Arts

Quarter I – Week 4
Western Classical Arts Traditions
Uses and Characteristics
Axl Rose G. Minor

Let’s Try

1. A
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. B

Let’s Practice

1. Architecture
2. Sculpture
3. Painting
4. Sculpture
5. Architecture

Let’s Do More

Ancient Paintings

1. Prehistorical:

Uses/Purposes
 - Their paintings were found inside the caves which may have been their way of communicating
with each other. It may also be for religious or ceremonial purposes. Cave art is significant
because it was what people in prehistoric times did in order to record history and culture. But,
prehistoric cave art was also significant because it also served as a warning to people who were to
come later. For example, they could show the way to kill a beast or warn them of a beast.

Characteristics
- In prehistoric art, the term "cave painting" encompasses any parietal art which involves the
application of colour pigments on the walls, floors or ceilings of ancient rock shelters. A
monochrome cave painting is a picture made with only one colour (usually black) - see, for
instance, the monochrome images at Chauvet.

2. Egyptian

Uses/Purposes
- The purpose of Egyptian paintings is to make the deceased afterlife place pleasant. With this in mind,
themes include a journey to the underworld introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld by
their protective deities. It emphasizes the importance of life after death and the preservation of the
knowledge of the past.
Characteristics
- Egyptian art emphasized three basic elements, engraving, sculpture, and painting. Engravings lined the
inside of tombs and are the most common and well-known form of Ancient Egyptian art. The engravings
depicted the pharaoh's life, the gods, and legends about them.

Sculptures

Ancient – Prehistorical
USES/PURPOSES
It has been used to express a vast range of human emotions and feelings from the most tender and delicate
to the most violent and ecstatic.
CHARACTERISTICS
The characteristics of prehistoric art would vary acccouding to culture, beliefs, and the individual artist.
The characteristics would be in the materials used, it being charcoal, ash, pigment, or carvings in stone or
wood.
Classical Sculpture – Greek
USES/PURPOSE
Ancient Greeks, when developing sculptures focused much of their works on Greek gods and goddesses
as a means of worship and honoring of their lordship.
CHARACTERISTICS
Early Greek sculptures were tense and stiff, their bodies were hidden within enfolding robes.

Medieval Sculptures – Byzantine

USES/PURPOSE
 The most frequent use of sculpture was in small relief carvings in ivory, used for book covers, reliquary
boxes, and similar objects. Other miniature arts, embroidery, goldwork, and enamel work, flourished in
the sophisticated and wealthy society of Constantinople.
CHARACTERISTICS
The dominant themes in Byzantine sculptures are religious, everyday life scenes, and motifs from nature.
Animals such as dove, deer, and peafowl were used as symbols while some had acrostic signs (a form of
writing in which taking the first letter; syllable or word of different lines and putting them together; it can
be read a message) that contained a great theological significance.

ARCHITECTURE

Ancient Architecture

Pre-historical

USES/PURPOSES
Architectural anthropologist argue that Paleolithic humans may not have “invented” architecture, rather
they were the first to gradually define and structure their surroundings in order to create spaces that
allowed them to better understand the world and their place in it.
CHARACTERISTIC
Man has developed a form of architecture based on megaliths (a big rock) from the Greek word lithos
(stone) and megas (big). This architecture is made of huge stone blocks that were probably intended for
burial. Megalithic monuments have always ignited man’s imagination. It provided plenty of legends and
superstition. During this era, stones and rocks were associated with divinity. Three main types ofMegalith
Stones are Menhir, Dolmens, Cromlech.

Egyptian

USES/PURPOSES
The architecture, similar to representational art, aimed to preserve forms and conventions that were held
to reflect the perfection of the world at the primordial moment of creation and to embody the correct
relationship between humankind, the king, and the pantheon of the gods.
CHARACTERISTIC
This architectural style was developed during the pre-dynastic period 4,000 BC. The characteristics of
Egyptian art are a combination of Geometric regularity and keen observation of nature. Their art was
classified into three: first art was used in the home furniture, jewelry, musical instruments, and many
more; second art used in the dead- tombs, mask mummy cases, and wrapping for the body, third, art was
created for the gods and their priest and kings- in temples, paintings, statues.

❖ The structure has thick sloping walls with few openings to obtain stability.

❖ The exterior and interior walls along with columns and piers were covered with hieroglyphics and
pictorial frescoes and carvings painted in brilliant colors.

❖ Ornamentations were symbolic including scarab (sacred beetle), solar disk, vulture, and common
motifs (palm leaves, buds, flower of lotus, and papyrus plants)

❖ Temples were aligned with astronomically significant events like solstices (comes from the Latin word
Sol, meaning “sun” and stitium meaning “stoppage”)as the sun appears to stand still on the first day of
winter and equinox ( a time or date when day and night are of equal length) with precise measurements
required in determining the moment of that particular event.
Classical - Architecture Greek

USE/PURPOSE
The main task of the Greek architect was to design temples honouring one or more Greek deities.
CHARACTERISTIC

Greek architecture is known for tall columns, intricate detail, symmetry, harmony, and balance. The
Greeks built all sorts of buildings. The main examples of Greek architecture that survive today are the
large temples that they built to their gods.

Classical Byzantine

USE/PURPOSE

Byzantine architects were eclectic, at first drawing heavily on Roman temple features. Their combination
of the basilica and symmetrical central-plan (circular or polygonal) religious structures resulted in the
characteristic Byzantine Greek-cross-plan church, with a square central mass and four arms of equal
length.

CHARACTERISTIC

Byzantine structures featured soaring spaces and sumptuous decoration: marble columns and inlay,
mosaics on the vaults, inlaid-stone pavements, and sometimes gold coffered ceilings.

Let’s Sum It Up
1.Ancient Period
2. Ancient Period
3. Medieval Period
4. Ancient Period
5. Classical Period

Let’s Assess
1. A
2. A
3. A
4. B
5. D