The Upper Palaeolithic Age of Man (5000-10000 yrs ago)

- Cave drawings were used as a way to recount events and the things early man had
treasured; one such thing being the hunt.
- Underdeveloped sense of self of prehistoric man.

Neolithic Era (10000BC - 4500BC)

- Humans begin to form settlements.
- Uses art as a way to honour ancestors and as part of ritual practices done by way of
statues, totems,masks, and effigies.

Bronze Age
- Saw the dawn of Civilisations, with humans creating primal works of art to honour
their ancestors and to invoke and reinforce belief in something greater than
themselves; achieved by crafting statues, pots and makes designed to be
symmetrical and durable.
- Near East (3000 - 1200BC)
- Europe (3200-600BC)
- China (2000-700BC)
- Hieroglyphics forming the basis for keeping records and communication in Ancient
Egypt; theorised as a natural revolution of cave art.
- Ancient Mayans of South America

Age of Idealism
Hellenic Era (Greco-Roman Era) - (900BC- AD 450)
 - Architecture of the period was durable and showed evidence of being grounded in
ratios.
- Finely illustrated Pottery and murals recounted events and told tales of Greek deities.

Middle Age (500 AD - 1500 AD)

- paganism as the primary ideology in Europe.
- Art of the era focuses heavily on contextualising and depicting religious figures, as
well as more eccentric art accompanying manuscripts.
- Similarly, art served to beautify Buddhism in the East, with countries like Tibet and
Thailand primarily crafting statues of the Buddha depicting him in a state of calm, in
order to allude to people of the harmonious teachings of Buddhism.

Renaissance (1300 AD - 1600 AD)

One of the most important transitional periods in history, the explosion of insight and
culture that had occurred during this era hadn’t been seen since the time of the
Hellenic civilisations.
- Andreas Vesalius was one of the primary leaders in anatomical studies at the time,
influential artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer had similarly
propelled our understanding of the human body through their efforts.

Baroque Era (1600 AD -1750 AD)

Neoclassical Era (1660 AD - 1800 AD)

- The Neoclassical movement saw artists aiming to recapture the grace and acute
nature of Greco-Roman art by recreating figures from the Hellenic era.
 - Art also saw its use as a political tool in order to show off the lives of the wealthy and
influential, playing a vitalrole in instilling belief in figures like Napoleon

Romantic Age (1800-1859 AD)

- show a further emphasis on the individual, nature, and the celebration of imagination

Impressionism (1865 - 1885 AD)

- focused on crafting saturated landscapes,
- flooded with stylized light and shadows; which not only proved to accentuate figures
and the environments they inhabited, but elicit raw emotion from the observer at first
glance.

Native American Art

- saw Totems and pottery serve as an inherent part of their culture, with symbolism
and style being influenced by the surroundings of a tribe.

African (Ndebele Tribe) Art

- masks and statues continue to be a core part of the countless tribes throughout the
continent, with innovation of art slowly resulting due to the evolution of ritualistic
behaviours.
- Ndebele tribe of South Africa - not only developed some of the most stylistically
distinct African art, but intentionally fostered art as a very part of its culture. Distinct
geometric forms against stark, contrasting colours forms the basis of the Ndebele
style.

Japanses Era (Ukiyo-e Era) (1600-1900 AD)

- line work and intelligent use of colour were prefered to subtly add flair to pieces.
- Inspired artists like Van Gogh to craft art with an emphasis on the effective use of
brush strokes and colour as opposed to the process of blending his paintings.