2. Introduction to Art History
• Art History: an academic discipline dedicated to the reconstruction of the social,
cultural, and economic contexts in which an artwork is created
wants to arrive at an understanding of art and its meaning in historical context
related to anthropology, sociology, and history
• aesthetics: the philosophical inquiry into the nature/expression of beauty
• art criticism: the explanation of current art events to the general public via press
• Methods and Inquires of AH
Before, art limited to fine art only. (paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture,
architecture)
now much more broad – includes “craft” (textiles, pottery, body art)
even things like mass-produced posters; telephones; forks
meaning of a piece of art changes over time and by the person viewing it
• The Nature of AH Inquiry
formal analysis: focuses on visual qualities of the work (needs observation and
description)
contextual analysis: examining the context the artwork was created in as well as
later contexts it was in and used in (cultural, social, religious, economic context)
• Sources, Documents, and the Work of Historians
start by closely analyzing the work of art itself
then use written sources to figure out its context
may also use interviews with the artists and consumers
3. Stone Ages
ART OF THE OLD STONE AGE (2.5 million years ago – 12,000 BCE)
•Chauvet Cave
paintings & engravings created using red ochre & black charcoal
depict animals such as horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalos, & mammoths
•Venus of Willendorf
small stone female figures
exaggerated bellies, breasts, & pubic areas
might have been used as fertility figures
ART OF THE MIDDLE STONE AGE (12,000 – 8,000 BCE)
•began using rock shelters instead of caves
•created around 7000 BCE – 4000 BCE
•began portraying human figures
ART OF THE NEW STONE AGE
•megaliths (“great stones”)
•Stonehenge (Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England)
built in many phases around 2100 BCE
concentric rings made with sarsen stones
& bluestones
post and lintel construction
4. Mesopotamian and Egyptian Art
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN ART
• Between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
• Religion was central aspect of Sumerian life
• Built massive temples at the centers of their
cities
• Ziggurats: stepped pyramids
• Hanging gardens of Babylon
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART (3500 BCE – 332 BCE)
• the Sphinx, great pyramids at Giza, statues of the Pharaohs,
portrait head of Nefertiti
• Hierarchical scale: uses the status of figures or objects to
determine their relative sizes within an artwork
• Excellent conditions for preservation
• Most famous Egyptian tombs: King Tutankhamen
made of gold
decorated with blue glass & semi-precious stones
5. CYCLADIC, MINOAN, AND MYCENAEAN
ART
• Cycladic
Simplified, geometric nude female figures
Decorated pieces of pottery as
well as marble bowls and jars
• Minoan
Centered around city of Knossos on Crete,
site of the legend of the Minotaur
Art depicts sea life & includes
statues of a female snake goddess
naturalistic pictorial style
frescoes painted on palace walls
and pottery designs
• Mycenaean
Built elaborate tombs
Astonishing levels of mastery in goldsmith & relief sculpture
6. Ancient Greek Art
• Archaic Period
emulated frontal poses of Egyptian statues
Archaic smiles
vase painting: red and black figure painting
• Early & Middle Classical Period (Early and High)
Contrapposto: natural shift of weight upon one foot
Polykeitos’s cannon of proportions for perfect statue
– Mathematical formulas to temple design
7. Ancient Greek Art
• Late Classical Period
humanized deities, athletes, and heroes
Corinthian capital more popular
Period closes with Alexander the Great
• Hellenistic Period
Artwork becomes much more violent and emotionally intense
Classical rules broken more often
Portrayals of subjects that weren’t portrayed before
9. Etruscan Art
• Admired Greek art & architecture but did not copy
• Temples made of wood and mud brick instead of stone, columns and
stairs only at the front
• Underground tomb chambers
• Tomb walls covered with frescoes, usually depicting funerary banquets
attended by both men and women
• Sarcophagi were also made to bury the dead
10. Roman Art
• Many of Roman artworks were variations of Greek arts
• Pioneered the use of concrete as a building material (Pantheon);
• Concrete allowed Roman builders to fill the spaces between their
walls with rocks and rubble
11. Roman Art
•Built bridges & aqueducts
•Colossal triumphal arches portrayed Roman emperors or
Roman military victories
•Statues often used to highlight Roman ideals; political
propaganda; role-playing
•Later had a notable impact on art of Renaissance
12. Byzantine Art
• Justinian built/restored more than 30 churches
• Hagia Sophia: masterpiece; fusion of central and
longitudinal plans, dome rests on pendentives
• Famous for mosaic murals
• Artwork more abstract, flattened
• Iconoclasm
13. Medieval Art
• Art of this era preserved largely by the Church
• Illuminated manuscripts: helped exchange of artistic ideas
between northern and southern Europe
• Nomadic Germanic peoples: metalwork was abstract,
decorative, geometric; often small-scale, portable jewelry or
ornaments
• Vikings: artistic designs and sculptures on wooden ships
14. Gothic Art
• Gothic style
developed first half of 12th century, popular into 16th century
Pointed arches, ribbed vaults (a framework of thin stone ribs or arches
built under the intersection of the vaulted sections of the ceiling), flying
buttresses (additional bracing material and arches placed on the
exterior of the building)
beautiful stained glass, higher ceilings
15. Medieval Art
Later Medieval Art
• Architecture of churches became a dominant art form
• Roman arch (Romanesque) design
• Barrel vaults used; window and door openings quite rather small