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

1940's - 1950's

TASK - Research illustration, graphics and posters in the second world war

Advertisement based poster in the 20's and 40's were used for either general promotional work and for war propaganda.

Propaganda poster were used to influence or give information to specific countries and social groups.

Like most advertisement posters of the time period, they were either hand painted and mass produced or screen printed.

They encouraged people to support their country, save money and use ration coupons or contribute to their local fighting forces in an way possible.

Some posters also encouraged fear and mistrust, portraying enemy forces and countries as cartoonishly evil.

'It's our flag. Fight for it. Work for it' by Guy Lipscombe, 1915

'Women! Help America's sons win the war!' by R.H Porteous, 1917

'Durriti. True anarchists are against the false liberty invoked by cowards to avoid their duty!' by Unknown artist, 1936-39

'The Generalisimo' by Pedrero, 1936-37.

Bibliography : 

'War posters: Weapons of mass communication' by James Aulch

'Cold war modern design' by David Crowley and Jane Pavitt

'Political posters in Central and Eastern Europe 1945-95' by Aulich and Sylvestrova

1950's - 1960's

TASK - Research 'Pop art'

'Pop art' was an art movement founded in the 10950's - 60's which was mostly likely influenced by fashion illustration, screen printed art and the supposedly anti-art 'Dada' movement.

Society and social norms, including art and fashion, were beginning to break out of the conservative and reserved point of view of the 40's and 50's and were starting to develop it's own sense of unique style, heavily influenced and spearheaded by teens and youth culture.

Hand painted fashion illustrations by artists such as David Downton and Bernard Blossac were still used in fashion based magazines like 'Vogue' and 'Women's own'.

Illustration for 'Women's own' magazine by Andy Virgil

While new fashion and lifestyle based magazines like 'Honey' and 'Intro' were aimed at teens and young adults and featured 'wild, psychedelic' colourful screen printed illustrations, apposed to the more muted and simplistic magazine illustrations of the 30's and 40's.

Illustrations for 'Honey' and 'Intro' by artist unknown

The average pop art piece would include techniques like screen printing and collage using found objects and would include themes like modern advertising and 'kitschy' elements.

Artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton and Jim Dine were notable pop artists and helped create the overall pop art 'style'.

'Girlie door' by Peter Blake

Roy Liechtenstein is probably the most famous pop artist, parodying comic strips and would include the use of  'Ben-Day' dots in his work.

'Girl with hair ribbon' by Roy Lichtenstein

Bibliography:

'Lifestyle illustrations of the 60's' by Rian Hughes

'The 20th century art book' by Phaidon Publishing

'The 60's scrapbook' by Robert Opie

1970's to The Digital Era

TASK - Research the work of illustrators in relation to contemporary animation or graphic novels

During the beginning of the 1970's and on wards, major technical advancements were being made and artistic and cultural media such as illustration, film and music grew in popularity and were being brought into the everyday world. Clothing became more outrageous and expressive due to the rise of social fashion movements like 'Punk' (which had evolved from the 1960's 'Mod' movement) and 'New Wave' (which was later introduced in the 1980's) which also introduced a new array of popular fashion designers who either helped create or took influence from the anarchic rising youth culture that was emerging at the time, such as Vivienne Westwood and her partner Malcolm McLaren.

Dresses designed by Mary Quant, Gina Fratini, Frederick Starke and Polly Peck. Bright, bold floral patterns were very popular due to the 1960's 'hippy' movement that was slowly dying out towards the end of the 1970's. (Taken from a copy of Vogue magazine 1970 edition)

And while things like comic books and graphic novels hadn't achieved worldwide popularity yet, animated movies from Walt Disney pictures were still very popular among cinema goers. Although movies produced by Disney pictures were aimed at families and children, more underground animated movies and tv series aimed at a much older audience were being made during the late seventies and early eighties. Movies such as The Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie, an animated adaption of J.R.R Tolkin's 'Lord of the Rings', Ralph Bakshi's 'Fritz the cat' and Japanese anime tv serials were being created and they differentiated themselves from the more child-friendly Disney movies with excessive use of animated violence, sex and gore and were therefore, aimed at adults and older teens and were seen as gritty, surreal and expressive.

Adult-orientated animation also influenced comic books and graphic novels, with series such as Marvel's The Punisher and DC's Batman series becoming less action-based and more dark, mature and gritty storyline-based and the use of flat inked colours was switched to black and white ink and pen drawings. Fans loved the new 'dark' method of story telling in comic books and the demand for similar stories in other comics were very high. The rise of these new, more serious comic books series gave new opportunities to underground writers and illustrators such as James O'Barr, who created the original graphic novel 'The Crow'.

James O'Barr wrote, illustrated and even printed and mass produced his original story, 'The Crow' in 1989 which was inspired by tragic events and experiences with his former girlfriend. It became a critically acclaimed classic and would later be adapted into a film in 1994.

'The Crow: Special Edition' by James O'Barr

Music, fashion and art based magazines such as The Face and Deadline began to include short comic strip series in the 90's. One of the most famous is Jamie Hewlett's 'Tank Girl' series, which was shown monthly in Deadline magazine.

'Tank Girl: Volume one' by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin

Japanese manga books were also being translated into English, reprinted and sold to a Western audience after Japanese animated movies like 'Akira' and 'Metropolis' had caught the public's attention. Manga comics were very limited regarding colour and tended to only have each volume's front cover be in colour while the comic panels were drawn in black and white.

Some manga series were actually heavily influenced by American and European comic books. Series like 'Jojo's bizarre adventure' (1989-present day) by Hirohiko Araki (who would often reference american and european bands, musicians and actors in their character's names and appearances) and 'Dogs: Bullets and carnage' (2001 - present day) by Shirow Miwa (who would tend to draw his panels very big and spacious like the 'splash pages' in American comic books).

'Dogs: Bullets and carnage, volumes 4 - 5' by Shirow Miwa

Some modern day magazines specialize in only showcasing art, illustrations and short one-off comic strips in the magazines they produce. 

Nobrow, for instance, is a publishing company based in the UK that produces it's own art magazine of the same name that specializes in screen printed, hand drawn or digitally drawn illustrations and comic strips. They don't include any include any written articles based on fact or interest like most modern day magazines and instead tend to base all of it's focus on it's illustration and comic strip based content.

Nobrow first started in 2008 and they publish books aimed at children and adults, mostly consisting of wordless picture books or story based light hearted graphic novels, much like it's official magazine content.

Bibliography:

'The silver age of DC comics, 1956 - 1970' by Paul Levitz
'Dogs: Bullets and carnage, volumes 4-5' - Shirow Miwa
'TANK GIRL: Volume one' by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin
'The Crow: Special edition' by James O'Barr

http://www.retrowaste.com/1970s/fashion-in-the-1970s/

http://www.thespectraldimension.com/2010/08/vogue-magazine-1970-witchy-woolwear-ad.html

http://www.nobrow.net/