Art Appreciation Semi Final (04-21/2025)

1st Year Second Semester

Prehistoric Period Characteristics

Key Characteristics:

• Art divided into petroglyphs, pictographs, sculptures, and megalithic art

• Created during the early human era, primarily in caves

• Focused on survival, nature, and fertility

• Artworks often featured animals, humans, tools, maps, and symbols

• Sculptures emphasized fertility and were often portable

• Megalithic art involved large stone constructions for ceremonial or burial purposes

Prehistoric Period Examples

• Painting of a Bison – Altamira Cave, Spain (c. 15,000 BCE)

• Red Ochre Hand Stencils – El Castillo Cave, Spain (c. 37,300 BCE)

• Venus of Willendorf – Austria (c. 25,000 BCE)

• Stonehenge – Salisbury Plain, England (c. 3000–1520 BCE)

Egyptian Art Characteristics

Key Characteristics:

• Strongly tied to religion and the afterlife

• Emphasis on perfection, order, and symmetry

• Art served functional and spiritual purposes

• Focused on immortality and the preservation of the spirit (ka)

• Hierarchical proportions (important figures depicted larger)

• Use of symbolic colors and forms

• Depicted gods, pharaohs, and daily life in idealized forms

Egyptian Arts Examples

Examples:

• Anubis Weighing the Soul of the Scribe Ani – from the Book of the Dead (c. 1275 BCE)

• The Great Pyramids of Giza – Tombs for the Pharaohs

• Painted Sarcophagi – Coffins decorated with inscriptions and images of deities

• Wall paintings of gods like Osiris and Isis

Greeks Arts ahd their Period

• Greek pioneered the building of temples and other buildings which were stylistically dived into “orders”

  • Doric (Regions of Olympia, mainland Greece and Italy)

  • Ionic (Regions of Ionia, Aegean Islands and Asia Minor)

  • Corinthian (Region of Bassae)

1. Archaic

2. Classical or Hellenic

3. Hellenistic

Archaic Period Characteristics

• Arts were dominated with in linear geometric designs and human figures

• These geometric designs are painted in their vases.

• One of their famous sculptures is the “kourus”—— a nude male figure

Classical or Hellenic Period

• “Golden Age of Athens”

• Period when aesthetic ideals were developed and reference of art

• Greek ideals emphasis on form, intellectual order, harmony, perfect proportion and balance (early forms of art elements)

Hellenistic Period

• Greek culture were interwoven with the oriental culture

• Art became dynamic, flexible and truthful. It shows honest views of humanity (the imperfections of human) and the emotions of the subject

Greek Arts Examples

• Kouros (Archaic statue of a young male)

• Spear Bearer (Doryphoros) – Polykleitos (c. 450-44 BCE)

• Parthenon – Doric temple in Athens

• Venus de Milo – Hellenistic sculpture

Greek Artists

• Polykleitos

• Phidias

• Praxiteles

Romans Art Characteristics

Key Characteristics:

• Adopted Greek artistic forms and techniques but portrayed art in more realistics and natural form.

• Art depicted life, landscapes and architectural motifs.

• In Sculpture, they focus on sculpting a portrait (busts) to honor authority figures

• Invention of the Vaulting System of Construction

• The rounded arch, the vault and the dome were used in their buildings primarily because it can span a large space than the post and lintel system o the Greeks.

Romans Art Example

• Bust of Julius Ceasar

• The Colosseum built around 70-80 AD

Medieval Art Periods

1. Early Christian

2. Byzantine

3. Romanesque

4. Gothic

Early Christian

• emphasized the spiritual and religious.

• Christian images (Christ and the saints) and symbols dominate the art in this period.

• The early Christian churches were in a basilica type of structure.

First Known Christian Church

Old Basilica of St. Peter in Rome

Early Christian Art Examples

• Mosaic Icon of the Virgin Glykophilousa, 13th Century

Byzantine Art

• combination of Classical and Asian traditions. Byzantine aimed to create a reflection of heaven.

• The artists make icons portraying Christ, the crucifixion, Mary, and other representational religious works.

• Examples of art produced in this period are mosaic, illuminated manuscripts, fresco wall paintings, and panel painting. Islamic architecture was also built.

Byzantine Art Examples

• Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

Romanesque Art

• mean the manner of the Romans.

• Fresco wall paintings and architectural wall paintings were common during the Romanesque period.

• Church buildings were built using the Romanesque style—round arches combined with heavy walls and columns.

Frescoes

• are paintings on walls and ceilings while the plaster wall is still wet, when the plaster dries the painting sets into the wall.

Examples of Romanesque Art

• Notre-Dame la Grande, Poitiers

Gothic Art

• links Romanesque art with Renaissance

• Architecture is the main form of expression

• it has high, pointed spikes pointing upwards which symbolizes an expression of faith. Pointed arches also replaced the rounded arches of the Romanesque architecture style. Stained glass and tapestries also decorate the interior of buildings.

Gothic Art Examples

• Duomo di Milano, Milan, Italy

Renaissance (The Age of Enlightenment)

• comes from the French word “rebirth”

• Focused on realism, naturalism, and anatomical accuracy

• Linear perspective and geometrical perspective used to create a three-dimensional effect

First artists to potray their subjects realistically with expression and gestures

Giotto and Massaccio

Renaissance Man

Leonardo da Vinci because of his intellect, wide range of interests, and talent

Who was the youngest of the three that was more popular for his “Madonnas (Mother and child).”

Renaissance Arts Example

The Creation of Adam, c. 1511 by Michelangelo Buonarroti

School of Athens, 1509-1511 by Raphael

Mannerism Art

• Also known as Late Renaissance

• comes from the Italian word “maniera” which means “stylishness”

• originated from Florence, Italy

• Artificial and less naturalistic subjects due to elongated limbs and stylized facial features.

