Art Fundamentals-Time Periods, Civilizations, and Movements-(2025-2026)

Time periods, civilizations, and movements in the Art Fundamentals in the 2025-2026 Academic Decathlon art study guide.

Old Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic Period)

Chauvet Cave: Southeastern France, dated to about 30,000 BCE. Oldest works of art we will consider. They contain animal drawing in red ochre and black charcoal.

Venus of Willendorf: small stone female figures thought to be fertility figures. Dated to 28,000-25,000 BCE.

Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic Period)

Rock Shelter Paintings: Animal drawings but also human figures who are shown to dominate animals. Dated to 7,000-4,000 BCE.

New Stone Age (Neolithic Period)

Stonehenge: Western Europe, dated to about 4,000 BCE. Concentric rings made with sarsen stones and smaller "bluestones".

Ancient Mesopotamia Art

Art was made of perishable materials and the region had much conquest and destruction.

Ancient Summerian Art

About 4,000 BCE. Sculptures and buildings including ziggurats. An emphasis on religion.

Ancient Akkadian Art

About 2334 BCE. Similar culture to Summerians. Freestanding and relief sculptures. An emphasis on the monarchy.

Ancient Babylonian Art

About 1792 BCE. Code of Hammurabi: A stone stele with this code and a sculpture in high relief at the top showing Hammurabi receiving inspiration for the code from the sun-god.

Ancient Assyrian Art

About 900 BCE. Most dominant culture in the Near East at the time. Relief Carvings showing battles, sieges, hunts, and other events.

Neo-Babylonian Period

About 538 BCE. When Babylonia became the dominant force again in the region. Hanging gardens of Babylon and the Ishtar Gate.

Ancient Persian Art

About 538 BCE. Architectural achievements with Egyptian influence. Palace at Persepolis.

Ancient Egyptian Art

About 3000 BCE. Many monuments including the Sphinx and the great pyramids of Giza. Used a hierarchical scale and fractional representation. Had excellent conditions for peresrvation.

Ancient Cycladic Art

About 3200 BCE. In a group of islands in the Aegean. Simplified nude female figures. Pottery, marble bowls, and jars.

Ancient Minoan Art

About 2000 BCE. Architecture, frescoes, and pottery designs. Centered around the city of Knossos on Crete and the legend of the Minotaur and it's maze. The royal palace was the maze.

Ancient Mycenaean Art

About 1000 BCE. Elaborate tombs, goldsmithing, and relief sculpture. Centered around the city of Mycenae on the Greek mainland.

Archaic Period

About 660-475 BCE. Freestanding figures using the frontal pose in Egyptian art but were more realistic and dynamic. Temples with Doric and Ionic columns. Vase paintings, some with black silhouetted figures, some with the Corinthian style, and some with the Athenian style.

Early Classical Period

Greek art. Doric columns, solemnity, strength, and simple form that was focused on a figure or scene in the moment. Life-like figures and positions called contrapposto.

Middle Classical Period

Greek art. Advances in architecture. The Parthenon had columns that have been seen in much Western architecture in the next two thousand years.

Late Classical Period

Greek art. Decline in architecture. Temples with simple Doric columns but Corinthian columns became more popular.

Hellenstic Period

Influence from Eastern civilizations. Freestanding sculptures such as the Venus de Milo and the Laocoön Group that presented ideals of beauty.

Etruscan Art

About 1000 BCE, in Italy. A transition from the ideals of Greece to the concerns of the Romans. Tomb decorations, temples with tiled gabled roofs, bonze work.

Roman Art

About 200 BCE. Influence from Greek works. Architecture advancements such as concrete and the arch. Relief sculptures showing emperors and victories. Sculpted portraits.

Byzantium Art

Mosaic works and Christian content. Great churches of Ravenna and the Constantinople.

Medieval Period

Art was preserved by the Church. Books that monks would spend time copying show the exchange of artistic ideas between northern and southern Europe. The Book of Kells and the Coronation Gospels.

