History of art

This article is an overview of the history of the visual arts
worldwide. For the academic discipline of art history, see
Art history.
The history of art is the history of any activity or
The Creation of Adam (15081512), by Michelangelo, in the
Sistine Chapel (Vatican)
(cultural relativism), and not just western art history.
Today, art enjoys a wide network of study, dissemina-
tion and preservation of all the artistic legacy of mankind
throughout history. The 20th century has seen the pro-
liferation of institutions, foundations, art museums and
galleries, in both the public and private sectors, dedicated
to the analysis and cataloging of works of art as well as
exhibitions aimed at a mainstream audience. The rise of
media has been crucial in improving the study and dis-
semination of art. International events and exhibitions
like the Whitney Biennial and biennales of Venice and
So Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the
development of new styles and trends. Prizes such as
the Turner of the Tate Gallery, the Wolf Prize in Arts,
the Pritzker Prize of architecture, the Pulitzer of pho-
tography and the Oscar of cinema also promote the best
creative work on an international level. Institutions like
UNESCO, with the establishment of the World Heritage
Site lists, also help the conservation of the major monu-
ments of the planet.[2]

product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical

or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions
or, in general, a worldview. Over time visual art has 1 Historical development
been classied in diverse ways, from the medieval dis-
tinction between liberal arts and mechanical arts, to the
modern distinction between ne arts and applied arts,
or to the many contemporary denitions, which dene
art as a manifestation of human creativity. The subse-
quent expansion of the list of principal arts in the 20th
century reached to nine: architecture, dance, sculpture,
music, painting, poetry (described broadly as a form of
literature with aesthetic purpose or function, which also
includes the distinct genres of theatre and narrative), lm,
photography and graphic arts. In addition to the old forms
of artistic expression such as fashion and gastronomy,
new modes of expression are being considered as arts
such as video, computer art, performance, advertising,
animation, television and videogames.
The history of art is a multidisciplinary branch of the
arts and sciences, seeking an objective examination of
art throughout time, classifying cultures, establishing The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, c. 1173 1176
periodizations, and observing the distinctive and inuen- CE, Chinese Song Dynasty period
tial characteristics of art.[1] The study of the history of
art was initially developed during the Renaissance, with Main article: Art history Historical development
its limited scope being the artistic production of Western
civilization. However, as time has passed, it has imposed The eld of "art history" was developed in the West,
a broader view of artistic history, seeking a comprehen- and originally dealt exclusively with European art history,
sive overview of all the civilizations and analysis of their with the High Renaissance (and its Greek precedent) as
artistic production in terms of their own cultural values the dening standard. Gradually, over the course of the

1
2 2 PREHISTORY AND ANCIENT HISTORY

20th century, a wider vision of art history has developed.

This expanded version includes societies from across the
globe, and it usually attempts to analyze artifacts in terms
of the cultural values in which they were created. Thus,
art history is now seen to encompass all visual art, from
the megaliths of Western Europe to the paintings of the
Tang Dynasty in China.
The history of art is often told as a chronology of
masterpieces created in each civilization. It can thus
be framed as a story of high culture, epitomized by the
Wonders of the World. On the other hand, vernacular
art expressions can also be integrated into art historical
narratives, in which case they are usually referred to as
folk arts or craft. The more closely that an art historian
engages with these latter forms of low culture, the more
likely it is that they will identify their work as examin-
ing visual culture or material culture, or as contributing
to elds related to art history, such as anthropology or
archeology. In the latter cases art objects may be referred
to as archeological artifacts.

2 Prehistory and ancient history

One way to examine how art history is organized is
by examining the major survey textbooks, which re-
ect an encyclopedic view of what experts view as art.
Frequently consulted textbooks published in English are
Ernst Gombrichs Story of Art, Marilyn Stokstads Art
History, Anthony Jansons History of Art, David Wilkins, Venus of Willendorf, Naturhistorisches Museum
Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn M. Lindus Art Past, Art
Present, Helen Gardners Art Through the Ages, Hugh
The rst tangible artifacts of human art that have
Honour and John Flemmings A World History of Art,
been found are from the Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic,
and Laurie Schneider Adamss Art Across Time. Infor-
Mesolithic and Neolithic), periods when the rst demon-
mation on canonical art history is also found in the Heil-
strations that can be considered to be art by humans ap-
brunn Timeline of Art History,[3] which is sponsored by
peared. During the Paleolithic (25,000-8,000 BCE), hu-
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
mans practiced hunting and gathering and lived in caves,
where cave painting was developed.[4] After a transi-
tional period (Mesolithic, 8,0006,000 BCE), in the Ne-
olithic period (60003000 BCE), when humans engaged
in agriculture and built increasingly complex societies,
religion became more important and the production of
handicrafts commenced. In the Bronze Age (c. 3,000
1,000 BCE), the rst protohistoric civilizations arose.

