Art has been around for as long as we have. No matter the location, culture or time, it is always in some way present and it will continue to grow and evolve with us.
“There are no ‘plain facts’ in the history of art-or in history of anything else for that matter, only degrees of plausibility. Every statement no matter how fully documented, is subject to doubt and remains a ‘fact’ only as long so nobody questions it” exert from History of Art by H.W. Janson. Art has been made in every society, not all have called it art, and not all have had the concept of art, but it has always been present. When I sat down to begin writing my first blog post for this project, I realized I had nothing to write. I don’t know anything about art history but I immediately ran to my mom for help knowing she took an art history class in collage. She pointed me to the thickest book I have ever seen, History of Art and even though there is no way I am going to be able to finish this book it (and the internet) will be my main sources as I learn more about art history.
The oldest pieces of “art” we have discovered are thought to date back to at least 290,000 BCE but as could date as far back to 700,000 BCE! These first pieces are called the Bhimbetka Petroglyphs. Petroglyphs are prehistoric rock carvings. These cupules were found in a cave in Madhya Pradesh region of central India. Cupules are the earliest known prehistoric art and have been found on every continent except Antarctica, there pretty much “rock art”.
In Mesopotamia, around 3400 BC, people finally began to come up with real writing systems which began the “real history of art”. After Mesopotamia, other civilization began making writing systems. Around this time people began to make more statues, architecture, pots and temples. Lots of these included their gods in some way. After religion became a thing, art was a way to give the gods a beautiful temples, tell a story of their mythology and since the gods in the civilizations massively affected the place they of course hugely affected the art as well.
In the Middle Ages when the west was dominated by the church, art became about the bible. the church hated the idea of people believing in other gods rather than their own and since the church’s power was so influential it affected the art there.
In the Renaissance art was revived from terrifying babies and became more about painting places and using perspective. Since religion was still very present in the Renaissance there was still art portraying the bible but people tended to paint humans more as they actually are.
Since the east was pretty much cut off from the rest of the world and was independent for a long time, their art evolved in there own way without the rest of the world to influence it. After isolationism faded in Japan they began to westernize their art, pretty much be more liked by the west.
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So how did this, become this, become this?
With modern art came Impressionism, expressionism, cubism, Dadaism, surrealism and many other “isisms.” The experiences of global wars threw out all “rules” for art and people began experimenting with shapes and colours, lights, splats, anything and every thing they can think of! There is some modern art I find really fascinating and some that I don’t get at all but maybe thats the beauty of modern art.
as humans evolve art has evolved with us, and even though no two peoples art is ever the same, all artists have been influenced by arts history.
As humans discover more and more materials more art will come from that. In prehistoric art its not like they had fancy paints and paint brushes at their disposal, they had to use what resources they could get and it has been the same throughout all of art history. As more styles and types of art are created more tools will be made to help the artist make their work.
If you look any oldish era or places art you will notice it all shares (in some sort of way) the same vibe. Travel, technology and the internet changed that a lot in my opinion. After the world was exposed to each others architecture, sculptures, paintings, music, and all the other types of art they all had to offer, it affected the other art styles and as the art styles mixed and traded techniques and ideas and new genres were formed, which is why I believe there is such a range of art styles out there! if you even looked around our school you would notice dozens of different art styles and techniques and since materials for art are common now it encourages people to began art so new styles are being created every day!
Art definition: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
Art is just a word we created to explain the feeling we get when we experience something beautiful and that moves us that comes from humans need to create. Art will never stop expanding and growing and changing even if we get rid of the term “art” and its important to look back over the history of art because it has affected not just artists but everyone in the world.