Art History - Byzantine to Romanticism to Op Art to Modern Art - History of Art

Byzantine art (400s - 1450s)

Byzantine art thrived from about 300 A.D into the 1400s, growing out of the early Christian world. It was named after Byzantium, the capital city of the Roman Empire, which was later called Constantinople and Istanbul.

Most Byzantine art was developed for the Eastern Orthodox Church. The majority of Byzantine art was made by unidentified members of religious orders and was therefore very religious.

Mosaics of lapis lazuli, gold and silver as well as paintings covered the ceilings of many churches. Byzantine artists followed many rules about subject matter, content, and form. Symbolic depictions were very important in Byzantine art and therefore appear flat and abstract in comparison to Western art.

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Romanesque art (800s - 1100s)

Romanesque art in Western Europe was popular from about 800 A.D. to the 1100s. The Romanesque style was named after Roman art whcih was only one of the many sources that inspired the Romanesque period.

Romanesque art reflected the political and religious climate of the times. Europe was in turmoil, both from invading tribes and among the religions of the time: Catholicism, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Islam. Romanesque buildings were conceived with security in mind, so very large cathedrals were built, often in the shape of a Latin cross.

These cathedrals were decorated with stone sculptures of scenes from the Bible. The walls were covered with religious subjects and painted in enduring fresco.

Most Romanesque painting took the form of church murals and decorated manuscripts. Surviving murals represent only a fraction of the original works.

 

Gothic Painting (1280 - 1515)

The Gothic style arose in the 12th century, at the height of the Middle Ages, an era of wealth and certainty, and dominated until the end of the fifteenth century. Christianity was prospering with the building of magnificent Gothic cathedrals. In contrast to the Romanesque and Byzantine styles, the most notable feature of the art of the Gothic period is its increased earthiness, first appearing in Italian artistry in the late 13th century. The Gothic era in painting spanned more than 200 years, starting in Italy and spreading to the rest of Europe.

By 1400 circa, the amalgamation of Italian and North European art produced an International Gothic style which could be found in France, Italy, England, Germany, Austria and Bohemia.

The International Gothic style further split into two revolutionary styles, the Italian Renaissance in Florence and the Northern Renaissance movement in the Low Countries of the north. Jan van Eyck developed oil painting in Flanders during this period.

The early 16th-century artists Gerard David, Hieronymus Bosch, and Matthias Grünewald painted in the Gothic tradition while the northern artists of the same period Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Hans Holbein followed the style of the Italian Renaissance.

 

Renaissance (1420 - 1615)

The Renaissance or period of "rebirth,"was a period of great cultural accomplishment which lasted more than three hundred years. This concept of rebirth is at the heart of the Renaissance style: artists, scholars, architects, and leaders held that the path to enlightenment was to study the Golden Ages of the ancient Greeks and Romans. They rejected the more contemporary, medieval Gothic. Rather they looked to the thoughtful literary traditions, as well as the artistic and scientific achievements of the Greco-Roman era. The Renaissance style later spread outside of Italy.

The Italian Renaissance (1420 - 1600)

Italy was the major stimulus for advancement during the Renaissance, which saw great development in Europe in the latter part of the Middle Ages. The term Renaissance has many meanings and therefore does not have a clearly definable style. Renaissance art was born from a civilization undergoing many sudden changes; it clearly differed from the medieval realm, entering a modern world and laying the foundations for modern Western values and society.

The Renaissance started slowly in Italy with the search for scientific rigor and authenticity. The height of the Renaissance may be found in the extraordinary works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Humanism greatly influenced the Renaissance style, manifesting in an increase of non-religious works and culminating in the Mannerism style.

The Northern Renaissance (1500-1615)

The 1500's ushered in a a new period of artistry. The innovative styles of the south brought about changes in the Northern artists' styles, with the addition of modern science and philosophy. The south Italian style was stimulated by Humanism, while that of the North was motivated by religious reform, emphasizing original Christian ethics as well as a break with the traditional domination of the clergy.

The Northern Renaissance was focused on the vibrant realism of Durer's artistry, with a number of other painters in Germany and the Netherlands, such as Bruegel and Holbein, following the North's lead. The Northern Renaissance ended with a Mannerist phase (as in Italy), lasting a century longer than in the south, to about 1700.

 

Mannerism (1520 - 1600)

Mannerism, was a colorful artistic style, using vibrant, bright colors, which was highly regarded after the period of the High Renaissance. It is epitomized by the highly stylized and technical works of Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael, which stylized the human anatomy and emphasized their muscles.

Additional notable Mannerists include Giovanni Battista Roso Fiorentino, Jacopo Tintoretto, Francesco Parmigianino as well as the bright renditions of El Greco.

