Art created by indigenous people of a geographical area that is not influenced by any other cultural group or outside people

Australian Aboriginal art refers to art done by Australian Aborigines, covering art that pre-dates European colonisation as well as contemporary art by Aborigines based on traditional culture.

This art form, made by the Aboriginal natives of Australia, is a part of a culture known to date back as far as 50,000 years into the past. Although their art is formally classified within the Oceanic art category, the Aboriginal people have produced, and keep producing till this day, an art form that cannot be truly comparable to any other art form, as theirs was a culture kept in pure isolation, and their isolation led to an evolution of art that is uniquely their own. Paintings mainly include from communities in the Kimberley, Balgo, Central and Western Desert and Top End (including Arnhem Land).

It is not restricted to merely paintings, but includes a wide variety of mediums including wood carving, sculpture and ceremonial clothing. To an extent, Aboriginal art also includes artistic embellishments found on weaponry and tools.

Aboriginals used to live almost entirely in small traveling communities, or kin groups hunting skillfully for food and gathering what materials they needed from their surroundings. Any one person is placed in one of up to eight kin groups, while all of humanity and all the phenomena of both the natural and spiritual world are classed as belonging to one or another complementary groups called moieties. These two separate distinctions determine a persons social and religious conduct and the difference in moieties is important to understanding

Contemporary Aboriginal art is a vital part of the world's oldest continuous cultural tradition. It is also one of the most brilliant and exciting areas of modern art.

Aboriginal art, as each moiety deals with different subject and different designs. Their material existence was often stark, as many tribes wandered the far outreaches of the outback, some lived in the tropical regions of the north and the temperate climates of the south- and some literally survived in the deserts of the mid-continent. The most durable art works are the multitude of rock carvings and rock paintings which are found all across Australia, antedating the Paleolithic rock carvings found in some locations in Europe.

Painting Methods

Aboriginal artists traditionally used many different materials and techniques to pr oduce a variety of painted surfaces from ochre body designs or ochre paintings on bark to sand paintings. Contemporary artists may still use ochres but they also employ a range of non-traditional materials such as canvas or paper and acrylic paints or binders. These materials have allowed a far greater variety of colours to be used - resulting in the brilliantly coloured images often seen in contemporary Aboriginal art.

Abstract

Abstract art is now generally understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses shapes and colours in a non-representational or non-objective way. In the very early 20th century, the term was more often used to describe art, such as Cubist and Futurist art, that does represent the natural world, but does so by capturing something of its immutable intrinsic qualities rather than by imitating its external appearance.

History: Two artistic styles of the 1920s used abstract representations in their imagery for the first time in Western culture. A 20th century style of painting in which nonrepresentational lines, colours, shapes, and forms replace accurate visual depiction of objects, landscape, and figures.

The subjects often stylized, blurred, repeated or broken down into basic forms so that it becomes unrecognisable. Intangible subjects such as thoughts, emotions, and time are often expressed in abstract art form

Beforehand, abstract designs could be seen in the religious art of Jewish or Muslim cultures, in the decorations of artifacts and places of worship. This religious aversion to figurative representation of religiously- emotive icons was spurned in most Western cultures until the very turn of the 20th century, when it finally came to fruition through two distinct and separate mentalities.

Approach: Not realistic, though the intention is often based on an actual subject, place, or feeling. Pure abstracion can be interpreted as any art in which the depiction of real objects has been entirely discarded and whose aesthetic content is expressed in a formal pattern or structure of shapes, lines and colors. When the representation of real objects is completely absent, such art may be called non-objective.

The first approach to abstract depiction centered on the use of shapes taken from the natural world. Regular portraits, landscapes and nature-scenes were stripped of the usual identifying marks; they were distilled into the essence of themselves, as captured by the artist. The goal was to expose the images and shapes already lying within any and all subject-matter. The face of a woman could be seen to be a series of triangles and circles and lines, as could be seen in all the work done by such Cubists as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, a Bird in flight became the breathtaking lines of Constantine Brancusis take on infinity and his sculpture was paradoxically both identifiable and without any traditional figurative features.

The second and more far-flung approach was so diverse it can barely be categorized into one huge lump of artistic creativity. This outlook gave credence to the very tools of art. Lines, shapes, color blotches, skewed perspective, tonal rhythm- these all became end-result, and were no longer simply defined as a means to a figurative end. These artistic tools now existed in their own right, with various interpretations as to their use.

Further Abstract art is an art in which real objects in nature are represented in a way that wholly or partially neglects their true appearance and expresses it in a form of sometimes unrecognizable patterns of lines, colors and shapes.

On the one hand were the harsh geometric lines, the perfected finish and gloss of the Constructivists, the Suprematists, the Futurists and the De Stijls. Attention to strict detail, absorption in the intricacies of form and counterform, of compositional integrity would be seen throughout the century in the work of Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Georg Vantongerloo, Bart van der Leck. From Russia we can see the mystical work of Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin and Aleksander Rodchenko, the materialistic earthiness of Naum Gabo and Antoine Povsner. These advances into clean geometric illustration would finally lead to Minimalism and Bauhaus in the 1950s and onwards. On the other hand was the softer, more indistinct abstractive art of Orphic Cubism and Tachisme.

The overall look was splotches of color sitting in apparent disarray on the canvas. The emphasis was intuitive and emotive; and expressive outlet of imagination that needed no formalized thematic structure. In this general category we can see the work of Robert Delaunay, Fernand Leger and Juan Gris.

Abstract Expressionism

A 20th-century American painting style, also called "action painting." Artists working in this style applied paint freely with sweeping, flinging, and dripping gestures in an effort to express their subconscious emotions. This is an Art that addressed the entire body of work as one unified form of expression.

History: Abstract Expressionism was an American post-World War II art movement. An American art movement that began in the 1940s emphasizing free, spontaneous and personal emotional expression. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and also the one that put New York City at the center of the art world, a role formerly filled by Paris.

Artists: Pioneered by such artists as Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) and Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Abstract Expressionism is seen by many critics as representing a dividing line between "traditional" American painting and the broader, global movement now studied under the rubric of "Modern Art."

This term was at first loosely applied to Vasily Kandinskys early abstract works, but it is best understood in reference to an American artistic movement that sprang up in New York in the 1940s, who fiercely resisted even being called abstractionists. This wasnt a cohesive group that worked together or in tandem. Rather the term refers to many different artists with one common denominator.

This movement was originated in New York City in the 1940s. It emphasized spontaneous personal expression, freedom from accepted artistic values, surface qualities of paint, and the act of painting itself.

This blurred distinction has brought on something of a mess in art history literature, and this group is also referred to as Art Autre, Art Informal, Tachisme or Abstraction Lyrique in some combination or other. The dispute over their abstractionism may have its roots in the fact that these painters certainly did not attempt to make abstracts in the same manner common to the European artists at the time.

Aestheticism

The idea that the pursuit of beauty is the primary goal of art and that art need not reflect any moral, social or religious concerns. Also known as "art for art's sake".

This is not so much an artistic style, but rather a mentality that sprung up in the art world and placed the justification for art not in social or moral terms, but in terms of pure beauty.

The Aesthetic movement is a loosely defined movement in art and literature in later nineteenth century Britain. Generally speaking, it represents the same tendencies that Symbolism or Decadence stood for in France, and may be considered the English branch of the same movement. It belongs to the anti-Victorian reaction and had post-Romantic roots. It took place in the late Victorian period from around 1868 to 1901, and is generally considered to have ended with the trial of Oscar Wilde.

Art existed to be beautiful and nothing more; it would take the best of reality and enhance it. The famous quote that is best associated with this kind of mentality is Lart pour lart, meaning art for arts sake alone. Thus the criticism of art should stay entirely independent from the political or social realities that the art was created in, and from the possibility that it may carry content now no longer in favor.

Artists: (1870-c.1900) An awareness of aestheticism in British artistic and literary society in the late 19th century. Led by figures like James Whister (1834-1903) and Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1857-1900), the movement was important for its cult of "art for art's sake" which pervaded all forms of art and literature.

Today this kind of thinking would seem in most places to demean art, as the artist is given no social function, his/her voice is flattened out to modulate only the most beautiful version of reality and nothing else. The scenes depicted seem frivolous, whimsical or too perfect to be true, which they all are.

