ARTS AND DAILY LIVING

Study Guide

HISTORY OF ART

What is an ART?

 Any creative work of a human being

 A form of expressing oneself
 Resides in the quality of doing
 An act of making something visually entertaining
 An activity that manifests the beauty

HISTORY OF ART

 PREHISTORIC ART (40,000 –

4,000 B.C.)

 The earliest artefacts come

from the Paleolithic era, or
the Old Stone Age.
 Rock carvings, engravings,
pictorial imagery,
sculptures, and stone
arrangements.
 Art from this period relied
on the use of natural Lascaux Cave Painting,
pigments and stone Paleolithic Era
carvings

 ANCIENT ART (30,000 B.C. –

A.D. 400)

 Produced by advanced
civilizations with
established written
language.
 To tell stories, decorate
utilitarian objects like bowls
and weapon, display
religious and symbolic
imagery, and demonstrate Mesopotamia, Code of Hammurabi, 1754
social status. B.C.
 MEDIEVAL ART (500 A.D. –
1400 A.D.)

 Art produced during this

time was centered around
the Church.
 Much of the artwork
produced in the early years
of the period reflects that
darkness, characterized by
grotesque imagery and
brutal scenery.

Simone Martini – The Virgin Annunciate

 RENAISSANCE ART (1400 –

1600)

 This style of painting,

sculpture, and decorative
art was characterized by a
focus on nature
and individualism.
 a variety of beliefs and
philosophies that places
emphasis on the human
realm.
 used linear perspective and Raffaello Sanzio Da Urbin, The School of
created depth through Athens
intense lighting and
shading.

 MANNERISM (1527 – 1580)

 Focus on style and

technique outweighed the
meaning of the subject
matter.
 Figures had graceful,
elongated limbs, small
heads, stylized features and
exaggerated details.

Giorgio Vasari, The Holy Family, 17th

Century
 BAROQUE (1600 – 1750)

 Characterized by grandeur
and richness, punctuated
by an interest in
broadening human intellect
and global discovery.
 Used an intense contrast
between light and dark and
had energetic compositions
matched by rich color
palettes.

Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint

Matthew, 1599 – 1600

 ROCOCO (1699 – 1780)

 Characterized by lightness
and elegance, focusing on
the use of natural forms,
asymmetrical design, and
subtle colors.
 Used light-hearted
treatments, rich brushwork,
and fresh colors.
 Rococo style also easily
translated to
silver, porcelain,
and French furniture. The Embarkation For Cyther

 NEOCLASSICISM (1750 – 1850)

 Neoclassical period drew

upon elements from
classical antiquity.
 This translated to a
renewed interest in classical
ideals of harmony,
simplicity, and proportion.
 artists were influenced by
classical elements; in
particular, a focus on
idealism.

Jacques; Louis David, Napoleon Crossing

the Alps, 1801
 ROMANTICISM (1780 – 1850)

 embodies a broad range of

disciplines, from painting to
music to literature.
 The ideals present in each
of these art forms reject
order, harmony, and
rationality, which were
embraced in both classical
art and Neoclassicism.
 Emphasized the individual
and imagination.
 Romantic ideal was an
appreciation for nature,
with many turning to plein
air painting Willian Blake, The Ghost of Flea, 1820

 REALISM (1848 – 1900)

 the first modern art

movement, Realism, began
in France in the 1840s.
 Realism was a result of
multiple events: the anti-
Romantic movement in
Germany, the rise of
journalism, and the advent
of photography.
 Each inspired new interest
in accurately capturing Jean – Francois Millet, The Gleaners,
everyday life. 1857

 ART NOUVEAU (1890 – 1910)

 Which translates to “New

Art,” attempted to create an
entirely authentic
movement free from any
imitation of styles that
preceded.
 It focused on the natural
world, characterized by
long, sinuous lines and
curves.

Alphonse Mucha, Princess Hyazinthe,

1911
 IMPRESSIONISM (1865 – 1885)

 Characterized by short,
quick brushstrokes and an
unfinished, sketch-like feel.
 Artists used modern life as
their subject matter,
painting situations like
dance halls and sailboat
regattas rather than
historical and mythological
events.
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1899

 POST – IMPRESSIONISM (1885

– 1910)

 Painters worked
independently rather than
as a group, but each
influential Post-
Impressionist painter had
similar ideals.
 Concentrated on subjective
visions and symbolic,
personal meanings rather
than observations of the
outside world. George Seurat, A Sunday on the Island of
La Grande Jatte, 1884

 FAUVISM (1900 – 1935)

 this style was characterized

by expressive use of intense
color, line, and brushwork,
a bold sense of surface
design, and flat
composition.

Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat, 1905

 EXPRESSIONISM (1905 – 1920)

 Emerged as a response to
increasingly conflicted
world views and the loss of
spirituality.
 used a distortion of form
and strong colors to display
anxieties and raw emotions.

The Scream, 1883 by Edvard Munch

 CUBISM (1907 – 1914)

 Many Cubist painters’

works are marked by flat,
two-dimensional surfaces,
geometric forms or “cubes”
of objects, and multiple
vantage points.