Early Medieval Period

About 375 CE. Germanic Art in metalwork that was abstract, decorative, geometric, and small-scale. Viking Art with designs and sculptures were carved into their wooden ships.

Later Medieval Period

Architecture of churches. The Roman arch (Romanesque). Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, France.

Gothic Style

About 1100 CE. Used in churches. Pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and larger windows. Chartres Cathedral in France.

Renaissance

Time with many wealthy families who were patrons of art. Greek and Roman art was very available in Italy. The role of artists in society changed. Linear perspective.

Reformation

About 1600 CE. The criticization of the corruption of the Catholic Church. Less richly decorated churches and the religious imagery of the Renaissance.

Counter-Reformation

The Church's reaction to the Reformation with even more lavish church decoration and art that was very dramatic and emotional.

Northern Europe: Fifteenth Century

More realistic detail because of oil paints. Still a very Gothic style.

Northern Europe: Sixteenth Century

A further awareness of the Italian Renaissance. Artists would travel to Italy to study the Renaissance's works. Many artists, though kept with a traditional approach.

Baroque Art

Late sixteenth century. More movement and energy than works of the Renaissance. Emotions, richness of color, and appeals to faith.

Rococo Art

Celebrations of joy, romance, and the grand life at court, especially the court at Versailles. Gold and pastel colors.

Neoclassicism

After the Revolution of 1789 in France. The Revival of interest in the art of classical Greece and Rome. Enlightenment philosophy and a direct challenge to the Rococo.

Romanticism

The emotional emphasis of the Baroque. Highly imaginative, emotional, and dreamlike. Exotic or melodramatic elements and emphasized natural wonders. Foreign settings, violence involving animals, and historical subject matter. Théodore Gericault and William Blake.

Realism

A reaction to Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Represented all the features of its subjects, including the negative ones. Showed the lives of ordinary people.

Impressionism

Grew out of the dissatisfaction with the rigid rules of the Salons held each year. Got it's name from Claude Monet's "Impression, Sunrise".

Post-Impressionism

The search for more brilliant color. Optical mixing. Showing inner human emotions in art instead of just the natural world.

Art Nouveau

Late nineteenth century. Decoration, architecture, and design. Flowing lines of leaves and flowers.

Cubism

Based on the idea that human experience can't be gathered from painting with a single view. Breaking figures up into multiple overlapping perspectives. Against naturalistic art. Favored abstract forms over lifelike figures.

Expressionism

Combined the arbitrary colors of the Fauvists and combined them with the intense feelings of Edvad Munch's work. Attempt to make the inner working of the mind visible.

After the First World War

1913. The beginnings of modern art in the United States. Moved the center of the art world to New York. The Armory Show was the first major showing of modern art in the US.

Harlem Renaissance

1920s. Harlem became a center for African-American creativity. Jazz becomes popular. Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden.

Dada

During World War I and it's aftermath. The angst of artists who were disillusioned with the war. Protested against everything in society and ridiculed accepted values and norms.

World War II

Organized movements in art came to a standstill. Art in propaganda.

Abstract Expressionism

1940s. The idea that art was free from the limitations of pictorial subject matter. The direct presentation of feeling with emphasis on dramatic colors and sweeping brushstrokes. Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline. Action painting and Color Field painting (Mark Rothko and Josef Albers).

Pop Art

1960s. The user of every day objects in artistic works. Violated the traditional rules regarding what was appropriate subject matter for art.

Minimalism

Reduced art to its barest essentials. Monochromatic palettes. Acrylic paint and the airbrush were used to achieve very precise outlines.

Photorealism

Pop-inspired. Hyper-real quality, sharp focus. A clear contrast to the use of sfumato.

Postmodernism

The reintroduction of traditional elements or the exaggeration of modernist techniques. The questioning of morals and beliefs of contemporary society.