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Art Periods are artefacts that were created throughout history. People did not aim towards making artefacts with the intention of emphasizing on a particular goal, technique, appearance, and categorising their artefacts under a group based on how it was made.
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But on the other hand, Art movements were developed and labelled as such centuries after. Around the early 1840's visual artists started forming groups to discuss and make artworks that focus on a specific idea and style. After which these visual artists would present their artworks to the public, and publish documents that state what their intentions were, and what style they were trying to achieve.
When we look at an artwork that referenced an art movement, that work of art has a very specific appearance.
WHAT IS AN ART MOVEMENT?
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This is the creation of functional and decorative art with the same artistic style, philosophy, theories, beliefs, principles and subjects.
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An Art Period possess a large body of artworks that were made around the same time frame and with the same artistic style, by many artists within the same location or across the world.
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* An Art Movement is the imitation (reference/ copy) of art styles that existed before it was popularised by a group of artists and labelled with a title.
PREHISTORIC ART
Unknown-40,000–4,000 B.C.
* Prehistoric artworks are considered as artifacts that were made before there was an acknowledged record of any written language. Prehistoric artworks are also known as, Caved Art, or artworks from the Stone age and Ice Age.
* Prehistoric artefacts are representations of practices, rituals, daily practices, ways of living and documentation of what was important to them at the time, such as: food, dance, music, clothes, reproduction, earth, fire, water, animals, sun, rain, natural disasters, people, tools that they used and plants.
The artistic style of their artefacts varied, because they used what was available to them based on their geographical location. And due to the fact that times were more simple then the colours of their art are along the line of what they could find in the pigment of plants, animals and the earth.
Style: the artistic style of the paintings and engravings are less defined in realistic details. The style of the artworks have sketch-like appearances. And the overall visual representation of the artworks seem to have the appearance of a child-like drawing/painting.
Type: Prehistoric cave art
Media: Painting
Artist/s: Unknown
Year: Unknown (around the time of (c. 30,000) according to scientists.
Place: Ennedi Plateau, Chad.
Photographed by: Franz Aberham
Company: © Digital Vision/Getty Images
The Ennedi plateau was declared a Unesco world heritage site in 2016 and is located in the northeast of Chad, in the regions of Ennedi-Ouest and Ennedi-Est.
It is considered a part of the group of mountains known as the Ennedi Massif, which is located near a sandstone bulwark in the middle of the Sahara desert in Africa.
In reality it should not be called Sahara desert, just Sahara because the name 'Sahara' is derived from the Arabic word for "desert", Saḥra.
For example: people often say Ramen noodles which is wrong, because Ramen means noodle in Chinese.
Place: African Continent
Type: Prehistoric cave art
Media: Cave painting
Artist: Unknown
Discovered: 1940
Location: Lascauxhorse.Montignac, France
Photographed by: Hans Hinz, Basel
Studied by: Henri Édouard Prosper Breuil (French Catholic priest who was considered as an archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist).
The cave was popularized between the time frame of the late summer in 1940 and September 12 of that same year in France.
Over the years it has been said that four teenagers stumbled upon the ancient cave of artworks after following their dog down a narrow entrance into a cavern.
(Cavern- This is a large cave or chamber in a cave or a large, dark place or space. This usually has a large body of water and is typically underground.)
ANCIENT ART
4,000 B.C.- A.D. 400
* The word ancient means old. In Visual Arts this has to do with people and places that existed a very long time ago and artworks that belong to a time in the past that no longer exist. Some examples of ancient societies are Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China. During that time works of art were made to tell stories, honour something or someone, function which was to make a task easier, identify social status, religious beliefs, symbols, rulers, gods, goddesses, warriors, decorate and communicate ideas.
Ancient Art
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Ancient Chinese Art
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Ancient Egyptian Art
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Ancient Greek Art
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Ancient Roman Art
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African Art
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Native American Art
According to historians 4,000 B.C. has the first recorded written language throughout history.
It is said that before this time, there were no organized documentation of a written language.
Humans at this time were also considered to be advance because of their constant invention of technology and tools with the use of raw materials.
Not only did they invent things that were considered to be too advance for their time, but they pooled together all of their strength and knowledge to make things and places that were extremely large in size and long-lasting.
Meaning:
The following abbreviations BCE and CE came about long after the invention of AD and BC.
AD: “Anno Domini” means “in the year of our Lord” in Latin ( AD does not mean “after death”
(In the year of our Lord refers to the birth of Christ)
CE: represent the phrase Common Era and is often used to replace AD.
Whether it is called the year of our lord or the common era, keeping track of the years and the calendar is centered around the year Christ was born.
For example: If you were born in the year of 2010 and we wanted to use your birth as a means of keeping track of time, before and after; we could say AD2010 which would represent the year you were born. Before you were born maybe we could say 2003 BC, this would represent the years before you came into existence on earth. <~~~(Please keep in mind that this is not real and is just an example.)
The following abbreviations are used to represent the word Circa. The abbreviations for the word Circa are used when people are not sure of the exact date, so these are used instead of saying: approximately, around, roughly or about the time of ______?_______
ca
ca.
c.
c
cir.
circ.
The Code of Hammurabi, was made in the Babylonian region of Mesopotamia. This dates back to 1754 BCE. It is one of the world's oldest and most complete legal codes as it relates to law and order.
King Hammurabi was the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty. His code was used to compensate victims of crimes, but also to punish perpetrators. The monuments and tablets has the earliest example of the phrase ‘innocent until proven guilty.’
Year Made: 1792-1750 B.C.E.
Material: basalt
(Basalt is a type of igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron.)
Size: 225 x 65 cm
Current location: Museum in (Louvre, Paris).
Title: The Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi
Speakers in the video: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harrisit
Location: Babylonian Kingdom, now known as Iraq
Purpose: Principles of a civilization
Age: More than 4,000 years old
Name of writing: language of Akkadian
The Code of Hammurabi, or what you may call laws and rules of their society was translated by someone who does Epigraphy. (Epigraphy is the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions.)
RENAISSANCE ART
(1400- 1600)
*Renaissance art is often divided up into two periods:
* Early Renaissance (1400-1479) - Artists focused on symmetry and creating the perfect form. At this point artists worked harder to paint characters as real as possible, in the best way they knew how to. This era featured artists such as Giotto, Masaccio, and Donatello.
* High Renaissance (1475-1525 ca.) - A rising interest in perspective and space gave the art even more realistic features.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RENAISSANCE ARTWORKS:
1. INDIVIDUALISM- Showed individual people instead of groups
2. SECULARISM/ NON- RELIGIOUS- Fewer church paintings
3. CLASSISM- Classic Roman and Greek influence
4. NATURE- Depicted the outdoors
5. ANATOMY- focused on defined and precise human anatomy/ body/ figure.
6. LINEAR PERSPECTIVE- The appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer.
7. REALISM/ REAL/ REALITY- Artistic Representation that aims for visual accuracy.
8. DEPTH- Used light and shading to create this
9. BACKGROUND- Created depth
10. SYMMETRY- Balanced proportions
11. CHANGE OF SUBJECTS- The Middle Ages the subject of almost all European art was religion, specifically Christianity and the Catholic Church. Although Renaissance artists continued to paint religious paintings, they also branched out to other subjects, such as:
* Greek and Roman mythology, historical subjects, portraits of individuals and the details of everyday life.
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THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD:
It is customary to classify Italian Renaissance Art into a number of different but overlapping periods:
• The Proto-Renaissance Period (1300-1400)
----- Pre-Renaissance Painting (1300-1400)
• The Early Renaissance Period (1400-1490)
• The High Renaissance Period (1490-1530)
• The Northern Renaissance (1430-1580)
----- Netherlandish Renaissance (1430-1580)
----- German Renaissance (1430-1580)
• The Mannerism Period (1530-1600)
[The High Renaissance developed into Mannerism, about the time Rome was sacked (destroyed) in 1527.]
MANNERISM ART
(1527-1580)
* Mannerist paintings tend to be more artificial and less naturalistic than Renaissance painting. This exaggerated idiom is typically associated with attributes such as emotionalism, elongated human figures, strained poses, unusual effects of scale, lighting or perspective, vivid often garish colours.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MANNERISM ART MOVEMENT:
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A- SYMMETRY
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ELONGATED FIGURES
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SERPENTINE FIGURES
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DYNAMIC MOVEMENT
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OPPOSITE TO HIGH RENNAISANCE STYLE
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NUDE CHARACTERS/ (NAKED SUBJECTS).
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CHARACTERS TAKEN FROM STORIES
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CHARACTERS THAT SEEMED TO HAVE REFERENCED GREEK MYTHOLOGY.
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Early medieval artists enjoyed creating relief sculptures, which are carvings that stand out from a background like 3-D pictures.
