Early Artworks in Other Countries

Early Artworks in Other Countries

• This chapter highlights significant artworks from ancient times across different characteristics, countries, and periods.
• The chapter covers six historical periods: Prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Western, and Asian art.

Prehistoric Art (35,000 BC – Early Centuries AD)

• Prehistoric art was made in preliterate cultures until they developed writing or contacted a culture that had writing.
• The oldest human artifacts with artistic intent are from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Eras.
• Cave paintings, portable figurines, and beads were common, and decorative designs were seen on useful objects.
• Early pottery, sculpture, and megalith construction appeared during the Neolithic period.
• Early rock art also emerged in the Neolithic period.
• Metalworking in the Bronze Age led to more art mediums being used, broader stylistic range, and art objects with no clear purpose.
• Artisans specializing in art production and early writing systems developed during the Bronze Age.
• Civilizations with writing systems stretched from Ancient Egypt to Ancient China by the Iron Age.
• Paleolithic artists painted hunted animals like bulls, bison, and mammoths, believing they captured the animal's soul, making the images lifelike.
• Art was part of the beliefs of Paleolithic people, with caves considered sacred places.
• Cave paintings are often located deep inside caves.
• Prehistoric sculptors used local materials like stone, shell, horn, bark, bone, clay, and terracotta.
• People originally fashioned pots from tree bark, bone, and stone; pottery began around 10,000 years ago when people started to make pottery.
• Artists further carved animal images into bones and antlers for luck during hunts.
• Megaliths, which served as tombs or for religious/special purposes, were important architectural contributions of the prehistoric period.
• Prehistoric art illustrates art's reflection of changing lifestyles.
• Realistic art was not always the most skillful; ideas and imagination were sometimes of even greater importance.
• Early artists relied more on natural talent, while later artists developed superior tools and equipment.
• Invention and artistry can be seen in prehistoric art, which also evolved into diverse aesthetic styles by the end of the period.

Egyptian Art

• The dominant high culture in Mediterranean art was represented in the art of Ancient Egypt.
• Ancient Egypt had strong architectural and sculptural conventions, with bright colors originally painted on both as well as mural paintings in temples and papyrus manuscript illustrations.
• Egyptian wall and decorative painting is often graphic and symbolic rather than realistic.
• Symmetry is consistent in Egyptian painting, which depicts figures in bold outlines and flat silhouettes.
• Egyptian painting connects closely to Egyptian hieroglyphs, their written language.
• Painted symbols are among the world's earliest forms of writing and religion.
• Ancient Egypt's mysterious architecture has greatly influenced modern art historians.
• The Great Pyramids, Great Sphinx of Giza, smaller pyramids, and tombs are among the Seven Wonders of the World.

Greek Art

• Greek art originated in the prehistoric Cycladic and Minoan civilizations.
• Ancient Greece had great painters, sculptors, and architects.
• Greek architecture was limited in variety, consisting mainly of temples and theaters.
• Prominent architectural examples include the Propylaea, Erechtheion and the Parthenon.
• Greek marble sculpture is considered the pinnacle of Classical art.
• Greek sculptors were known for creating the illusion of movement.
• Polycleitus’s “Lance-Bearer” and Myron’s "Discus Thrower” show the flexibility in creating an illusion of transitional movement.
• Painted pottery and ceramics reveal insights into ancient Greek society.
• Surviving black-figure and red-figure vase paintings serve as examples of Greek painting.
• Art became more dynamic and imbued with movement in the Hellenistic era.
• The realistic view embraced an honest view of humanity, sometimes leading to exaggerated artwork.

Roman Art

• The connection between Greek and Roman art is summarized by the phrase "The Glory that was Greece, the Grandeur that was Rome."
• Roman culture absorbed Hellenistic expansion.
• The Romans broadened the scope of art and made it more appealing.
• Roman artworks were more practical, realistic, and materialistically focused.
• Romans demonstrated organizational skills and a utilitarian approach to art.
• Arches and domes in Architecture show the Romans organizational skills and a utilitarian approach to art.
• The Roman Colosseum, Arch of Triumph, Roman Basilica, and Baths of Caracalla exemplify excellence in architecture.
• Rome's architectural achievement is the Pantheon.
• Roman sculptors focused on portraiture.
• Individuality was captured in Roman busts.
• Statues represented dynamic authority and power.
• Roman artists painted still lifes, landscapes, architectural motifs, historical panels, and mosaics - mosaics also was added to the floors and ceilings as well.

