Lesson 9 History of the Arts PDF

University of Baguio Assumption Road, Baguio City Lesson 9: History of the Arts Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: 1. Trace the evolution of arts starting from the prehistoric art periods to the contemporary period. 2. Identify th...

University of Baguio Assumption Road, Baguio City Lesson 9: History of the Arts Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: 1. Trace the evolution of arts starting from the prehistoric art periods to the contemporary period. 2. Identify the differences of arts that have evolved from prehistoric times up to the present times. 3. Give observations on the differences of arts from each period of art history. 4. Give the importance of preserving national cultural heritage. CHARACTERISTICS OF ARTS ALONG THE FOLLOWING ART PERIODS PREHISTORIC ART PERIOD Divided into further into 3 periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Arts produced: cave wall paintings, petroglyphs, rock arts, Venus’s figurines, clay pots. Materials used: Charcoal, pigments, animal blood, wood, stone, ash. Characteristics: Arts are functional (for hunting, food gathering), communication (cave paintings), rituals (Venus’s figurines), petroglyphs (shelter/shield) EARLY CIVILIZATION PERIOD Civilizations: Sumerians, Akadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian Arts produced: Early writings (Code of Hammurabi, Cuneiform), decorative arts, sculptures, paintings, statues, temples, agricultural tools (functional arts), pottery, carpet-making, and silk-weaving. Materials: Wood, stone, bronze, metals, pigments for paints, frescos, clay Characteristics: Highly advanced and well-developed arts, handmade crafts, express the culture of people and their talents. EGYPTIAN ART PERIOD Arts produced: funerary arts, pyramids and tombs, sculptures and statues, paintings. Materials used: gemstones, woods like acacia, tamarisk, and sycamore fig as well as fir, cedar, gold, silver, bronze, pigments. Characteristics: Balance and symmetry in the works of art (sculpture), Figures were always shown with a side view: The Egyptians did not employ any kind of perspective in their art, and the size of a person or object related to its importance, rather than its actual size, very limited range of colors - white, black, reddish brown, green, blue and yellow; Egyptian art often incorporated hieroglyphic text, in such a way that the art and the text reinforced each other. There were many symbolic elements. GREEK ART PERIOD Arts produced: sculptures, paintings, great architecture, temples, pottery. Materials Used: limestone, marble (which soon became the stone of choice particularly Parian marble), wood, bronze, terra cotta, chryselephantine (a combination of gold and ivory) and, even iron. Characteristics: have a high aesthetic idealism, is not a natural and direct reality representation, but an idyllic and perfect vision of the artistic mind instead, that is perceived and depicted by them in their different artwork platforms. They are greatly skilled; they idealized the representation of human figures is the taste developed for athleticism, which served as an inspiration to the Greeks and was very cultivated by these. The sport developed athlete’s perfect bodies, providing artists their best models. Fascinated by the sinuous forms of the human body, achieved already in the classical stage phenomenal domain of knowledge of Page 1 of 3  Anatomy, thereby allowing them to represent shapes and curves of the body with detail and realism. ROMAN ART Arts produced: architecture, painting, sculpture, and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metalwork, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be minor forms of Roman art, illuminated manuscripts. Materials Used: Roman art also encompasses a broad spectrum of media including marble, painting, mosaic, gems, silver and bronze work, metals, glass, and terracotta, just to name a few. The city of Rome was a melting pot, and the Romans had no qualms about adapting artistic influences from the other Mediterranean cultures that surrounded and preceded them. Characteristics: Considered themselves miserable artists, but great engineers. Most of the Roman sculpture is a simple continuation of the Greek of the Hellenistic period (for example, most of the religious images). But the Romans differed from the Greeks in two areas: the relief and the portrait. The Roman relief reaches extraordinary levels and stands out for the composition of the scenes and certain effects of depth. The Roman portrait reaches extraordinary levels of realism and psychological depth. The monumental Roman sculpture has left also works of imperishable beauty. Roman sculpture was to pay homage to Roman rulers of their day, who were considered divinities. But during the Byzantine period, Christian art was abundant. MODERN ART Arts produced: paintings, sculptures, mosaic, murals, pottery, sculpture, crafts, furniture art, architecture, mixed media arts. Materials Used: oil paint, acrylic paint, watercolor, stones, rocks, metals, bronze, gold, fabric, cloths, paper, glass, clay, and a wide variety of materials. Characteristics: A genre of many forms that generally explored the conveyance of conceptual concepts that began the quest to define “What is Art” in essence and how we find meaning that defines being human. It arose in the 19th century and flourished in the mid-20th century challenging conventions and what is contemporary to a time is ever provoked to broaden our perspective of perception. CONTEMPORARY ART Arts produced: Traditional arts, Mixed arts- ex. lyrical painting, trans creation, focus on performance art (dance, music, motion pictures,), photography, pottery, graffiti art, street arts, and many more. Materials Used: A wide array of materials that are often mixed, from the traditional media to new materials, for example, coffee-painting, sand painting, etc. Characteristics: emphasis on self-expressions and the emotional attitudes; it is created having a world view and sensitivity to changing times; art appropriation is common; focus on performance arts; installation arts that transforms space; the idea of “art for art’s sake. References: Caslib, Bernardo et.al. (2018) Art Appreciation. Manila: Rex Book Store Mittler, G.2006. Art in Focus.Interactive Student Edition.Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, CA Gersh-Nesic,B. (2019). What Is Appropriation Art? Visual Arts. Humanities.ThoughtCo. retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/appropriation-appropriation-art-183190 Page 2 of 3 Page 3 of 3