Violin and Palette, George Braque, 1909

 SURREALISM (1916 – 1950)

 Surrealists denounced the

rationalist mindset. They
blamed this thought
process on events like
World War I and believed it
to repress imaginative
thoughts.

The Treachery of Images Painting by

Rene Magritte
 ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
(1940s – 1950s)

 Emerged in New York after

WWII.
 It’s often referred to as the
New York School or action
painting.
 This included colossally-
scaled works whose size
could no longer be
accommodated by an easel.
Instead, canvases would be
placed directly upon the
Jackson Pollock’s Number 1 (1948)
floor.

 OP ART (1950s – 1960s)

 The Op art (short for

“optical” art) movement
launched with Le
Mouvement, a group
exhibition at Galerie Denise
Rene in 1955.
 this style used shapes,
colors, and patterns to
create images that appeared
to be moving or blurring

Arshile Gorky: The Liver is the Cock’s

Comb

 POP ART (1950s – 1960s)

 one of the most

recognizable artistic
developments of the 20th
century.
 The movement transitioned
away from methods used in
Abstract Expressionism,
and instead used every day.
 art can draw from any
source and there is no
hierarchy of culture to
disrupt

Andy Warhol Portrait of Marilyn Monroe

 ARTE POVERA (1960S)

 Translating literally to “poor

art,” Arte Povera challenged
modernist, contemporary
systems by infusing
commonplace materials into
creations.
 Artists used soil, rocks,
paper, rope, and other
earthen elements to evoke a
pre-industrial sentiment.

 MINIMALISM (1960s – 1970s)

 focused on anonymity,
calling attention to the
materiality of works.
 Artists urged viewers to
focus on precisely what was
in front of them, rather
than draw parallels to
outside realities and
emotive thoughts through
the use of purified forms,
order, simplicity, and
harmony.

The Minimalist Art Movement: A Time

Warp to 1960s New York

 CONCEPTUAL ART (1960s –

1970s)

 Creating art in the from of

performances, ephemera,
and other forms.
 One chair in three different
ways to represent different
meanings of the same
object.
 this type of art focused on
ideas and concepts, there
was no distinct style or
form.
Joseph Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs
 CONTEMPORARY ART (1970 –
PRESENT)

 The 1970s marked the

beginning of contemporary
art, which extends through
present day. This period is
dominated by various
schools and smaller
movements that emerged.

 Post-modernism: In
reaction against
modernism, artists created
works that reflected
skepticism, irony, and
philosophical critiques.

 Femninist Art: This

movement arose in an attempt
to transform stereotypes and
break the model of a male-
dominated art history.

 Neo Expressionism;
Artists sought to revive
original aspects of
Expressionism and create
highly textural, expressive,
large works.
 Street Art: more
created graffiti-like art on
surfaces in public places
like sidewalks, buildings,
and overpasses.

 The Pictures Generation:

influenced by Conceptual
and Pop art experimented
with recognizable imagery
to explore images shaped
our perceptions of the
world.

 Appropriation Art: This

movement focused on the
use of images in art with
little transformation from
their original form.

 Young British Artist: This

group of London artists
were notorious for their
willingness to shock
audiences through their
imagery, and a willingness
to push beyond limits of
decency. They’re also
known for their zestful,
entrepreneurial spirit.

 Digital Art: The advent of

the camera lent way to this
artistic practice that
allowed artists to use the
infusion of art and
technology to create with
mediums like computers,
audio and visual software,
sound, and pixels.
 PRINCIPLES OF ART

 BALANCE

 A way of combining
elements to add a feeling of
equilibrium or stability to a
work of art. Major types are
symmetrical and
asymmetrical.

 RHYTHM

 A principle of design that

indicates movement,
created by the careful
placement of repeated
elements in a work of art to
cause a visual tempo or
beat.

 EMPHASIS

 A way of combining
elements to stress the
differences between those
elements.
 PROPORTION

 A principle of design that

refers to the relationship of
certain elements to the
whole and to each other.

 GRADATION

 A way of combining
elements by using a series
of gradual changes in those
elements. (large shapes to
small shapes, dark hue to
light hue, etc)

 HARMONY

 A way of combining similar

elements in an artwork to
accent their similarities
(achieved through use of
repetitions and subtle
gradual changes)

 VARIETY

 Variety is achieved by using

different shapes, sizes,
and/or colors in a work of
art.

 MOVEMENT

 used to create the look and

feeling of action and to
guide the viewer’s eye
throughout the work of art.
 COLOR

 An element of art made up

of three properties:
Hue: name of color
Value: Hue’s lightness and
darkness
Intensity: quality if
brightness and purity

 FORM

 Three dimensional and

encloses volume:
Width
Depth
Height

 LINE

 A point moving in space

 May be two-or-three-
dimensional, descriptive,
implied, or abstract

 SHAPE

 An element of art that is

two-dimensional, flat, or
limited to height and width.
 SPACE

 An element of art by which

positive and negative areas
are defined or a sense of
depth achieved in a work of
art .

 TEXTURE

 An element of art that refers

to the way things feel, or
look as if they might feel if
touched.

 VALUE

 The lightness or darkness of

tones or colors.