2.1.1 Paleolithic

Main articles: Paleolithic art and List of Stone Age art

Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (250-260 CE), with battle between
Roman soldiers and barbarians. The general may be Hostilian,
Emperor Decius' son (died 252 CE). The Paleolithic had its rst artistic manifestation in
25,000 BCE, reaching its peak in the Magdalenian pe-
riod (15,000-8,000 BCE). The rst traces of human-
2.1 Global prehistory made objects appeared in southern Africa, the Western
Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe (Adriatic
Main article: Prehistoric art Sea), Siberia (Baikal Lake), India and Australia. These
rst traces are generally worked stone (int, obsidian),
2.1 Global prehistory
wood or bone tools. To paint in red, iron oxide was 2.1.3 Metal Age
used, in black, manganese oxide and in ochre, clay.[5]
Surviving art from this period includes small carvings in
stone or bone and cave painting. Cave paintings have
been found in the Franco-Cantabrian region. There are
pictures with magical-religious character and also pic-
tures with a naturalistic sense, which depict animals, no-
tably the caves of Altamira, Trois Frres, Chauvet and
Lascaux. Sculpture is represented by the so-called Venus
gurines, feminine gures which were probably used in
fertility cults, such as the Venus of Willendorf.[6] Other
representative works of this period are the Man from
Brno[7] and the Venus of Brassempouy.[8]
2.1.2 Neolithic
Main article: Neolithic
This periodfrom c. 8,000 BCE in the Near East
Cave painting at Roca dels Moros, in El Cogul
was a profound change for the ancient humans, who be-
came more sedentary and settled as they began to en-
gage in agriculture and animal husbandry. Along with
these changes, new forms of social coexistence and reli-
gion developed.[9] The rock art of the Iberian Mediter-
ranean Basindated between the Mesolithic and Ne-
olithic erascontained small, schematic paintings of hu-
man gures, with notable examples in El Cogul, Valltorta,
Alpera and Minateda.
This kind of painting was also similar to paintings found
in northern Africa (Atlas, Sahara) and in the area of mod-
ern Zimbabwe. Neolithic painting was schematic, re-
duced to basic strokes (men in the form of a cross and
women in a triangular shape). There are also cave paint-
ings in Pinturas River in Argentina, especially the Cueva
de las Manos. In portable art, a style called Cardium Pot-
tery was produced, decorated with imprints of seashells.
New materials were used in art, such as amber, crystals
found in rock, quartz and jasper. In this period, the
rst traces of urbanistic planimetry appeared, such as
the remains in Tell as-Sultan (Jericho), Jarmo (Iraq) and
atalhyk (Anatolia).[10] the Roman Empire brought the style to an end.
3
Megalithic complex of Stonehenge
The last prehistoric phase is the Metal Age, as the use of
elements such as copper, bronze and iron proved to be a
great material transformation for these ancient societies.
When humans could smelt metal and forge metal imple-
ments, this enabled them to make new tools and weapons.
In the Chalcolithic (also called Copper Age) the Megalith
emerged, massive monuments of stone were built. Ex-
amples include the dolmen and menhir or the English
cromlech, as can be seen in the complexes at Newgrange
and Stonehenge.[9] In Spain the Los Millares culture was
formed, characterized by the Beaker culture, which pic-
tured human gures with big eyes. In Malta, the temple
complexes of aar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien and gantija
were built. In the Balearic Islands notable megalithic cul-
tures developed, with dierent types of monuments: the
naveta, a tomb shaped like a truncated pyramid, with an
elongated burial chamber; the taula, two large stones, one
put vertically and the other horizontally above each other;
and the talaiot, a tower with a covered chamber and a false
dome.[11]
In the Iron Age the cultures of Hallstatt (Austria) and La
Tene (Switzerland) mark the signicant phases in Eu-
rope. The rst was developed between the 7th and 5th
century BCE by the necropoleis with tumular tombs and
a wooden burial chamber in the form of a house, of-
ten accompanied by a four-wheeled cart. The pottery
was polychromic, with geometric decorations and appli-
cations of metallic ornaments. La Tene was developed
between the 5th and 4th century BCE, and is more pop-
ularly known as early Celtic art. It produced many iron
objects such as swords and spears, which have not sur-
vived well to the 2000s due to rust. Bronze continued to
be used for highly decorated shields, bulas, and other ob-
jects, with dierent stages of evolution of the style. Dec-
oration was inuenced by Greek, Etruscan and Scythian
art.[12] In most of the European continent, conquest by
4 2 PREHISTORY AND ANCIENT HISTORY