African

The term "African art" encompasses the various artworks of more than 50 distinct nations and a period of more than a millennium.

African art can roughly be categorized into pre-historic art that resembles greatly the other pre-historic art of Neolithic Europe, and the art that came after it, commonly referred to as primitive art.

Africa is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. At about 30,244,050 km˛ (11,677,240 mi˛) including its adjacent islands, it covers 20.3 percent of the total land area on Earth. With over 800 million human inhabitants in 54 countries, it accounts for about one seventh of the world human population.

Africa includes cultures that have been non-literate up until a few generations ago, and those who have been reading and writing Arabic for nine hundred years.

The African landscapes range from arid deserts to lush river valleys. Many African cultures prefer a nomadic or semi-settled lifestyle; others have erected large palaces - such as those in sixteenth century Benin.

African arts exhibit no less variety. Rock art has been produced in Africa from 25,000 B.C.E. up to the nineteenth century. Textiles, scarification, jewelry, painting, sculpture, architecture, and festival arts (such as masquerade) all have an established place in the African arts arena. For the most part, this applies to statuettes of wood, bronze and ivory, various musical instruments, beads and decorated tools, woven ceremonial dress and reliefs. From the naturalistic images of bronze and clay statues of the Ife culture of Nigeria to the leather covered statues and polls of Western Cameroon, this term encompasses a massive stockpile of art works.

Prehistoric tribal art dates from about 7000 B.C in the area that is now the Sahara desert. Cave carvings and drawings depict hunting scenes and animal images; hippopotamuses, rhinos, elephants- all shown figuratively, with fine details and naturally produced pigments. The scenes are a testament to the social structure of the hunter-gatherer societies throughout their evolution on the African plains; the period of 4000 B.C to 1200 B.C delineating the Grazing period where depictions of domesticated animals could be seen for the first time, in a later period riding beasts and human figures riding them exist- and finally there is the Camel period that was the most persistent in peripheral Africa. In the southern areas of Africa scenes of tribal wars were discovered, with different colors to signify the various tribes. Later on even figures of the white man can be seen.

Art-making is commonly divided along gender lines, though collaborative art is usual as well, and the accomplishments of individual artists, while recognized, are generally not given as much prominence as in the West.

Another commonality among the diversity of African art is its primacy in African cultures. Rather than serving merely to adorn, arts in Africa are part of the ideology and cultural construction of societies.

A distinction is seldom made between the so-called "fine" and "applied" arts; indeed, most African languages have no word for "art" as it is expressed in the West, indicating the seamless integration of art into the lives of African peoples. "Objects" of art in Africa derive meaning, even as they imbue meaning, contextually; the way a mask, for example, is perceived will change drastically depending on the perspective of the viewer as spectator, wearer, buyer or collector. Example: Benin art of Africa includes ceremonial heads.

The West has been inspired by the multiplicity of this art since it was first introduced by archeologists and cultural explorers in the 19th century. Tribal art played a very specific role in African culture; it was an integral part of religious worship and social ceremony. Its modern resurgence stripped it of its pagan roots and its traditional significance. Artifacts were symbols of natural forces or the spirits of the dead; they were an act of homage and respect to tribal elders. Very few pieces are for purely decorative use.

From the Cubists onwards, western artist have borrowed design patterns, tribal signatures and ceremonial images to break away from the strict values of what is deemed acceptable on our side of the world. Whereas these compositions were part of everyday life in Africa, derivative from the traditional face painting and body markings, in 20th century Europe these patterns were employed without any cultural connotation. The most lasting of these is the classic African mask; an object that appears throughout all of the continent, and through almost the whole range of cultures that existed here.

The art dated after the millennium A.D are far more sophisticated. Many of the bronze statues were done with innovative casting techniques, some of which are still in use today. The head figurines show finer details and testify to knowledge of fine tool making abilities. Ironically, the delicate nuances of early African art were not refined through time, but stylialzed in the extreme, leaving behind the naturalistic features and becoming more and more universal across the continent, though the techniques kept steadily improving.

Art and Language

The beginnings of Conceptual art in the 20th century

History: The Art-Language works came about with a group of British artists working in the 1960s. Most of their activity was a by-product of the Art-Language journal, which had been up and running since 1966, and would later be published in 1969. As the title of the journal suggests, this work was dedicated to theoretical issues of conceptual art and the interrelations of the written word as an icon of meaning as opposed to the visual tools with which an artist communicates to his/her audience.

In the early 1970s Ian Burn, Michael Corris, Charles Harrison, Preston Heller, Graham Howard, Joseph Kosuth, Andrew Menard, Mel Ramsden, Terry Smith and from Coventry Philip Pilkington and David Rushton joined the group and worked under its name.

Relying on the fields of philosophy, sociology and linguistics, they attempted to define the essence and function of art, offering a critical, researched inquiry as to the source of art- the artist him/herself.

They analyzed the psychological, social and philosophical points of view of the artist; things which had seemed till then to be mystically secretive aspects of the artistic process and by 1975 had amassed a large body of work, both in literary indexes, publications and essays and in visual art and performances.

The name Art & Language was first used in 1968 by the British artists Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, Michael Baldwin and Harold Hurrell, who had been collaborating on works since around 1966, and who were at that time teaching art in Coventry. Their early work, as well as their journal Art-Language which first appeared in 1969, is regarded as an important influence on much conceptual art both in the United Kingdom and in the United States. The Art & Language group that exhibited in the international Documenta exhibitions of 1972 included Atkinson, Bainbridge, Baldwin, Hurrell, Pilkington and Rushton and the then America editor of Art-Language Joseph Kosuth. In 1986, the remnants of the group were nominated for the Turner Prize.

Art & Language produced a good deal of art as well as theoretical writings, though by the end of the 1970s the group was essentially reduced to Baldwin, Harrison and Ramsden as the political analysis that developed within the group resulted in many members leaving to work in more activist political occupations. Ian Burn and Terry Smith returned to Australia where they joined forces with Ian Milliss, a conceptual artist who had begun working with trade unions in the early 1970s, to set up Union Media Services, a design studio specialising in social marketing and community and trade union based art initiatives. Karl Beveridge and Carol Conde who had been peripheral members in New York, returned to Canada where they also began to work with trade unions and community groups. Other UK members drifted off into a variety of creative, academic and sometimes "politicised" occupations.

Art Deco

Art Deco (French: Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes) was an early twentieth century movement in the decorative arts, that also grew in influence to affect architecture, fashion and the visual arts.

History: Art Deco derived its name from the World's fair held in Paris in 1925, formally titled the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which showcased French luxury goods and reassured the world that Paris remained the international center of style after World War I. Art Deco did not originate with the Exposition; it was a major style in Europe from the early 1920s, though it did not catch on in the U.S. until about 1928, when it quickly modulated into the Moderne during the 1930s, the decade with which Americanized Art Deco is most strongly associated today.

A modern movement of the 1920sand 30s that came as a complete backlash to the soft, feminine organic shapes of the Nouveau style. Whereas Nouveau celebrated the shapes of flowers and the female curves, Deco celebrated the stream-lines masculine speed of the modern world.

It is characterized by sharp, angular shapes and the glorification of the machine-age. Though it drew its inspiration from many eclectic sources, the style is distinctive with its utter lack of grace.

Some of its influences include Italian Futurism, Constructivism, Cubism and early 20th century Avant-garde painting. It is a harsh, definitive style that mixed several decorative styles eclectically and debuted in the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Decoratifs in Paris.

Its most prominent names are the painter Tamara de Lempicka,the architect Willian van Allen and the glass artist Rene Lalique.

Art Deco slowly lost patronage in the West after reaching mass production, where it began to be derided as gaudy and presenting a false image of luxury. Eventually the style was cut short by the austerities of World War II. In colonial countries such as India, it became a gateway for Modernism and continued to be used well into the 1960s. A resurgence of interest in Art Deco came with graphic design in the 1980s, where its association with film noir and 1930s glamour led to its use in ads for jewelry and fashion. This is still the image of Art Deco held in the minds of most Americans.

