Art History Summaries Unit 1-10

Unit 1

Egyptian art was mainly sculptures of the kings and Queens of each dynasty. The high standards in regards to the people sculpted was so high they their body was that of a lion the most powerful animal in wild and the heads of those in power. Their art was had a lot of colors to emphasize the beauty and power of the rulers.

     African art have the same technique as Egyptian art such that their sculptures were of those in power. They didn’t use a lot of color on their art pieces but instead made the eyes of the people more diamond shaped. Their artwork was also a lot of mask that were mainly used for ritual practices.

Unit 2

    

Ancient Near East had consisted of five main civilizations that were the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Babylonians, the Hittities, and the Persians. Due to this there was a variety when it came to arts. Royalty and kings had realized that art had benefits where artists could glorify the wicked rulers as well as brought gods to “life.” Just like other civilizations Near East art consisted of statues, paintings, murals, structures with carvings and depictions, etc. The arts were used for personal use, religion and to give places or areas an esteemed look. Near East had quite a few civilizations within it made its art somewhat distinct compared to other civilizations.

Unit 5

 Before 1200, India had a wide variety of art such as seal impressions, pillars, stupas, sculptures and statues. Art was also vastly represented in temples and halls by various methods such as the fresco technique, using a certain number of marks (such as a lakshana), panels, particular details, painting or carvings. Symbolism was greatly used because of what they stand for such as the torana’s that symbolizes the Buddhist cosmos on the Great Stupa.

Unit 6

Art of China before 1280, similar to India, most artwork had great significance and meaning to its people. They also used carvings and techniques to give meaning to temples, halls, buildings, artwork and more. Religion was connected to a lot of their arts and people worshipped some of their art to give praise to whomever they believed in. Chinese arts before the 1280s were precious, sacred and were practiced by many of its people.

Unit 7

Due to the variety of culture, art before 1300 in the Americas had quite a few components. There was no writing for some, large sculptures, large earthen mounds, paintings, etc. There were cultures such as Olmec, Mayan, Teotihuacan, Disquis, Chauvin and more. There was metal work, murals and decorations. Some designs had human and animal depictions as a sign of worship to whom they viewed as gods or higher beings. There was a lot of art that resembled those of ancient societies such as Greece.

Art in the Americas before the 1300s probably had the most components compared to other civilizations. The Chinese made bowls, vessels, images of deities, statues, sculptures, vases, paintings, and even tomb models of a house (for those who passed away).

Unit 8

Getting people to come to church and learn the teaching of Jesus. In order to create interest in its people they created large cathedrals that were now elevated in structure with pointed arches to withhold the weight of the church. They also added in stain glass windows that were high up in the church so that it allowed for bright light to shine through. Each stain glass window told a different biblical story. With doing this it allowed for those unaware of the Christian religion to easily look up and learn without having to read a book. It even benefited those who couldn’t read and gave them a chance to be involved in the learning process. In today’s society these same stain glass window biblical stories in church still attract people to the church through its print colors and easy to read visual languages.

Unit 9.

During the renaissance-art time period of a lot of the artist that were major at the time were, Brunelleschi who brought along linear perspective and the vanishing point, Leonardo De Vinci so created the image of the Last Supper. Michelangelo and his Sistine Chapel that took over four years to created and told the story from the book of Genesis in the bible. Jan van Eyck came up with the idea of using oil paint in which he created an Alter piece for a cathedral in Ghent c.1432. A lot of the art created during this era was focusing on the religion that was taking the world by storm, which was Christianity. At this time everyone was trying to make sure everyone was involved with this movement so artist created easy to read art pieces that depicted the current religion.