Art, Emerging Europe

• Art has been an integral part in European history
• Ancient Greece

  • Greeks were known to excel in various field and aspects of society
  • Greeks were known to place prime importance in the use of reason
• Development of Greek Art

  1. Geometric Period - geometric shapes and pattern

  2. Archaic Period - importance in human figures

  3. Classical Period - rebuilding temples and creating artworks

  4. Hellenistic Period - emphasis on balance, dynamic poses, and emotions
• Hellenistic sculpture

  • Lacoon and His Sons
• The origins of theater and drama can be traced back during the Greek civilization
• Lacoon and His Sons

  Sculpture by Agesander of Rhodes, Athenodoros of Rhodes, and Polydorus of Rhodes
• The Roman Republic was established around 500 BCE and eventually transformed into one of Western Europe's mightiest empires
• Roman civilization came of age during the Hellenistic Period
• Ancient Greece had a huge impact in the formation of Roman culture
• Roman architecture

  • Colosseum
• Middle Ages

  • Period between the decline of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance, characterized by ignorance and darkness
  • Printing press came later, so copies of scriptures were done by hand
  • Great cathedrals were built, categorized into Romanesque and Gothic periods
• Romanesque cathedrals

  • Maria Laach Abbey, Germany
  • Abbey Church of Saint Foy, Conques, France
• Gothic cathedrals

  • Chartres Cathedral
  • Bourges Cathedral
• Renaissance Art

  • Artist valued the "individual" as a subject
  • Emphasis on naturalism and proportionality of the human body
  • Revival of Roman theatrical plays
• Roman mosaics

  • Depicting actors and aulos player
• Mannerism

  • Distorted figures, two-dimensional spaces, discordant hues and colors, lack of defined focal point
• Mannerist artworks

  • Madonna with the Long Neck by Bronzino
  • Works by Parmigianino
• Baroque

  Term derived from Portuguese "barocco" meaning "irregularly shaped pearl", a response to Protestantism, spanning 1600-1750
• Baroque art

  • Colorful palettes, ornamentation, expansion as central theme
• Rococo

  Art style that emerged after Baroque
• Baroque composers

  • Vivaldi
  • Corelli
  • Monteverdi
• Other well-known Baroque composers

  • Bach
  • Handel
• Neoclassicism

  • Emerged during the French Revolution in 1789, a movement in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
• Romanticism

  • Used Neoclassicist themes as a springboard, emphasis on patriotic and nationalistic movements, emphasis on emotions and feelings of man
• Romantic artwork

  • Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix
• Realism

  • Focuses on accuracy of details that depict and mirror reality, replaced idealistic concepts and images with real manifestations of society
• Realist artwork

  • Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Repin
• Impressionism

  • Emerged in France in the mid-to late 1800s, a break from traditional European painting
• Father of Impressionism

  Claude Monet
• Impressionist artwork

  • Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet
• Post-Impressionism

  • Emerged in France as a result of both the influence and rejection of Impressionism, saw the inherent limitations and flaws of Impressionism
• Father of Post-Impressionism

  Paul Cezanne
• Post-Impressionist artworks

  • Reproduction by Paul Cezanne
  • Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
• Neo-Impressionism

  • Considered a response to the empirical realism of Impressionism, led by Georges Seurat who developed the technique of Pointillism
• Neo-Impressionist artworks

  • A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat
  • Mediterranean Shores by Henri-Edmond Cross
• Art Nouveau

  • Ornamental style that was a break from conservative historicism, defined by asymmetrical lines in the form of insect wings or flower stalks
• Art Nouveau artwork

  • Redhead Among Flowers by Alphonse Mucha
• Fauvism

  • Painting style that emerged in France around the turn of the 20th century
• Fauvist artwork

  • Woman with a Hat by Henri Matisse
• Cubism

  • Visual arts style introduced by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, highlighted the two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, presented a new depiction of reality that may appear fragmented