ART HISTORY STYLE PERIODS

 

STYLE PERIOD                                                              DESCRIPTION

 

Pre-Historic (before writing) (15,000 BC)                      Cave paintings of animals, loosely done, great vitality and movement.  Small, portable sculpture

 

Ancient Near East ((3500 to 500 BC)                             Small Statues, Ziggurats, carved reliefs.  Some violent, some calm and humble.  Narrative.

 

Egyptian (3500 to 500 BC)                                             Great monuments (Pyramid tombs) painted tombs, huge statues and small delicate works.  Stiff body conventions (twisted torso).  Very ordered and strict, lots of symbolism.

 

Greek (5th century BC)                                                   Beauty, Harmony, Order.  The Idealized view of man.  Temples to the gods, cities, theatres, etc.  The true beginning of "Western Culture."  Art for Art's sake.

 

Roman ( 2nd century BC to 4th century AD)                 Similar to Greek but more realistic, shows people as they really look.  Very narrative.  Innovators in architecture.

 

Christian (West) (Begins: 3rd century AD)                     Themes from the Bible.  Few nudes.  Teaching art.  Move away from realism.

 

Byzantine (East) (6th to 15th century)                            Retains Greek harmony.  Themes from Bible.  Mosaics.  Not very realistic.

 

Islamic (Begins: 7th century)                                           Decorative art, much based on calligraphy, word of God.  Few figures.  Fabulous architecture.

 

Medieval (Romanesque) (12th century)                          Early medieval--heavy architecture, stiff and often twisted figures, nervous, excited style.

 

Medieval (Gothic) (13th-14th century)                           The great cathedrals (Notre Dame) French style, which spreads all over Europe.  Move toward realism in both figures and decoration.

 

Italian Renaissance (14-16th century)                             Return to the ideals of Greek and Roman period.  (Re-birth of Greco-Roman style).  Man as a noble, perfect creature combined with Bible themes.  Mostly religious art.

 

Northern Renaissance (14th-16th century)                      Dutch, Flemish, and German Renaissance.  Move towards greater realism and more emotion.

                                                                                                                                                                 

 

   STYLE PERIOD                                                         DESCRIPTION                                Page 2

 

Baroque (17th century)                                                    Takes realism from Renaissance and adds more movement, drama, energy, light, passion.

 

Rococo (18th century)                                                     Highly ornamental, busy, light-hearted, rich.

 

Romanticism (19th century)                                            Highly emotive, sometimes horrific or sublime imagery.  Images from the mind or psyche - often a literary connection.

 

Neo-Classicism (19th century)                                        Severely linear style - precise line.  Cool, calm, classical.

 

Realism (19th century)                                                    New subject matter: current events and the modern world. Landscapes, still lifes, genre scenes.

 

Impressionism (19th century)                                          Capturing the effects of light on surfaces, especially in landscape motifs.  Brushwork more loose, painterly effects giving a sensation or "impression" of the image.

 

Post-Impressionism (19th century)                                  Move away from Impressionism towards more form and structure or towards more emotion and symbolism.

 

Art Nouveau (19th century)                                            Decorative, floral, delicate designs - sensual rhythms and arabesque line.

 

 

Fauvism (1905)                                                                Expressive, intense color.  Flattened space, little or no linear perspective. Leader: Matisse.

 

Expressionism (1905)                                                      Especially German Expressionism - fauve-like

                                                                                         color, more acerbic in mood, angst-filled emotions. Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter.

 

Cubism (1907                                                                                                  Faceted, broken forms, showing many sides at once. Some African and Oceanic influences. Leader: Picasso.

 

International Architectural Style                                     Clean, sleek, architecture with no decoration.

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STYLE PERIOD                                                            DESCRIPTION

 

Dada (1916)                                                                                                    Anti-art, anti-rationalism. An art focused on ideas and statements. Leaders: Tristan Tzara and Marcel Duchamp.

 

Surrealism (1924)                                                             Focus on the subconscious and the world of dreams and visions. Utilized elements of chance and the accidental.  Influenced by modern psychology: Freud and Jung. Leaders: Andre Breton, Dali, Miro.

 

Abstract Expressionism (1940s-50s)                              

      Action Painting                                                          Very personal, expressive imagery and brushwork. Usually completely abstract (no recognizable forms). A very process-oriented art.

                                                                                         Gorky, de Kooning, Pollock.

 

      Color-Field Painting                                                  Saturated color applied either flatly or using a staining technique. Rothko, Frankenthaler.

 

Pop Art (1960s)                                                               Using commercial art elements as fine art. Warhol, Johns, Oldenburg.

 

Op Art (1960s)                                                                                                An abstract art focusing on optical effects.

 

Minimalism (really started with the                           Totally abstract...very few forms. Sometimes Russian Avant Garde around 1910, but                                                       associated with Gestalt Psychology.

this stylistic term takes hold in the

1960s.)

 

Performance Art (1970s)                                                 Art through actions. Beuys, Anderson.

 

Earthworks (1970s)                                                         Large projects often involving large spatial areas of an actual landscape and many people.  Christo, Smithson, Holt.

 

Conceptual Art                                                                Idea-oriented art.  Kosuth.

 

Perceptual Art                                                                                                 Art that changes the way you "see" a space or form.  Irwin, Turrell.

 

Post-Modernism                                                              Eclectic use of past styles.