Artists : Adolphe Mouron Cassandre , Jean Dunand ,Jean Dupas ,Erté (Romain de Tirtoff) (1892-1990) ,Alexandra Exter ,Eileen Gray ,, George Jensen ,René Lalique ,Jules Leleu ,Tamara de Lempicka ,Paul Manship ,Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann ,Sue et Mar ,Walter Dorwin Teague ,Carl Paul Jennewein

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau can be understood as a response to Impressionism on one hand, and the Industrial Revolution on the other. As the name "New Art" suggests, Art Nouveau was the self-conscious usher of a "modern" style. Indeed, it was style itself that most concerned Art Nouveau's practitioners.

The Impressionists broke with tradition in their methods, but their aim, to depict nature realistically, was shared with the Old Masters. Art Nouveau seems to have more in common with the delight in geometry of Islamic art than with the study of shadow, light and perspective that so preoccupied Western art for so long.

Art Nouveau, like all art styles, was a response to its environment. In late-nineteenth century America and Europe, the Industrial Revolution resulted in the mass production of cheaply made goods and in the shoddy ornamentation of buildings, whose cornices and moldings often seemed stuck to the buildings. With the Arts and Crafts movement, John Ruskin and William Morris attempted to bring craftsmanship back to production. Art Nouveau was another response to the difficult propositions put forth by a new manufacturing mode. Rather than a return to a more medieval model of craftsmanship,

Art Nouveau developed a sensitivity to design itself and to the possibilities particular materials offered. Iron and glass were approached with an artistic eye instead of simply a utilitarian one, and the result was the sweeping, elegant curves of Art Nouveau architecture. Seeking inspiration, these Western artists turned once again to Asia, seen in the Japanese swerve and counterpoint a new world of possibility. In architecture, Victor Horta was a proponent of Art Nouveau; in the visual arts, Gustav Klimt, Aubrey Beardsley and Alphonse Mucha were leading practitioners. Louis Comfort Tiffany's glasswork also exhibits the style. Example: Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations are Art Nouveau in style

Beardsley had become famous throughout Europe for his overtly sexual, often ominous black and white prints and paintings that displayed scenes and imagery taken from the world of both fine art and folklore. Pre-Raphaelite women in the pose of a Grecian goddess, the vines of Bacchus grapes intermingling with Celtic tartan designs, the precise discipline of a purely graphic technique set to the task of shaping lush, luxurious, natural shapes- these were the trademark characteristics of Beardsley that inspired other artists and artisans in establishing a new art.

This style was pervasive mainly in the applied arts, such as architecture and drawing, with many industrial designers, interior designers and furniture makers being influenced by this new approach to use of organic shapes and themes, but it also seeped into the fine arts of sculpture and especially drawing. This is a style of soft, rounded shapes and images of growth, vegetation and wildlife, the overall effect is usually erotic and fantastical.

Two general schools of thought can roughly be separated out of this new style

Many commercial artists, printmakers, metal smiths, jewelers, glass blowers and illustrators who were inclined to the style created jarring, asymmetrical lines coupled with smooth flowing organic shapes and images. Of these the most famous is Alfons Mucha, the Czech print-maker, who habitually used pale, creamy colors and effusive circular lines. In architecture it would the unbeatable Antonio Gaudi and the Belgian Victor Horta.

For the second group we may look to the ultra-modern linear compositions of buildings, furniture and decorations of Charles Renee Macintosh, the Scottish designer. The floral and organic motifs are still there, the preoccupation with tall, clean lines and otherworldliness, but here the ebb and flow stops. Macintosh is harsh and definitive, the flowers and vines are stylized into petrifaction. The Art Nouveau features are present, but they have been dignified into somberness. The result is exquisitely precise and severe, with the occasional glimpse of a delicate petal design, or the slant of sunlight illuminating a niche of idealized plant motifs.

An artistic style that lasted no more than three or four decades, beginning in the 1890s, that drew its aesthetic inspiration from the English painter Aubrey Beardsley [1872-1898].

Artists

Architecture

Émile André

August Endel

Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926)

Victor Horta (1861-1947)

Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956)

Hector Guimard (1867-1942)

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)

Louis Sullivan (1856-1924)

Otto Wagner

Drawing, Graphics

Aubrey Beardsley

Gaston Gerard

Alfons Mucha

Edvard Munch

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Pierre Bonnard

Arts and Crafts

Arts and Crafts movement was a design movement of the late 19th and early 20th century, whose proponents included William Morris and Edwin Lutyens. They believed that medieval craftsmen achieved a joy in the excellence of their work, which they strove to emulate.

History: The Arts and Crafts movement was a reformist movement, at first inspired by the writings of John Ruskin, that was at its height between approximately 18801910. The movement influenced British decorative arts, architecture, cabinet making, crafts, and even the "cottage" garden designs of William Robinson or Gertrude Jekyll. Its best-known practitioners were William Morris, Charles Robert Ashbee, T. J. Cobden Sanderson, Walter Crane, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Christopher Dresser, Edwin Lutyens and artists in the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The Arts an d Crafts movement was part of the major English aesthetic movement of the last years of the 19th century.

In the United States, it should be noted, the term Arts and Crafts movement is often used to denote the style of interior design that prevailed between the dominant eras of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, or roughly the period from 1910 to 1925. This article does not deal with the American usage of the term.

It is celebrated a return to individuality and craftsmanship in art. The term is sometime misreferenced, as in Britain this became a fully established aesthetic, reformist movement that greatly influenced all the visual arts, architecture, garden design and down to furniture and interior design.

Features: Beauty and elegance in functionality was the main point of view in this movement. They stressed the great importance of each piece being handcrafted in defiance of a world that had finally become completely industrialized; mass producing practical household artifacts and furniture with the same ease as it now produced art. Division of labor- in which one person creates only one part of the piece and then it is moved on to its next station- included no personal intervention of the designer's part. It cheapened the process for the manufacturer, kept the craftsmen in poverty and degraded the quality of the piece.

Artists: The famous English art critic John Ruskin was the conceptual founding father of the movement and William Morris translated these ideas into a practical artistic style. Ruskin wrote thirty-nine very heavy volumes of his theories and research that had a huge impact with the Edwardian art scene. He published his first book in 1843 and continued to write many more, among which he staunchly defends the new Pre-Raphaelite movement and the paintings of William Turner . Morris was an English author, painter and printmaker and he was prominent in the Edwardian period [from about 1858 onwards]. He drew his inspiration from the traditions of the Middle-Ages, and wanted to return art to its place as an intrinsic part of everyday life. Functional is beautiful' is the common quote from Morris, and in 1861 he founded Morris and Company, a factory for making wall hangings, colored glass pieces, wood carvings and furniture. This factory is famous for its S' shaped designs. Many well-known artists designed for Morris' factory, among which were the Pre-Raphaelite painters, Edward Burne-Jones and Gabrielle Rossetti. Other artists that created arts and crafts work were Charles Robert Ashbee, Walter Crane, Charles Mackintosh and T.J Cobden Sanderson. The basic idea that binds all of these diverse artists and their separate styles is their cleanly functional designs. The usual decorations are stripped away and the selfsame elements that hold the piece together act as decorations.

Ashcan School

The term ash can' literally refers to the depictions of filth and squalor that could be seen in the U.S up until the outbreak of the First World War. At first they were called The Eight' group, and they basically began as an opposition force to the conservatively academic artistic style that was then being taught in America [mainly the famous Chase's Art School in Pennsylvania ].

The Eight wanted to break free from the formalistic and stuffy style of paintings and their first exhibition in 1908 had an outcast atmosphere of people going against the appropriate. Theirs was a realistic style of paintings of city scenes and real life'. Many painted the poverty of city slums, ghetto communities and ethnic minorities. This group included the artists Robert Henri, who was the leader of the group and had a signature trademark of quick, expressive brushstrokes, Georges Luks, John Sloan , Edward Hopper, Everett Shinn , Glen Coleman , Art Davis and Georges Bellows.

Resembling the same social mentality that is prevalent in the paintings of Francisco de Goya and Honore Daumier and Eduard Manet's brushstroke technique, the Ashcan school also used quick, broad brushstrokes that were left rough and unpolished. They colors were usually not bright or contrasting, but rather reserved. Despite dealing with very social issues, and the general air of radical politics about them, this group stressed far less emphasis on the general point of view, but rather dealt with the private side of these people's lives. There are many portraits of single figures wandering about the streets, people who had been outcast from normal' society and were no longer considered useful.