Venus of Brassempouy,
Muse des Antiquits Nationales, Saint-Germain-
en-Laye

Menhir in the region of Brittany

(France)

Splint on Flood myth, of the Epic of Gilgamesh

was developed, with the rst sample being the Narmer

Palette (3,100 BCE). The Hebrew language was one of
Circular talaiot in the island the rst languages to utilize the method of writing with an
of Mallorca (Spain) alphabet (Abjad, c. 1,800 BCE), which relates a unique
symbol for each phoneme; the Greek and the Latin alpha-
bet derive from it.[13]

2.2.1 Mesopotamia

Main article: Mesopotamian art

Solar cart of Trundholm Mesopotamian art was developed in the area between
(Denmark) Tigris and Euphrates (modern day Syria and Iraq), where
from the 4th millennium BCE many dierent cultures
existed such as Sumer, Akkad, Amorite and Chaldea.
Mesopotamian architecture was characterized by the use
2.2 Ancient Mediterranean art of brick, lintel and the introduction of construction ele-
ments like arc and vault. Notable are the ziggurats, large
Main article: Ancient art
temples with the form of a terraced step pyramid, from
which we have practically no traces left except their bases.
In the rst period of recorded history, art began alongside The tomb was usually a corridor, with a covered cham-
the invention of writing, founded by the great civiliza- ber and a false dome, as in some examples found in Ur.
tions of Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia. This period There were also palaces walled with a terrace in the form
also diered from others because artistic manifestations of a ziggurat, where gardens were an important feature.
occurred in every culture of all the continents. In this The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven
period, the rst great cities appeared near major rivers: Wonders of the Ancient World.
Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Yellow River. Sculpture was developed through wood carving and
One of the great advances of this period was writing, gen- relief. Sculpture was used in religious, military and hunt-
erated primarily by the need to keep tax and commer- ing scenes, depicting both human and animal gures, in-
cial records. The rst writing code was the cuneiform cluding depictions of real and mythological gures. In
script, which emerged in Mesopotamia c. 3500 BCE, the Sumerian period, small statues of people were pro-
written on clay tablets. It was based on pictographic and duced. These statues had an angular form and they were
ideographic elements, while later Sumerians developed produced with colored stone. The gures typically had
syllables for writing, reecting the phonology and syntax bald head with hands folded on the chest. In the Akka-
of the Sumerian language. In Egypt hieroglyphic writing dian period, statues depicted gures with long hair and
2.2 Ancient Mediterranean art
Diorite Statue I, patesi of Lagash (2120 BCE), Louvre Museum,
Paris
beards, the stele of Naram-Sin. In the Amorite period
(or Neosumerian), statues represented king Gudea of
Lagash, with his mantle and a turban on his head and
his hands on his chest. During Babylonian rule, the stele
of Hammurabi was important. Assyrian sculpture is no-
table for its anthropomorphism of cattle and the winged
genie, which is depicted ying in many reliefs depicting
war and hunting scenes, such as in the Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser III.[14]
Storytelling using the oral tradition probably existed since
prehistory. However, with the advent of writing, written
stories (literature) arose as a means of expressing human
creativity. The Sumerian literature is represented by the
Epic of Gilgamesh, written in the 17th century BCE. It
contains thirty myths about the most important Sume-
rian and Akkadian deities, which are: Innana's descent
to hell and the gods Enki and Tammuz. Another exam-
ple is the poem Lugal ud melambi Nirpal (The hardship
of Ninurta), which has moral and didactic (instructional)
messages. During Akkadian period, Atrahasis was writ-
ten, which includes the ood myth. In Babylonian litera-
ture, the poem Enma Eli describes the creation of the
world.[15]
Music was developed in this region between 4th and
3rd millennium BCE for use in Sumerian temples,
where priests sang hymns and psalms (ersemma) to the
gods. The liturgic chant was composed of responsories
5
song alternating between the priests and choirand
antiphonssong alternating between two choirs. They
had several instruments like tigi (related to the ute),
balag (drum), lilis (predecessor of timpani, a large, deep
drum), algar (lyre, a plucked string instrument), zagsal
(harp) and adapa (pandeiro).[16]
2.2.2 Egypt
Main article: Ancient Egyptian art
In Egypt, one of the rst great civilizations arose, which
The pyramids of Giza
had elaborate and complex works of art which were pro-
duced by professional artists and craftspeople, who de-
veloped specialized skills. Egypts art was religious and
symbolic. Given that the culture had a highly centralized
power structure and hierarchy, a great deal of art was cre-
ated to honour the pharaoh, including great monuments.
The Egyptian culture emphasized the religious concept of
immortality. The Egyptian art era spans from 3,000 BCE
until the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. How-
ever its inuence persisted in the Coptic art and Byzantine
art.
The architecture is characterized by its monumental
structures, built with large stone blocks, lintels and solid
columns. Funerary monuments included mastaba, tombs
of rectangular form; pyramids, which included step
pyramids (Saqqarah) or smooth-sided pyramids (Giza);
and the hypogeum, underground tombs (Valley of the
Kings). The other great buildings were the temple, which
were monumental complexes preceded by an avenue of
sphinxes and obelisks. The temples used pylons and
trapezoid walls using hypaethros and hypostyle halls and
shrines. The temples of Karnak, Luxor, Philae and Edfu
are good examples. Another type of temple is the rock
temple, which were in the form hypogeum, which can be
found in Abu Simbel and Deir el-Bahari.
Painting of the Egyptian era used a juxtaposition of over-
lapping planes. The images were represented hierarchi-
cally, i.e., the Pharaoh is larger than the common subjects
or enemies depicted at his side. Egyptians painted the
head and limbs in prole, while the shoulders and eyes in
6 3 MEDIEVAL TO CONTEMPORARY ERAS

