The ancient world

TASK - Research Neolithic cave paintings and it's visual communication

The exact purpose of cave paintings are not know but some theories suggest that they could have been used for communication purposes, as well as telling stories visually. Some other theories suggest that they might have been painted for ceremonial purposes.

Many of them were discovered in caves in Europe, one of the first were believed to have been in a cave in Cantabria, Spain.



Cave painting of a bison found in Altamira cave, Spain

Common themes in cave paintings are pictures of large land animals or outlines of hands.

The paintings of animals could have been made to document prey or dangerous animals.

Cave drawings and paintings were usually made with black charcoal, yellow powered ocher and powered iron.



'Tree of life' painting found in Borneo

Bibliography:

http://www.hominides.com/html/biographies/abbe-breuil.php
http://www.arara.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7509683.stm

The middle ages

TASK - Research Medieval China and analyse two examples of imagery from that culture

In 4th century China, Buddhism became the central religion of the country. Depictions of Buddha were made in art and sculpture to honor him as well as small shrine sculptures or 'stupas', which were usually made of bronze.



Model of a stupa (Buddhist shrine), 4th century AD

This particular shrine sculpture was created as a means to pray to Buddha. The ascending domes at the top of the sculpture represent a 'great ladder that lead to heaven'. Stupas like these would be made and carried out to Buddhist shrines in different countries like Tibet, India, Pakistan and Japan.



'Portrait of Shun' Oku Myoha' by Shun Oku Myoha, 1383


This hanging scroll self portrait of a Chinese man was made for a ritual at a Buddhist subtemple in Kyoto, Japan. Portraits like these are called 'Chinsos' and were originally intended to be displayed at funerals and memorial services.

Bibliography:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/te_index.asp?i=9
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/history.htm
http://www.languages.ufl.edu/EMC/

The Renaissance

TASK - Research the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and the patronage

Leonardo Da Vinci was considered to be a 'polymath', which meant his skills and knowledge covered a lot of different grounds such as painting, writing music, engineering and invention new revolutionary machines and a designer of architecture and was widely considered a genius by all.

He was one of the figure heads of the Renaissance period and therefore, is considered to be one of the founding fathers of classic art and inventions.



'Lady with ermine' by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1490

One of his most famous paintings is 'The Mona Lisa', one of the most well-known paintings in the world.



'The Mona Lisa' by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1506


Michelangelo was another 'Renaissance man' who was a high skilled genius who specialized in painting, sculpting, poetry and designing architecture.

His work would go on to influence Europe from the 1500's to the present day.

One of his most famous pieces is the painted roof of the Sistene Chapel depicting scenes from the book of genesis.



'The creation of Adam' from the roof of the sistene chapel by Michelangelo



'The last judgment' from the roof of the sistene chapel by Michelangelo

Bibliography: 

http://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/The-Notebooks-of-Leonardo-Da-Vinci-Complete1/
http://podcast.blogs.latrobe.edu.au/2014/01/21/26-why-is-the-mona-lisa-famous/
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Main.html

The 17th - 18th century

TASK - Compare the paintings of Vermeer and Rembrandt, particularly relating to their methods of lighting in their subjects.

Johannes Vermeer was a 'genre' painter who specialized in painting 'middle-class' people and would use oil paint in most of his work. His most famous painting is 'The girl with the pearl earring' and is considered to be an artistic masterpiece.



The girl with the pearl earring' by Vermeer, 1665

His paintings were inspired by Italian art and the baroque era. He was also considerably skillful at capturing realistic lighting in his paintings, something which was very hard to master at the time and would use specially positioned mirrors to manipulate lighting.



'The music lesson' by Vermeer, 1665




'Girl with the wine glass' by Vermeer, 1969


Rembrant, another Dutch painter, was considered to be one of the greatest painters in European art history and first gained popularity as a portrait painter.



'Self portrait with beret and upturned collar' by Rembrant, 1659


He painted many self portraits during his career and would also paint pictures of his friends and peers as well as scenes from religious imagery, despite not being a religious man.



'Self portrait with Saskia' by Rembrant, 1635

Rembrant would also experiment with lighting, usually manipulating the light on the left side of what ever or whoever he would be painting, and would use mirrors like Vermeer to create lighting effects.