Western Art

• Western art generally includes artwork from European countries or artwork that follows those countries' accepted norms.
• Western art history often traces back to the art of the Ancient Middle East, Ancient Egypt, and the Ancient Aegean civilizations, beginning in the 3rd millennium BC.
• Art existed parallel to the ancient significant cultures all over Europe in the shape of carvings, decorated artifacts, and standing stones.
• European artistic development followed the adoption and transformation of Ancient Greek art by Rome, then spread with the Empire.
• Christianity has had an important influence on Western art through church-commissioned architectural, painterly, and sculptural works over 1400 years (300 AD to 1700 AD).
• Secularism has been crucial to Western art ever since the Classical era, as most art from the last 200 years has been created without reference to religion or ideology.
• Politics of various types has influenced Western art through the state, the patron, and the artist.
• Throughout history, numerous stylistic periods have overlapped in Western art.
• The main periods are Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern.

Classical Art (Hellenic Period/Greek Art)

• Classical relates to the Hellenic Period (Greek Art) - complex aesthetic and philosophical ideals of the 5th century BC.
• Greek art celebrated the human figure in highly naturalistic sculpture.
• Ancient architecture in Greece and Rome are known as Classical works of art.
• Classical art shows joyous freedom and expression and celebrates humanity.
• Freed from strict asymmetry, it pursued truer-to-life forms using stone and bronze.
• The object of art was mostly the human itself as the artist revolved around mundane ordinary subjects.

Medieval Art

• Medieval art spans a vast scope of artistic expression through both time and place; over many years of art history.
• Medieval art covers Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
• The styles and subgenres include Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic Art.
• Medieval Art includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, genres, revivals, and artists' crafts.
• Relatively more illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metalwork, and mosaics survive because they are durable.
• Fresco wall painting had a lower survival rate.
• Precious metals or textiles, including tapestry, were used for artwork.
• The decorative arts, like metalwork, ivory carving, enamel and embroidery, were extensively explored.
• Precious metals may have been more valued than paintings or monumental sculptures.

Early Christian Art

• Early Christian Art generally describes Late Antique art, covering the period from about 200 AD to about 500 AD.
• Christian art before this time is hard to come by before the onset of a completely Byzantine style.
• Tomb paintings in the Roman catacombs are the main survivals of Christian art.
• Numerous lavish mosaics in churches and specific liturgical objects for ceremonies can also be found.

Byzantine Art

• Byzantine is a common term for artwork from the Byzantine Empire dating from the 4th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
• Byzantine art emerged in the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire from the Late Antique period around 500 AD.
• The vast majority of icons (sacred images) were destroyed during the Byzantine iconoclasm period (730-843).
• Any new discovery sheds light on the subject.
• Surviving works are mostly in Italy (Rome, Ravenna) or Egypt (Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai).
• Monumental frescos and mosaics within domed churches are the crowning achievement of Byzantine art.
• The Hagia Sophia (Church of the Divine Wisdom) is the pinnacle of Byzantine architecture.

Romanesque Period

• The Romanesque period developed from around 1000 AD to the rise of Gothic art in the 12th Century.
• The Romanesque Period existed in conjuction with the rise of monasticism in Western Europe.
• The style initially began in France, then spread to Christian Spain, England, Flanders, Germany, and Italy.
• The arrival of Romanesque coincided with an increase in church building and the size of cathedrals.
• Thick walls and massive structures shaped as single organic forms predominated.
• Common traits of this period were vaulted roofs, and round-headed windows and arches.
• Figurative and colorfully painted sculpture played an integral role in buildings, especially on column capitals and around portals.
• A tympanum was typically centered above the main doors.
• Although Stained glass became a major art form, very little glass survives from the Romanesque period.

