History of Art Styles

prehistoric
Western
Australian architectural styles
Far Eastern
see also:
- a brief history of the World
- history of portrait photography

Prehistoric:

Paleolithic (30,000BC-8000BC)
Neolithic (8000BC - 1000BC)
Bronze Age (2000BC - 1200BC)

Western:

Egyptian (3000BC - 332BC)
- Sumerian, Assyrian, Persian (3000BC - 331BC)
- Aegean (2000BC - 1100BC)
  - Greek (1100BC - 146BC)
    - Roman (146BC - 476AD)
      - Early Christian (313-600AD)
      - Byzantine (330-1453) - also from Persian culture
      - Romanesque (1000-1200)
        
        Gothic (1137-1550) typically religious, distinctive arched design of churches - also from Islamic culture
        
        International Gothic (1350-1480) more secular eg. de Fabriano, Witz, van Eyck,
        
        Gothic Revival (1820-80)
      - Proto-Renaissance (1300-1420) eg. Giotto
        
        Early Renaissance (1420-1490) eg. Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Francesca, Botticelli
        
        Renaissance in northern Italy
        
        examples:
        
        Mantegna - (1431-1506) the master of perspective and the fore-shortened figure
        
        Foppa (1427-1515)
        
        Da Vinci (1452-1519)
        
        Bellini
        
        Giorgione - painted the 1st “reclining nude” in 1507, creating a new genre
        
        Titian (Venice - 1490-1576) - influenced the Lombards & Caravaggio
        
        Brescian artists Moroni, Moretto & Savoldo (1480-1550) who specialised in the study of light & was a precursor to Caravaggesque luminism
        
        Renaissance in northern Europe (1495-1580) eg. Durer, Hans Holbein, Brueghel
        
        High Renaissance (1490-1520) calm, ordered eg. Michelangelo, Raphael
        
        Mannerism (1520-80) tension, discord following scientific discoveries and Calvinist Reformation & Counter-Reformation of the Christian Church.
        
        examples of Mannerists:
        
        late Michelangelo (Florence) - anti-classical
        
        Tintoretto (Venice)
        
        El Greco (Spain)
        
        late Raphael - respectful of classicism, achieved a perfect synthesis of form and colour with the most expressive results.
        
        northern Lombard naturalism:
        
        in Lombardy, a more expressive style of Mannerism flourished, based on regional peculiarities that had already been evident in previous centuries. Artists endeavoured to avoid stylistic compromise, preferring simplicity & attention to naturalistic detail, following on from the Renaissance painter Foppa, who, in the 15thC, was interested in the perception of the fluctuating effects of light and shadow, and noted for his lively, realistic representation & Da Vinci who had arrived at a representation of truth founded largely on scientific investigation and was the 1st artist to concern himself with expressing the feelings of the people he depicted.
        
        in the 1580's, the Lombard painters flocked to the more culturally rich Rome and Pope Sixtus V who was an art lover
        
        Carracci academy Bologna's naturalism (1585-88)
        
        return to Lombardy naturalism in opposition to the artificiality in late Mannerist art.
        
        the origins of the still life (late 16th C):
        
        a return to easel painting instead of frescos in order to capture the immediacy of real life events combined with Flemish experiences of portraying natural detail and a sense of three-dimensionality led to the “still life”. Use of actual models.
        
        Udine,
        
        Caravaggio (southern Italy d1610) - studied the movements and spontaneous reactions of people in a manner far removed from the captiousness that so often pervaded Mannerism
        
        late Roman Mannerism (1585-1600):
        
        Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) overseas the reconstruction of Rome and imposed on artists a homogeneous style of figuration that reinforced the work's overall moral purpose. For the 1st time, Flemish influences were seen in Italian art. eg. da Reggio
        
        Baroque (1580-1750) heavy, theatrical, dynamic, emotional, often violent
        
        during the 1620's, painters throughout Europe were alerted to the news emanating from Rome: the revolutionary art of the late Caravaggio who achieved astonishingly realistic effects through the use of diagonal light, corresponded with a rapid expressive development of the Baroque style & the result was a lavish tour de force of colour & animation.
        
        examples of Baroque:
        
        Rubens (Flemish - 1577-1640 - dominated the Antwerp school) after trip to Rome in 1601, recognised Rome could offer a wealth of old & new material, which he converted it into “Baroque” form. He linked this with Titianesque colour & Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, and was fascinated by the power of Caravaggio's religious paintings but had little admiration for his figurative compositions.
        
        Utrecht School (Catholic Dutch) - inspired by Caravaggio
        
        Rembrandt (Calvinist Dutch d1669), his portraits tended to be character studies of a more psychological nature. He is one of the greatest engravers of all time.
        
