1. A Concise History of
Western Art:
Ancient Greece‐American
Modernism

2. Ancient Greece 600 BCE
 Black Figure Pots

3. Art of Ancient Greece
 The Greeks believed that Man was an ideal form. In their
estimation, Man is the measure of all things. Their works reflect
an interest in the naturalistic world.
 Art emphasizes the "ideal" figure.
 Kore (maiden) and Koros (youth) are terms to define the types of
marble statues carved and produced in large numbers
throughout the Archaic era. They were often funerary statues.
 Concerned more with geometry and symmetry than original
expression.

4. Kroisos c. 525 BC Marble

5. Calf‐Bearer c. 570 BC Marble

6. Ancient Greek Philosophy
 Plato believed in a theory of ideal forms. All forms of this world
are derived from an "ideal form in the spiritual world.” Therefore
all that we experience is an "imperfect" copy of a greater ideal.
Plato regarded artists as imitators of imitation.
 Aristotle disagreed with Plato. He believed that art was
connected to and an expression of the human soul. Works like
Myron's Discobolos (Discus Thrower) are not representations of
the natural world, but a reinterpretation of it. Works like this
helped in the formation of Aristotle's opposition to Plato.

7. Myron: The Discus Thrower

8. Ancient Greek Architecture:
 The building of the Parthenon, when Athens was at the
height of her power, was the most ambitious enterprise in
the history of Greek architecture.
 Dedicated to the goddess Athena
 Marble
 Perfect embodiment of Classical Doric Architecture
 Colonnades surrounded it

9. The Parthenon: Athens
448‐432 BC

10. Hellenistic Art, 323‐331 BC
 Characterized by an emotional, active, dynamic style.
 Reflected the attitude of despair that Athenians shared
after defeat at the hands of the Spartans around 432 B.C.
 Often copied by and for Romans who loved the style.

11. The Nike of Samothrace, 200 BC

12. The Dying Gaul

13. Ancient Roman Art

14. Ancient Roman Architecture
 The Romans worked on extensive building programs.
 They used concrete, an innovation that allowed for faster
building, and a larger scale.
 The arch became the central tool in architecture, from it
was derived the barrel vault.
 The Colosseum, 72‐80 AD. was dominated by Greek orders
of columns.

15. Ancient Roman Architecture
The Pantheon, 118‐125 AD

16. Early Christian Art

17. Medieval Art & Architecture,
Gothic Cathedrals: Chartres, 1020

18. Gothic Art: Giotto’s Frescoes,
“Lamentation of Christ,” 1305‐1306

19. The Middle Ages: 476‐1453
 In 410, Rome was conquered and the Roman Empire fell.
 For the next 1,000 years, most of Europe was governed by
feudal states.
 Most art was created for the Church for a mainly illiterate
population. Drawings were renderings of Biblical stories.
 Artists were not concerned with form or depicting emotion.
 1350: Black Plague killed 50680% of Europe’s population.
 The plague momentarily “stopped” the progress of Giotto and
other artists of the early 14th century

20. The Black Plague

21. Early Renaissance
 Began in Florence, Italy in the year 1500
 Milan was trying to bring all of Italy under its rule, and the humanist
leaders of Florence put up a vigorous and successful defense.
 Florence was free to rule itself because it gave the pope money; in turn,
they were given freedom.
 Secular renderings of art began.
 Humanism: rediscovering of classical philosophical texts; emergence of
the idea that humans could create and aspire toward godliness .
 Florence as the “new Athens” pushed the artists upon an ambitious
campaign to finish the great artistic enterprises which were begun a
century before, at the time of Giotto.

22. Early Renaissance Painting, Mossaccio:
The Holy Trinity with the Virgin and St. John

23. Early Renaissance, 15th Century
Botticelli: The Birth of Venus

24. Italian Renaissance
 “Renaissance,” literally meaning “rebirth,” describes the revival of
interest in the artistic achievements of the Classical world.
 The artists of the Renaissance were determined to move away from the
religion‐dominated Middle Ages and to turn their attention to the
plight of the individual man in society.
 Individual expression and worldly experience are two of the main
themes of art.
 The movement owed a lot to the increasing sophistication of society,
characterized by political stability, economic growth and
cosmopolitanism. Education blossomed at this time, with libraries and
academies allowing more thorough research to be conducted into the
culture of the antique world.
 In addition, the arts benefited from the patronage of such influential
groups as the Medici family of Florence.

25. Renaissance
 Leonardo da Vinci was the archetypal Renaissance man representing
the humanistic values of the period in his art, science and writing.
Michelangelo and Raphael were also vital figures in this movement,
producing works regarded for centuries as embodying the classical
notion of perfection. Renaissance architects included Alberti,
Brunelleschi and Bramante. Many of these artists came from Florence
and it remained an important centre for the Renaissance into the 16th
century eventually to be overtaken by Rome and Venice.
 Some of the ideas of the Italian Renaissance did spread to other parts
of Europe, for example to the German artist Albrecht Dürer of the
'Northern Renaissance'. But by the 1500s Mannerism had overtaken
the Renaissance and it was this style that caught on in Europe.

26. Leonardo da Vinci’s
Last Supper

27. Leonardo’s Last Supper
 Found in Milan; totally a mess today (disintegrating)
 Famous because it shows a famous subject in Christian
iconography—The Last Supper.
 Up until that point, an artist would have painted the disciples as
individuals, but Leonardo painted the disciples in groups so that
there is life, fluidity.
 Disciples eat off of refractory tables of Monks: gives Monks
impression that they have their meal while Christ has last
supper. Brings the holy to the masses.