 

Baroque (1600 - 1790)

First appearing in Europe around 1600, the Baroque style of art predominated until the 1700's, when the lighter and more personal Rococo period developed. The word baroque is derived from the Portuguese word meaning "irregularly shaped pearl," first used to describe something that did not meet the classical standards of the Renaissance. Baroque artists created art that was elaborately adorned, energetic and emotional. Each piece of artistry was saturated with action and finely detailed.

The Baroque period was also a time of political and religious stress, reflecting the high drama and feelings of this era.

The Catholic Church, distressed by the Reformation, wanted a new type of art to entice the population back into the Catholic fold. They felt that art should glorify the Catholic religion and make their beliefs more acceptable. Paintings and other art created during this time were full of majestic opulence, with stunning images from the Bible, of saintly persons, as well as the crucifixion

Some well-known Baroque artists were Caravaggio, Rubens, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

 

Rococo (1715 - 1774)

Rococo was popular in Western Europe during the 1700s. The Rococo style is normally found in the ornamentative art of tapestries or architecture, representing many natural elements, such as seashells, stones and floral arrangements. Rococo himself admired splendor, particularly with the aim of gratifying his senses. Much of Rococo art depicts classical mythology with an exquisiteness absent in Baroque art.

Well known Rococo artists were Antoine Watteau, Jean Honore Fragonard, and Francois Boucher.

 

Neo-Classicism
(Mid 18th to Early 19th Century)

Neoclassical Arts' lack of emotion, occurring as a response to the overemotional Baroque and Rococo styles, is reminiscent of the style of early Greece or Rome. Neoclassical Art was part of a general reawakenment of the classical style, which occurred during the American and French revolutions.

Prominent Neoclassicists were the architects Robert Adam and Robert Smirke, sculptors Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen, and Jean-Antoine Houdon, and painters Anton Raphael Mengs, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Jacques-Louis David.

Romanticism appeared in the early 1900s somewhat as a reaction to Neoclassicism. Many artists took their styles from both the Romanticist and the Neoclassicist art.

Nineteenth-century Academic Art was also influenced significantly by the Neoclassical Art form.

 

Academic Art

Academic Art refers to the paintings and sculptures influenced by the European (Art) Academies. Academic Art is distinguished by its elegant and polished style, with its use of historical subjects, and its high-minded tone.

While Neoclassical Art was closely associated with the Academies, Academic Art is associated in particular with the French Academy. Bouguereau and Jean-Leon Gerome characterize this style.

 

Romanticism
(Late 18th to Mid 19th Century)

Romanticism, seen as a response to Neoclassicism, is an very individualistic and emotional style. Both Romanticism and Neoclassicism, although differing greatly, controlled European styles for generations, with a great number of artists being influenced by both styles. In the USA, the Hudson River School of dramatic landscape painting led the Romantic movement.

Important Romanticist artists are J.M.W. Turner, Caspar David Friedrich, John Constable, William Blake, Theodore Gericault, Eugene Delacroix and Francisco de Goya.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement and the Symbolists followed the Romanticist movement. Impressionism, which influenced much modern art, also traces its roots from the Romantic style.

 

Hudson River School (1835 - 1870)

The Hudson River Artists focused in American images. America, yearning for artistic identity, embraced the emotional and distinctive American countrysides and pristine wilderness scenes of the Hudson River artists.

These "Romantic Realists," combined precise panoramic creations with meritorious messages. Thomas Cole, the most prominent Hudson River Artist, painted with great detail and accuracy, conveying an ideal feeling.

Later Hudson River Artists were Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Church.

 

Realism (Mid 19th century)

Realism portrays its subjects in a direct manner, without over-idealization or dependence on conventional rules. Realism first appeared in the 1700s, a reaction against the excessiveness of the Romanticist and Neoclassicist styles. these excesses may be seen in the paintings of John Singleton Copley and those of Goya.

The greatest Realist era was the mid 1800s, as the influence of the Academies waned and artists became disillusioned with these other styles.

In France, Realism inspired such great artists as Corot and Millet, and produced the Barbizon School of landscape painting. Besides Copley, American Realists included Thomas Eakins, and Henry Ossawa Tanner, both of whom also received formal training in France.

French Realism also greatly influenced the Impressionists and the Contemporary Realist movement.

 

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
(1848 to late 19th century)

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was composed of English artistans dedicated to capturing the simple beauty of the medieval world in contrast to the sterile materialistic art of the industrial revolution. Raphael was credited with presenting Renaissance art in a scientific way so as to foster technological progress. The Brotherhood infused their works with literary symbolism, bright colors, and attention to detail.

