Objective: Each scholar will create a painting on canvas that
will be based on inspiration from a famous artist or art
movement
Slide 2
Paintings were mostly based on the struggles of early man and
his existence with nature. Cro-Magnon man's palette consisted of
common material ground finely and mixed with animal grease, the two
major colors used during this age were black and red. The artists
were good at stylising their work and simplifying it. The animals
are beautifully simple and their characteristic features are
exaggerated and recorded. They are mostly seen in profile(viewed
from the side) while they vary in their activity from standing to
running to jumping.
Slide 3
Egyptian Painting Ancient Egyptian art work was completed for
the ka, the soul after death. The art was made to be everlasting to
provide a permanent home for the ka ensuring a long, comfortable
afterlife. The ka required provisions for an afterlife,
mummification of the corpse, image in the round and funerary
paintings. Tomb paintings or the murals on the walls would link the
ka to everyday life showing him as a dignified protector of the
people who was in turn protected by the god Horus. In all the
images the Pharaoh was shown as separate, higher up on the picture
plane, and more dignified then the other people in the murals.
Furthermore, artists recognised that all people had two
characteristic views--front and profile--and so depicted each part
of the body in its most characteristic view. The formula used was
eye and shoulders in frontal view, head and legs in profile. This
combination made any movement or action possible and created an
image which appears frozen in time.
Slide 4
Egyptian Art
Slide 5
Roman Wall Painting All Roman wall paintings were done in
fresco, a method of using a watercolour medium on wet plaster.
Entire plaster covered walls were frescoed to look like marble and
wood panelling or were cheerfully decorated with flowers and vines,
almost like wallpaper.
Slide 6
The Middle Ages The Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages,
Medieval Times and the Age of Faith, lasted from 400AD to 1400AD.
During this period, Rome considered itself the centre of the known
universe with the Pope as the supreme ruler. Using letters,
flowers, and geometric motifs, monks in secluded monasteries
decorated pages of Scripture and other writings with infinite
detail. Some pages of these manuscripts have figures and narrative
decoration while others are simply words with no illustrations.
Manuscript illumination continued through the Gothic period with
monks carefully coping the words of Scripture and embellishing them
with fanciful lettering and Biblical illustrations. Usually these
were painted on parchment and colored with tempera, inks, and even
pure gold. The Bible and other religious texts were copied and
illustrated by monastic scribes. These illuminated manuscripts were
some of the finest examples of Medieval art.
Slide 7
Slide 8
Renaissance The general goal of early Renaissance sculpture and
painting was to emulate realism and naturalism by using the
knowledge from Antiquity (Classical Greece). Artists designed
peaceful paintings and weapons of war, church interiors and
bridges, city plans and fortifications, sculptures and canals. They
explored the scientific aspects of art, such as proportion,
anatomy, and perspective. Artists even dissected cadavers to learn
about the structure of human muscles and bones. Such knowledge made
the figures they drew, painted, and sculpted more realistic. The
Renaissance came to an end when the republics lost their freedom.
Beautiful, hand-engraved maps depicted even more accurate
illustrations as discoveries about the known world expanded.
Renaissance artists held an important position in society. Artists
such as Michelangelo and Raphael were considered more learned, well
studied, and divinely inspired. Such artists elevated the art of
the Early Renaissance by creating full bodied, dynamic figures, all
of which revealed their inner feelings. These figures elevated the
role of the individual and the importance of intellectuals from
both the past and the present.
Slide 9
Michelangelo
Slide 10
Leonardo Da Vinci
Slide 11
Baroque Period Baroque is the 17th Century art style Dramatic
figures were painted with arms and legs shown in full movement
grabbing, clutching in every direction. The Baroque period is so
varied that no single set of stylistic criteria can be applied to
it. With the help of rich colours and different light techniques,
such as shading and highlighting, figures with the utmost vividness
and richness were created. After all it is said that light creates
the visible world. [RA] {EB} However, it is said the main
characteristic which gives Baroque power enough to "roar" is the
localised light source. The central source of light creates the
strong contrasts between light and dark required in energy packed
pictures.RAEB
Slide 12
Impressionism Impressionism was politically indifferent, no
longer were humans the only centre of interest. Spontaneity became
integrated in the work through unpoised images. Shadows became
minimised focusing on form, shapes and colours. This style of art
was given the name Impressionism after Claude Monet exhibited a
work called Impression-Sunrise in an 1874 group show. The works of
the group were called impressions and not paintings.
Slide 13
Claude Monet
Slide 14
Post Impressionism Post Impressionism is a name chosen to
represent a variety of different art that came after Impressionism.
