Art History

Elements of art

• Line

• Shape

• Form

• Value

• Color

• Texture

• Space

• Scale

Principles of Composition

• Unity/Variety

• Balance

• Emphasis/Subordination

• Proportion

• Rhythm

• Contrast/Harmony

• Movement

• Pattern + Repetition

Form

What is it?

Material

What is it made of?

Technique

How is it made?

Color

Added colors in different materials or pigments?

Scale

Miniature? Monumental?

Subject-matter

What is represented?

Icon

A sign, such as a word or graphic symbol, whose form suggests its meaning

Iconography

A particular range or system of types of image used by an artist to convey particular meaning

Attribute

A symbolic object, animal, or distinctive physical feature used in visual art to identify a specific person, deity, saint, or personified concept

Iconographic analysis

Method of interpreting and analyzing the meaning of visual images, symbols, and artworks in order to understand the deeper meanings embedded within visual representations. The goal is to decode the symbols, figures, and visual elements in an image and interpret how they communicate specific ideas, values, or themes linked to the culture, religion, or historical context of the work.

Steps of analysis

1. Identify and provide a “snapshot”

2. Visual analysis

3. Iconographic analysis

4. Contextual interpretation

Paleolithic

Old Stone Age

Neolithic

New Stone Age

Prehistory

Time before writing

Representational art

“Presenting again”, something observed or imagined

Megalith

Greek meaning “great stone”, large stone used to build a monumental prehistoric structurrs

Post and lintel

Two upright stones (posts) support a horizontal block (lintel)

Henge

Stone arrangement in a circle

Passage tomb

Long corridor leading to a burial chamber

City-state

Idenependent city and surrounding agricultural land

Cuneiform

Wedge-shaped

Register

Band of decoration

Ground line

A painted or carved baseline that figures stand on

Ziggurat

Raised platform built out of mud-bricks

Votive offerings

Gifts to the gods

Hierarchy of scale

Size relative to importance

Stele

Carved stone slab used to mark a grave or commemorate an event

Low relief

Figures project less from background

High relief

Figures project out from background, almost as if they were carved in the round

Iconography

Message of an image or symbols associated with a particular subject-matter or story

Mastaba

Rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides and flat roof bult over underground burial chamber

Sphinx

Mythical creature with the body of a lion and human head

Engaged columns

Columns built into a wall

Papyrus

Reed that xould be used to make paper, sumbol of lower Egypt

Naturalistic

Lifelike in appearance

Idealized

Depicted with perfect (youthful) features/body

Realistic

Depicted with personal features/body or signs of aging

Clerestory

Raised central part of roof to let in light

Pylon

Entrance gateway with sloping walls

Axial plan

Symmetrical around a central axis

Fresco

Paint applied to wall plaster

Terminus ante quem

Point before which

Absolute chronology

Fixed calendar date(s)

• Pebble with natural wear that resembles a human face

• ca. 3,000,000 BCE

• Makapansgat, South Africa

• Reddish brown jasperite

• 2.5 in wide