PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD ART

Prehistoric art encompasses all artistic expressions from before the invention of writing, offering a glimpse
into the lives and beliefs of early humans through cave paintings, sculptures, and other forms found across
the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods, providing invaluable insights into their cognitive
development, cultural evolution, and relationship with their environment, and ultimately connecting us to
our shared human heritage.

PALEOLITHIC ERA.
Chauvet Cave Paintings: These paintings, dating back to around 36,000 BCE, are considered some of the
oldest known examples of cave art. They feature a variety of animals, including lions, rhinoceroses, and
mammoths. The paintings are remarkable for their detail and artistry.

In pre-historic rock art, the term “engraving” commonly describes a drawing made by a sharpened tool, or
lithic flake on a stone surface, such as the wall, floor or ceiling of a cave.

The world’s oldest engraving of an owl, Chauvet Cave. Roughly 45cm in height, it was created about 31,000
BC.

The Venus of Brassempouy is a 25,000-year-old ivory carving of a woman’s head, a significant example of
Paleolithic art, possibly representing fertility or a spiritual figure, and notable for its stylized features and the
use of valuable mammoth ivory.
Mesolithic Art
During the Mesolithic period, humans developed cave paintings, engravings, and ceramics to reflect their
daily lives.

The painting known as The Dancers of Cogul is a good example of the depiction of movement in static art.
In this scene, nine women are depicted, something new in the art of this region, some painted in black and
others in red. They are shown dancing around a male figure with an abnormally large phallus, a figure that
was rare if not absent in Paleolithic art. Along with humans, several animals, including a dead deer or buck
impaled by an arrow or atlatl, are depicted.

Neolithic Art
Art in the Neolithic Near East owes its existence to developments in agriculture, architecture, and other
areas.
Stonehenge, c. 3,000 B.C.E., Salisbury Plain, England

ANCIENT PERIOD ART

3,100 BC – 2,900 BC

The First Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty I), covers the first series of Egyptian kings to rule over a
unified Egypt. It immediately follows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, by Menes, or Narmer, and
marks the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, when power was centered at Thinis.
Ancient Greek Sculpture
The sculpture of ancient Greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient Greek art as, with the exception of
painted ancient Greek pottery, almost no ancient Greek painting survives.

2,580 – 2,560 BCE

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who
ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.

1,332 – 1,323 BC
Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled c. 1332 – 1323 BC during the
late Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.

Tutankhamun: gold funerary mask Tutankhamun, gold funerary mask found in the king’s tomb, 14th
century bce; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
2,200 – 500 BCE.
Ziggurat, pyramidal stepped temple tower that is an architectural and religious structure characteristic of the
major cities of Mesopotamia (now mainly in Iraq) from approximately 2200 until 500 BCE.
Medieval Period Art
800 BC.

Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and
Ireland. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for “island”; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a
largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe.

The Carolingian Dynasty (751-887) was a family of Frankish nobles who ruled Francia and its successor
kingdoms in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. The dynasty expanded from Francia
as far as modern Italy, Spain, and Hungary, and ruled the eponymous Carolingian Empire (800-887), the
largest European political entity to exist until the 19th century.

324 – 1453 CE.

Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations
and states that inherited culturally from the empire.

One of the most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople – the
image of Christ Pantocrator on the walls of the upper southern gallery, Christ being flanked by the Virgin
Mary and John the Baptist; c. 1261.
622 – 1924 CE.
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7 th century CE by
people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic
traditions across a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, Islamic art is a concept used first by Western art
historians in the late 19th century.

1,100 CE.

Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12 th
century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period.

1,200 CE.

Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12 th
century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and
much of Northern, Southern and Central Europe, never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy.

Modern Art
(1530)
Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around
1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque
style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century.

(1650)
The Baroque is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that
flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and
preceded the Rococo (in the past often referred to as “late Baroque”) and Neoclassical styles.

(1700)

Rococo, less commonly Roccoco also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic
style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and
pastel colours, sculpted moulding, and trompe-l’œil frescoes to create surprise and the illusion of motion and
drama. It is often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement.
(1800)
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and
visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of
classical antiquity.

Romanticism focuses on the sublime, using high contrast and intense emotion to convey its subjects.
Realism focuses on detailed, sometimes gritty depictions of reality. Both movements were important in
America and Europe.
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed
earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest
of Europe and America.

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition,
emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, unusual visual
angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.

Contemporary Art
Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the
1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically
advancing world.

“Fish Vendors” by Sey Perez from Pampanga, Philippines.

Self-Portrait by Victorio Edades, oil on canvas, 24.5 x 18.5 inches, 1928.

Different Types of Contemporary Art
Painting.
All paintings produced today can be recognized as contemporary paintings. Painting is an ancient practice of
smearing colored mud on wood or woven fabric. It has become and continues to be a valid medium for
human exploration and expression. It also includes recurring themes such as beauty, tradition, desire, the
body and spirituality to name a few. Painting’s ability to provide a sense of completeness and integrity is
what distinguishes it in a fragmented and postmodern era.
Sculpture is an art form that transforms solid or plastic materials into three-dimensional works of art. The
designs can take the form of freestanding objects, reliefs on surfaces, or environments ranging from tableaux
to enveloping contexts.

Drawing has a long history in art, but it has long been used as an important means of expression. Artists
frequently use drawing because it enhances their ability to communicate with viewers, leading to more direct
visual communication and allowing for more innovative ideas to be displayed. Artists often use drawing to
explore issues of identity and culture, as well as to express complex ideas and emotions.