front. Applied arts were developed in Egypt, in partic-

ular woodwork and metalwork. There are superb exam-
ples such as cedar furniture inlaid with ebony and ivory
which can be seen in the tombs at the Egyptian Museum.
Another example is the pieces found in Tutankhamun's
tomb, which are of great artistic quality.[17]

Aurochs on a cave painting in Lascaux, France

2.2.3 Greece and Etruria

Greek and Etruscan artists built on the artistic founda-

tions of Egypt, further developing the arts of sculpture,
painting, architecture, and ceramics. The body became The interior of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey
represented in a more representational manner, and pa-
tronage of art thrived. use of gold in paintings, which also presented gures in
idealised, patterned (i.e."at) forms.
2.2.4 Rome

Roman art is sometimes viewed as derived from Greek 3.2 Renaissance and Baroque
precedents, but also has its own distinguishing features.
Roman sculpture is often less idealized than the Greek The Renaissance is the return yet again to valuation of
precedents. Roman architecture often used concrete, and the material world, and this paradigm shift is reected
features such as the round arch and dome were invented. in art forms, which show the corporeality of the human
body, and the three-dimensional reality of landscape. Al-
though textbooks periodize Western art by movements,
3 Medieval to contemporary eras as described above, they also do so by century, especially
in Italian art. Many art historians give a nod to the his-
torical importance of Italian Renaissance and Baroque
3.1 Medieval art by referring to centuries in which it was prominent
with the Italian terms: trecento for the fourteenth cen-
With the decline of the Roman Empire, the narra- tury, quattrocento for the fteenth, cinquecento for the
tive shifts to Medieval art, which lasted for a millen- sixteenth, seicento for the seventeenth, and settecento for
nium. Early Christian art begins the period, followed by the eighteenth.
Byzantine art, Anglo-Saxon art, Viking art, Ottonian art,
Romanesque art and Gothic art, with Islamic art dominat-
ing the eastern Mediterranean and beyond. The Medieval 3.3 Neoclassicalism to Realism
era ended with the Renaissance, followed by Mannerism,
the Baroque and Rococo. In Byzantine and Gothic art of The 18th and 19th centuries included Neoclassicism,
the Middle Ages, the dominance of the church insisted Romantic art, Academic art, and Realism in art. Art his-
on the expression of biblical truths. There was no need to torians disagree when Modern art began, some tracing
depict the reality of the material world, in which man was it as far back as Francisco Goya in the Napoleonic pe-
born in a state of sin, especially through the extensive riod, the mid-19th century with the industrial revolution
 7

