Art History INTRODUCTION de Beaufort

1. Art History: Ancient to Medieval
OVERVIEW

2. HISTORY
• History (from Greek
ἱστορία, historia,
meaning "inquiry,
knowledge acquired
by investigation") is
the study of the past,
particularly how it
relates to humans.

3. HISTORY
History is a
continuous,
systematic narrative
of past events as
relating to a particular
people, country,
period, person, etc.,
usually written as a
chronological
account; chronicle:

4. HISTORYHistory is a story….
The story of humanity.
Lots of things
happened....can we make
sense of it...?
How complete/accurate is
our version of events ?

5. Historical and Ahistorical TIME

6. Several animals painted 5000 years apart
32000 BCE-26000 BCE

7. Ahistorical societies
Civilizations with no written records
still produce art and myth, and still
have a sense of time and
lineage…but do not have a sense of
history (the rise and fall of other
civilizations).
Past, present, future are co-present-

8. Historical societies
..have a sense of history and
knowledge and awareness of
civilizations that came before and have
since passed.
Stages of development
“Course of Empire”
(Thomas Cole)

9. The Savage State 9

10. The Arcadian or Pastoral State 10

11. The Consumation of Empire 11

12. Destruction 12

13. Desolation 13

14. Our Two (very different) Versions of the Future
Human imagination tends towards the extremes

15. HISTORY and the FUTURE
The Future looks BLEAK
Things get worse (resources, population, war,
disease, economy, environment)
– Things get worse very quickly (apocalypse)
• After this a select group (INCLUDING YOU
OF CORSE) will rise again (chosen few)
– Things get worse very quickly (apocalypse)
• There are no survivors and the human race
disappears
– Things get worse gradually (decline), but nobody
does anything because we have a bias towards
short term thinking and sabotage ourselves (think
Easter Island)
– Things get “worse” but its not that bad because
our present state is unsustainable and we are
living in unnecessary luxury and can adapt to new
circumstances as long as we form a new
Worldview.
The Future looks AWESOME
Things get better over time due to
continuing progress and advances in
technology.
– Things get better but very slowly, so just be
patient.
– Things get better, but not for everyone. But who
cares as long as you are not among the have-nots
?
– Things not only get better, but after a while we
solve all our problem through the application of
Reason, Science, and Technology.
– Things get better but then a super-intelligent AI
takes over and kills us all

16. Probably some
combination of good and
bad
We adapt

17. Do we learn anything from our study of history ??

18. ART
The conscious use of skill and the
creative imagination in the
production of an aesthetic object.

19. 3 STEPS to ART
Step 1:
Become aware of one’s own existence
in a cosmic/existential sense
Jacques Lacan:
The “Mirror Stage”
Our first moment of self-awareness..
Humans and…
Elephants, chimps, orangutangs,
dolphins, killer whales, the eurasian
magpie...theoretically would have the
ability to create art

20. 3 STEPS to ART
Step 2:
Recognition
-recognize representational imagery in
natural phenomenon

21. 3 STEPS to ART
Step 3:
Representation
-recreate recognized images through a
capacity for symbolic thought and
imagination
The curious case of the Elephants of
Chiang Mai

22. Purposes of Art
• Ceremonial
• Narrative
• Functional
• Persuasive
• Artistic Expression

23. Purposes of Art
• Ceremonial

24. Purposes of Art
• Narrative

25. Purposes of Art
• Functional

26. Purposes of Art
• Persuasive

27. Purposes of Art
• Artistic Expression

29. ART+HISTORY=Art History
• My definition of Art
History:
Telling the story/stories of
civilizations by examining
the arts it produced.

30. Studying the past helps us understand
the present and the future.

31. 5 PERIODS OF STUDY
1.
Pre-historical Europe and the
Mediterranean

32. 5 PERIODS OF STUDY
2. Ancient Near-East

33. 5 PERIODS OF STUDY
3. Ancient Egypt

34. 5 PERIODS OF STUDY
4. Ancient Greece

35. 5 PERIODS OF STUDY
5. Ancient Rome

36. OBJECTIVES

37. • Students will be able to
describe, analyze,
interpret and judge a
work of art using the
visual elements and
design principles as a
foundation of their
discussion.

38. • Discuss the form or
design of a work of art
in relationship to the
personality of the artist,
and/or the socio
cultural
environment/context.

39. • Recognize examples of
each of the major art
styles as they are
presented and
discussed.

40. • Identify major historical
periods in Western art,
and identify the styles,
and major artists, from
those periods

41. • Name individual
artists/civilizations and
identify representative
works of their art.
• EGYPT
• MESOPOTAMIA
• GREECE
• ROME

42. • Be able to discuss and
write about artists and
works of art in an
objective/critical
manner using an
appropriate vocabulary,
develop and apply
aesthetic criteria to
discussions of works of
art.

43. • Be able to use research
and critical thinking
skills in analyzing and
comparing periods,
styles, artists, and
works of art.

44. • Understand cultural
and historical
influences that affect
art and make
comparisons between
art and other
disciplines for each of
the historical periods.