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34,000 BCE
Cave art
During the Upper Paleolithic period, which began about 40,000 BCE, Neanderthal Man was replaced by a more "modern" version of Homo sapiens. At the same time, prehistoric art took a massive leap forward, as exemplified by the cave painting of western Europe, that reached its apogee on the walls and ceilings of Lascaux Cave (France) and Altamira Cave (Spain), both of which contain some of the greatest examples of Franco-Cantabrian cave art, dating to between 17,000 and 15,000 BCE. -
30,000 BCE
venus figurines
"Venus Figurines" is an umbrella description relating to Stone Age statuettes of women, created during the Aurignacian or Gravettian cultures of the upper Palaeolithic, throughout Europe from France to Siberia. The general similarity of these sculptures - in size and shape is extraordinary. They were carved by Stone Age sculptors in all manner of different materials, ranging from soft stone, bone, ivory, wood, or ceramic clays. The latter type are among the oldest ceramic works yet discovered. -
5000 BCE
stone age art
The Paleolithic era is characterized by the emergence of basic stone tools and stone art in the archaeological record. For the first time, humans began to create durable products of self expression that served no function for survival. The diagnostic art of this period appears in two main forms: small sculptures and large paintings and engravings on cave walls. There are also various examples of carved bone and ivory flutes in the Paleolithic era -
4512 BCE
The Great Sphinx of Giza
the Great Sphinx is one of the world’s largest monuments. It is also one of the most recognizable relics of the ancient Egyptians, though the origins and history of the colossal structure are still debated. -
3100 BCE
hieroglyphic Writings and Art
In that hieroglyphic signs represented pictures of living beings or inanimate objects, they retained a close connection to the fine arts. The same models formed the basis of both writing and art, and the style of the writing symbols usually changed with the art style. This correspondence occurred above all because the same craftsmen painted or incised both the writing symbols and the pictures. Deviations from the fine arts occurred when the writing -
1323 BCE
king tut
Tutankhamen is depicted wearing the striped headdress (the striped head-cloth typically worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt) with the goddesses depicted again protecting his brow. He also wears a false beard that further connects him to the image of a god as with the inner coffin. He wears a broad collar, which ends in terminals shaped as falcon heads. The back of the mask is covered with Spell 151b from the Book of the Dead, which the Egyptians used as a road map for the afterlife. -
447 BCE
The Parthenon
A masterpiece of Classical Greek architecture, the Parthenon, is the largest temple on the Acropolis - the flat-topped hill which overlooks the city of Athens. Dedicated to the Greek Goddess Athena, and named after the cult of Athena Parthenos ("Athena the Virgin"), it was constructed in the mid-5th century BCE as a replacement for the older Pre-Parthenon temple, destroyed in 480 by the Persians, and exemplies the Doric order, the most restrained of the three Classical Greek architectural orders -
425 BCE
Discus Thrower
sculptures during this period was still heavily influenced by Egyptian sculpture, as well as Syrian techniques. Greek sculptors created stone friezes and reliefs, as well as statues and miniature works. The early style of freestanding Daedalic sculpture - as exemplified by the works of Daedalus, Dipoinos and Skyllis - was dominated by two human stereotypes: the standing nude youth (kouros) and the standing draped girl (kore). Of these, the male nudes were seen as more important. -
400 BCE
Greek Pottery
The most developed art form of the pre-Archaic period was undoubtedly Greek pottery. Often involving large vases and other vessels, it was decorated originally with linear designs. then more elaborate patterns (geometric style) of triangles, zigzags and other similar shapes. Geometric pottery includes some of the finest Greek artworks, with vases typically made according to a strict system of proportions. -
250
Christian Symbols
The symbolism of the early Church was characterized by being understood by initiates only,[1] while after the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire during the 4th-century more recognizable symbols entered in use. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world -
250
Christian paintings
Nearly all our knowledge of early Christian culture and artifacts comes largely from archeological discoveries. Sadly, very few sacred artworks or designs survived from the first three centuries of Christian faith, mostly because of persecution and because a high proportion of early Christians were poor people or slaves -
359
Early Christian Sculptures
