Euston Arch (demolished), and the British Museum, in London.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism is the first major American avant-garde movement, which emerged in NY in the 1940s. The artists associated with ABEX produced paintings that are for the most part abstract but express the artist's state of mind. These artists also intended to strike emotional chords in the viewer. These artists turned inward to create and the resulting works convey a rough spontaneity and palpable energy. ABEX developed along two lines - gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction. The gestural abstractionists relied on the expressiveness of energetically applied pigment. In contrast, the chromatic abstractionists focused on color's emotional resonance.

Renaissance Art

An art of line and edges, figures from the bible,classical history, and mythology, commissioned portraits, use of perspective, chiarascuro (light and dark) to achieve rounded effect, secular backgrounds and material splendor. Values: secularism, individualism, virtu, balance, order, passivity and calm. ~14th century and its end in the 17th century

Dada

An early 20th century artistic movement that attacked traditional cultural styles and stressed the absence of purpose in life. This movement emerged in large part in reaction to what many of these artists saw as nothing more than an insane spectacle of collective homicide. The Dadaists believed reason and logic had been responsible for the unmitigated disaster of the world war, and they concluded that the route to salvation was through anarchy, the irrational, and the intuitive.

Purism

An early-20th-century art movement that embraced the "machine esthetic" and sought purity of form in the clean functional lines of industrial machinery. They retained the cubist preference for cylindrical and tube shaped motifs, suggestive of machined parts such as pistons and cylinders.

Archaic Period Art

Archaic period, in history and archaeology, the earliest phases of a culture; the term is most frequently used by art historians to denote the period of artistic development in Greece from about 650 to 480 bc. During the Archaic period, Greek art became less rigidly stylized and more naturalistic. Paintings on vases evolved from geometric designs to representations of human figures, often illustrating epic tales. In sculpture, faces were animated with the characteristic "Archaic smile," and bodies were rendered with a growing attention to human proportion and anatomy. The development of the Doric and Ionic orders of architecture in the Archaic period also reflected a growing concern with harmonious architectural proportions. KOUROS/KORE

Baroque

Baroque was the dominant style in art and architecture of the seventeenth century (1600), characterized by self-confidence, dynamism and a realistic approach to depiction 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. At its height in Rome from around 1630-1680, Baroque is particularly associated with the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Its dynamic movement, bold realism (giving viewers the impression they were witnessing an actual event), and direct emotional appeal were ideally suited to proclaiming the reinvigorated spirit of the Catholic Church. Although originating in Rome, Baroque was influential across Europe. It was also used to depict many non-religious themes and can be seen in portraits, still lifes as well as mythical subjects.

German Expressionism

Began in 1905 with Die Brucke (The Bridge). They hoped to break the academic, traditional, and impressionistic modes and create art that was a creative impulse. They often published journals and exhibition catalogs using their own prints as illustrations. These groups produced paintings that captured their feelings in visual form while also eliciting intense visceral responses from the viewer.

High Renaissance

High Renaissance art was the dominant style in Italy during the 16th century. Mannerism also developed during this period. The High Renaissance period is traditionally taken to begin in the 1490s, with Leonardo's fresco of The Last Supper in Milan, and to end in 1527, with the Sack of Rome by the troops of Charles V. High Renaissance art is deemed as "High" because it is seen as the period in which the artistic aims and goals of the Renaissance reached their greatest application. High Renaissance art is characterized by references to classical art and delicate application of developments from the Early Renaissance (such as on-point perspective). Overall, works from the High Renaissance display restrained beauty where all of the parts are subordinate to the cohesive composition of the whole. Many consider 16th century High Renaissance art to be largely dominated by three individuals: Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Etruscan Art

Known for its stiff figures, formal smiles, and almond-shaped eyes. 1000-100 BCE Characteristic achievements are the wall frescoes—painted in two-dimensional style—and realistic terra-cotta portraits found in tombs. Bronze reliefs and sculptures are also common. Tombs found at Caere, carved underground out of soft volcanic rock, resemble houses. Urban architecture was another specialty; Etruscans were among the first in the Mediterranean to lay out cities with a grid plan, a practice copied by the Romans. In the sacred area, Etruscan temples had a deep front porch with columns and abundant terra-cotta roof sculptures, such as those from the temple at Veii (late 6th century). Etruscan art was influenced by Greek art and in turn influenced the development of realistic portraiture in Italy.