or the late 19th century with the advent of Impressionism. tic developments. The inuential example set by Paul
The art movements of the late 19th through the early Gauguin's interest in Oceanic art and the sudden popu-
21st centuries are too numerous to detail here, but can larity among the cognoscenti in early 20th century Paris
be broadly divided into two categories: Modernism and of newly discovered African fetish sculptures and other
Contemporary art. The latter is sometimes referred to works from non-European cultures were taken up by Pi-
with another term, which has a subtly dierent connota- casso, Henri Matisse, and by many of their colleagues.
tion, Postmodern art. Modernism, in its response to the idealistic 19th century
search for truth, and the 20th centurys technological
3.4 Modern and Contemporary progress gave way in the last decades of the 20th cen-
tury to a realization of that the idealist visions of the 19th
Main articles: Modern art and Contemporary art century may have been unattainable. Rapid advances
In the 20th century, the physical and rational certain- in science and technology led to the late Modern and
Postmodern period. In these periods, the art and cul-
tures of the world went through many changes, and there
was a great deal of intermixture between cultures, as new
communications technologies facilitated the national and
even global dissemination of music, art and style. The
separation of regional cultures that had marked the 19th
century was replaced by a global culture.

4 The Americas
Main articles: Native American art, Painting in the
Americas before Colonization, and Pre-Columbian art

Henri Matisse, 1905-06, Le bonheur de vivre, oil on canvas, 175 The history of art in the Americas begins in pre-
x 241 cm, Barnes Foundation Columbian times with Indigenous cultures. Art historians
have focused particularly closely on Mesoamerica dur-
ties of the clockwork universe depicted by the 18th-
ing this early era, because a series of stratied cultures
century Enlightenment were shattered not only by new
arose there that erected grand architecture and produced
discoveries of relativity by physicist Albert Einstein[18]
objects of ne workmanship that are comparable to the
and of unseen psychology by Sigmund Freud,[19] but also
arts of Western Europe. One textbook about the art of
by unprecedented technological development accelerated
this era is Mary Ellen Millers The Art of Mesoamerica.
by two world wars (World War I (1914-1918) and World
War II (1939-1945)). During WW II, great pressure on
scientists to develop new technologies for the war eort 4.1 Preclassic
led to many new inventions. In the decades after WW II,
some of these new technological developments were ap-
The art-making tradition of Mesoamerican people begins
plied to peacetime purposes, leading to the development
with the Olmec around 1400 BCE, during the Preclassic
of widely available television (which was a medium for
era. These people are best known for making colossal
entertainment such as television dramas and music and
heads but also carved jade, erected monumental archi-
dance variety shows) and new electronic instruments such
tecture, made small-scale sculpture, and designed mosaic
as the synthesizer.
oors. Two of the most well-studied sites artistically are
The history of 20th-century art is a narrative of end- San Lorenzo Tenochtitln and La Venta. After the Olmec
less possibilities and the search for new standards, each culture declined, the Maya civilization became prominent
being torn down in succession by the next. The art in the region. Sometimes a transitional Epi-Olmec period
movements of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, is described, which is a hybrid of Olmec and Maya. A
Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism led to many explo- particularly well-studied Epi-Olmec site is La Mojarra,
rations of new creative styles and manners of expres- which includes hieroglyphic carvings that have been par-
sion. Increasing global interaction during this time saw tially deciphered.
an equivalent inuence of other cultures into Western
art, such as Pablo Picasso being inuenced by Iberian
sculpture, African sculpture and Primitivism. Japonism, 4.2 Classic
and Japanese woodcuts (which had themselves been inu-
enced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an im- By the late pre-Classic era, beginning around 400 BCE,
mense inuence on Impressionism and subsequent artis- the Olmec culture had declined but both Central Mexican
8 6 CENTRAL/SOUTHERN/EASTERN ASIAN

and Maya peoples were thriving. Throughout much of the
Classic period in Central Mexico, the city of Teotihuacan
was thriving, as were Xochicalco and El Tajin. These sites
boasted grand sculpture and architecture. Other Central
Mexican peoples included the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs, and
people in the Valley of Oaxaca. Maya art was at its height
during the Classic perioda name that mirrors that of
Classical European antiquityand which began around
200 CE. Major Maya sites from this era include Copan,
where numerous stelae were carved, and Quirigua where
the largest stelae of Mesoamerica are located along with
zoomorphic altars. A complex writing system was devel-
oped, and Maya illuminated manuscripts were produced
in large numbers on paper made from tree bark. Although
some Maya cities have existed to the 2000s, several sites
collapsed around 1000 AD.
4.5 Modern
Intertwined with this story of indigenous art, are move-
ments of painting, sculpture, and architecture such as the
Hudson River School and the Ashcan School of the 19th
century, and Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism of the
20th. Some of the most celebrated images were produced
by artists of the American West, featuring Cowboys and
Indians, and some of the most visually complex objects
were created by African Americans.
5 Western Asia
Main articles: Ancient art, Art of Ancient Egypt, Art
and architecture of Assyria, Persian art, Scythian art,
Islamic art, and Byzantine Art

