History of the Arts: HUM 300 The Arts in Society

We're going to start with a galloping overview history of artistic traditions and movements worldwide.

Prehistory

The arts originated in everyday objects, most of which are lost to natural decay. We don't know which of these artistic activities came first. For all practical purposes, they're as old as humanity. However, as these pictures show, we have artifacts that go back only a fraction of that time.

The oldest tools go back 2.5 million years. While using those tools for food, clothing, and shelter would have been most important, it makes sense that those tools would have been used for rhythmic beating, if nothing else, to accompany the human voice.

archeology: the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures mainly by study of their artifacts (the things they left behind that we have recovered)

Anthropologists can support the development of self-conscious "art" as we know it back to 200,000 years ago. That's about when most researchers agree that the species Homo sapiens became distinct, though at the time there were other species in the genus Homo.

Others feel as though a time frame of 40,000 - 10,000 years ago is a safer bet for when art spread throughout every human group on earth. At about that time one of the two or three most important developments in human prehistory spread across the earth: the Neolithic Revolution. (Neolithic means "new stone" age, and some researchers say that it did not spread, it developed independently half a dozen times.) Most humans stopped moving around hunting meat and gathering fruit, grain, and vegetables. They moved into stable communities. chauvet cave

Instead of hunting game, they domesticated pigs, cow, and sheep. Instead of gathering food, they farmed a few grains (emmer, einkorn and barley) and fruits. There is a lot of evidence that the general health of people living in these communities was poorer than that of their hunter-gatherer ancestors because of poor diet, lack of exercise, and the opportunity for disease to spread.

The Neolithic Revolution happened first in what is now the Mideast, Iraq and Turkey, about 12,000 years ago. It had spread to (arose in) Asia around 10,000 years ago, Africa and Europe 7,000 years ago, and the Americas 5,000 years ago.

Soon, there was surplus food, which led to leisure. Which led to art. The first such civilization to flower was Sumer by 7,000 years ago in what is now Iraq. Rock carving (petroglyphs) appeared throughout the world during the Lower Paleolithic (the part of the Stone Age that came first). Chronologically, these arts followed: engravings, sculpture (in stone, ivory, bone and wood), cave painting, relief sculpture, ceramic pottery and architecture. By the end of the Upper Paleolithic (the most recent part of the Stone Age), we have the first evidence of bronze and gold sculpture.

Timeline of the Arts and History

These are not specific chronological periods. They are a set of behavioral and cultural characteristics that usually followed in this order and end when written historical record-keeping began. Until then, all we have are artifacts and almost always durable artifacts, thus the stone and metal names to these periods.

The Stone Age

Paleolithic Age

cave paintings come from four successive Upper Paleolithic cultures, the first being the Aurignacian - Grotte Chauvet, France - c.30,000 BC

oldest known ceramic artwork is the Venus of Dolni Vestonice (left, and a very large hi-res version), a 4-inch figure made from clay and bone ash and dating to roughly 26,000 BC, found near Brno in the Czech Republic

hand stencils at the Cuevas de las Manos (Cave of the Hands) (right) near Rio de las Pinturas, Argentina, - c. 9,500 BC

Mesolithic Age

Mesolithic Age - hunting/gathering, nomadic, extended family/bands, women probably as powerful if not more powerful than men

Neolithic Age

Neolithic Age - The Neolithic Revolution was marked by the use of wild and domestic crops and domesticated animals; stable communities; beginning of male dominance over women

The oldest art in China is three pottery pieces pieces were unearthed at Liyuzui Cave in Liuzhou, Guangxi Province dated 16,500 and 19,000 BCE.

The oldest prehistoric ceramic art was made during the ancient Japanese Jomon culture. Ceramic remains taken from the Odaiyamamoto I site in Aomori Prefecture - one of the most ancient sites for this type of Japanese art - were carbon-dated (using INTCAL98) to between 14,540 and 13,320 BCE.