[MH] {GB} Post Impressionism was the only appropriate name to call
this style since it somewhat resembled impressionism, but was also
unique. Post Impressionism applies to all painters of significance
in the 1880s and 1890s. More specifically it deals with painters
who were Impressionists but became dissatisfied with the
limitations of the style and pursued a variety of directions. Since
Post Impressionists did not share a common goal there is no more
descriptive term for them then Post- Impressionists.MHGB
Post-Impressionist art gradually gave way to three main currents:
Expression, Abstraction, and Fantasy. The first stresses the
artist's emotional attitude toward himself and the world; the
second, the formal structure of the work of art; the third explores
the realm of the imagination, especially its spontaneous and
irrational qualities. The primary concern of the Expressionist is
the human community; of the Abstractionist, the structure of
reality; and of the artist of Fantasy, the individual mind.
Slide 15
Suerat (Pointillism) Vincent Van Gogh Cezanne
Slide 16
Slide 17
Abstract Expressionism Exploding after World War II in New
York, Abstract Expressionism was based on the freedom of individual
expression. It is called abstract because it emphaszed shape, color
and line and there was no recognizable subject matter. It was
called expressive because it stressed emotions and feelings over
design and formalism. Paintings became movements of undisciplined
emotions, wildly exciting action painting slashing brush strokes
and fuzzy edges. This style lasted about fifteen years.
Slide 18
Jackson Pollock Willem DeKooning
Slide 19
Kandinsky
Slide 20
Expressionism The subject matter of expressionistic artworks
are personal and emotional feelings. Often these works are
difficult to define and contemporary society has little
understanding for the non-realistic nature of the subject matter.
Mexican artists developed a national style "of the people" that
typified the spirit of the Revolution. It contained a simple solid
feeling, powerful colours and forms and took on political
overtones. Mexico City became alive with bright murals painted on
walls and ceilings all depicting the history of the country, the
oppression of the common people and the immoral excesses of the
ruling class. For many decades social protest and art were
synonymous in Mexico.
Slide 21
Edvard Munch, The Scream
Slide 22
Fantasy and Fauvism Fauves - In 1905 a group of artists,
brought together by their shared sense of liberation and
experiment, developed a radical new style, full of violent colour
and bold distortions. Their first public appearance shocked
critical opinion so much that they were dubbed the Fauves (the wild
beasts). Some of the Fauvisms turned to Primitive art which acted
as a stimulus for much needed freshness, strength and vitality.
Henri Matisse (1869-- 1954), leading member of Fauves, the oldest
of the founding fathers of 20th-Century painting. The most
important picture of his long career is The Joy of Life. What makes
the picture so revolutionary is its radical simplicity, its "genius
of omission": everything that possibly can be, has been left out or
stated by implication only. He had strong feelings about only one
thing-the act of painting: this to him was an experience so
profoundly joyous that he wanted to transmit it to the beholder in
all its freshness and immediacy. The purpose of his pictures, he
always asserted, was to give pleasure.
Slide 23
Matisse
Slide 24
Derrain
Slide 25
Cubism Picasso created Cubism. Georges Braque later pursued it.
After about a year working together Picasso and Braque were able to
produce pictures composed almost entirely of cut-and-pasted scraps
of material, with only a few lines added to complete the designs.
[RA] {HI} This technique builds up the surface with small square
brushstrokes, which was a new way of seeing and painting the world.
Cubism is mainly concerned with surface design, pushing emotion and
feelings out of the way.RAHI
Slide 26
Surrealism Surrealism was first aimed to be the notion that a
dream can be exchanged by automatic handwriting directly from the
unconscious mind to the canvas, bypassing the conscious awareness
of the artist. This, however did not work in practice because some
degree of control was unavoidable. Nevertheless, Surrealism
stimulated several novel techniques for soliciting and exploiting
chance effects. [RA] {HI} Surrealism entered into a dream world of
unreality "beneath the realistic surface of life". Logical or
recognisable subject matter was presented in very illogical
situations or in weird associations. Later Surrealism was based on
personal symbols, which were left unexplained by the
artists.RAHI
Slide 27
Salvador Dali
Slide 28
Pop Art An attitude toward art and everyday objects that served
as reminders of movies, TV, comics and supermarkets. It developed
during the early sixties. The subject matter was the common
everyday surroundings such as coke bottles, beer and soup cans or
comic strip characters. Paintings existed of hard edges,
practically non existent brush strokes, careful preparation and
drawing and an impersonal attitude toward the art. It was based on
frustration found within the art establishment and contained wit,
satire and humour.