4.3 Postclassic
Religious Islamic art often forbids depictions of people,
as they may be misused as idols. Religious ideas are
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatn during thus often represented through geometric designs instead.
the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maya were still powerful, However, there are many Islamic paintings which display
but many communities were paying tribute to Aztec so- religious themes and scenes of stories common among the
ciety. The latter culture was thriving, and it included arts three main monotheistic faiths of Islam, Christianity, and
such as sculpture, painting, and feather mosaics. Perhaps Judaism.
the most well-known work of Aztec art is the calendar
stone, which became a national symbol of the state of
Mexico. During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Em-
pire, many of these artistic objects were sent to Europe, 6 Central/Southern/Eastern Asian
where they were placed in cabinets of curiosities, and
later redistributed to Westerm art museums. The Aztec
empire was based in the city of Tenochtitlan which was
largely destroyed during the colonial era. What remains
of it was buried beneath Mexico City. A few buildings,
such as the foundation of the Templo Mayor have since
been unearthed by archaeologists, but they are in poor
condition.

4.4 Colonial

Art in the Americas since the conquest has been a mix-

ture of indigenous and foreign traditions, including that
of the European, African, and Asian settlers. Thus,
books about the visual arts of the United States, such as
Francis Pohls Framing America, start with the conquest
and reconstruct manifold traditions. Numerous indige-
nous traditions thrived after the conquest. For example,
the Plains Indians created quillwork, beadwork, winter
counts, ledger art, and tipis in the pre-reservation era, and
afterwards became assimilated into the world of Mod-
ern and Contemporary art through institutions such as the
Santa Fe Indian School which encouraged students to de-
velop a unique Native American style. Many paintings
from that school, now called the Studio Style, were ex-
hibited at the Philbrook Museum of Art during its Indian
annual held from 1946 to 1979.
The Great Wave o Kanagawa by Hokusai
Main article: Eastern art history
Eastern civilization broadly includes Asia, and it also in-
cludes a complex tradition of art making. One Eastern
art history survey textbook is John Laplantes Asian Art.
It divides the eld by nation, with units on India, China,
and Japan.
Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to West-
ern medieval art, namely a concentration on surface pat-
terning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an
object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the

Fresco from Ajanta caves, c. 450-500
modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade
and reection). A characteristic of this style is that the lo- One of many ancient Yoruba sculptures discovered at Ife
cal colour is often dened by an outline (a contemporary
equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example,
the art of India, Tibet and Japan.
7 Africa
See also: Egyptian art, Art of ancient Egypt, African
folk art, and African tribal masks
The long story of African Art includes both high
sculpture, perhaps typied by the brass castings of the
Benin people, as well as folk art. In the ancient world,
Egypt is often thought of as the greatest artistic culture
of Africa, but it is also rivaled by Nubia, which was lo-
cated in present-day Sudan. Concurrent with the Euro-
pean Middle Ages, in the eleventh century CE a nation
that made grand architecture, gold sculpture, and intri-
cate jewelry was founded in Great Zimbabwe. Impres-
sive sculpture was concurrently being cast from brass by
the Yoruba people of what is now Nigeria. Such a cul-
ture grew and was ultimately transformed to become the
Benin Kingdom, where elegant altar tusks, brass heads,
plaques of brass, and palatial architecture was created.
The Benin Kingdom was ended by the British in 1897,
9
and little of the historical art now remains in Nigeria.
Today, the most signicant arts venue in Africa is the
Johannesburg Biennale.
8 Oceania
Main article: Art of Oceania
The Art of Oceania includes the geographic areas of
Micronesia, Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, and
Melanesia. Nicholas Thomass textbook Oceanic Art
treats the area thematically, with essays on ancestry,
warfare, the body, gender, trade, religion, and tourism.
Unfortunately, little ancient art survives from Oceania.
Scholars believe that this is likely because artists used per-
ishable materials, such as wood and feathers, which did
not survive in the tropical climate, and there are no his-
torical records to refer to most of this material. The un-
derstanding of Oceanias artistic cultures thus begins with
the documentation of it by Westerners, such as Captain
James Cook in the eighteenth century. At the turn of the
twentieth century the French artist Paul Gauguin spent
10 11 NATIONALIST ART HISTORY