Painters Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens, sculptor Thomas Woolner, and writer William Michael Rossetti, the brother of Dante, founded the Brotherhood.

After gaining the support of John Ruskin, the well known art critic, the Brotherhood flourished for a time but by the mid 1800's languished.

From this came Pre-Raphaelitism in Victorian art, noted for its pseudo-medieval subjects and the ghostly feminine paintings of Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

 

Victorian Classicism
(Mid to Late 19th Century)

The British-like Victorian Classicism was influenced by the artistry and architecture of Greek and Roman tradition.

The popularity of the Mediterranean lands in the 1800s stimulated a rise of Classicism and Orientalism in Europe.

The Classicists style was primarily associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. Both movements were highly sentimental, motivated by similar myths and history. They differed greatly in that the style of Classicism rigorously followed the Academic specifications whereas the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood rebelled against these specifications.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederick Leighton were the most prominent Classicists, and were thought to be the greatest painters of their time.

 

Impressionism (1860s - 1880s)

Impressionism derived its name from Claude Monet's painting Impression called Sunrise, a name given as a joke at an art showing, later embraced by the "Impressionist" artists.

Impressionism means to portray an entire effect in bright colors, to be observed in a glimpse. Impressionist artists observed lighting effects closely and as in Realism they placed great emphasis on how light effected their subjects in various weather conditions and periods of the day, preferring to paint in daylight.

Impressionists were criticized for not following conventional standards, but they preferred informality and spontaneity. Their art reflected everyday life such as country scenes, city life and other ordinary scenes. The impressionist style was criticised for looking unfinished and messy. But they held that their paintings were objects in themselves. This was actually a precurser of abstract art.

Among the most important Impressionists we may include Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.

 

Post-impressionism (1880s - 1900s)

Following the Impressionism style, just prior to 1900, Post-Impressionism emerged from the Impressionism style as a more venturesome form of artistry. Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin expressed themselves in a symbolic and emotional manner, their works being vivid and highly poignant.

The Post-Impressionists reconnected Impressionism's devotion to nature and the artistry of the early nineteen-hundreds, to that of Fauvism and Cubism.

The most important Post-Impressionists were Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.

 

Pointillism (1880s)

Pointillism, derived from Impressionism, is also seen as a form of Post-Impressionism. Pointillism uses small points of color to produce other colors.

Similar to Divisionism which is focused on color theory, Pointillism is more concerned with the brushwork than the colors. The primary artist who was identified with the Pointillist style was Georges Seurat, as well as Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross.

Pointillism has been said to have inspired the growth of Fauvism.

 

Symbolism (1889 - 1900)

In the later 1800s, Symbolism, a strange art form combining mysticism and ghostliness developed. Symbolism followed the Romantic style somewhat.

Symbolists used mythical tales and images from dreams as part of their expressionism. Symbolism influenced the more recent Art Nouveau style, the Les Nabis, as well as the major works of the Expressionists.

Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes were the leading Symbolists of their time.

 

Art Nouveau
(Late 19th to Early 20th Century)

Art Nouveau, an ornate decorative art style characterized by intricate curves, emerged from the British Arts and Crafts Movement of William Morris and was very well accepted in Europe as well as the United States until the end of World War One, when the Art Deco style superceded it.

Aubrey Beardsley, Gustav Klimt, Alphonse Mucha were the prominent artisans of the Art Nouveau style.

 

Fauvism (1898 - 1908)

Fauvism, a most intense and brilliant style, was most popular in France in the early 1900s. Fauvism Paintings conveyed an intense and forceful eruption. Using natural subjects, Fauvists expressed their subjects with bold vivid strokes of strong color, shocking more staid viewers and earning the nomenclature "Les Fauves" (Wild Beasts).

Henri Matisse, the most prominent Fauvist artist, carefully studied the masters of Postimpressionism such as Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat. André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and Matisse, were also prominent Fauvists.

By the early 1900s emotional Fauvism was abandoned for the staid natural logic of Cubism.

 

Expressionism (1905 - 1940s)

Expressionism aims to convey the internal mood of the artist rather than to portray the image truthfully. Expressionism is a combination of styles from Symbolism, Fauvism, as well as Cubism.

In the mid 1900s, Abstract Expressionism which has no subject, but rather is purely expressive, became a very powerful art style.

prominent Expressionists included Wassily Kandinsky, George Grosz, Franz Marc, and Amadeo Modigliani.

 

Cubism (1908 - 1920)

Cubism emerged in the early 1900s when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque joined together in a powerful unification of creativity which, although short-lived, greatly influenced twentieth-century art as well as the works of Paul Cezanne. In Cubism objects are only presented from many viewpoints concurrently.

Cubism had it's influence over Orphism, Purism, Precisionism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism.

