Art Appreciation/History: Style Guide

These flashcards cover key styles and movements in art history, detailing their characteristics and significance.

Pre-Historic Art

Cave paintings and small, portable sculptures characterized by vitality and movement.

Paleolithic Period

The nomadic phase of Pre-Historic art before agriculture.

Neolithic Period

The agricultural phase of Pre-Historic art.

Ancient Near East Art

Art from 3500 to 500 BC featuring bronze, small statues, and ziggurats.

Ancient Egypt

Pyramids obviously

Greek Art

Art of the 5th century BC focused on beauty, harmony, and the idealized view of man.

Roman Art

Art from the 2nd century BC to 4th century AD, more realistic than Greek, showcasing people as they truly look.

Christian Art

Art from the 3rd century AD focusing on biblical themes with a move toward symbolic forms.

Byzantine Art

East art from the 6th to 15th century that retained Greek harmony with biblical themes.

Medieval Romanesque Art

12th century medieval art marked by heavy architecture and twisted figures.

Gothic Art

13th-14th century art characterized by great cathedrals, flying buttresses, and realism.

Italian Renaissance

14-16th century art that revived Greco-Roman ideals, portraying man as a noble creature.

Northern Renaissance

Renaissance art in Northern Europe that emphasized realism and emotion.

Baroque Art

17th-century art that added drama, movement, and light to realism.

Rococo Art

18th-century highly ornamental and light-hearted style favored by the aristocracy.

Neo-Classicism

19th-century art characterized by a precise, linear style and classical coolness.

Romanticism

19th-century art emphasizing emotion, nature, and the psyche.

Realism

19th-century art that portrayed contemporary life and the modern world.

Impressionism

19th-century art capturing light effects on surfaces and nature, with loose brushwork.

Post-Impressionism

An extension of Impressionism focusing on form, structure, emotion, and symbolism.

Art Nouveau

19th-century ornamental art featuring floral and sensual designs.

Fauvism

A French form of Expressionism known for intense color and flattened space.

Cubism

Early 20th-century art that depicted objects from multiple viewpoints simultaneously.

Dada

An anti-art movement that focused on ideas and statements rather than aesthetics.

Surrealism

An art movement that explored the subconscious and dream imagery.

Conceptual Art

Art that prioritizes ideas over visual or material aspects.

Post-Modernism

Art style characterized by eclecticism and the blending of past styles.