Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Artists, Movements and Styles in Western Art (330-1600)
Artists, Movements and Styles in Western Art (330-1600)
Artists, Movements and Styles in Western Art (330-1600)
1600)
BYZANTINE ART
(C.330-1450)
The three main forms of Byzantine art were the large scale
mosaics used to decorate the walls and interior domes of
Byzantine churches, the smaller scale religious icons which
were portable panel paintings of Christ and the Blessed
Virgin, and the illuminated manuscripts from the Gospels
and other religious texts. Byzantine figures were stylized in
a frontal and symbolic format, inviting spiritual worship and
offering protection to the devout.
GOTHIC ART
(C.1150-1400)
CIMABUE (1240-1302)
'Maestà (Majesty)', c.1280- 85 (tempera on panel)
INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC
(C.1375-1425)
GENTILE DA FABRIANO (c.1370-1427)
'The Adoration of the Magi', 1423 (tempera on panel)
MASACCIO (c.1401-1428)
'The Tribute Money', 1426 (fresco)
MANNERISM
(C. 1520-1580)
BRONZINO (Agnolo di Cosimo) (1503-1572)
'Portrait of Laura Battiferri', 1555 (oil on canvas)
In the 15th century, art in the north was still linked to the
Gothic tradition but rendered with an exquisite naturalistic
detail in the new medium of oil paints. Flanders was the
main focus of artistic activity with Flemish artists such as
Robert Campin, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes
and Jan van Eyck.
In the 16th century the Gothic influence had its final say in
the art of Hieronymus Bosch and Matthias Grünewald.
Gradually the influence of the Italian Renaissance took hold,
particularly in the work of Albrecht Dürer which offered a
Protestant challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church.
BAROQUE ART
(C.1600-1700)
CARAVAGGIO (1571-1610)
'David with the Head of Goliath', 1610 (oil on canvas)
Baroque art is identified by realistic subjects that depict spectacular action and
generate powerful emotions. Religious, mystical and historical subjects, which
were often propaganda for the Church or State, were brought to life with
characters in contemporary clothing, by naturalistic painting of outstanding
virtuosity, dramatic lighting (chiaroscuro) and bold asymmetric and diagonal
compositions.
ROCOCO ART
(C.1700-1775)
Notable Rococo artists were Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard in France, Tiepolo,
Guardi and Canaletto in Italy, and to some extent Hogarth in England.
DUTCH ART
(C.1620-1670)
JAN VERMEER (1632-1675)
'The Milkmaid', 1658-61 (oil on canvas)
Dutch Art has become famous for its still lifes, portraits, landscapes, interiors
and genre painting. With the spread of Protestantism in Holland and the
rejection of Catholic Baroque, Dutch artists had to focus on a more limited
range of secular subjects to which there were no objections on religious
grounds. Consequently, artists tended to specialize more narrowly, often in one
subject. For example, Willem Kalf painted still lifes, Frans Hals portraits, Jacob
van Ruisdael landscapes, and Jan Vermeer was the outstanding genre painter.
The exception was Rembrandt, the greatest of the Dutch masters whose genius
is evident through a range media and subjects that capture the essence of the
human condition.
Dutch Art Slideshow
NEOCLASSICISM
(C.1765-1850)
ROMANTICISM
(C.1765-1850)
Neoclassicism and Romanticism Slideshow
REALISM
(C.1840-1880)
THE PRE-RAPHAELITES
(C.1848-1854)
IMPRESSIONISM
(C.1870-1890)
POST IMPRESSIONISM
(C.1885-1905)
VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-90)
'Café Terrace at Night', 1888 (oil on canvas)
Impressionism and Post Impressionism Slideshow
FAUVISM
(1905-1910)
'Les Fauves' believed that color should be used at its highest pitch to express
the artist's feelings about a subject, rather than simply to describe what it looks
like. Fauvist paintings have two main characteristics: extremely simplified
drawing and intensely exaggerated color. Fauvism was a major influence on
German Expressionism.
GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM
(1905-1925)
Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) was a group of artists whose publications and
exhibitions sought to find a common creative ground between the various
Expressionist art forms. Kandinsky, Marc and Macke were among its founding
members.
ABSTRACT ART
(C.1907 ONWARDS)
GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963)
'Violin and Pitcher', 1910 (oil on canvas)
Semi-Abstraction is where the image still has one foot in representational art,
(see Cubism and Futurism). It uses a type of stylisation where the artist selects,
develops and refines specific visual elements (e.g. line, color and shape) in
order to create a poetic reconstruction or simplified essence of the original
subject.
Pure Abstraction is where the artist uses visual elements independently as the
actual subject of the work itself. (see Suprematism, De Stijl and Minimalism).
