History of art
241048
220832771
2008-06-21T20:42:32Z
Matthew Fennell
1761615
/* Contemporary art */
{{dablink|This article is an overview of the history of art worldwide. For the academic discipline of art history, see [[Art history]].}}
[[Image:Laocoon Pio-Clementino Inv1059-1064-1067.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''[[Laocoön and his Sons]],'' [[Culture of Greece|Greek]], (Late [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]]), [[circa]] [[160 BC]] and [[20 BC]], [[White marble]], [[Vatican Museum]]]]
{{Art history}}
{{Western art history}}
The '''history of art''' usually refers to the [[history]] of the [[visual arts]], such as [[painting]], [[sculpture]] and [[architecture]]. The term also encompasses [[theory]] of the visual arts. It is not usually taken or intended to refer to the [[performing arts]] or [[literary arts]]. The history of art attempts an objective survey of art throughout human history, classifying cultures and periods and noting their distinguishing features and influences.
The field of "art history" was developed in the [[Western world|West]], and originally dealt exclusively with [[Western painting]], and [[Western art history]], with the [[High Renaissance]] (and its [[Art in Ancient Greece|Greek]] precedent) as the defining standard. Gradually, with the onset of [[Modernism]], a wider vision of history has developed, seeking to place other societies in a global overview by analyzing their [[Cultural artifact|artifact]]s in terms of their own cultural values. Thus, the subject is now seen to encompass all visual art, from the [[megalith]]s of [[Western Europe]] to the paintings of the [[Tang Dynasty]] in [[China]].
==Study of art history==
[[Image:Chang Sheng-wen 001.jpg|thumb|right|230px|''The [[Sakyamuni]] [[Buddhahood|Buddha]]'', by Zhang Shengwen, c. [[1173]]-[[1176]] AD, Chinese [[Song Dynasty]] period.]]
{{main|Historical development of art history}}
Study of the history of art is a relatively recent phenomenon; prior to the [[Renaissance]], the modern concept of "[[art]]" did not exist, and ''art'' was used to refer to workmanship by generally anonymous tradespeople.
The viewpoint of the art historian is a significant input into the defining parameters which are employed. For example, during the early [[Victorian era]], the [[quattrocento]] artists were considered inferior to those of the [[High Renaissance]]—a notion subsequently challenged by the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] movement. There has since been a trend, dominant in most modern art history, to see all cultures and periods from a neutral point of view, with a tendency to shy away from value judgements. Thus, for example, [[Indigenous Australian art|Australian Aboriginal art]] would not be deemed better or worse than [[Michelangelo]] by typical Modernist art historians—just different.
Analysis has also evolved into studying the "[[politics|political]]" use of art, rather than reserving analysis to the [[aesthetics|aesthetic]] appreciation of its craftsmanship or [[beauty]]. It is believed there is always an intent and a philosophy behind art, and an effect achieved by it. Thus, for example, the considerable employment by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] in the [[Middle Ages]] can be contrasted or compared with "[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[propaganda]]", the manifestation of social structure through 19th-century portraiture, an anarcho-religious vision exemplified by Van Gogh, etc. What may once have been viewed simply as a [[masterpiece]] is now deconstructed into an economic, social, philosophical, and cultural manifestation of the artist's world-view, philosophy, intentions and background.
There are different ways of structuring a history of art. The following is one which is commonly used, based primarily on time, but within that creating subdivisions based on place and culture. Other views are somewhat disputed, still, even today there are many forms of structuring a history of art.
==Earliest known art==
{{main|Pre-historic art}}
[[Image:Lascaux-aurochs.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Aurochs]] on a cave painting in [[Lascaux]], [[France]].]]
[[Image:VenusWillendorf.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Venus of Willendorf]]
The oldest surviving art forms include small [[sculpture]]s and [[painting]]s on [[Rock (geology)|rock]]s and in [[cave]]s. There are very few known examples of art that date earlier than 40,000 years ago, the beginning of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] period. People often rubbed smaller rocks against larger rocks and boulders to paint pictures of their everyday life, such as [[hunting]] wild [[game (food)|game]].
The so-called [[Venus of Willendorf]] (which is now being called "Woman from Willendorf" in contemporary art history texts) is a sculpture from the Paleolithic era, which depicts a woman with exaggerated female attributes. This sculpture, carved from stone, is remarkable in its roundness instead of a flat or low-relief depiction. Early [[Aegean art]], although it dates from a much later period, shares some of the same abstract figurative elements.
Prehistoric art objects are rare, and the context of such early art is difficult to determine. [[Prehistoric]], by definition, refers to those cultures which have left no written records of their society. The [[art historian]] judges early pieces of art as objects in their own right, with few opportunities for comparison between contemporaneous pieces. Interpretation of such early art must be done primarily in the context of [[aesthetics]] tempered by what is known of various hunter-gatherer societies still in existence.
==Ancient art==
{{main|Ancient art}}
[[Image:Grande Ludovisi Altemps Inv8574.jpg|thumb|200px|right|So-called "Grande Ludovisi" [[sarcophagus]], with battle scene between [[Legionary|Roman soldiers]] and Germans. The main character is probably Ostilianus, Emperor Decius' son (d. 252 CE). Proconnesus [[marble]], Roman artwork, ca. 250 CE.]]
The period of ancient art began when ancient civilizations developed a form of written language.