28. Leonardo’s Mona Lisa
1503‐1506

29. Michelangelo’s Contribution
 Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Pieta, David
 Difficult personality; received education in classical culture
education, learned mathematical systems of proportions
used in classical art, preferred marble sculpture.
 Considered himself a sculptor. Believed that spirit was
trapped in stone, only to be set free by the sculpture.
Through this, he revolutionized the art of sculpture. He felt
divinely inspired.

30. Michelangelo’s David

31. The Sistine Chapel Ceiling,
Early 16th Century

32. Sistine Chapel

33. Raphael: The School of Athens
1510‐1511

34. Mannerism: 16th Century
Madonna With The Long Neck

35. Baroque Art:
1600‐1750
 Characterized by a reaction against formulaic Mannerist
style.
 Catholic Church was a big patron.
 A return to tradition and spirituality.
 Flourishing, flowing style; artists fond of curbing forms full
of movement.

36. Baroque Europe, 1600‐1750
Vermeer

37. Caravaggio

38. Rembrandt

39. Baroque Sculpture:
Bernini’s David, 1623

40. Neo‐Classicism:1750‐1880
 Originated as a reaction to the Baroque, a fanciful,
flourishing style that dominated from 1680‐1750.
 Sought to revive the ideals of ancient Greek and Roman art.
 Neoclassic artists used classical forms to express their ideas
about courage, sacrifice, and love of country.
 Monticello is perfect architectural example in US

41. Monticello

42. American Realism
 Courbet: under the impact of the revolutionary upheavals
then sweeping Europe, had come to believe that the
romantic emphasis on feeling and imagination was merely
an escape from the realities of the time.
 He said “I cannot paint an angel if I have never seen one.”
For Courbet, realism was akin to “naturalism”

43. Gustave Courbet:
The Stone Breakers, 1849

44. Manet:
The Fifer, 1850

45. Impressionism: Late 19th Century, Early
20th Century
 Name was derived from Claude Monet’s painting:
“Impressionism, Sunrise.”
 Characterized by visible brush strokes and an open
composition.
 Emphasis on light and the changing qualities of light
reflecting the passage of time.
 Focus on ordinary subject matter.
 Paintings show movement and unusual vivid angles.
 Artists favored working in open air to captur changing light.

46. Monet:
The River, 1868

47. Renoir
Le Moulin de la Galette

48. Rodin:
The Thinker, 1879‐80

49. Degas:
The Tub, 1886

50. Mary Cassatt:
The Bath, 1891

51. Henry O. Tanner
The Banjo Lesson, 1893

52. Post Impressionism
 Differed from Impressionists in the artist’s desire to attain
more form and structure as well as more expression and
emotion into their paintings. The artists led away from the
naturalistic approach.
 Similarities between Impressionism and Post
Impressionsim include: both used a real‐life subject,
distinctive brushstrokes, thick layers of paint and vivid
colors. Still used short brush strokes of broken color.

53. Van Gogh
Bedroom at Arles, 1887

54. Cezanne
Still Life With Peppermint Bottle,
1890‐94

55. Munch
The Scream, 1890‐94

56. Cubism
1907‐1914
 Led by Picasso, also Duchamp.
 Characterized by rejecting a single viewpoint.
 3‐dimensional subjects were fragmented and redefined
from several points of view simultaneously.
 New way of representing the world and new theories.
 Influenced by Einstein’s “theory of relativity.”

57. Picasso
Self Portrait

58. Surrealism: 1920‐1930’s
 Led by Dali, Duchamp, O’Keefe
 Artists’ interested in expressing imagination as revealed in
dreams and beyond (sur=above) reality.
 Influenced by Freud’s idea of the subconscious self.
 Works show freedom of conscious control and reason.
 Loved the incongruous; familiar objects were presented in
an unfamiliar manner.

59. Duchamp:
Nude Descending the Stair

60. Salvadore Dali
The Persistence of Memory

61. American Social Realism
1930‐1950’s
 Influenced by French Impressionism, and Surrealism.
 Took as its subject the reality of American life.
 Depicts lonlieness and isolation of the time.
 Hopper’s Nighthawks (1942) depicts urban life reminsicent
of the French Imprssionists, but the people are lost in
thought, osolated, alone, while the barman carries on his
work. Though they are out of the dark night, they don’t
appear to be offered any shelter.
61

62. Grant Wood
American Gothic, 1930

63. Edward Hopper:
Nighthawks, 1942
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64. Archibald Motley:
Nightlife, 1943
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65. Jacob Lawrence
The Migration Series/28, 1941
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66. Abstract Expressionism
1940‐1960’s
 Jackson Pollock, Mark Rathko, deKooning.
 The painter expresses his feelings and subconscious
thoughts through his work.
 Marked by the use of brushstrokes and texture.
 Massive canvases were employed to convey powerful
emotions through the glorification of the act of painting
itself.
 Painter paints abstract forms which do not directly
represent a specific object.
 Considered the “Golden Age” of American art.

67. Jackson Pollock: #32
1950

68. Mark Rothko: No. 10
1950
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69. Pop Art
1950‐1960’s
 Led by Warhol and Lichtenstein.
 Reflected a fascination with pop culture reflecting the
affluence of post‐war society.
 Direct descendant of Dadaism in the way that it makes fun
of the art world.

70. Andy Warhol

71. Straight Photography
 Focus on realistic and objective photography
 Photojournalism, telling the truth through photos (Lange).
“Posing is frbidden!”
 Adams shows light and shadows, natural landscapes.

72. Ansel Adams

73. Dorthea Lange

74. Post‐Modernism
1960’s‐present
 Led by Jasper Johns, David Hockney
 Characterized by a move away from high‐brow art and
towards a more eclectic and populist approach.

75. David Hockney

76. Jasper Johns: Flag, 1954‐55
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77. John’s Ventriloquist, 1983
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