Gothic Art

• Gothic Art originated with the Gothic architecture, which developed in France around 1137 with the rebuilding of the Abbey Church of St. Denis.
• Gothic architecture combined existing technologies to create a new style with technologies like the ogival or pointed arch, ribbed vault, and flying buttress.
• Monumental sculpture on cathedral walls and abbeys was among the earliest forms of Gothic art.
• Illuminated manuscripts have the most complete record of Gothic painting.

Renaissance Art

• Renaissance art includes the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of this period of European history.
• The Renaissance emerged as a distinct style in Italy during the 14th-16th centuries.
• Renaissance emerged alongside in philosophy, literature, music, and science.
• Renaissance art, an Ancient traditions revival, used Classical antiquity as a base.
• Influenced by Northern Europe arts, it then added contemporary scientific learnings.
• This period is known as the "Golden Age of Arts" due to the impact of Humanism, Naturalism, and Individualism.
• Religious themes were portrayed differently because of Humanism, most notably on Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.
• Those works were often large-scale and painted in fresco cycles.
• Sculptural works integrated naturalistic ideas.
• Architects aimed to integrate columns, pilasters, and entablatures.
• Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian styles of columns were used.
• Renaissance sculpture, mostly religious, bloomed during the 15th and 16th centuries.
• Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raphael Sanzio are the most notable "Renaissance Men" and "Renaissance Giants".

Baroque Art

• Baroque art was dominant from the late 16th to early 18th century in Europe and is characterized by dynamic movement, emotion and confident expression.
• Aristocratic style saw architecture and art as a way to awe visitors and show power.
• Palaces were built around entrances, courts, grand staircases, and opulent rooms.
• Famous Baroque painters include Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, Johannes Vermeer.
• Aleijandinho made the Santuaraio de Bom Jesus de Matosinhos statues in Congohas.
• Bernini was most important Baroque sculptor.

Modern Art

• From roughly the 1860s to the 1970s, Modern Art refers to the style and philosophy of artworks from that period.
• Modern Art is often abstract.
• More recent artistic production is often referred to as Contemporary or Post-Modern Art.
• Modern architecture embraces streamlined shapes and ornamentation derived from the structure and theme of the building.
• Cubism, Constructivism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Installation art, and Suprematism are movements in modern sculpture and painting.

Asian Art

• Early Asian art showcases human civilization in various Asian countries and reflects the culture and history of those countries.
• China, India and Japan are three key countries highlighted during this era.

Chinese Art

• Chinese art varies throughout its history, divided by the dynasties and the technology of the time.
• Great philosophers, teachers, religious figures, and politicians influenced art styles.
• From the Tang dynasty (618-907), painting focused on landscapes known as shanshui (mountain water).
• Shanshui paintings were monochromatic and sparse, captured emotion and atmosphere, and did not exactly reproduce nature.
• Traditional Chinese paintings used similar techniques to calligraphy, completed with a brush dipped in black or colored ink and little use of oils.
• The Terracotta Army in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 7,000 life-size figures of warriors and horses buried with Qin Shi Huang in 210-209 BC.
• High-quality porcelain has become associated with China, most of which comes from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.

Indian Art

• Religious, political, and cultural periods each have a reflected time in Indian art.
• Petroglyphs (found in Bhimbetka dating back as far as 5500 BC)are the earliest examples for art in India.
• Rangoli is a very common form of art - sand paintings made with finely ground white powder and colors which is commonly used outside Indian houses.
• Classical Indian architecture, sculpture, painting, literature (kaavya), music, and dance shared underlying spiritual beliefs; along with a procedure between relationships with symbols, and spiritual states.

Japanese Art

• Traditional Japanese paintings are among the first things that come to mind when thinking about Japanese art,
• Kawanabe Kyosai is hailed as one of the great virtuosos of traditional Japanese paintings.
• Japanese art is marked by its interest in music and its portrayal of individuals in traditional garments along with the use of Japanese writings (Kanji).