 

Futurism (Italy, 1909 - 1914)

In the early twentieth-century Futurism arose in Russia and Italy. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian noted for his poetry, coined the term Futurism as an innovative new form of art. Marinetti wanted the art to show the powerful attributes of the newly invented auto as well as other machines, as more relevant than the stale art of the past.

Although Futurist artists utilized some techniques of the Cubists, Futurists preferred to portray fast moving autos, dancers and other modern subjects rather than scenes from nature. Futurism preferred the intensity of violent clashes and sought to eliminate institutional buildings. Futurism was zealous and confrontational, with the aim of inciting anger and disagreement.

Notable Futurist artists were Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra and Gino Severini.

 

Dada (1916 - 1924)

Dada was an art form that mocked reason. It protested the conservative bourgeois mindset of World War One. Dada art was absurd art which was meant to not be understandable.

Dada art was created by Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, Hugo Ball, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp.

Dada art was another reactionary art form, anti-establishment, anti-aesthetic, a rebellion against anything conventional, an art that could not be understood, which was meant to anger. For instance, painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa or signing ones name on an ordinary shovel and saying it is a piece of art. Dada art developed in the Surrealist style.

 

Surrealism (1924 - 1950s)

Surrealism means to go beyond that which is real, shocking its viewers sometimes with cruelty or violence to open their minds to new thoughts. It was so named because surrealist art bases much of its premises on the teachings of Sigmund Freud.

Surrealism developed from the Dada movement in Europe in the period between the two great wars. Surrealism emphasized a positive mindset as opposed the the negative mindset of Dada. Surrealism strove to integrate the world of fantasy with reality, blurring any distinction between the two. Artisans felt that real art could only be found by tapping into the subconscious mind by this blurring of the line between the real and the imaginary.

A good number of the greatest artists of the twentieth-century, made up the Surrealist circle circle of artists, such as Man Ray, Joan Miro, Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico and Rene Magritte. Salvador Dali, was perhaps the most well-known Surrealist artist.

 

Art Deco (1920s - 1930s)

The Art Deco movement was a mix of modern decorative art styles of the early 1900s, derived from various avant-garde painting styles: abstract, distorted and simple. Art deco works show touches of Cubism, Russian Constructivism and the Italian Futurism.

The industrial revolution shows its influence in the sophisticated mechanisms and modern forms found in this style.

Well-known artists within the Art Deco movement included Tamara de Lempicka, Rene Lalique, Erte and Adolphe Mouron, also known as Cassandre.

 

Abstract Expressionism (1946 - 1960s)

Abstract Expressionism was a very emotional style where artists painted quickly with strong bold strokes, even throwing the paint onto the canvas. The apparent haphazardness of the paintings was in reality well thought out, to present just this effect.

Not all abstract paintings were abstract, nor representative of any particular expression, however, the expressive style of painting was considered more significant that the actual painting. This art form was the first American artistic style of world renown.

There are two groups of Abstract Expressionism. Action Painting was typified by artists such as Pollock, de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Philip Guston. Here the focus was on the physical action involved in painting. Color Field Painting was practiced by Mark Rothko and Kenneth Noland. Other artisans were Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollock.

 

Pop Art (1950s - 1960s)

Pop art used whatever was popular in their art, irregardless of their own preferences. They used whatever culture they could find in the media of the day, in order to focus their art towards everyday life. Pop artisans desired to make art more meaningful to the common people. Andy Warhol's paintings of soup cans are probably the most well known forms of Pop art. It is an art form anyone can understand.

Well-known pop artists were Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg.

 

Op Art (1950s - 1960s)

Optical Art is an Abstract art, which uses repetition of simple forms and colors to create vibrating effects from a distorted perspective. It is confusing and meant to trick the senses with visual effects. With Optical Art, the rules that the eye applies to makes sense of a visual image are themselves the "subject" of the artwork.

In the 1900s, Josef Albers, Victor Vasarely, and M.C. Escher experimented with Optical Art, using visual tricks and paradoxes.

The Op Art movement was led by Vasarely and Bridget Riley. Other Op Artists included Richard Anuszkiewicz, Jesús-Rafael Soto, Kenneth Noland, François Morellet, and Lawrence Poons.

 

Photorealism (1960s - 1970s)

Photorealism started just prior to 1970. Photorealism was painted such that the result looked like a photograph. The subject matter was not important for the photorealist, rather how we view and think of the object was.

Prominent Photorealists are Richard Estes and Chuck Close. Estes specializes in street scenes with elaborate reflections in window-glass; Close does enormous portraits of neutral faces. Other photorealists also typically specialize in particular subject matters such as horses, cars, restaurants, etc.

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