CUBISM
(1907-1915)
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
'Ambroise Vollard', 1915 (oil on canvas)
There are two distinct phases of the Cubist style: Analytical Cubism (pre 1912)
and Synthetic Cubism (post 1912). Cubism influenced many other styles of
modern art including Expressionism, Futurism, Orphism, Vorticism,
Suprematism, Constructivism and De Stijl. Other notable artists associated with
Cubism were Juan Gris, Fernand Leger, Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizes, Jean
Metzinger, Louis Marcoussis and Marie Laurencin.
FUTURISM
(1909-1914)
Futurism was founded in 1909 by the poet Filippo Tommas Marinetti and
embraced the arts in their widest sense. The main figures associated with the
movement were the artists, Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini, the
musician Luigi Russolo and the architect Antonio Sant'Elia.
SUPREMATISM
(C.1915-1925)
CONSTRUCTIVISM
(C.1913-1930)
EL LISSITZKY (1890-1941)
'The Red Wedge', 1919 (lithograph)
DE STIJL
(C.1917-1931)
PIET MONDRIAN (1872-1944)
'Composition with White and Yellow', 1942 (oil on canvas)
Mondrian was the outstanding artist of the group. He was a deeply spiritual
man who was intent on developing a universal visual language that was free
from any hint of the nationalism that led to the Great War.
Mondrian gradually refined the elements of his art to a grid of lines and primary
colors which he configured in a series of compositions that explored his
universal principles of harmony. He saw the elements of line and color as
possessing counteracting cosmic forces. Vertical lines embodied the direction
and energy of the sun's rays. These were countered by horizontal lines relating
to the earth's movement around it. He saw primary colors through the same
cosmic tinted spectacles: yellow radiated the sun's energy; blue receded as
infinite space and red materialized where blue and yellow met. Mondrian's style
which he also called 'Neo-Plasticism' was inspired by the Theosophical beliefs
of the mathematician and philosopher, M.H.J. Schoenmaekers.
DADA (C.1916-1922)
RAOUL HAUSMANN (1886-1971)
'Tatlin at Home', 1920 (collage)
SURREALISM (C.1924-1939)
The look of Surrealist art was inspired by the irrational juxtaposition of images
in Dada collages, the metaphysical art of Giorgio de Chirico, and both 'primitive'
and 'outsider' art.
JACKSON POLLOCK (1912-1956)
'Full Fathom Five', 1947 (oil with nails, coins, buttons, cigarette etc. on canvas)
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987 )
'Campbell's Soup 1 (Tomato)', 1968 (silkscreen on canvas)
Pop Art was the art movement that characterized a sense of optimism during
the post war consumer boom of the 1950's and 60's. It coincided with the
globalization of pop music and youth culture, personified by Elvis and The
Beatles.
Pop Art was brash, colorful, young, fun and hostile to the artistic establishment.
It included different styles of painting and sculpture from various countries, but
what they all had in common was an interest in popular culture.
The stark look of Pop Art emerged from a fusion of Dada collages and
'readymades' with the imagery of the consumer culture. It was seen as an
antidote to the introspection of Abstract Expressionism. The expressive
techniques of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg provided the stylistic link
between Abstract Expressionism and Pop but the images of celebrity and
consumerism by Andy Warhol and the comic book iconography of Roy
Lichtenstein represent the style as we know it today.
OP ART (C.1964-1970)
VICTOR VASARELY (1906-1997)
'Gestalt 4', 1970 (serigraph )
Op Art is short for 'optical art'. It was an abstract style that emerged in the
1960's based on the illusionistic effects of line, shape, pattern and color.
Op Artists such as Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley and Richard Anuszkiewicz play
with the perception of the viewer by subverting the picture plane with
ambiguous shapes, shifting tones and dynamic color relationships. Although
Op Art images are static they generate the illusion of movement with perceptual
tricks that create an unstable picture surface. The effects of this can be so
strong that you have to look away for fear of losing your balance or hurting
your eyes. Needless to say that the fairground fun aspect of Op Art was very
popular with the public and was quickly commercialized by the design and
fashion industries.
Op Art Slideshow
MINIMALISM (1960-1975)
FRANK STELLA (b.1936)
'Jarmolince III', 1973 (relief assemblage)
Minimalist art used hard-edged forms and geometric grid structures. Color was
simply used to define space or surface. Ad Reinhardt, whose late paintings
anticipate Minimalism, put it simply, ‘The more stuff in it, the busier the work
of art, the worse it is. More is less. Less is more. The eye is a menace to clear
sight. The laying bare of oneself is obscene. Art begins with the getting rid of
nature.’
Frank Stella, Don Judd, Robert Morris, John McCracken and Sol LeWitt were
important contributors to Minimalism.