• Artists tends to look flat in perspective

Mannerism Art Exampels

Madonna with Long Neck, 1534 by Parmigianino

Baroque Art

• comes from the Portuguese word “barocco” which means “irregular pearl or stone”

• More religious but on elements of Catholic Dogma

• is characterized by drama, movement, energy and restlessness.

• When it comes to architecture, Baroque buildings are highly ornamented which create spectacle and illusion. Churches, mainly, were adorned with statues to accentuate their glory. Domes and roofs were enlarged.

chiaroscuro

This technique is achieved by contrasting light and shade in painting and management of shadow to create an illusion of depth. The paintings are open composition, meaning the lines, shapes and elements make the image dynamic as if it was moving and suddenly frozen. There is this sense of movement in the picture—the eyes of the viewer move from one area of the painting to another. Painters portray strong movement using spirals and upward diagonals, and strong color schemes to dazzle and surprise the audience.

Baroque arts examples

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1652 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Rococo

• a continuation of the Baroque but in a lighter, more graceful tone and has a more decorative effect.

• comes from the word “rocaille” which means “shell”

• An French style art because of its elaborately designed artworks that aimed to please rather than to instruct.

• its subject are aristocratic; people are depicted socializing in pastoral landscapes

• Francois Boucher known for his erotic imagery

The Father of Rococo Art

Jean Antoine Watteau

Rococo Arts Examples

• Giovanna Baccelli, 1782 by Thomas Gainsborough,

• Entrance of the Buontalenti Grotto in Boboli Gardens by Bernardo Buontalenti

Romanticism Art

• came about because of renewed interest in Medieval stories of heroism and emotion

• Originated in Europe in 18th century as a rebellion against the intellectualization brought about by Neo-classicism

• Common Romantic subjects are nature, the past and the inner world of human nature.

Roman Arts Examples

Palais Garnier Opera House made by Charles Garnier

The Statue of Liberty by Auguste Bartholdi

Impressionism

• was inspired by Monet’s painting “Impression Sunrise”

• originated in France in the 19th century as a rebellion against conventional and academic standards.

• characterized using vibrant and fresh colors and favors spontaneity.

• common subject of impressionist art is outdoor scenes, nature and contemporary everyday life.

• Pioneering impressionist artists include Claude Monet, Eduardo Manet, August Renoir and Edgar Degas

Father of Impressionism

Claude Monet

Post-Impressionism

• is an extension and rejection of Impressionists limitations.

• portray more realistic subjects but gave more importance to geometrical forms to express inner vision.

• Artists include Paul Cezanne, Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh

Pointillism

• makes use of tiny dots of color was developed by George Seurat in Post-Impressionism

Art Nouveau

• It includes great variety of fine and decorative arts, like painting, graphic art, interior design, jewelry and furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass art and metal work.

• Despite of its translation “new art,” its style was already in circulation a decade before it gained a specific recognition when in the mid-1890’s Siegfred Bing, a German-born art dealer, critic and entrepreneur established a store and showroom called “La Maison del Art Nouveau” (The House of New Art).

Examples of Art Nouveau

Times of the Day by Art Nouveau artist, Alphonse Mucha

Constructivism

• as an artistic philosophy, was started in Russia in 1913 by Vladimir Tatlin who rejected the idea of autonomous art.

• He wanted ‘to construct’ art by advocating the philosophy that it is a practice for social purposes or practical use.

Constructivism Art Examples

• Monument of the Third International, 1919–1920

• Books! Poster – Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, 1924

Famous Artists in Constructivism

• Vladimir Tatlin

• Alexander Rodchenko

• Varvara Stepanova

De Stijl (The Style)

• is considered as the most idealistic of the abstract movement, founded in Amsterdam in 1917 by painters Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) and Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931) and the architect Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud (1890–1963).

• Stijl artists advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and color; they simplified visual compositions to vertical and horizontal, using black, white, and primary colors.

De Stijl Arts Example

• Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red, 1937–42, Piet Mondrian

• Hague’s City Hall with its new De Stijl treatment, as overseen by Studio Vollaerszwart

Optical Art

• is an artistic movement that flourished during the 1960’s that practiced more overt exploitation of the physiology of seeing.

• Optical artists produce moving or motion effect by using an arrangement of elements like color, lines, shapes, or combinations of these elements.

Optical Arts examples

• Crest, 1964, Bridget Riley

• Duo-2, 1967, Victor Vasarely

Pop Art

• Its imagery was derived from commercial sources, mass, and everyday life

• The objective of Pop Art is to use images of popular culture in art, emphasizing the common elements of any culture through sarcasm or irony.

• It uses unrelated materials visually removed from its known context, isolated, or combined with materials to create its intended message.

Pop Artists

• Andy Warhol

• Richard Hamilton

Minimalism Art

• Minimalism is an artistic movement in painting and sculpture where any sense of the artist’s role in the work is kept to an apparent minimum, to give it a “completely literal presence.” This results in an extremely simple and pure form, reducing the art to a state intrinsic to its medium with a deliberate lack of expressive content.

• As minimalist painter Frank Stella once stated, “All I want anyone to get out of my paintings is the fact that you can see the whole idea without any confusion. What you see is what you see.”

Conceptualism

• is an art which emerges out of the growing investigation into Western art and the political and economic institutions that support it.

• It advances the notion that the concepts or ideas involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical and material concerns.

• the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.

Pioneer of Conceptualism

Marcel Duchamp

Conceptualism Art Examples

Fountain, 1917 by Marcel Duchamp

Installation Art

• which is also considered as conceptual art, an exhibit may just be mounted by anyone by simply following a set of written instructions.

• This method justifies American artist Sol LeWitt’s definition of Conceptual art, “one of the first to appear in print.”