The Metal Ages

The Bronze Age - advanced metalworking (smelting copper and tin), potter's wheel

The Iron Age lasted in every culture until written records, that is, until . The Iron Age is usually said to end in the Mediterranean with the rise of the Greek civilization around 400 BC, in India with the beginnings of Buddhism around 500 BC, in China with the beginnings of Confucianism around the same time, and in Northern Europe with the early Middle Ages.

Timelines

	Artist / Art Work / Politician	Europe	Mideast	Africa	China	Japan	India	Cent/S America	Tools
Wikip		Western art history		African Art	History of Chinese art	History of Japanese Art	Culture of India
5000 BC	Ötzi the Iceman - 3300 BC Stonehenge, England - c.3100-2200 ziggurat (massive terraced pyramid) - c 2500 BC The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt- c.2550 BCE Abraham 1812 BCE to 1637 BCE	Stone Age Bronze Age In England, the Bronze Age lasted from around 2100 to 700 BC	Mesopotamia(Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires) - 3500 BC - 559 BC Old Kingdom (Egypt, 3000 BC - 2000 BC Minoa (Crete) - 2700 to 1450 BC Middle Kingdom (Egypt), 2000 BC - 1300 BC		Xia Dynasty - 2100 - 1600 BC Shang Dynasty - 1700-1046 BC		Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BC - 1300 BC)	Preclassic Era or Formative Period Caral, Peru - 2600 - 2000 BC Maya civilization1800 –200 CE Olmec civilization 1400 - 400 BC	woven cloth 7000 to 8000 BC Pictographic writing Pottery wheel Early paints trumpet in Denmark - 2000 BC Percussion instruments added to orchestras in Egypt -.2000 BC Alphabet in Egypt - 2000 BC Wood-framed houses in China - 6000 – 2000 BC
1000	Dipylon vase Indian Vedas David c.1040–970 BC		Egyptian New Kingdom (Egypt) - 1550 BC - 1070 BC	Bantu expansion into central and southern Africa	Zhou Dynasty - 1066 - 221 BC	Jomon period - 800 - 400 BC	Vedic period - 1500 BC - 500 BC Iron Age Painted Grey Ware culture - 1100 to 350 BC	Chavín civilization, 900 - 300 BC, Peru	Papyrus Guitar, lyre, trumpet, and tamborine by Hittites (Armenia) - 1500 BC Harps in Egypt.- 1500 BC
800					Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BCE)
600	Buddha c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE Confucius 551 BCE – 479 BCE Socrates c. 469 BC–399 BC						Northern Black Polished Ware - 700 to 200 BC		500 BC - masks and dance used in Greek theater
400	Greece's Golden Age Alexander the Great	Greek Ancient Greece - c. 3300 BC- 31 BC	Persian Empire - ca. 550–330 BC		Warring States Period (476-221 BCE)		Maurya Period 322–185 B.C	Cañaris (in south central Ecuador), Paracas and Nazca (400 BC – 800 AD, Peru
200		Roman Ancient Rome (509 BC-AD 476)			Imperial Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE)				Chinese invent paper and porcelain Quill pen
100	Pompeii wall art Peak of Roman Empire	Iron Age - In England, the Iron Age ends with the Roman Conquest in 43 AD.			Early Imperial China (221 BC–AD 220)			Moche (100 BC – 700 AD, at the northern coast of Peru) Tiuahuanaco or Tiwanaku (100 BC – 1200 AD, Bolivia
	Artist / Art Work / Politician	Europe	Mideast	Africa	China	Japan	India	Cent/S America	Tools
200 AD		Migration period (200 - 700) invasions of the Roman Empire from the east and north			Wei and Jin Period (265–420 CE) Period of division (220–581)		Early Middle Kingdoms — The Golden Age 320 - 1200's Gupta Rule 320 – 550	Classic Era 200–900 height of Mayan civilization - 250 AD to 900 AD Teotihuacan