        Velasquez - strongly influenced by Caravaggio
        
        Gentileschi - strongly influenced by Caravaggio, famed for his female nudes in particular
        
        La Tour - St Mary Magdalene with candle1635
        
        Rococo (1700-90) King Louis XV; dainty, charming often based on motifs from shells eg. Watteau, Fragonard, Boucher, Tiepolo
        
        Classicism (1550-1760) return to calm Renaissance style eg. Poussin, Le Lorrain
        
        English 18thC (1760-1800) eg. Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hogarth
        
        Victorian Classicism (1840-1900)
      - Neo-Classicism (1780-1840) American & French revolutions style - a severe, unemotional form of art harkening back to the style of ancient Greece and Rome eg. David
        
        19thC European Academic
      - Romanticism (1800-1900) reaction against neo-classicism - a deeply-felt style which is individualistic, beautiful, exotic, and emotionally wrought. eg. Goya, Constable, Hudson River School, Turner, Friedrich
        
        Symbolism (late 19thC) spooky mysticism eg. Moreau, Redon,
        
        Expressionism (see below)
        
        Australian Colonial (1831-1885) eg. Glover, Martens, Buvelot
        
        Contemporary Australian (1939-) eg. Dobell, Drysdale, Nolan, Boyd
        
        Pre-Raphaelitism (1848-1900) return to early Renaissance eg. Hunt, Millais, Rossetti
        
        Golden Age of Illustration (1880-1930) eg. Rackham, Crane, Dulac, Beardsley, Pyle
        
        British Arts and Crafts movement (late 19thC) craftsmanship & design
        
        Art Nouveau (1880-1920) elegant decorative; intricate curved lines eg. Klimt
        
        Art Deco (1920-1940)
Realism (1850-80) rejected academic artificiality, historical fantasy & romantic exaggeration eg. Manet, Courbet, Daumier
- Impressionism (1870-90) capture transient light on scenes eg. Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas
  - Australian Impressionism (1885-) eg. Heidelberg School (Roberts, McCubbin, Streeton, Conder); Hans Heysen, Gruner; Meldrum;
  - Les Nabis (1889-99) tried to connect Impressionism with theories of Gaugin eg. Bonnard, Vuillard
  - Precisionism / Cubist Realism (1920-1940) realistic rendering of objects but emphasising geometric form eg. Sheeler, Demuth
  - Social Realism (1930-1940) eg. Rivera
  - Magic Realism (1943-1960) overtones of fantasy & wonder eg. Cadmus, Evergood, Albright, Tooker
  - Photo-realism (1965-1980) eg. Kacere
  - Contemporary Realism (1965-) eg. Wyeth
Modern Primitivism (late 19thC) eg. Rousseau
Modern Architecture (1880 onwards)
Post-impressionism (1880 onwards) underlying structure, emotional use of colour & scientific approach to patterns eg. van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Seurat
- Pointillism (1880's) brush-style using tiny dots of primary colors to create secondary colours eg. Seurat
- Fauvism (1905 onwards) “wild animal” unrestrained freedom of artistic expression to bring emotionalism into art eg. Matisse, Dufy
  - Expressionism (1908 onwards) highly personal expression of psyche eg. Roualt, Munch
    - Blaue Reiter (1911-13) eg. Marc
    - The Bauhaus Painters (1919-33) eg. Feininger, Klee, Kandisnsky - also from Cubism
    - Kinetic Art (1920 onwards)
    - Dadaism (1916-22) eg. Arp, Duchamp, Ernst
      - Surrealism (1924-39) “super-real” dream-like eg. Dali, Miro
        
        Abstract Expressionism (1947 onwards) rejection of natural form of objects eg. Pollock, Kline
        
        Colour-Field (1948 onwards) large flat areas of colour eg. Rothko
  - Op Art / Optical Art (1955 onwards) optical illusions eg. Vasarely, Uecker, Riley
- Cubism (1907-25) geometric shapes as basis for art eg Picasso, Gris
  - Futurism (1909-20) dynamic sensation of motion & speed eg. Severini, Boccioni, Balla
  - Suprematism (1913-1918) eg. Malevich;
  - Australian Post-Impressionism (1913-) eg. Wakelin, Bell, Shore, Frater, de Maistre;
  - Purism (1918-) eg. Le Corbusier, Ozenfant
  - Neo-Plasticism / De Stilj (1917-44) 2D geometric eg. Mondrian
    - Geometric Abstraction (1932 onwards)
      - Hard Edge Abstraction (1955 onwards) eg. Albers, Kelly;
      - Minimalism (1960's-) objects stripped down to geometric form & represented impersonally eg. Kelly
  - Pop Art (1953 onwards) explores the everyday imagery which is part of contemporary consumer culture eg. Warhol, Lichtenstein, Wesselmann, Rosenquist