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Using ivory as a medium.
(Ivory is a hard creamy-white substance that comes from part of the tusks or horn of an elephant, walrus, or narwhal.)
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They carefully sculpted intricate designs on panels, book covers, caskets, devotional items, and even doors.
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Their subject matter was nearly always Christian and depicted Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, scenes from the Old Testament, and Christian symbolism.
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EARLY MEDIEVAL CHARACTERISTICS:
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Iconography
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Christian subject matter
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Elaborate patterns and decoration
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Bright colors
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The use of precious metals
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Gems and other luxurious materials
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Stylized figures
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Social status
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Evil
BAROQUE ART
(1600-1750)
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The Baroque period that followed Mannerism gave way for over-the-top Visual Arts and architecture.
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It was characterized by grandeur (style) and richness, punctuated by an interest in broadening human intellect and global discovery.
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Baroque artists were stylistically complex.
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Baroque paintings were characterized by drama.
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Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque are:
* grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and the tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.
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Two of the most famous painters are:
* The Italian painter Caravaggio, and the Dutch painter Rembrandt.
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These artworks were used in an intense contrast between light and dark, and had energetic compositions matched by rich colour palettes, or (Colours).
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CHARACTERISTICS OF BAROQUE ART:
- Realism
- The depiction of true events, and biblical events
- The representation of biblical characters.
- dramatic scenes.
- Natural lighting.
What was the purpose of the Baroque artworks?
*The Roman Catholic Church proclaim supremacy of the Catholic faith were against people who they called Protestants.
What does it mean to be a Protestant?
*Any Western Christian who did not stick to the Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Church.
*An adherent of any of those Christian bodies who separated themselves from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or from any group that was a descendant of the church of Rome.
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Names of a few Baroque Visual Artists:
- Caravaggio
- Bernini
- Rubens
- Velazquez
- Rembrandt
- Le Brun
- Jan Vermeer
- Rachel Ruysch
CLASS ACTIVITY 1:
*Create a small sculpture, painting or coloured drawing that, references one of the following periods discussed above.
If you decided that you will be making a sculpture, it should not be bigger than a thirteen inch ruler.
For those that plan on creating a painting, but you do not own a painting set at the moment, you can look around your surrounding, and find natural pigments to use; for example:
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Curry
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Browning
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Turmeric
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Soya Sauce
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Beet Root
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Onion
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Coffee
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Chocolate
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Mud
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Artificial Food Dye
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Charcoal
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Hair dye
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Fabric dye
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Ink
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Stain from other food items, such as:
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Ribena, Berries, and Carrots
Other materials that can be used for your artworks are:
Markers
Crayons
Pens
Remember that you are to choose ONE (1) from the options above, which are:
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Prehistoric Art
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Ancient Art
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Renaissance Art
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Mannerism Art
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Baroque Art
The following images below are examples of: a sculpture, coloured drawing and paintings.
RO-CO-CO
(1699–1780)
* Rococo paintings, were acknowledged in the early 18th century of Paris.
* They are characterized by the use of soft colours and curvy lines, and the depiction of love scenes, nature, amorous encounters, light-hearted entertainment, and youth.
* The word “rococo” derives from rocaille, which is French for rubble or rock.
* Rocaille refers to the shell-work in garden grottoes and is used as a descriptive word for the serpentine patterns seen in the Decorative Arts of the Rococo period.
A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or liable to flood at high tide. They are often seen in a park or garden. The Grotto is what geologists refer to as an in-line sinkhole.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RO-CO-CO ART PERIOD:
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Rococo painting shuns straight lines.
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The frames are curvy.
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Erotic
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Curvilinear characteristics add to sensuality
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Pastel colours (light or dull colours)
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Shimmering fabrics
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Figures are slender
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Often seen from back
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Meant for private, not public display
"fete galante" paintings
* Fete galante is an outdoor entertainment or rural festival, especially as depicted in 18th-century French painting. This featured beautifully dressed aristocrats, these were figures and people would be dressed in ball a suit, dress or masquerade costumes, who were enjoying themselves in a parkland settings.
Within the artworks it also showed that the event was
attended by cherubs. In other artworks, other figures or humans would be seen visiting an island, supposedly dedicated to the ancient love goddess Cythera.
* The definition of a cherub is a sweet looking innocent baby, or is a winged angelic figure. Cupid is an example of a cherub.
*A cherub is one of the unearthly beings who directly attend to God in Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim was assigned many roles, for example: protecting the entrance of the Garden of Eden.
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Rococo departed from baroque interests in royalty, and turned towards aristocracy.
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Louis XIV death transfers power from nobility to aristocracy
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Light-hearted, fun, often silly activity.
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Rococo architecture shows unity with other arts in the building exterior: undulating forms in complex curvy shapes.
(Undulating means having a smoothly rising and falling form or outline. To move with a wavelike motion, as with a smooth rising-and-falling or side-to-side movement. )
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Dynamic and moving spacious interior.
NEOCLASSISM
(1750–1850)
*Neoclassicism is the name of s Western classical art and culture that imitates (copy) the artworks made by the Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Romans.
*These artworks often show: clearness, elegance, harmony, westerns classic fashion and rest made by careful attention. The focused on the forms of the human figure which were often done by means of painting, and the construction of buildings with a more geometrical form.
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CHARACTERISTICS OR THEMES OF THE NEOCLASSISM ART PERIOD:
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History paintings
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Portraits
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Landscapes
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Genre paintings
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Still life
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Nude models (naked)
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Battle
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neoclassical architecture- exterior was classically influenced by:
*Greek columns
*Symmetrical balance
*Composition order pediments crown entrances
*Mythological and biblical scenes painted with exemplum virtutis
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Exemplum is a Latin word that means an example or model, especially a story told to illustrate a moral point.
Virtutis/ Virtus is a Latin word that means: courage, bravery, strength, power, worth, manliness, virtue, character, excellence
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*Clarity of detail
*Linear perspective- leading eye/(s) carefully into the constructed background.
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Neoclassical sculpture:
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Realistic poses in modern garb
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Marble (the ancients used it, as how it was, with its pure and unpainted colour.)
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Realistic figures (These were statues that seemed like a real person.)
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The paintings were often done for the wealthy.,
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The artworks showed no care, or consideration for the people of the society, unless you were wealthy and of a high social status.
ROMANTICISM
(1780–1850)
The Romanticism artworks showed:
*A return to nature, exemplified by an emphasis on spontaneous plein-air painting.
*A belief in the goodness of humanity.
*The promotion of justice for all.
*Strong belief in the senses and emotions, rather than reason and intellect.
*Romantic painters and sculptors intentions were to express an emotional and personal response to life, in contrast to the restraint and universal values advocated by Neoclassical art.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANTIC ART PERIOD:
The Romantic art also focused on:
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Emotions, Feelings, and different kind of Moods
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Spirituality
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Imagination
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Mystery
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fervor
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The subject matter varied.
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Landscapes
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Riots
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Death
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Human rights for women and non-whites
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Equal rights for many other religions
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Revolution
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Peace
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Beauty
The paintings show often:
hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs, greed, desire for wealth, a person who lends money at unreasonably high rates of interest and certain people in the society being denied privileges that others get.
REALISM
(1848–1900)
* This is the attempt to draw, paint or sculpt, people, things and places for them to look real.
* Realism artworks try to present things that exist in reality/ (real life).
* Realism artworks are not always as detailed as expected, and varies according to the skill of the artist who is drawing, painting or making the artwork.
* Realism is against the exaggeration of facial features, body parts and themes. During that time artists and writers explored the reality of every day life.
*Realism is sometimes called naturalism in the arts because it is a general the attempt to represent the subject matter truthfully, without adding artificiality and avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements.
CHARACTERISTICS OF REALISM
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Accurate proportions
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Proper use of lighting.
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Use of multiple pigments/ colours to capture the texture, dimension, scenery and individuals the best way they possibly could. (Trying to paint or draw someone for them to appear as real as they could.)
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Realism artists tried to depict the real world exactly as it appears. They painted everyday subjects and people. They didn't try to interpret the setting or add emotional meaning to the scenes.
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Realism does not show anything that is unreal, a fairy tale, folklore or imaginative.
Hyperrealism
(1969-1970)
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This is when the artwork shows an object, person, place, or thing that looks so real, it is very hard to tell that it is an artwork.
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There are times when we use the term photorealism to describe the artwork, because the work looks like a photographic replica of the real thing.
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Hyper-realistic drawings, paintings, and sculptures seem extremely real.
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Hyper-realism existed long before the 1970's. But, the word was coined around the late 1960's to early 1970's.
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Hyper-realism is not easily done by anyone, and would take a lot of practice and time for some people to achieve a hyperrealistic artwork.