signicant amounts of time in Tahiti, living with local 10 Art market

people and making modern arta fact that has become
intertwined with Tahitian visual culture to the present
day. The indigenous art of Australia often looks like ab- The art market can also be used to understand what
stract modern art, but it has deep roots in local culture. counts as part of art history. Art dealers and auc-
tioneers organize material for distribution to collectors.
Two of the largest, and oldest, art auction houses are
Sothebys and Christies, and each hold frequent sales of
great antiquities and art objects.
9 Art museums In addition to upstanding practices, a black market ex-
ists for great art, which is closely tied to art theft and art
forgery. No auction houses or dealers admit openly to
participating in the black market because of its illegality,
but exposs suggest widespread problems in the eld. Be-
cause demand for art objects is high, and security in many
parts of the world is low, a thriving trade in illicit antiq-
uities acquired through looting also exists. Although the
art community nearly universally condemns looting be-
cause it results in destruction of archeological sites, looted
art paradoxically remains omnipresent. Warfare is corre-
lated with such looting, as is demonstrated by the recent
archaeological looting in Iraq.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain

The experience of art history, as conveyed by art muse-

ums, tends to be organized dierently from that of text-
books due to the nature of collections and the institu-
tions themselves. Rather than a full march through time,
museums employ curators who assemble objects into
exhibitions, often with unique commentary that is later
reinterpreted by docents. Because they have the respon-
sibility to store objects, museums develop taxonomies
for their collections, using conventions of classication
authority for the sake of consistency. This may be under-
taken with the museums archivist. The result is to occa-
sionally nd a strong emphasis on the history of media in
conjunction with the history of culture.
Such an emphasis on media is a natural outgrowth of
the internal classication systems used in art museums,
which usually include departments of painting, sculpture,
decorative arts, and works on paper. Painting itself in-
cludes several media, such as oil painting, Tempera paint-
ing, watercolor. Sculpture can be divided into carving
and casting. The decorative arts are perhaps the most
diverse, as they include: textiles and needlework, which
includes weaving, lace, shibori, and other work with
fabric; Murals, of which frescoes are one form; and ob-
jects of adornment such as silver, ceramics, lacquerware,
stained glass, and furniture. Museums generally can-
not collect full buildings, but they may acquire pieces
of architectural ornamentation, which also fall under the
decorative arts department. Works on paper includes
printmaking, photography, and the book arts such as
illuminated manuscripts. Museums may also include a
department of applied arts, which includes objects of
good design along with the graphic art, illustration, and
other forms of commercial art.
11 Nationalist art history
Both the making of art, the academic history of art, and
the history of art museums are closely intertwined with
the rise of nationalism. Art created in the modern era,
in fact, has often been an attempt to generate feelings
of national superiority or love of ones country. Russian
art is an especially good example of this, as the Russian
avant-garde and later Soviet art were attempts to dene
that countrys identity.
Most art historians working today identify their specialty
as the art of a particular culture and time period, and of-
ten such cultures are also nations. For example, someone
might specialize in the 19th-century German or contem-
porary Chinese art history. A focus on nationhood has
deep roots in the discipline. Indeed, Vasari's Lives of
the Artists is an attempt to show the superiority of Flo-
rentine artistic culture, and Heinrich Wlin's writings
(especially his monograph on Albrecht Drer) attempt to
distinguish Italian from German styles of art.
Many of the largest and most well-funded art museums
of the world, such as the Louvre, the Victoria and Albert
Museum, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington
are state-owned. Most countries, indeed have a national
gallery, with an explicit mission of preserving the cultural
patrimony owned by the governmentregardless of what
cultures created the artand an often implicit mission to
bolster that countrys own cultural heritage. The National
Gallery of Art thus showcases art made in the United
States, but also owns objects from across the world.
 11

12 Academic art history 14 See also

Western art history

Eastern art history

15 References
[1] Gardner, p.xlvi

[2] Onians (2008), p. 316-317.

[3] http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/

[4] Gardner, p.2

[5] Gardner, p.6

[6] Gardner, pp.3-4

[7] Honour, H.; Fleming, J. (2005). A World History of Art.

Laurence King. ISBN 9781856694513. Retrieved 2015-
11-20.
Laocon and his Sons, Greek, (Late Hellenistic), c. 160 BCE and
20 BCE, White marble, Vatican Museum [8] Honour-Fleming (2002), p. 36-44.