Like many paintings from the period, early Christian sculpture - for tombs and sarcophagi - features figures or designs which are often ambivalent in their meaning. In part, they may be because the sculptors were nearly all pagan, and many sarcophagi were part-sculpted in provincial workshops and dispatched to Rome to be finished according to the customer's requirements. Some look as thought they were clearly made for Christian clients -
1180
Medieval painting
Medieval art in Europe grew out of the artistic heritage of the Roman Empire and the iconographic traditions of the early Christian church. These sources were mixed with the vigorous "barbarian" artistic culture of Northern Europe to produce a remarkable artistic legacy. Indeed, the history of medieval art can be seen as the history of the interplay between the elements of classical, early Christian and "barbarian" art. -
1300
Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture is a European style of architecture that values height and exhibits an intricate and delicate aesthetic. Though its roots are French, the Gothic approach can be found in churches, cathedrals, and other similar buildings in Europe and beyond. -
1400
Metalwork
The study of metalwork in Ireland in the period from c. 450 c.e. to c. 1600 c.e. reveals much more than changing fashions in art styles. One can observe changes in the supply of raw materials, the adoption of new techniques, alternations to patterns of patronage and craft organization, and the appearance of new military tactics. Careful reading of the evidence brings to light periods of rapid development under exotic influences as well as those of conservatism and relative isolation. -
1446
Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 14th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture -
1501
Renaissance Sculpture
The uncontested master of High Renaissance sculpture is Michelangelo, who divided his career between Florence (his native city) and Rome. Pieta is the jewel of his early work, while his masterpiece, David, is often considered the greatest sculpture of all time. His foremost late work may be Moses.
Though Michelangelo's career stretched into the Late Renaissance, most of his sculpture dates to the High Renaissance; his later years were devoted to painting and architecture. -
1508
Renaissance Art
In very simple terms, the Italian Renaissance re-established Western art according to the principles of classical Greek art, especially Greek sculpture and painting, which provided much of the basis for the Grand Tour. From the early 14th century, in their search for a new set of artistic values and a response to the courtly International Gothic style, Italian artists and thinkers became inspired by the ideas and forms of ancient Greece and Rome. -
Baroque Painting
In fine art, the term Baroque describes a fairly complex idiom, originating in Rome, which flowered during the period c.1590-1720, and which embraced painting, and sculpture as well as architecture. Baroque art above all reflected the religious tensions of the age - notably the desire of the Catholic Church in Rome to reassert itself in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Thus it is almost synonymous with Catholic Counter-Reformation Art of the period. -
Baroque Sculpture
coincided, broadly speaking with the 17th century, although in some areas - notably Germany - some of its achievements did not occur until the 18th century. Although the term embraced a bewildering variety of styles, it was typically characterized by two things: a sense of grandeur, plus an overt emotional content. It was through these two elements that Baroque painters, sought to evoke emotional states in the viewer by appealing to the senses, often in dramatic ways. -
Baroque Architecture
It was characteristic of Baroque architecture that, though examples are to be found almost throughout Europe and Latin America, they differ notably from one country to another. How is it, then, that they are all designated by a single term? Partly for convenience, in order to summarize the art of a whole period with a single word, but mainly on account of their common aesthetic origin. -
Realism art
From 1400 to 1800, Western art was dominated by Renaissance-inspired academic theories of idealized painting and high art executed in the Grand Manner. Thereafter, caused partly by the huge social changes triggered by the Industrial Revolution, there was a greater focus on realism of subject - that is, subject matter outside the high art tradition. -
Realsim art
The term Realism was promoted by the French novelist Champfleury during the 1840s, although it began in earnest in 1855, with an Exposition by the French painter Gustave Courbet (1819-77), after one of his paintings (The Artist's Studio) had been rejected by the World Fair in Paris. Courbet set up his own marquee nearby and issued a manifesto to accompany his personal exhibition. It was entitled "Le Realisme". -
naturalism
"naturalism" describes a true-to-life style which involves the representation or depiction of nature (including people) with the least possible distortion or interpretation. There is a quasi-photographic quality to the best naturalistic paintings: a quality which requires a minimum amount of visual detail. "Modern" naturalism dates from the affluence of the early 19th century, and was much influenced by the literary fashion for authenticity -
