Unit 4: Historical Development of World Visual Arts

Prehistoric Art

The Key Characteristic of this Historical Era are the following:

• Ritualistic hunter-gatherer art

• Animal representations for hunting magic

• Fertility figurines

• Megalithic stone alignments

Ancient Egyptian

The Key Characteristic of this Historical Era are the following:

• Hieratic Scale (size equals social status)

• Rigid frontal posture

• Formalized canon of proportions

• Funerary art created for the afterlife/immortality

Ancient Greek

The Key Characteristic of this Historical Era are the following:

• Pursuit of ideal human beauty

• Pursuit of ideal athletic proportion

• Pursuit of ideal harmony

• Pursuit of ideal balance

• Pursuit of ideal humanism

• Developed classical column orders of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian

Ancient Roman

The Key Characteristic of this Historical Era are the following:

• Utilitarianism

• Grand scale

• Engineering mastery

• Invention of conrete (pozzolana)

• True arches

• Barrel/groin vaults

• Massive domes

• Added Tuscan and Composite column orders

Medieval Period

This Era/Style has the following Core Stylistic & Structural Characteristics:

• Byzantine

• Romanesque

• Gothic

Renaissance (1400-1600)

This Era/Style has the following Core Stylistic & Structural Characteristics:

• Rebirth of classical antiquity

• Humanism

• Revival of linear perspective

• Anatomical study

• Proportion balance

• Techniques of sfumato and chiaroscuro

Baroque (1600-1750)

It is derived from the Portuguese word “barroco,” which means irregular pearl.

Baroque (1600-1750)

This Era/Style has the following Core Stylistic & Structural Characteristics:

• Dynamic motion

• Intense emotion

• Theatrical lighting

• Tenebrism

• Rich ornamentation

• Grand scale connecting exterior architecture to interior domes

Rococo

This Era/Style has the following Core Stylistic & Structural Characteristics:

• Lighthearted

• Delicate

• Pastel color palette

• Asymmetric shell motifs (rocaille)

• Whimsical themes of aristocratic romance and leisure

19th Century Movements

This Era/Style has the following Core Stylistic & Structural Characteristics:

• Neoclassicism

• Romanticism

• Realism

• Impressionism

• Post-Impressionism

Modern & Contemporary

This Era/Style has the following Core Stylistic & Structural Characteristics:

• Rejection of traditional representation

• Abstraction

• Functionalism

• Non-ornamental steel, glass, and reinforced concrete architecture

• International Style & Cubism

Doric

________ falls under Ancient Greek, which refers to simple, sturdy, unadorned cushion capital, no base

Ionic

________ falls under Ancient Greek, which refers to slender, scroll-like volute capitals

Corinthians

________ falls under Ancient Greek, which refers to highly ornate acanthus leaf capitals

Tuscan

________ falls under Ancient Roman, which is a simplified form of the Doric, and the Composite order, which is a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian orders.

Composite

________ falls under Ancient Roman, which was not ranked as a separate order until the Renaissance having its capital composing of Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus-leaf decoration.

Byzantine

_________ falls under the Medieval Period, which refers to the Christian iconology, flat stylized figures, gold background, and elaborate mosaics.

Romanesque

_________ falls under the Medieval Period, referring to the heavy masonry walls, round arches, thick piers, dark interiors, and barrel vaults.

Gothic

_________ falls under the Medieval Period, referring to light, soaring height, pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and stained glass windows.

Sfumato

_________ falls under Renaissance (1400-1600), Italian Renaissance painting technique that creates soft, smooth transitions between colors and tones without harsh lines or borders.

Chiaroscuro

_________ falls under Renaissance (1400-1600), referring to an an art technique that uses strong contrasts between light and dark to give flat shapes a sense of volume, depth, and three-dimensional form

Tenebrism

_________ falls under Baroque (1600-1750), which uses extreme light-and-dark contrasts to make subjects look like they are standing under a spotlight

Neoclassicism

_________ falls under 19th Century Movements, focusing on order, heroism, moral virtue, and crisp line.

Romanticism

_________ falls under 19th Century Movements, focusing on passion, emotion, sublime nature, and imagination.

Realism

_________ falls under 19th Century Movements, focusing on the depiction of everyday working-class life.

Impressionism

_________ falls under 19th Century Movements, focusing on the capturing of fleeting light, visible brushwork, and plein-air painting.

Post-Impressionism

_________ falls under 19th Century Movements, focusing on structure, expression, and symbolic color.

Prehistoric Art

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Historical Era:

• Lascaux & Altamira Cave Paintings

• Venus of Willendeorf

• Stonehenge megaliths

Ancient Egyptian

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Historical Era:

• Great Pyramids of Giza

• Sphinx

• Bust of Nefertiti

• Tomb of Tutankhamun

Ancient Greek

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Historical Era:

• Parthenon (architects Iktinos & Kallicrates; sculptor Phidias)

• Discobolus (Myron)

• Spear Bearer (Polykleitos)

• Venus de Milo

Ancient Roman

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Historical Era:

• Colosseum

• Pantheon (Rome)

• Aqueducts (Pont du Gard)

• Trajan’s Column

• Arch of Constantine

Medieval Period

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Era/Style:

• Hagia Sophia (Constantinople)

• St. Mark’s Basilica (Venice)

• Chartres Cathedral, Notre-Dame de Paris, Abbey Church of Saint-Denis

Renaissance (1400-1600)

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Era/Style:

• Filippo Brunelleschi (Florence Cathedral Dome)

• Leonardo da Vinci (Mona Lisa, The Last Supper)

• Michelangelo (David, Sistine Chapel Ceiling)

• Raphael (School of Athens)

Rococo

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Era/Style:

• Jean-Antoine Watteau

• Jean-Honoré Fragonard (The Swing)

• François Boucher

19th Century Movements

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Era/Style:

• Jacques-Louis David, J.A.D. Ingres

• Eugène Delacroix, Francisco Goya, J.M.W. Turner

• Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet

• Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgard Degas

• Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin

Modern & Contemporary

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Era/Style:

• Pablo Picasso (Cubism: Guernica)

• Wassily Kandinsky

• Le Corbusier (Villa Savoye)

• Mies van der Rohe

• Frank Lloyd Wright

Baroque (1600-1750)

The following are the Representative Works and Masterpieces of this Era/Style:

• Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Ecstasy of St. Teresa, St. Peter’s Square Colonnade)

• Caravaggio (Calling of St. Matthew)

• Rembrandt

• Peter Paul Rubens

• Francesco Borromini (San Carlo)