Automatism

Automatism is a method of creating art that deliberately ignores the effect of the working process on the final, visual outcome. Random techniques are used with no constructive intent to produce the piece in any one way. This was a method devised by the Surrealist group and it was a common phenomenon in the work seen by Abstract Expressionists.

It was also a common trademark technique of a group of very radically abstract Canadian artists that first exhibited in New York , Paris and Montréal in 1946. Two leading Canadian painters in this group were Paul Emile Borduas, who was so inspired by the French Surrealists that he began automatic painting in gouache paints and also Jean Paul Riopelle, who joined Borduas. Riopelle's early works were mostly lyrical abstracts, but in the 50's his work became much more intense, the surfaces of the canvas became more dense and heavy in nature, textured roughly. His sculptures are also characterized by heavy density and mass and a coarse, almost negligent finish. Both of these artists contributed a great deal to the Canadian art scene, relaxing the need from a strictly objective method of depiction in art.

Automotive

From Charles Warner

Automotive Art is thematic and comes in many styles including impressionistic, realism, pop art, and in the form of drawings, paintings, etchings, airbrush, photographs, posters, sculptures and models.

The earliest examples of automotive art were paintings and drawings used as advertising to sell the first cars from the pioneering motorcar manufacturers such as Buick, Daimler and Renault. Some of the motoring ads of the 70s from Ford, Oldsmobile and Cadillac still used automotive art to present the image they desired. And for several years the Jaguar calendar was painted by many well known artists including George Bishop up until just a few years ago.

As motoring became more popular and motor racing began to develop as a major sport for the masses the speed and thrills of the race were recorded by artists who captured the excitement and danger in wonderful paintings good examples of these early racing paintings can be seen in the advertising posters for the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans races.

In the 16th 17th and 18th centuries it was common for the wealthy to commission oil paintings and drawing portraits of there expensive blood stock such as bulls, pigs and of course race horses, personal records of their prized and treasured possessions to hang on their walls and this habit has continued and in modern times and now includes vintage and classic cars, super sports cars and other expensive toys like aircraft and power boats and this original art is now decorating the enthusiasts' business, home, garage and museums.

Today there any many working automotive artists, who offer a range of auto art including portraits of your own special car and you can buy them for prices that range from a couple of hundred dollars to many 1000s of dollars, much of there work can be found and purchased online and if you prefer there are a number of real world Automotive Art galleries such as Legacy Motors Art Gallery in Chicago and l'art et l'automobile in East Hampton, where you can go and visit and see the actual work up close.

Baroque

The artistic style of Baroque was first and foremost a product of 17th century Rome, then Italy and only decades later did it finally encompasses all of Europe. Its beginning is dated in the mid 15th century, and it lasted until the mid 17th century, chronologically placed between the Mannerism style and the Rococo style that came after it. Many periods in history are marked at their borders with a strange mix of old and new. This century encapsulated the merging of wildly dissenting belief systems, some within the arena struggle of a deeply religious schism, and others- just as violently upheld- between God and His new demonic rival; Science. The Renaissance has taught us the significance of epitomizing humanism, centering on the belief in man and the creative power of mans mind, and so it is only fitting that we consider for a moment the heroes of this period, all champions of individuality- Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, Leibnitz and Locke the philosophers, Galileo and Kepler, Newton, Boyle and Napier,the discoverers and inventors. It was in this century that Shakespear changed the tenor of the English language. The oratio and opera came of age with Monteverde and Alessandro Scarlatti. A single year, 1685, saw the birth of Bach and Handel.

Many of the old ways were crumbling, the secularization of the fine arts in particular. During the Renaissance the main cause of this had been the weakened hold of the Church over artists generally. It is said that if art was the handmaiden of theology during the Middle Ages, then in the Renaissance it became the mistress of princes. Secularization took place as artists rediscovered the world of man and nature, and the material world became a valid source of inspiration for plastic and literary invention for the first time in Western history. It is therefore a common characteristic of this period to see not only religious and secular themes in tandem, but also combined. Two main innovations of technique to be seen from this period are use of light and realism. Backdrops and scenes are no longer exemplified as a place of natural light, but one of darkness, in which the painter treads forward, showing us selected highlights. And figures are painted with a realism that allows for simplicity and earthiness to be represented, alongside icons of godliness and piety. Many are depicted as hovering above the ground; many are in sensational attitudes, poised artistically towards Heaven..

The age, above all, had been taken by surprise. It had to face a totally new non-geometric world view. Where the center is lost, excess and eccentricity are molded into the new norm. It is perhaps here that religion was finally replaced by art, atleast to an extent logical to the application of a still deeply religious populace. On the one hand stood the old, Ptolemaic, geometric world picture, which had spoon-fed a sense of order and dignity to man, and on the other stood a new, Copernican, heliocentric view, that put its faith in the empirically convincing, and henceforth suffered the repercussions: a moral displacement, a deep philosophical disorientation. This is allowed for outrageously polar variations in the artistic style of the period; a huge number of artists, in all artistic mediums, creating a diverse array of art work..

Baroque is characterized with extravagance; great drama is exemplified by bold composition, strange juxtapositions of content and use of bright elementary colors. This highly decorative style seeped into all medias, including the traditional fine arts of painting, sculpture, music and architecture but also poetry and literature. This reactionary approach disdained the austere, majestic detachment of the Mannerists that preceded it- it spoke directly, and intensely, to the viewer in a way that had never been seen before in painting. It became a tool of the various religious factions in the Counter-Reformation using art to reach the devout directly. It held a new wealth of details and was saturated with a new kind of religious fervor.

Whereas up until then the range of art medias had been separate, this new style mixed medias and capitalized on the scientific advances of the period- a new understanding of optics and optical illusions. Galileos telescope in 1609 brought within our ken the satellites of Jupiter and the possibility of even further investigation into the framework of the heavens. It would be hard to overestimate the effects on the human mind and imagination of the Tuscan artists optic glass. With the help of New Science, the world seemed to expand and deepen, and this quality of history became inherit in the arts. The sky was now open to our sight, and more minutely, a new world was being discovered through a microscope. These two inventions- the telescope and the microscope- added in a single century as much to mans accurate knowledge of physical phenomena as all the previous centuries combined.

The big names of the period are, of course, Michelangelo de Caravaggio, Aniballe Carracci and Gianlorenzo Bernini- all of whom sustained Romes reputation for still being the art center of the world. This would change soon enough, with more and more talent being drawn to France, and finally with Louis XIVs outright attempt to founder the most extravagant court in Europe.

Bauhaus

Incorporating all art mediums into one cohesive unit of artistic design

The architect Walter Gropius [1883-1969] founded the Bauhaus School of Art in Germany in 1919 with the stated goal of wanting to teach all the crafts, including sculpture, painting, furniture making and design and incorporate them into architecture. His inspiration for this concept came from two easily recognizable sources- William Morris' theory on the Arts and Crafts Movement' and Henry van de Velde, who worked in Vaimer before the war. Gropius' most famous quote on the function of the school was -The final purpose of all the visual artistic mediums is in the building itself. The school was open until 1933, when the Nazis closed it down, and despite having a very short existence, this school came to influence many individual artists and certainly many artistic groups and movements in the future.

The early years - Learning art the famous Bauhaus School of Art

All the students that were accepted into the school spent their first six months there learning to use the different materials of all these medias, as well as various techniques and artistic tools. The range of courses available at the school were staggering for their diversity, including weaving, mural painting, glass painting, costume design, fine metalwork and woodwork- though architecture was always considered the supreme form of creation, with paintings and sculptures considered the decorations' of the buildings, on par with the furniture design. The traditional boundaries between fine art and functional design were blurred into one cohesive unit of creativity. The emphasis was put on handcrafting and cleanly reserved designs that incorporated every element of the building and didn't separate between them.