Symbolism

Late 19th century movement Symbolism had applications both in art and literature, and disdained the "mere fact" of realism a trivial and asserted that fact must be transformed into a symbol of the inner experience of that fact. They sought to not see things but to see through them to a significance and a reality deeper than superficial appearance.

Suprematism/Constructivism

Malevich developed an abstract style to convey his belief that the supreme reality in this world is pure feeling, which attaches to no object. Thus, this belief called for new, nonobjective forms in art - shapes not related to objects in the visible world. He christened this new artistic approach Suprematism

Pictorialism

Photographic style that began around 1890 and continued until at least World War II, in which photographers sought to convey subjective emotions rather than depict objective reality. Pictorialism became the first international movement of photography, with artists predominantly working in the USA, Europe and Asia. Pictorialists modelled their photographs after fine art, and they embraced a variety of artistic influences, including Symbolist literature and art, Impressionist and Pre-Raphaelite painting, Art Nouveau and Japonisme. Their works were generally characterized by picturesque subjects rendered in soft focus, with an emphasis on tone rather than line and detail. They employed exotic printing techniques or drew onto their prints, lending a handmade quality to their work and thus demonstrating its technical and aesthetic skill. At the heart of the Pictorialist movement were two primary tenets: a desire to create beauty and the aspiration to establish photography as an art form.

Realism

Realism was a movement that developed in france around the mid 19th c. (1800s). Their work, although the movement is somewhat undefined, Realists in essence provide viewers witha reevaluation of reality. They argued that only the things of one's own time, what people can see for themselves are real. This meant that they focused their attention on the experiences and sights of everyday contemporary life and disapproved of historical and fictional subjects. This led realists to portray objects and images that until then had been deemed unworthy of depiction, working class laborers etc. They also depicted these scenes on a scale and with an earnestness and seriousness previously reserved for history painting. Additionally, Realists reconsidered the painter's primary goals and called attention to painting as a pictorial construction by their pigment application by painting as a pictorial construction by their pigment application or composition manipulation.

Romanticism

Term in use by the early nineteenth century to describe the movement in art and literature distinguished by a new interest in human psychology, expression of personal feeling and interest in the natural world. This complex shift in attitudes away from the dominant classical tradition was at its height from about 1780 to 1830, but continued to be an influence long after that. The overall characteristic was a new emotionalism in contrast to the prevailing ideas of classical restraint. In British art, Romanticism was embraced in new responses to nature in the art of John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. Visionary artist William Blake examined man's place in the cosmos and his relationship to God as well as exploring new ways of looking at human history. Other significant painters of history subjects were Henry Fuseli, James Barry and John Hamilton Mortimer. Later phases of the Romantic movement in Britain embraced Pre-Raphaelites and symbolism. -Low horizon line to emphasize the sky, which often is dramatic and cloudy -focus on natures, figures are dwarfed by nature to emphasize its sublime nature - Dramatic scenes -Visible brushstrokes are often a feature

Rayonnant Style (High Gothic)

The "radiant" style of Gothic architecture, dominant in the second half of the 13th century and associated with the French royal court of Louis IX at Paris. French building style (13th century) that represents the height of Gothic architecture. During this period architects became less interested in achieving great size than in decoration, which took such forms as pinnacles, moldings, and especially window tracery. The style's name reflects the radiating character of the rose window. Other features include the thinning of vertical supporting members, the enlargement of windows, and the combination of the triforium gallery and clerestory into one large glazed area, until walls became largely undifferentiated screens of tracery, mullions, and glass.