The great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the six great ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], [[Indus Valley Civilization|India]], or [[China]]. Each of these centers of early civilization developed a unique and characteristic style in their art. Because of their size and duration these civilizations, more of their art works have survived and more of their influence has been transmitted to other cultures and later times. They have also provided us with the first records of how [[artist]]s worked.
[[Roman Empire|Ancient Roman]] art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features (i.e. [[Zeus]]' thunderbolt).
==Post-ancient Western art==
{{main|Western art history}}
[[Image:Hagia-Sofia-Int-01s.jpg|thumb|right|180px|The interior of the [[Hagia Sophia]] in [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]].]]
In [[Byzantine art|Byzantine]] and [[Gothic art]] of the [[Middle Ages]], the dominance of the church insisted on the expression of biblical truths. There was no need to depict the reality of the material world, in which man was born in a "state of sin", especially through the extensive use of gold in paintings, which also presented figures in idealised, patterned (i.e."flat") forms.
The [[Renaissance]] is the return yet again to valuation of the material world, and this paradigm shift is reflected in art forms, which show the corporeality of the human body, and the three dimensional reality of [[landscape]].
==Post-ancient Eastern art==
{{main|Eastern art history}}
[[Image:The Great Wave off Kanagawa.jpg|thumb|left|240px|''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]'' by [[Hokusai]].]]
Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example, the art of India, Tibet and Japan.
Religious [[Islam]]ic art forbids iconography, and expresses religious ideas through geometric designs instead. However, there are many [[Islamic art|Islamic paintings]] which display religious themes and scenes of stories common among the three main [[monotheistic]] faiths of [[Islam]], [[Christianity]], and [[Judaism]].
==Contemporary art==
{{main|Contemporary art}}
[[Image:Guggenheim-bilbao-jan05.jpg|thumb|right|240px|The [[Guggenheim Museum Bilbao|Guggenheim Museum]] in [[Bilbao]], [[Spain]].]]
The physical and rational certainties of the clockwork universe depicted by the 18th-century [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] were shattered not only by new discoveries of relativity by [[Einstein]]<ref> [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1035752,00.html "Does time fly? Peter Galison's ''Empires of Time'', a historical survey of Einstein and Poincare, intrigues Jon Turney"] (Saturday September 6, 2003), ''The Guardian''</ref> and of unseen psychology by [[Freud]],<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook36.html Contradictions of the Enlightenment: Darwin, Freud, Einstein and Modern Art]</ref> but also by unprecedented technological development accelerated by the implosion of civilisation in two world wars. The history of [[twentieth century]] art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new standards, each being torn down in succession by the next. Thus the parameters of [[Impressionism]], [[Expressionism]], [[Fauvism]], [[Cubism]], [[Dada]]ism, [[Surrealism]], etc cannot be maintained very much beyond the time of their invention. Increasing [[globalization|global]] interaction during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art, such as [[Pablo Picasso]] being influenced by [[African art|African sculpture]]. Japanese woodblock prints (which had themselves been influenced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an immense influence on Impressionism and subsequent development. Then African fetish sculptures were taken up by Picasso and to some extent by [[Matisse]].
[[Modernism]], the idealistic search for truth, gave way in the latter half of the 20th century to a realisation of its unattainability. Relativity was accepted as an unavoidable truth, which led to the [[Postmodernism|Postmodern]] period, where cultures of the world and of history are seen as changing forms, which can be appreciated and drawn from only with irony. Furthermore the separation of cultures is increasingly blurred and it is now more appropriate to think in terms of a global culture, rather than regional cultures.
==References==
<references/>
==See also==
* [[Art]] - including theoretical overview
* [[Art criticism]]
* [[Art history]]
* [[Art historians]]
* [[Art periods]]
* [[Postmodern art]]
* [[Aesthetics]]
* [[Sublime]]
* [[Architectural history]]
* [[History of decorative arts]]
* [[Western painting]]
* [[History of painting]]
* [[History of sculpture]]
* [[History of dance]]
* [[Sacred art]]
* [[Visual culture]]
* [[African American art]]
==Bibliography==
*Ed. Frank Milner (2004), "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" National Museums Liverpool, ISBN 1-902700-27-9. [http://www.stuckism.com/Walker/AStuckistOnStuckism.html#Condensed (The book online)]
==Further reading==
*Vernon Hyde Minor, ''Art History's History.'' Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001, 1994.
*Donald Preziosi, ''Seeing through Art History'' in: Ellen Messer-Davidow,David R. Shumway, David J. Sylvan, eds., ''Knowledges. Historical and Critical Studies in Disciplinarity'', Charlotteville, University Press of Virginia 1993, pp. 215-231
*H.W. Janson & Anthony Janson, ''History of Art'', Revised Sixth Edition
*Marilyn Stokstad, ''Art History Revised'', Second Edition
==External links==
{{Wikibooks|Art History}}
* [http://www.all-art.org "History of Art: From Paleolithic Age to Contemporary Art"] - all-art.org
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/DicHist/analytic/anaIII.html "Art: The history of ideas in literature and the arts in aesthetic theory and literary criticism"] - ''The Dictionary of the History of Ideas''
* [http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html Art History resources]
*[http://www.arssummum.es/ Ars Summum Project]
;Timelines
* [http://www.historyexplorer.net/?Art_History_Timeline Art History Timeline] - historyexplorer.net
* [http://metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm?HomePageLink=toah_l ''Timeline of Art History''] from [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
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