[9] Gardner, p.12

The study of the history of art is a relatively recent phe-
nomenon; prior to the Renaissance, the modern concept
of "art" did not exist. Over time, art historians have
changed their views about what art is worthy of scrutiny.
For example, during the early Victorian era, the 15th-
century Italian artists were considered inferior to those
of 16th-century High Renaissance. Such a notion was
challenged by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. There has
since been a trend, dominant in art history of the 21st
century, to treat all cultures and periods neutrally. Thus,
Australian Aboriginal art would not be deemed better or
worse than Renaissance artit is just dierent. Art his-
torical analysis has also evolved into studying the social
and political use of art, rather than focusing solely on
the aesthetic appreciation of its craftsmanship (beauty).
What may once have been viewed simply as a masterpiece
is now understood as an economic, social, philosophical,
and cultural manifestation of the artists world-view, phi-
losophy, intentions and background.
[10] Onians (2008), p. 20-25.
[11] Azcrate (1983), p. 24-28.
[12] Onians (2008), p. 30-31.
[13] Historia de la Escritura De la escritura a la imprenta En-
torno Graco Windows. portalplanetasedna.com.ar. Re-
trieved 2016-03-13.
[14] Azcrate (1983), p. 36-44.
[15] Margueron, Jean-Claude (2002). La literatura sumeria.
Los mesopotmicos. Madrid: Ctedra. 84-376-1477-5.
[16] Robertson-Stevens (2000), p. 13-20.
[17] Azcrate (1983), p. 29-34.
[18] Does time y? Peter Galisons Empires of Time, a histori-
cal survey of Einstein and Poincare, intrigues Jon Turney
(Saturday September 6, 2003), The Guardian

[19] Contradictions of the Enlightenment: Darwin, Freud,

Einstein and Modern Art. fordham.edu. Retrieved
2015-11-20.
13 Sacred art history

While secular approaches to art history often empha- 16 Further reading

size individual creativity, the history of sacred art of-
ten emphasizes the ways that beautiful objects are used
to convey symbolic meaning in ritual contexts. The ten
largest organized religions of the world each have image-
making traditions. They are Confucianism, Buddhism,
Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Bah',
Jainism, and Shinto.
Adams, Laurie. Art across Time. 3rd ed. Boston:
McGraw-Hill, 2007.
Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardners Art
through the Ages: A Global History. 13th ed. Aus-
tralia: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2009.
12 17 EXTERNAL LINKS

Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art. 15th ed. Engle- 17.1 Timelines

wood Clis, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1990.
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. The Visual Arts:
A History. 5th ed. New York: Henry N. Abrams,
1999.
Art History Timeline historyexplorer.net
Timeline of Art History from Metropolitan Museum
of Art

Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History

of Art. 7th ed. Laurence King Publishing, 2005,
ISBN 1-85669-451-8, ISBN 978-1-85669-451-3
Janson, H. W., and Penelope J. E. Davies. Jansons
History of Art: The Western Tradition. 7th ed. Up-
per Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.
Oliver Grau (Ed.): MediaArtHistories, Cam-
bridge/Mass.: MIT-Press, 2007.
La Plante, John D. Asian Art. 3rd ed. Dubuque, IA:
Wm. C. Brown, 1992.
Miller, Mary Ellen. The Art of Mesoamerica: From
Olmec to Aztec. 4th ed, World of Art. London:
Thames & Hudson, 2006.
Pierce, James Smith, and H. W. Janson. From Aba-
cus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History. 7th ed. Up-
per Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social His-
tory of American Art. New York, NY: Thames &
Hudson, 2002.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. 3rd ed. Upper Sad-
dle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2008.
Thomas, Nicholas. Oceanic Art, World of Art. New
York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1995.
Thuillier, Jacques, Histoire de l'art, Paris, Flammar-
ion, 2002. ISBN 2-08-012535-4
Thuillier, Jacques, History of Art, Paris, Flammar-
ion, 2002. ISBN 2-08-010875-1
Wilkins, David G., Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn
M. Lindu. Art Past, Art Present. 6th ed. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2008.

17 External links
History of Art: From Paleolithic Age to Contem-
porary Art all-art.org
Art: The history of ideas in literature and the arts
in aesthetic theory and literary criticism The Dic-
tionary of the History of Ideas
Art History resources
Ars Summum Project
Smarthistory.org, The Open Art Project
 13

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