Australian architectural styles:

housing period styles:
- Victorian (1850-1890's)
  - named after Queen Victoria, a broad style covering social upheavals, the gold rush
  - Parliament house
  - tiny workers' cottages lining the back streets of Carlton, Fitzroy, East Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo & Ballarat
- Edwardian / Federation (1890-1915):
  - originally Edwardian referred to those in Victoria & Federation to those in NSW
  - an evolution of the Victorian period
  - usually red brick with decorative timber work, wooden veranda details rather than iron, bigger windows
  - verandas often wrap around the corner of the house
  - usually single storey with terracotta tiled roofs jutting out at odd angles & decorated with terracotta creatures
  - esp. in the ring of suburbs of Hawthorn, Malvern & Camberwell
- California Bungalow (1915-35):
  - imported style from the west coast of US, became popular as the idea of the house on a quarter acre block began to take hold
  - bewildering array of materials & sub-styles but characteritically has a tapered brick pier supporting the front porch.
  - classy examples exist in Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Brighton to Mentone
  - weatherboard examples exist in Footscray, Sunshine
- Spanish Mission (1920-30):
  - a cousin of the California Bungalow, also originating from west coast of US where it had been appropriated from Sth America
  - low slung, but chunkier & more fanciful often with white rendered exterior to mimic adobe & arches that shade long verandas or deep porches; ripple effect of Cordova tiled roofs; lots of heavy dark wood inside - hence our term “mission brown”
  - eg. St Kilda
- Art Deco (1929-1940):
  - describes a whole design movement covering everything from fabric & furniture to convertibles & skyscrapers
  - came to Australia from France via the rest of Europe & then the US (eg. Empire State Building)
  - “streamlined”, “geometric”, such as sweeping curves or dramatic angles in the way windows, chimneys or the front of the house are formed; or zig-zag or chevron patterns in brickwork or tiling
  - loved chrome & glass, & used new building materials such as metal window frames, construction quality concrete & glass bricks
  - windows often huge, roofs often flat (but now tend to leak & are difficult to repair), bathrooms give a Hollywood feel
  - eg. Balwyn, Toorak, Camberwell, Elwood, St Kilda
- Modern 1950s:
  - the Moderne crazy/cutting edge elements that existed in the 1930's became mainstream & dropped the 'e'
  - often cream brick with big metal-framed windows; sandblasted decorative glass; curved street frontages; snazzy open-plan living areas;
  - exuberant use of colour & new materials such as vinyl & laminates
  - but most have big windows facing East & West requiring striped canvas blinds
  - eg. middle suburbs of Thornbury through to Pascoe Vale, to Cheltenham & Beaumaris
- 1960's:
  - architectural norms began to dissolve in the 60's as with most other norms
  - hard to find a clearly identifiable style, although some took the sleek minimalism and airiness of the 1950's to a new extreme
  - appear all over Melbourne as older houses started to be demolished but esp. in the new suburbs of Ringwood, Vermont
- 1970's:
  - trend back to nature with stripping away of plaster to expose aged brick, painting iron lacework mission brown, new homes made with mud brick (esp. Eltham), surrounded by native plants
  - in urban areas new homes had brown bricks & dark timbers to reflect the earthy impulse, often contrasted with burnt orange, terracotta & eucalypt green decors
  - ensuites, wardrobes, open-plan & split levels made a appearance
  - in many areas, houses were demolished to make way for inexpensive, minimalistic double or triple storey flats - usually with dark brown bricks and concrete
  - by the late 1970's, the Mediterranean migrants of the 1950's now more affluent, tended to move from their 1950's weatherboards to new double storey box-shaped brick houses often with swimming pools eg. Keilor, Doncaster
- 1980's:
  - took the best of the 70's and replaced the 70's decor to create very livable, houses with an entertainment & often low energy focus
  - eg. Airport West, Keilor Downs,
- 1990's:
  - a large portion of new houses were of Victorian or Edwardian styles while others further developed the low energy, entertainment houses of the 1980's or the modern double storey taken to extremes of 40 squares
  - housing developments in golf resorts became popular
  - eg. Taylors Lakes, Keilor-Melton Rd estates, Sanctuary Lakes
- 2000's:
  - gentrification of inner urban areas with 3 story townhouses on subdivided land popular

Far Eastern Art:

Japanese:
- archaic (before 552AD)
- Asuka (552-645)
- Nara (645-794) - golden age of Buddhist art & architecture
- Heian (794-1185) - decorative; creation of Yamato-e school
- Kamakura (1185-1334)
- Muramachi (1334-1568)
- Momoyama (1568-1615)
- Edo (1615-1868) - ornate; multi-coloured woodblock prints;
- Tokyo (1868 -) Western influence
  - comic art:
    - Manga (1815-) eg. Hokusai, Tezuka Ozamu (1947-
      - Anime (animated Manga for film) (1967-)

Table of Contents

History of Art Styles

Prehistoric:

Western:

Australian architectural styles:

Far Eastern Art: