History of Art

History of Art

Chronological summary of major movements, styles, periods and artists that have contributed to the evolution and development of visual art.

* STONE AGE ART (c. 2,500,000 - 3,000 BCE)

Mesolithic - Neolithic

* BRONZE AGE ART (3,000 - 1200 BCE)

Egyptian - Sumerian - Persian - Minoan - Bronze Age Metalwork

* IRON AGE ART (c.1500-350 CE)

Mycenean - Ancient Greek Art - Etruscan - Celtic Art - Roman Art

* MEDIEVAL ART (c.350-1300 CE)

Byzantine Art - Irish Early Christian Art 

Romanesque Art (Carolingian, Ottonian) - Gothic

* THE RENAISSANCE (c.1300-1620)

Proto-Renaissance - Early Renaissance - High Renaissance

Northern Renaissance - Mannerism

* POST RENAISSANCE ART (c.1600-1850)

Baroque - Rococo - Neoclassicism - Romanticism - Realism

* MODERN ART (c.1850-1970)

Impressionism - Post Impressionism - Colourism: Fauvism

19th Century/Early 20th Century Sculpture - Expressionism

Design: Art Nouveau/Bauhaus/Art Deco - Cubism - Surrealism

Early 20th Century American Art - Abstract Expressionism

Pop Art - Mid-20th Century Sculpture

* CONTEMPORARY ART (c.1970-present)

Postmodernist Painting - Postmodernist Sculpture

Avant-Garde - 20th Century Architecture

History of Stone Age Art (2.5 million-3,000 BCE)

Prehistoric art comes from three epochs of prehistory: Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. The earliest recorded art is the Bhimbetka petroglyphs (a set of 10 cupules and an engraving or groove) found in a quartzite rock shelter known as Auditorium cave at Bhimbetka in central India, dating from at least 290,000 BCE. However, it may turn out to be much older (c.700,000 BCE).This primitive rock art was followed, no later than 250,000 BCE, by simple figurines (eg. Venus of Berekhat Ram [Golan Heights] and Venus of Tan-Tan [Morocco]), and from 80,000 BCE by the Blombos cave stone engravings, and the cupules at the Dordogne rock shelter at La Ferrassie. Prehistoric culture and creativity is closely associated with...