400	Pantheon Rome falls Mohammed 570 - 632	Dark Age - 4th century - 900	Byzantine Coptic period - Egypt 300 - 900		Wu Hu Period (304–439 CE) Southern and Northern Dynasties - 420–589	Yayoi period - 400 BC — AD 300) Kofun period - 300 - 600	Rashtrakuta 500's - 900's
600	Charlemagne	Byzantine	Islamic Golden Age - 700 - 1300	Islam spreads across North Africa; by 750 it had spread through what is now Spain to the Pyrnees	Sui Dynasty 581–618 Tang Dynasty 618–907	Asuka period 538 - 710 Nara period 710 - 794	Pala Empire 750-1120	Wari or Huari Empire (600 – 1200, Central and northern Peru	Papermaking introduced in China
800						Heian period ( 794 to 1185	The Islamic Sultanates 760 - mid-1500's
1000	Bayeux Tapestry Normans invade England	Viking Age (793–1066) Romanesque			Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms 907–960 Liao Dynasty 907 – 1125 Song Dynasty 960 – 1279 Jin Dynasty - 1115 – 1234	Feudal Japan (12th - 19th century) Kamakura period, 1185–1333	Hoysala Empire, 900's - 1300's Kakatiya Empire 1083 - 1323	Postclassic Era 900–1697 Aymaran kingdoms (1000 – 1450, Bolivia and southern Peru	Paper first manufactured in Europe Tempera Fresco Ink
1250	Chartres cathedral Magna Carta	Gothic	Ottoman Empire (Islam, 1299–1923)		Yuan Dynasty 1271–1368		Delhi Sultanate 1206 - 1526	1200's - 1500's Incan Empire Chimu Empire (1300 – 1470, Peruvian northern coast	Revival of paintmaking
1400	da Vinci Colombus reaches Americas Holy Roman Empire	Early Renaissance			Late imperial China (1368-1911)	Muromachi period 1336 to 1573 Muromachi art		Aztecs (Mexico) 1300's - 1500's	Printing press - 1465 Oil paint Pastel Ballet begins in Italy
	Artist / Art Work / Politician	Europe	Mideast	Africa	China	Japan	India	Cent/S America	Tools
1500	Michelangelo Luther Shakespeare	High Renaissance Northern Renaissance			Ming Dynasty 1368–1644	Azuchi-Momoyama period - 1573 to 1603 Azuchi-Momoyama art	Mughal Empire (1526 - 1857)	pre-Colombian period ends	First use of canvas first novel (fiction)
1600	Rembrandt Galileo	Baroque			Qing Dynasty 1644–1911	Tokugawa shogunate Edo period 1603 - 1868 Edo art		Colonial Period	Modern pencil Opera
1700	Newton	Rococo Enlightenment		European exploration slave trade
1750	American and French Revolutions	Neoclassism
1800	Napoleon	Romanticism Realism							Photography Watercolors
1850	American Civil War	Pre-Raphaelites		European conquest and partition			Colonial era	Independence	Tube paints Fountain pen
1875	Van Gogh	Impressionism Post-Impressionism				Meiji period 1868 - 1912 Meiji art			Ballpoint pen Telephone Light bulb Automobile
1900	Dalí Picasso	Abstraction Fauvism Cubism Futurism Dada Surrealism	European domination and partitioning	20th century: 1900-1945	Republic of China 1912–1949 New China art (1912-1949)	Taishō and Shōwa eras Postwar period			Acrylic paint Crayon Airplane
1950	Pollock de Kooning Rothko Stella Warhol	Abstract Expressionism Pop Art Op Art		The postcolonial era: 1945 to 1993 Decolonization	People's Republic of China 1949–present Communist-Enforced art (1950-1980s) Redevelopment (Mid-1980s - 1990s) Contemporary Art Visual art	Contemporary art in Japan
	Artist / Art Work / Politician	Europe	Mideast	Africa	China	Japan	India	Cent/S America	Tools

History of the Arts

HUM 300 The Arts in Society

Medaille College - Spring 2010