The later years

In the years 1925-26 the Bauhaus school relocated from Vaimar to Dasau and this shift in location also signaled a shift from the abstract expressionist style that had been there under the influence of such teachers as Kandinsky, and Johannes Itten. Other teachers in the school were the Hungarian painter Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Lionel Feininger, Paul Klee, Oscar Schlemmer, the Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, and the German painter and poet Josef Albers. In Dasau the style pervading the school was more structured and the famous Bauhaus image of functionality was at work, replacing the handcrafted arts with industrial design and use of industrial materials such as glass, chrome and other metals.

Body Art

Another spin on Happening' art and Conceptual art combined. Happening' is basically an art form in which the artist performs or directs a performance that combines elements taken from theatre, the visual arts and music. This event normally includes spontaneous elements and audience participation is both welcome and functional in terms of the art itself. These happenings were usually pre-arranged and the general concept is to present the viewing audience with something that will shock them or drive them to some sort of action.

Body art involved the artist utilizing him/herself both as the subject matter and the medium with which it is expressed. These artists used their own bodies as a canvas for their art, such as the American artist Vito Acconci and the Italian artist Gina Pane.

Byzantine

The art of the Byzantine Empire, dating from 330 AD with the transfer of the Roman capitol from Rome to Constantinople. It reached its peak in the 6th century with the first of the Golden Ages, and marked the primary division of the Eastern and Western artistic styles that were borne of the Empire. This encapsulates a huge time-frame of European art, as the second Golden Period of the Byzantium occurred roughly at the end of the 10th century and the third is dated between the years 1261 and 1435.

While the Western regions of the Empire were gradually being conquered by the Barbarians from the north, and its Hellenistic roots subsequently dissimilating in Syria, Alexandria and Sinai, the East saw a radical revival of artistic endeavors, propagated for the most part by the Emperor Justinian I [who ruled from 527 to 565 AD] in his attempt to recreate the capital of Constantinople into a sight of pure majesty. This new style, that gave expression to the dark, ritualistic sobriety of unified state and church government, eventually made its way through the entire region, from Europe and the Middle East down to South Italy, and through the Balkan countries into Russia.

The first Golden Period is characterized with as much abundance and richness as befitted the establishment of a political capitol. The best example of this can be seen in the Great Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople that involved the employment of thousands of builders and artisans. In the San Vitala Church in Ravenna each floor is decorated with another spectacular mosaic, the walls are covered in marble and lined with gold, every available space and ceiling is adorned and dressed. As in all Byzantine art there is no use of three dimensional perception and all surface areas remain flat.

In 1204 the capitol was conquered and pillaged by the Latin Crusaders; this was the fourth wave of Crusaders, zealously intending to deliver the Holy Places from Mohammedan tyranny. Their reign was both brief and violent, but the time saw a revival of devout Christianity for the second time. This period is referred to as the Second Golden Age. Money was again being deferred to artistic propaganda and churches through Eastern Europe were repaired to their former glory. This was the era of the Macedonian Dynasty; a time of flourishing literature and education. Of this period remains the Dormition Monastery in Delphi, several miles from Athens.

The 13th, 14th and 15th centuries continued on in this vein until the third of the Golden Ages. In the 13th century fresco painting was preferred over the expensive and arduously obtained mosaics, the style became less severe and anemic-looking. Religion was still the main theme of all artistic mediums, but a freer style was now allowed, and experimented with. In the 15th century Constantinople was again conquered, this time by the Turks, and the Western cultures no longer took their inspiration from this legacy of Rome and Greece. Only further east, in the Balkans and in Russia, did this style persist.

Celtic art

Celtic art is the art created by the peoples of Northern and Central Europe from the 5 th century B.C and up until the very beginning of medieval times. They were called keltoi' by the Greeks and Galli' [barbarians] by the Romans. They were called this because they worshipped gods unfamiliar to the Romans and spoke no civilized' tongue. The Celts were essentially pagans that settled in Europe well before the Roman Empire reached its peak and very many of their art work exists until today. They came to populate North Italy, France, Spain and other parts of the Empire, and these Celts, or Galls' integrated somewhat with the Roman culture. Historically, with the rise of Christianity the Celts were pushed farther and farther away from central Europe , until finally they settled only in the British Isles . It is these Celtic descendents that continued the Celtic culture, while those that remained on the mainland suffered the same turmoil as the rest of Europe with the disintegration of the Empire and the first sign of the abysmal Dark Ages.

The Celts are best known for their fine metal-working and distinctly geometric, circular designs. There used both figurative and abstract images. Almost every household item is decorated in some way, from urns and bowls to weapons, helms, jewelry, harnesses, saddles and fabrics. There is a recurring motif of animal figures and human figures. They drew their influences from the many different cultures around them- Greek and Italian influences are easily recognizable, as well as other European influences. Over the centuries the amount of such artifacts that are found lessens greatly, and many believe that artistic creation was culturally neglected somewhat.

The style did remain consistently decorative and the later Celtic period would result in a wonderful new innovation as the culture was taken over by Christianity and the combination of these both brought about the art of manuscript illustration. Monasteries all across Ireland and North Britain would produce highly stylized Celtic patterns and designs, faithfully repeating the geometric, swirling compositions and complex combinations of patterns. Pagan design was now being used to praise and worship Christian values. The great masterpieces of the culture are giant bare pillars of stone that stand solitary or in patterned group along the Northern landscapes of Great Britain , the brightly illustrated holy manuscripts in Ireland and intricate, swirling patterned paintings that would reach almost all of Central and Northern Europe ..

CoBrA

CoBrA is a merging of three city names - Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. These were the home towns of the artists that formed the group in 1948 that included the painters Karel Appel, Jean Dubuffet, Alechinsky, Jean Atlan, Constant Nieuwenhys, Cornelis van Beverloo and Asger Yorn. Their main goal was to develop an expressive, uninhibited style of painting that denied the rational, intellectual drive that could be seen in the art of the period. They were intensely dynamic and their paintings are characterized by wild sweeping brushstrokes, a lack of the restrictive, formal shapes and imagery and a very personal, animated use of paint. The end result is a chaotic mix of colors, shapes, scenes of Nordic folklore and legend and figures of ugly, malformed pixies and other wood spirits. The desired effect on the audience was shock and disquiet. They are sometimes referred to as the European version of the American Action painting that included Jackson Pollock.

Conceptual

The very first Conceptual artist, by general consensus, is Marcel Duchamp, the lone wolf of modern art, a man determined to shatter each and every artistic convention and make a place for himself as the anti-artist. Some other names from this school are On Kawara, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Don Burgy, Josef Kosuth, Sol le Witt, Donald Jedd and Bruce Nauman. Art existed beyond the physical confines of the canvas or the material, it was an act of consciousness-art was first and foremost an original thought, and only achieved corporality through the medium. This was the heart of conceptual thinking. It was a tool for making other people think, as well; a tool with which the artist could shock the viewer into a new perspective. Thus any choice could become an act of art at work. The importance of craftsmanship and technique in the visual arts no longer held the same worth as they did. Art could now be ready made; choosing an object and instilling it with artistic significance was art. Art could be theoretical, intellectual- it need not be easily explained.

This school of thought gave the concept the greatest emphasis in the creative process. Many artistic styles were influenced by this mentality, most of them non-figurative styles of the 60s and 70s: The Dadaists of Duchamp, the Minimalists, who tried to reduce art down to its essence, to compound it so drastically that it almost disappeared, Performance artists, Body artists, Earth artists and even Process artists.

Constructivism

Constructivism is a Russian artistic movement that included the sculptors Antone Pevsner, Naum Gabo and Vladimir Tatlin. In 1913 Tatlin visited in Paris and was deeply impressed with Picasso's innovations into Cubism and his use of collage. This instigated an intense interest in not only the art styles making their way across Europe, but also in dealing for the first time with the space around the art as an element in its own right.

This would later become a real obsession with the Constructivists. Many experiments would be made with presence and lack of presence of any given material, and in various conditions. They worked in the years 1917 until 1920, and they made sculptures from glass, wood and plastic that hung down from the ceiling. In relation to the industrial changes going on, this group desired to make art that reflected the times. In 1920 Gabo published his Realistic Manifesto that would later influence many other artistic groups working in Europe . Unlike Tatlin, who would become a devotee of the Russian Revolution and all it stood for, Gabo believed that art should have a tangible function in society, and that this function should remain entirely independent from the social or political values of its day. Tatlin would go own to produce art that glorified the socialist values of Stalin's oppressive dogma, though his fascination for space would find a new outlet in the form of architecture. As for Gabo's theory, the De Stijls in Holland would be greatly influenced by it, in Germany the Bauhaus school began to teach the text and in France the Abstraction-creation group adopted the Constructivism creed. The art was meant to be non-figurative and reminiscent in shape of industrial characteristics.

Cubism

A 20th century artistic style that defied the traditionally naturalistic style of figurative depiction in painting and sculpture. The term was first coined by the art critique Vauxcelles, who described it as a geometric simplification of natural shapes and images. This simplification freed the artist from the usual use of perspective and anatomical accuracy; the tonal range could be less compressed, the representation of natural textures could be emitted and the surface of the canvas remained flat. Use of light and shading also changed as these artists refused to employ the gently defused Renaissance light that skimmed evenly across the canvas. Unlike the abstract artists of the period, the goal was not to create an image without distinct form or visibility, but to find a new way to represent images figuratively and realistically.

It is for this reason many of the subject-matters that were used were images of banality; - a woman sitting alone in a room, the glimpse of landscape from an apartment window. A 20th century artistic style that defied the traditionally naturalistic style of figurative depiction in painting and sculpture. The term was first coined by the art critique Vauxcelles, who described it as a geometric simplification of natural shapes and images. This simplification freed the artist from the usual use of perspective and anatomical accuracy; the tonal range could be less compressed, the representation of natural textures could be emitted and the surface of the canvas remained flat. Use of light and shading also changed as these artists refused to employ the gently defused Renaissance light that skimmed evenly across the canvas. Unlike the abstract artists of the period, the goal was not to create an image without distinct form or visibility, but to find a new way to represent images figuratively and realistically.

It is for this reason many of the subject-matters that were used were images of banality; - a woman sitting alone in a room, the glimpse of landscape from an apartment window.

As more and more boundaries were crossed, and the fine arts steered ever farther away from the conventional methods, the Cubists found new methods of representation, mixing medias into their paintings, and thus attempting to form a balance between the tangible reality around us, and the means in which we present them. The importance of this attempt is evidenced in the massive influence it had on other artists and the many artistic styles that are its result.

The first experimenters of this approach were Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, both of which were greatly influenced by Cézannes later works and tribal African art. The misleadingly flat perspectives, the iconic faces of the figures and their stiff poses seem taken from a wooden tribal figurine. They were both active in the more analytical period of Cubism, exposing the shape from within shape, such as in Picassos Les Demoiselles dAvignon, a satirical recreation of the classical female nude, depicting a group of prostitutes in various poses. On the one hand, there is no use of ordinary perspective, but neither is the painting flat. Picasso chose to paint the scene from several alternate angles that confuse the eye and refused what he termed an indulgence of color, using instead a small range of colors, and only slight tonal shifts.

Dada

The Dada device of deliberate arbitrariness

A modern movement of intellectuals that began in 1915 and included writers and artists of all mediums. Its very first beginnings are in the German poet Hugo Ball's founding of the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916. The movement didn't last very long - barely beyond the year 1923- but its influence over all artistic styles since has been phenomenal. The incomprehensible name is explicitly Dada, having derived from a random sweep of a French dictionary. Dada may mean rocking horse' in French or it may be an ironic representation of what most people's first, mumbled word is as a baby, but that is certainly beside the point. More important is the manner of its choosing- the random act signifying the most prominent characteristic of the Dada movement; an anarchic, anti-aesthetic, anti-rational doctrine; an artistic reaction to the reality of post World War I Europe. Though this initial premise would change over the years, and the movement would turn to rejecting far more than the military mind-set of that era.

The invention of Non- art'

First exhibited in Switzerland , they quickly made their way to the more actively chic part of the art world- New York . They were soon exhibiting in all the great European capitals. The first names in this list would be Jean Arp , Tristan Tzara and Yanko. When the Dada scene stormed the U.S the names of Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia would join this list. As they solidified their stance, Dada became a complete rejection of the social structures and norms of the time. Spurning what they deemed false and purposefully hypocritical in the world, they also spurned the art that reflected and was derived from that world. They proposed a new world order and with it a new kind of art- a non -art; something that applied no regurgitated technique or historically acclaimed style, something that followed no recognizable discipline and was created to shock the viewer.

Art as an act of conscious will- of choice- and not craftsmanship

Art for arts sake, art for its beauty- these were merely the bastard traditions of a culture extending itself into art. Dada art was not meant to be beautiful or aesthetic; it wasn't exemplified in fine craftsmanship. Ready-made, nonsense poetry, wildly juxtapositional contexts- these tools were all used to prove that Man controls nothing in this world, [except, perhaps, the illusions he chooses to believe in] and that arbitrary chance rules us all. Thus art too, may be- or perhaps must be- arbitrary. This is exemplified in one of the Dadaists most famous work, which is probably Duchamp's Fountain, made in 1917. This is a single unit of a man's urinal, placed proudly on display, and the single involvement of the artists in the work in the fact that he chose it out of a urinal catalogue. Duchamp separates between the act of art and the result of art. Having had nothing to do with his own creation, the act of choosing becomes the act of art making.

De Stijl

Creating a universal, harmonic art that could be understood collectively

The Dutch De Stijl group, also referred to as the Neo-Plastic' style in art history, began in 1917 against the backdrop of a continent going to war. Only in neutral, relatively peaceful Holland , where the signs of war were very faint indeed, could such an avant-garde, peaceful artistic style emerge in this date in history. This group has an array of very famous names among them; Piet Mondrian, Vilmos Huszar , Theo van Doesburg, Bart van der Leck, the Belgian sculptor Georg Vantongerloo and the architects J.J.P Oud , Gerrit Rietveld and Jan Wils were all members of this style. The name is self-explanatory- The Style' referred to Mondrian's theory of the new art'; creating a universal language of harmony that could be translated into all the visual mediums- a collective' human form of communication. Much of the inspiration was this theory was taken from the mystiscm of the Eastern philosophies and the theological philosophies of the West.

Universalizing art by simplifying the means with which it is created

The painters of this group restricted themselves to depicting only forms and shapes that had inherit universal significance. These collectively understood shapes could then express universal order and accord, as this should be the natural function of all humans on earth. It was believed that the most rudimentary tools could convey meaning if only they were kept universal enough. Shining, bright primary colors of red, yellow and blue, primary geometric shapes such as squares, circles and triangles and non-colors' such as black, white and grey were all hallmarks of De Stijl paintings. The open spaces were consistently painted in shallow, homogonous color; lines were either utterly straight or pointed sharply. Figurative shapes were stripped of all recognizable qualities and the works became totally, radically abstract. Everything was boiled down to what they perceived to be its essence'. This was the first real method to emerge from the Neo-Plastic principles that would later gain strength with the Dada literature.

Die Brucke

The Bridge group was a German group of Expressionist artists that began working in tandem in Dresden , in the years 1905-1906. Three young architecture students from Dresden began it; Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and later on they would be joined by Max Pechstein, Otto Mueller and Emile Nolde.

The name Die Brucke' came from using an intercept from Nietzsche's book So Said Zaratustra', who spoke of man functioning as a bridge to experience and happiness. Man was not to live for himself alone, and the Bridge group extended this logic to art. Art for arts sake lacked legitimacy, and this group would attempt to utilizes art to communicate to the viewer; they wanted to merge the spiritual significance art could contain with the functionality of everyday living. Thus art would become another field of life, of reality, and not separated from it. This intense ideology was meant attract the young, revolutionary talents to action; to make their ideals a reality by reaching the public. Objects were painted in colors that had no relation to their coloring in nature, perspectives were warped beyond identification, angles were left sharp and pointed to create tension in the scene and there is a multitude of confusing details that makes understanding even more impossible

Egyptian art

Traditional Egyptian art existed for almost three thousand years

The art produced in the ancient Egyptian culture, specifically from the time of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom- around 3000 B.C up until around 30 B.C. This is a very distinctive style that retained it's characteristics throughout the ages, beginning first as tomb, or funeral art; commemorating the passing of a great Pharaoh. This art first began in the pre-dynastic era with the production of small ivory figurines and artifacts and glazed-decorated pottery. A typical ornamental style emerged from these first artifacts and was later applied in the tomb art.

The importance of Egyptian art in death

The Egyptians devoutly believed that death did not mean the end of life, and that any man wealthy enough to create for himself a site worthy of burial and proper embalmment would also ensure his passage into the after-life, to live there for all eternity. The walls of such tombs were decorated with the name and descriptions of the deceased, all strictly within the traditional format of Egyptian standards of proportion and measurement. The various artisans and artists who contributed to these famous decorations and the typical drawings significant for burial rituals had the further motivation to produce their finest artwork, as they usually accompanied the dead king in death. Buried beside their Pharaohs, surrounded by their most supreme efforts, many of the archeological finds in the Valley of Kings hold testament to the glory of Egyptian art and culture.

The incorporation of both iconographic and figurative imagery in Egyptian art

The Ancient Egyptians depicted these scenes figuratively, drawing and sculpting exact replicas of animals and plants, believing that representations of the living would carry onward into the afterlife with the dead, accompanying them on the journey. Human figures are depicted in clean contour lines and the separate compartments of the figures were colored in block colors. There are also typical postures that are strictly gender-affiliated, the symbolic representations of the polytheistic religious structure of Egyptian culture and the famous Egyptian cult of animal representations. The palette is constant, with almost no variations and no medium shades, and though we can see obvious technical ability in all the mediums used, the Egyptian style remains rigidly faithful to the known configurations. Pottery-making techniques were very advanced, and the disinclination to use a wide variety of color was a result of the mystical reverence with which tomb art was undertaken. Archeological finds have also revealed the Egyptians great talent with metalwork, unearthing beautiful and intricate jewelry, various utensils and other religious artifacts. Pottery was also refined into an art form, as well as shallow clay reliefs depicting scenes.

Environmental art

Art out of landscape

This is a new, modern kind of artistic creation in which the artist doesn't use a canvas or one single material with which to make the piece. However, calling any art form that utilizes nature for its purposes can never actually be considered a truly new invention in a world filled with archeological findings that span many millennia. Since the dawn of time, cultures have used their environments to indicate, celebrate or document their current values, be they religious and ceremonial or simply convenient; from the ancient tribal art to be seen in South America, Africa and Australia to the Western sites of the stone works in the British Isles and Europe . But in the 1960's this form of art making was revived with a modern twist, attempting to liberate the artist from the practical confines of walls and ceilings, materials and lighting.

Blurring the distance between the outdoors and the indoors, and also between reality and art

In the controlled environment of the gallery or the studio, the distinction between art and reality is ever kept safe. The very manner in which is cultivated and presented to the viewer creates a distance between them that cannot be blurred. Here the viewer is presented with a slice of landscape that is itself the work. Quite like installation art, in which the artist presets the entire space of the gallery as one cohesive unit of work; shaping and influencing it, placing objects in it and introducing specifically chosen elements into it- so does the environmental artist present us with an outdoor space that functions as art. In this contained environment, the artist may change it visually, add moving elements to it or change it in other ways; it may be combined with artifacts or sculptures. The setting was treated in much the same way a theatre decorator would treat a stage- as a platform appropriate to the expression it should convey. This form of art is meant to be experienced with all the senses and the viewer has the unique experience of standing inside the work, not on the outside looking in. Reality and art become one solid unit that cannot be separated and therefore must be experienced whole, giving the work tangibility and directness that is difficult to achieve in any closed, sterile environment. The better known names of this art form are Georges Segal, Claes Oldenberg and Edward Kienholz.

Expressionism

A term specifically referring to the artistic style that began with a small group of artists called the BRIGDE group [Kunstler Gruppe Die Brucke] that worked in Germany in the years 1905-1925 and more generally applies to the importance of the artists personal emotional expression in his\her work. The artists of the group were Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Hekel, Max Pechstein and Otto Miller.

Expressionism began at first as a reactionary movement against the shallow, anemic realism of the late 19th century, and some early indications of it can be seen in the works of Paul Gaugin and Vincent van Gogh, though only later on did it become a real debate on the importance of the artists personal involvement in the work. The magnitude of bringing a personal interpretation to the work, instead of simply depicting it as traditionally acceptable allowed artists to express their slant on reality with whatever means at hand- warped perspectives, wild clashes of color and eclectic influences.

The original German Expressionist group believed that art had a very real part to play in the structure of society and the power plays of politics. They first explored the signature styles of the late Post-Impressionists and the artists of the Art Nouveau, though they were also captivated by primitive art, 15th print-making and the Nordic styles of the Gothic period. The style is characterized by sharp angle compositions and a tightly compressed array of tiny details. The structure is edgy so that the themes hold more tension; it looks roughly composed and unfinished, a barely controlled chaos.

Fauvism

The term fauvism' comes from the French word fauve', which means wild animal or beast.

The term was first coined by an art critic in reference to the works exhibited in 1905 by Henri Mattise , Georges Rouault , Andre Derain , Maurice de Vlaminck and some others. The seeming wildness of their various artistic styles struck him as animalistic or bestial; colors were bright and boldly brushed on canvas with no effort towards refinement, the compositions seemed almost spontaneous and uncalculated. There is enormous immediate impact from these painting and they literally project color. The lack of refinement is deliberate; the tribal art that influenced such great names as Van Gogh, Monet and Gauguin also influenced the Fauvists in their unrestrained expression. They did not last long- only three years, but their accumulative influence on other groups to follow was vast.

Futurism

Art that embraces the new, industrialized world order of the 20 th century

Futurism is an Italian artistic style that first began as a literary movement founded in 1909 by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and later became an artistic movement in 1919. The famous painters of this group are Carlo Carra, Jacomo Bella, Umbreto Boccioni , Luigi Russolo and Gino Severini. They published their first manifest in reference to painting in 1910 and in 1912 and 1914 also published two more on the arts of sculpture, music, film-makings and architecture. Emerging from the violent changes in society and industry in that time period, the Futurists wanted to reflect a new, modern world order that moved at a pace never been seen before. They were deeply involved in the politics of the time, openly aggressive in their mentality and played the role of philosophical contributors to the rise of Fascism in Italy under the iron thumb of Mussolini. Much of their inspiration came from the French philosopher Henri Bergson in his essay L'Evolution Creatrice, in which Bergson places enormous importance on the natural evolution of events in history. The elements of progress, especially the technological changes taking the world by storm were not only inevitable, they were also moral and just. The essential factors to keeping this evolution going were the concurrent forces of dynamics and motion. For the Futurists, this would translate into color and form, composition and perspective.

The importance of speed and machinery as icons of progress

Industrialization was changing peoples life styles and all around could be seen the differences that these changes brought on. These were also the main characteristics of the group- past precision movement, mechanism and technology. In the very early period the most obvious artistic influence on the group came from the Neo-Impressionists and many of the Futurist paintings utilize the same technique of dissecting colored spots into smaller, purer colors. Speed was a new dimension to be dealt with and a chaos of flickering, recurring patterns and spots seemed to express the sense of speed with which the new world rushed by every day. Scenes of the city as seen from a high speed train, the sharp movements of some machine repeatedly moving back and forth, again and again. The Futurists preferred the celebration of this new world order over the sentimental, nostalgic look at the past and what would no longer be. They exhibited twice in Italy and then moved on the England , France , Holland and Germany . In France they came aware of the Cubist group and this influenced them greatly, driving the style to the direction of abstract imagery.

Genre painting

Genre painting is a term applied to all the depictions of humdrum, everyday living.

This kind of painting flourished in Holland in the 17 th century and influenced a lot of artists. This was a century of the wealthy middle classes, with more and more people beginning to live very comfortably and they subsequently bought art that reflected that lifestyle.

Secular themes are weren't unheard of at the time, but for the most part depictions of the common people were usually meant to signify an allegorical tale of morality and consequence, such as in the paintings of the French genre artist Jean-Baptists Greuse and the artist Phillipe Mercier, who later immigrated to England . This theme then became popular among the English painters of the day, such as William Hogarth- mostly conversational' themes of small groups of people or families at the dinner table, discussing the day's events or idling about the house and garden. It was Frans Hals who first painted some few purely genre paintings, and after him came many more. Some names from this group are Adriaen Brouwer, Willem Duyster, Judith Leyster, Jan Molenaer, Adriaen van Ostade, Gerrit Dou,Gabriele Matsu and the famous French painter Jean-Baptists-Simeon Chardin [pronounced shar-denne' ].