Classical Art Characteristics

The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480-323 B.C.) Greek artists of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. attained a manner of representation that conveys a vitality of life as well as a sense of permanence, clarity, and harmony.The middle of the fifth century B.C. is often referred to as the Golden Age of Greece, particularly of Athens. Significant achievements were made in Attic vase painting . Most notably, the red-figure technique superseded the black-figure technique, and with that, great strides were made in portraying the human body, clothed or naked, at rest or in motion.

International Style

The International Style is a major architectural style that was developed in the 1920s and 1930s and was closely related to modernism and modern architecture. It was first defined by Museum of Modern Art curators Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson in 1932, based on works of architecture from the 1920s. It is defined by the Getty Research Institute as "the style of architecture that emerged in Holland, France, and Germany after World War I and spread throughout the world, becoming the dominant architectural style until the 1970s. The style is characterized by an emphasis on volume over mass, the use of lightweight, mass-produced, industrial materials, rejection of all ornament and colour, repetitive modular forms, and the use of flat surfaces, typically alternating with areas of glass.

Conceptual Art

The relentless challenges to artistic convention fundamental to the historical avant-garde reached a logical conclusion with Conceptual Art in the late 1960s. Conceptual artists asserted that the artfullness of art lay only in the artist's idea, rather than in its final expression. Indeed, some Conceptual artists eliminated the object all together. In addition, Conceptual artists rethought aesthetic issues, which long have formed the foundation of art. These artists regarded the idea, or concept, as the defining component of the artwork.

Pop Art

an American school of the 1950s that imitated the techniques of commercial art (as the soup cans of Andy Warhol) and the styles of popular culture and the mass media

Minimalism

an art movement in sculpture and painting that began in the 1960s and emphasized extreme simplification of form and color. While painters worked to emphasize flatness, sculptors, understandably, chose to focus on three-dimensionality as the unique characteristic and inherent limitation of the sculptural idiom. Minimal artworks often lack identifiable subjects, colors, surface textures, and narrative elements. By rejecting illusionism and reducing sculpture to basic geometric forms, Minimalists emphasized their art's "objecthood"

Romanesque Art

c. 1000-1200 artwork of Europe which reflected Roman, Eastern, and Byzantine influences, from 10th to mid-12th century

Late Classical Period

c. 400-323 BCE In the late classical period (400-300 B.C.) there was increased emphasis on the expression of emotion in art. Sculptural works attributed to Praxiteles are characterized by elegance of proportion and graceful beauty.

High Classical Period

c. 450-400 BCE During the "High Classical Period" (450-400 B.C.E.), there was great artistic success: from the innovative structures on the Acropolis to Polykleitos' visual and cerebral manifestation of idealization in his sculpture of a young man holding a spear, the Doryphoros or "Canon" (image below).

Post-Impressionism

the work or style of a varied group of late 19th-century and early 20th-century artists including Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, and Cézanne. They reacted against the naturalism of the impressionists to explore color, line, patter, and form, and the emotional response of the artist, a concern that led to the development of expressionism.

Early Classical Period - Severe Style Sculpture

c. 480-450 BCE -characterized by a feeling of dignified nobility -contrapposto stance -delicate draperies -convincing realism As can be seen in the Kritios Boy, c. 480 B.C.E., the "Severe Style" features realistic anatomy, serious expressions, pouty lips, and thick eyelids. For painters, the development of perspective and multiple ground lines enriched compositions, as can be seen on the numerous vases produced during this time.

Early Medieval Art

c. 500-800

Ottonian Art

c. 900-1000 influenced by Roman and Early Christian past, large stone churches epitomize existing Ottonian architecture, bronze doors, interior arches do not line up one atop the other, flat and unadorned walls, very little interruption in blank space

Akkadian Art,

• ca. 2332-2150 BCE - First Near Eastern rulers to call themselves kings of the world and to assume divine attributes • First to cast hollow life-size bronze sculptures & place figures at diff. levels in a landscape setting