THE EVOLUTION of ART
PREHISTORIC ART.
Art has had a unique place in human nature that has not been seen in other species. It is sometimes thought that cave paintings from the later paleolithic era, such as those inside the caves of Lascaux, France, but the origins of art may be traceable as far back as Homo erectus, the most modern ancestor to both Neanderthals and modern humans, as patterned paintings have been dated back to their time.
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.
As humans evolved, so did their creativity and bent towards the understanding of the visual aesthetic, and with the dispersal of humans, as many types of art came to be as did the cultures that formed. It is important to understand that what we may think of as some of the earliest art now, such as African and Egyptian religious paintings, sculptures and designs, were not considered art in their time, but works of spiritual necessity, and in fact, the ancient Egyptian language did not contain a word for art: heiroglyphics, paintings and sculptures were conceived and created by anonymous "artisans" of mid rank on the ancient Egyptian hierarchy, and larger jobs such as pyramid construction would be carried out by slaves. Many African figure sculptures were made to contain the spirits of the deceased, virutually everything surrounding the ancient Egyptian mummies and pyramids was comparable to a giant care package for the afterlife.
THE CLASSICAL PERIOD.
Mainstream art continued to cater to religion for thousands of years. The classical period of ancient Greece and Rome portrayed in marble some of their most exalted holy figures and gods: even icons of classical architecture were actually temples designed and built in honor of one of more classical deity. The main difference seen between classical Greek and classical Roman art is Grecian idealism versus Roman realism: the bodies of Grecian figures are based on artists' conceptions of perfect beauty, while we see imperfections and the quirks of the models recorded by the ancient Roman figure artists.
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.
Russian Orthodox icons were believed to be vessels for holy figures to be revered, and if they depicted Christ, worshipped. They featured a rigidity that defined the separation between the holy and mortal worlds.
THE RENAISSANCE (RINASCRIMENTO).
Back on the Italian Peninsula, there was a sense of societal "rebirth" for those having just survived the Bubonic Plague and the Dark Ages, and artists were no different from anyone else in their quest for uninhibited worldliness. While still under the influence of the Byzantine icon, spirituality and "holiness" began to be downplayed in even religious commissions. The Renaissance left Italy and over time took over much of the rest of Europe.
ASIAN ART.
The art of India has been produced for more than five thousand years, and Chinese art dates back to the Neolithic Age. Through cultural diffusion over Korea and into Japan, Chinese art influenced much of what we now consider epitomic "Asian art", and the art of Hokusai and Japanese woodblock prints made a lasting impression on Western artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and many modern art movements, such as Art Nouveau in the 20th century.
MODERNISM.
Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass" is often considered the marking point of the beginning of modernism, which saw advances in risk taking and innovations in art. It branched off as subject, form, color and stylization became more or less exaggerated, and included impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, fauvism, pop art, and other movements. Art produced after the 1980s is generally considered post-postmodernist, regardless of the historical movement it speaks to. Post-postmodernism is characterized by the widest variety of types so far, and usually any revisited movement contains the suffix "Neo-".
Art has had a unique place in human nature that has not been seen in other species. It is sometimes thought that cave paintings from the later paleolithic era, such as those inside the caves of Lascaux, France, but the origins of art may be traceable as far back as Homo erectus, the most modern ancestor to both Neanderthals and modern humans, as patterned paintings have been dated back to their time.
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.
As humans evolved, so did their creativity and bent towards the understanding of the visual aesthetic, and with the dispersal of humans, as many types of art came to be as did the cultures that formed. It is important to understand that what we may think of as some of the earliest art now, such as African and Egyptian religious paintings, sculptures and designs, were not considered art in their time, but works of spiritual necessity, and in fact, the ancient Egyptian language did not contain a word for art: heiroglyphics, paintings and sculptures were conceived and created by anonymous "artisans" of mid rank on the ancient Egyptian hierarchy, and larger jobs such as pyramid construction would be carried out by slaves. Many African figure sculptures were made to contain the spirits of the deceased, virutually everything surrounding the ancient Egyptian mummies and pyramids was comparable to a giant care package for the afterlife.
THE CLASSICAL PERIOD.
Mainstream art continued to cater to religion for thousands of years. The classical period of ancient Greece and Rome portrayed in marble some of their most exalted holy figures and gods: even icons of classical architecture were actually temples designed and built in honor of one of more classical deity. The main difference seen between classical Greek and classical Roman art is Grecian idealism versus Roman realism: the bodies of Grecian figures are based on artists' conceptions of perfect beauty, while we see imperfections and the quirks of the models recorded by the ancient Roman figure artists.
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.
Russian Orthodox icons were believed to be vessels for holy figures to be revered, and if they depicted Christ, worshipped. They featured a rigidity that defined the separation between the holy and mortal worlds.
THE RENAISSANCE (RINASCRIMENTO).
Back on the Italian Peninsula, there was a sense of societal "rebirth" for those having just survived the Bubonic Plague and the Dark Ages, and artists were no different from anyone else in their quest for uninhibited worldliness. While still under the influence of the Byzantine icon, spirituality and "holiness" began to be downplayed in even religious commissions. The Renaissance left Italy and over time took over much of the rest of Europe.
ASIAN ART.
The art of India has been produced for more than five thousand years, and Chinese art dates back to the Neolithic Age. Through cultural diffusion over Korea and into Japan, Chinese art influenced much of what we now consider epitomic "Asian art", and the art of Hokusai and Japanese woodblock prints made a lasting impression on Western artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and many modern art movements, such as Art Nouveau in the 20th century.
MODERNISM.
Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass" is often considered the marking point of the beginning of modernism, which saw advances in risk taking and innovations in art. It branched off as subject, form, color and stylization became more or less exaggerated, and included impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, fauvism, pop art, and other movements. Art produced after the 1980s is generally considered post-postmodernist, regardless of the historical movement it speaks to. Post-postmodernism is characterized by the widest variety of types so far, and usually any revisited movement contains the suffix "Neo-".