Genre painting represents a turn of events that is a pattern of interrelations between art and commerce that can be documented as far back as the Greco-Roman Empire. It is considered in the art world to be the sad side-effect of history and these kind of paintings were rarely acclaimed in their own time, and even today aren't worth as much as their contemporary, more meaningful counterparts. The term is also derogatory, with genre' simply meaning type', and no individual qualifying name is added to it. The scenes are chosen just as randomly; there are idealized landscapes, scenes of general frolic and fun, portraits and still lifes. However, most of the artists of this group were accomplished in their work, and the end result is both heart-touching and warm

Gutai [Japan]

Gutai is a group of Japanese artists that was founded by Jiro Yoshiwara and fifteen other artists in 1954 in Osaka .

Yoshiwara is considered the Japanese pioneer into abstract painting and he used short, aggressive brushstrokes, leaving large areas of the canvas blank.Yoshiwara lead the group almost until his death in 1972, and by that time the group had exhibited in over twenty exhibitions. It reached its height in the 50's and 60's and dissimilated with Yoshiwara's death in the early 70's. In the early years the Gutai group was known for their Neo-Dadaist paintings and performance art such as happenings'. In later years; around the 50's and later, the group produced abstract paintings that were radically minimalist and indicative of the Zen' mentality. This was a sign of the powerful influences from the abstract, expressionist groups working in the West at the time.

Historical

There is no one style that dedicated itself exclusively to painting historical events, although many artists produced such works. For the most part, historical paintings were custom-made for ruling courts and the rich elite; many artists were court-painters, and subsided on patronage. This term applies to paintings that were done in relevance to the period, and also to mythological themes or folk-lore themes. In the Renaissance historical themes became the most prominently used artistic technique used by art academies to teach young artisists how to paint in the academic tradition.

Kinetic art

The art of movement and motion

Kinetic art is a general term for all art that involves actual moving pieces or the simulation of motion through use of artificial lighting, optical illusions or the use of a moving force of some kind. The main goal of this art form is to interpret and represent motion, transience and the qualities of space. Many groups followed this style, or used it occasionally in their work, among which are some of the Futurist group, the Constructionists, the Op art style,some few of the Dada group.

Art between World Wars

Most of the Kinetic art has its roots in the new experimental art by Naum Gabo and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in the two decades between World Wars. From among the Kinetic artists that would later continue their innovations is the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, who built mechanisms so complex that the viewer could not follow all the elements in play. In 1959 he built the Metamechanique, which was a machine that leapt and danced across the floor while procuring an accurate diagram of its movement on a small roll of paper trapped inside it. The Belgian artists Pol Bury also created frightening machines of moving pieces that rattled and creaks while in motion and then suddenly stopped in deadening quiet for brief respites. In the U.S the artist Georges Rickey built monstrous, somber, stainless-steel contraptions that moved by wind power alone and the Greek artist Panayotis Vassilakis Takis created thin rods that vibrated like reeds in the wind and in the 50's made signal flags that were constructed of blinking lights at the ends of long, quivering poles that were kept in constant motion. Sounds were also incorporated into Takis' work and the end result is meant to promote a reverie state for the viewer- an inducement for reflection- one constantly humming a barely audible murmur of sound.

The Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visual

The Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visual also made kinetic art in the 50's. Founded by the Argentinian artist Julio Le Parc and Yvaral Vasarely, who was Victor Vasarely's son, the GRAV group all believed in anonymous, impersonal art and followed Victor Vasarely's doctrine of using art to present the viewer with a strain of logic that would encourage them to question the fundamental terms with which were usually face reality. The visual world was to be challenged- not in the body of nature, but in the eye of the person seeing it with new perspective. Their first exhibition was held in 1960 and it was comprised on works of single artists as well as shared projects done by combinations of artists. Optical and mechanical effects were instilled in every room to befuddle and confound the viewers and mazes were built with moving floors to both confuse them and make them active participants in the work. They disbanded in 1968.

Land and Earth art

The use of nature's materials' in art

This artistic medium first began in the late 1960's. This is a confusing merge of references, as Earth art and Land art both use the same materials, and choose the same outdoor settings, but they are very different in intent. The difference is not so much an aspect of technique, but rather in that Earth art approaches nature almost reverently, disturbing it organically, while Land art capitalizes on the possibilities of controlling it. Artists of this style chose to make the landscape and the earth itself a fitting material for artistic expression and they use all of its elements- dirt and ash, rocks, snow, wood and other natural resources. This art is intrinsically anonymous, going against the traditional view of art as sellable merchandise- as property. This kind of art focuses on everything but the decorative side of art and it's also fleeting, as nature changes moment by moment, taking back the order that man claims briefly.

Land art as an attempt to control nature

The most famous Land artist is Christo Javacheff, who experimented in environmental projects in the 60's; wrapping monument large public buildings with huge sheets of plastic and creating an absurd package. His is a grandiose statement of the artist's control over his environment; making the viewer stop in confusion that something so naturally in context, such as a building in a city street, should be taken out of context- dwarfed by a sheet of plastic. Some, like Michael Heizer created natural sculptures in the desert or on seaside beaches by transferring huge amounts of dirt and rock from one place to another. Heizer is definitely an Earth artist, approaching his subject matter of nature on massive scale. Far away from the galleries and museums, Heizer creates dramatically minimalist photographic images that both celebrate the purity of nature and drive the viewer to a conceptual line of thought.

Earth art as an attempt to merge with nature

Richard Long takes photographs of his earth-sculptures and these are the end product of his art form. Long begins by making marks in the sand or lining up rocks in certain patterns and then documenting his interference of nature. Walter De-Maria also created outdoor earth-sculpture, and even some very minimally figurative human figures, but he became most well-known for bringing the outdoor, physical world into the art gallery spaces, mixing the outer world with the inner, enclosed world of art. Bringing earth into the gallery seemed to imply that perhaps the philosophies and values of the earth, of the outer world, could also be brought into the gallery with them. The material itself was given symbolic significance and power.

Mannerism

Between Renaissance and Baroque

An artistic trend that translates into an aspiration for idealized style and an artificial representation of themes. In art history this term mostly refers to the period between the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque [about 1520 to 1590]. The industrious and awe-inspiring legacies of both Michelangelo and Raphael left in their wake a legion of artists eager to formulate these new innovations into a recognized style. Revolutionary-seeming optical inventions and the ability to create tangible depth-perspective in painting were honed as a particular skill after the Renaissance and out of it came the Mannerists. These artists were famous for astounding the viewer with sheer gaudiness. Nothing is ever too much would be a kind of motto in European art culture for the next two centuries, and the Mannerist group was certainly rooted into that philosophy early in the 16 th century. However, the Mannerist obsession with depicting motion in painting, in a style more naturalistic than previously seen would also lay the foundation for the evolution in art during the Baroque.

The importance of beauty and aesthetic perfection

Signifying the first truly silly era in art history, these artists had no real intention of educating the viewer and certainly did not wish to comment on reality. Mannerist themes are largely unimportant; both male and female figures abound in inane poses, depicted for the most part as elongated, muscular creatures in twisting motion. No one ever stands still in a Mannerist painting and the general theme is often hard to interpret at first glance, as these works are usually slanted in harshly diagonal compositions, are extremely busy' with large groups of people and heavy with minute detail. The color composition is also consciously harsh- bright, bold colors against the sickly white pallor of the under-painting. The best of the Mannerists managed to infuse their themes with real drama; the swirling ebb-and-flow motion learnt from Raphael loyally translated into human expression and thematic logic. The worst of this group would go on to create ridiculously exaggerated figures in poses that seem unbelievable and totally without purpose.

Maori art

Maori art is made by the indigenous Polynesians of New Zealand.

As with all the Oceanic and tribal cultures, this art work was never considered art' in the sense that is accepted in the West. Rather, art was inexplicably a part of everyday life; it served the cultural, social and religious needs of the community. This is an ancient and complex culture that used its art in almost every aspect of life; from small wood carvings,