modern architecture
The “Eiffel Tower,” built as a temporary installation for the Exposition Universelle de 1889, became an immediate sensation for its unprecedented appearance and extraordinary height. It has long outlasted its intended lifespan and become not only one of Paris’ most popular landmarks, but one of the most recognizable structures in human history. -
impressionist art
arguably the world's most popular art movement - started as a style of plein air painting, whose aim was the realistic depiction of light: thus if the setting sun turned grass red, then red it would be painted. Its characteristic loose brushwork, along with its bold non-naturalist colour, shocked most spectators. The Impressionism style began in Paris, before spreading across Europe and to America. -
Early Cubism
If pushed, most art historians would say that the movement known as Cubism began in 1907 with Picasso's picture Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (MOMA, NY). This work signalled the start of an exploratory phase, during which Picasso and Georges Braque came together to establish a number of new and important principles of modern art. -
Analytical Cubism
Picasso's Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1909-10) ushered in a new style of Cubism - known as Analytical or Analytic Cubism. In this painting, Picasso disassembled a human figure into a series of flat transparent geometric plates that overlap and intersect at various angles. Suddenly all the cube-like imagery of early Cubist painting has disappeared. -
Impressionist Art
Italo-American Celebration,
Washington Square (1912)
William James Glackens
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. -
Synthetic Cubsism
following the phases of Early Cubist Painting and Analytical Cubism, the third and final act of the Cubist collaboration between Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) occurred during the period 1912-14. Known as Synthetic Cubism, this symbolic style of art is more colourful than the earlier analytic form of Cubism, incorporates a wide variety of extraneous materials, and is particularly associated with Picasso's novel technique of collage, and Braque's papier colles. -
surrealism
Surrealism was "the" fashionable art movement of the inter-war years, and the last major art movement to be associated with the Ecole de Paris, one of the most influential schools or styles of avant-garde art. Surrealism evolved out of the nihilistic "anti-art" Dada movement, most of whose members became surrealists. However, while every bit as "revolutionery" as Dada, Surrealism was less overtly political and advocated a more positive philosophy -
modern photography
A mob of 10,000 whites broke down
the doors at a county jailhouse to
seize these two young negros
accused of raping a white girl. -
Biomorphic Abstraction
Biomorphic Abstraction" describes the use of rounded abstract forms based on those found in nature. Also referred to as Organic Abstraction, this type of abstract art was not a school or movement, but a striking feature of the work of many different artists -
Social realism
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modern painting
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Abstract Expressionism
vague term which refers to a general movement of largely non-representative painting, which flourished in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. Spearheaded by a generation of American artists - strongly influenced by European expatriates - who had grown up during the Depression and were influenced both by World War II and its Cold War aftermath, abstract expressionist painting was neither wholly abstract nor expressionist and encompassed several quite different styles. -
Pop Art
Pop-art, like nearly all significant art styles, was in part a reaction against the status quo. In 1950s America, the main style was Abstract Expressionism, an arcane non-figurative style of painting that - while admired by critics, serious art-lovers, and experienced museum-visitors - was not "connecting" with either the general public, or with many artists. Very much a painterly style, the more abstract and expressive it became, the bigger the opportunity for a new style -
Pop Art
The term Pop-Art was invented by British curator Lawrence Alloway in 1955, to describe a new form of "Popular" art - a movement characterized by the imagery of consumerism and popular culture. Pop-Art emerged in both New York and London during the mid-1950s and became the dominant avant-garde style until the late 1960s. Characterized by bold, simple, everyday imagery, and vibrant block colours -
Andy Warhols Pop Art
Andy Warhol is now regarded as one of the greatest postmodernist artists of the twentieth century. Along with Francis Bacon, his works rank among the world's Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings, and his contribution to American art cannot be overestimated. As the celebrity artist of the Pop Art movement
