Lesson One
A Brief History of Art
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Throughout history and to this day, we see various forms of art, from ancient pictures drawn on caves to more modern forms like the Mona Lisa. When we notice a work of art, we tend to ask ourselves, what’s the story behind it? Who made this and why? There are more artists in this world then we can count and they all offer something new and different whether it’s a new form of art or a new variation of an existing one.
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To begin thinking of art, we have to understand that it has been around since the world started. From scratches on cave walls to amazing architecture, there is proof that artists have always existed. The earliest art we actually have physical proof of is what we refer to as Prehistoric Art. This type of art is anything from engraved shells and rock art, to the many cave paintings we see dating far back. Here is an example of one of these cave paintings:
It is believed to be the picture of a bull and was discovered in Indonesia. When it was discovered, it was the oldest known cave drawing to be found.
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There are a few various stages of prehistoric art known as Upper Paleolithic (shell and stone drawings, cave paintings, and bone carvings), Mesolithic (art that occurred around the beginning of farming where we see a lot of pictures of animals, the beginning of architecture, some sculptures, and a lot of decorative crafts like jewelry), Neolithic (we see a lot of sculptures and paintings of humans figures), and finally the Metal Age (which, as its name suggests is when metal like copper, bronze, and iron came into existence and we find a lot of art created out of it. Here is a picture of a piece of art from the Metal Age.
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It was discovered in Denmark and is made out of bronze, a significant tool in that age. It is called the Trundholm Sun Chariot and is a representation of, as the name suggests, the sun chariot being pulled by a horse.
Afterward, art expands and more tools come into existence that aid in the making of it.
Once we leave prehistoric art, we step into the age of Ancient Art.
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Around the time Ancient Art began taking shape, the Egyptians created their own writing system using hieroglyphs which are little pictures. This is important to note because hieroglyphs can be considered a type of art when writing was first invented. Sculptures and statues made of wood and stone that were shaped like people or depicted various scenes became more common. In Egypt, art was created by professional craftspeople and artists for the Pharoah. For the next few centuries, we see art presented through statues, architecture, pottery, and paintings.
Each civilization had its own style of art. The Middle Eastern had decorated buildings, beautiful pottery, plates, and silverware. In the Americas, a lot of decorated masks, religious statues, and jewelry were found. In Asia there were ornate boxes, statues, vases, paintings, and fans. In Africa, there were a lot of sculptures, jewelry, and masks. All of these ancient examples were forms of art at the time.
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Then we move onto the Medieval era. In this era, we tend to see mostly religious art like painted ceilings in religious buildings and decorated pages of books. Below is a picture of the ‘Bute Book of Hours’ which dates back to the 1500s, around the time of the Medieval Age.
Finally, we have our last four parts - Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, and Modern Art.
In Renaissance art, the focus is on paintings with people in them. In this era is when the Mona Lisa was painted. The Baroque period continued having people in the paintings, but things became a bit more dramatic. We also see ornately decorated buildings with dramatic interiors and facades. In Neoclassicism, the classical side of art saw a huge revival.
Modern Art is kind of its own topic. Modern Art was from 1770 - 1970. The invention of photography influenced the period quite a bit. Paintings were very experimental and we see a lot of styles that weren’t in existence before. An example of this is the famous painting ‘The Starry Night’ by Vincent Van Gogh.