Bibliography: 

http://www.essentialvermeer.com/
http://www.artble.com/artists/johannes_vermeer
http://www.pubhist.com/person/1/rembrandt
http://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/presentaties/uitgelicht/rembrandt_prive/introductie/index.nl.html

The nineteenth century - The industrial revolution and empire

TASK - Research the reaction of 'Romanticist' visual artists to the industrial revolution in the 19th century

Romanticism was a European art movement developed towards the end of the 18th century and was used as a means to revolt against the new 'Industrial' revolution and the 'Age of Enlightenment'.

The industrial revolution was the beginning of a new age of high tech machinery and new inventions such as the discovery of steam powered and coal fueled machinery and train travel. This was a major historical turning point, some even considering this the beginning of a 'capitalist' world wide economy.



'Iron and coal' by William Bell Scott, 1860

'Industrialist' dismissed arts, music and literature, believing them to be unimportant compared to the new scientific discoveries being made at the time and valued science over the arts.

All who were opposed to Industrialism became 'Romanticists', who were liberal preservers of classic art, music and literature. It was a movement that rejected rationality and embraced strangeness, imagination and emotions.

Romanticists became the new radicals of the 19th century and Romanticist artists incorporated classic artistic ideals and medieval and chinosserie styles into their paintings.

Artists would usually depict scenes from classic literature or stories in their paintings.




'The lady of Shallot' by John William Waterhouse, 1888



'The start of the race of the riderless horses' by Horace Vernet, 1820

Bibliography - 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508675/Romanticism
http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/neo-classical-romanticism--realism-misc/deck/6460654
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.html

1930's

TASK - Research Art Deco in Europe and The USA

Art Deco is a visual art design style or movement that appeared just after world war one, originated from France and then proceeded to spread throughout Europe and America.

It was the successor to the art nouveau movement but took a lot of influence and inspiration from the former art movement.

Unlike the art nouveau movement, that was flowing and soft-toned, art deco was more focused on using sharp edges geometric shapes and a darker colour palette of red, black, brown, gold and cream as opposed to green, yellow and orange which was more commonly used in art nouveau paintings.

'Protrait of Dr. Boucard' by Tamara de Lempicka, 1929

'Portrait of Ira P' by Tamara Lempicka, 1929

It was very popular in America, was considered to be the 'modern look' of it's era (1920-1940) and lasted until the beginning of world war II.

'Woman with ship hat' by Jean dUPAS, 1928

'Two women in a cafe' by Piero Marussig, 1924

Book cover by Gilbert Rumbold, 1930

Bibliography: 

'Art Deco painting' by Lucie-Smith

'Art Deco style' by Bevis Hillier and Stephen Escritt

'Art Deco Source book' by Patrica Bayer

Impressionism and Art Nouveau

TASK - Research examples of art nouveau in illustration and graphics

Art Nouveau is an art style that came about during the end of 1800's and was originally developed in Europe. It was most likely to have been influenced by the past art movement, the 'aesthetic' movement due to it's overly whimsical and nature-inspired appearance.

Art Nouveau could be recognised by the use of flowing swirls and linework, gold leaf, repeating flowing geometric patterns, references to nature (such as flowers or birds) and the use of the colours green, yellow and orange.



Art nouveau wallpaper print by William Morris, 1870



Art Nouveau was incorporated into architecture as well as art and illustration. Here are a few examples of art nouveau architecture below.

Staircase of the Hotel Tassel in Brussels, 1893

Central hall of the Hotel van Eet-Velde in Brussels, 1899

One of the most famous art nouveau artists is Alphonse Mucha, a Czech commercial illustrator and painter who specialised in screen printing. His paintings were considered to be the defining 'style' of the art nouveau movement.

Poster design by Alphonse Mucha for Cycles Perfecta, 1902

Bibliography:

'Art Nouveau' by Klaus-Jurgen Sembach

'Prague and art nouveau' by Marie Vitochova, Jindrich Kejr and Jiri Vsetcka

'Art Nouveau' by Dover Pictura

'Alphonse Mucha masterworks' by Rosalind Ormiston