Arta

• Balance


  Refers to the weight of objects and their placements in relation to each other
• Types of balance


  • Symmetrical
  • Asymmetrical
  • Radial
• Symmetrical balance


  Exact mirroring of objects across an axis
• Asymmetrical balance


  Opposite of symmetrical when objects do not mirror each other perfectly, shifting the balance to one side or the other of the axis
• Radial balance


  Objects are distributed all around a central point
• Proportion


  The size of objects in relation to each other, or within a larger whole
• Emphasis


  Extension of balance and proportion: contrast, placement, size, color, or other features are used to highlight one object, area, or other elements of the artwork to draw attention or accentuate a feature
• Variety


  Sense of the difference between elements of an artwork - the opposite of unity or harmony, adds a sense of chaos often used to highlight powerful emotions
• Artist who experimented with chaos and variety

  • Salvador Dali
• Harmony


  The use of related elements like similar colors, shapes, sizes of objects, creating a sense of connection and flow
• Movement


  Indicates the direction your eye takes as you view the work - the order in which your eye travels, often starting with the emphasis and travelling away from it
• Rhythm


  A kind of relationship between patterned objects, often the use of regular, evenly distributed elements that can occur in slow, fast, smooth or jerky intervals to convey feelings
• Scale


  The size of objects in relation to what you'd expect them to be in reality - natural, diminutive or monumental
• Unity


  The overall cohesion of the work, not to be confused with harmony
• Repetition


  The pattern itself, a combination of shapes, colors, or other elements recurring across the composition
• Recognizable art dates from at least 38,000BC in Europe, Africa, and Australia
• Vase decoration is a typically Neolithic art form
• Stone Age


  A period of history when stones are used to make tools for survival
• Periods of Stone Age

  • Paleolithic - late years of the old Stone Age
  • Mesolithic - middle Stone Age
  • Neolithic - New Stone Age
• The greatest discoveries from Egyptian civilization was the tomb of Tutankhamen
• Tutankhamen


  Became king at a very young age and died at the age of eighteen
• Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, and they were astonished to find gold artworks and that the coffin was made out of solid gold. The body of the young king was covered in linen and a gold mask covered his face
• Bust of Queen Nefertiti


  Has a long and sensuous neck, enhanced by applying paint to the limestone
• The use of naturalism in Egyptian artworks was rather short-lived
• When King Akhenaton died, his successors returned to the more rigid and conventional styles they employed during the period of the Kingdoms
• Fertile Ribbon

  Starts from the banks of the Nile River, which flows north to Africa and ventures into the Mediterranean
• For the Egyptians, art should be something religious and spiritual
• Narmer Palette


  A cosmetic palette that utilized and applied dark colors around King Narmer's eyes, and was also a symbol that commemorates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
• The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt was significant because it makes the beginning of the civilization
• Strengthening the bonds between Greeks were the "Panhellenic" sanctuaries and festivals that embraced "all Greeks" and encouraged interaction, competition, and exchange (for example the Olympics, which were held at the Panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia)
• Geometric Period (c. 800-700 B.C.E.)


  The imagery on the vase reflects other eighth-century artefacts, such as the Dipylon Amphora, with its geometric patterning and silhouetted human forms
• Archaic Period


  The city of Athens witnessed the rise and fall of tyrants and the introduction of democracy by the statesman Kleisthenes in the years 508 and 507 B.C.E., and is known for large-scale marble kouros (male youth) and kore (female youth) sculptures
• Classical Period


  A period of transition when some sculptural work displayed archaizing holdovers alongside the so-called "Severe Style", and artistic production and development continued apace with a new figural aesthetic in the fourth century known for its longer torsos and limbs, and smaller heads
• Hellenistic Period


  Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E., Classical aesthetics and teachings continued to endure from antiquity to the modern era
• Rome was ruled by Etruscan kings who commissioned a variety of Etruscan art (murals, sculptures and metalwork) for their tombs as well as their palaces, and to celebrate their military victories
• Greek cities of southern Italy and the eastern Mediterranean fell under the influence of Greek art - a process known as Hellenization
• Cultural Inferiority Complex


  Despite their spectacular military triumphs, the Romans had an inferiority complex in the face of Greek artistic achievement and based their painting and sculpture on Greek traditions and art forms developed in their vassal states
• Examples of Roman art based on Greek traditions

  • Equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (c.175 CE) reworked from the Greek statue "Doryphorus" (440 BCE)
• Construction of the Baths of Diocletian monopolised the entire brick industry of Rome for several years
• Roman architecture


  Frequent use of the semicircular arch, typically without resorting to mortar, relying instead on the precision of their stonework