_PNG.png){kind=small}
“What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.”
– Eugene Delacroix
We know that great art involves spaces and pauses, keeping viewers speculating about what is left to be said. Think of the Altamira cave paintings of the Bisons or the Ennedi rock paintings of Chad, Central Africa, and you will know that art still existed without the posh galleries and expositions, in savage and far-flung corners of human civilization, without being categorized as art. From the moment humans started creating history with sticks and stones, burnt charcoal, and flints, art took off in its primal form. Then came the creations on clay tablets, pottery, and mud walls in a more rustic yet still organized manner. Art has come a long way through the passages of revival, reconstruction, and deconstruction, stepping into a post-war scenario of chaos and anarchy followed by the popular consumerist art culture. So, it’s no less fascinating to study the types of art movement that shaped the journey of humans through the contemporary art movement timeline, especially if you are an artist, art lover, collector, or art historian.
What Makes Art Movement History Relevant for an Artist or Art Enthusiast?
As we leap through the comprehensive art movements timeline, we get to know that the basic idea was to convey the socio-political changes through the passages of uprisings and revolutions. Thus, art hibernated yet sparked movements that have defined distinctive eras like baroque, impressionism, fauvism, cubism, surrealism, and pop art. Let’s focus on such artistic movements, capturing the moment of their birth pangs that sparked artistic interpretations and metamorphoses. As an artist, admirer, or art lover, one must take this invaluable journey that started with the Altamira cave dwellers in a more nascent form, culminating in the ever-elusive ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo Da Vinci, ‘Sunflowers’ by Vincent Van Gogh, ‘Guernica’ by Pablo Picasso, as well as the sensational creations of Salvador Dali or the modern street arts by Banksy.
Studying Art History Timeline through the Socio-Political Lenses
Through these consecutive stages, the concept and purpose of art have been questioned time and again, placed in the peculiar social, cultural, and political climate of that certain art epoch. With each movement came the distinctive styles, techniques, and perspectives of exploring art through the mind of the liberated man, who was an artist, a seer, and an observer. These curious minds have made the greatest contributions to what we know as art today.
From the Mona Lisa to Chiaroscuro: The Wavemakers in the Renaissance Art Movement
So, what was so special about the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile—a question that plagued art historians, curators, and artists ever since? She was a product of the classic Renaissance period that started in 14th-century Italy, making its way to all intellectual corners of Europe. It was a steady movement of the revival of Greek and Roman art and aesthetics, focusing more on realism, human perception, and anatomy. The Renaissance movement produced milestone creations in painting and sculpture by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, and more.
The paintings looked more akin to real life from the perspective of light and shadow, better known as ‘Chiaroscuro,’ in Italian, adding much tangible depth to the creations. More than divinity, Renaissance lauded humans as the center of creation, attention, and emotions. As anatomy was pivotal, these artistic pieces emphasized symmetry, proportion, and balance, inspiring future art styles and personas.
From Baroque to Romanticism: A Great Leap from Extravagance to Nature Divine
After the Renaissance came the Baroque style of grandeur, extravagance, and extensive adornments in artworks like the iconic artworks of Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Rubens. Baroque style highlighted the facades and domes of buildings with gold and gilt lines, adding depth and splendor to the paintings and creations. Tenebrism, the contrast of light and darkness, created more tension and drama in significant paintings. It lasted till the 18th century when the French Rococo style took over.
Rococo was characterized by the Rocaille style in French, signifying the rich ornamentation of indoors, salons, and spaces to entertain visitors or spectators. The style was rather showy of the aristocratic opulence as compared to the seriousness and depth of Baroque creations.
Rococo was short-lived as artists were not convinced by the superficiality of the decorative forms, giving way to more substantial creations with neoclassical and romantic art forms. Neoclassicism was inspired by the French Revolution, and the artists primarily focused on heroism, moral values, and rationality, depicting mythological gods and epic figures.
Romanticism parted ways with this moral and divine astuteness, concentrating more on simplistic things in life, like sublime nature, individuality, and emotions. Some of the greatest creators include Francisco Goya, Thomas Cole, Eugène Delacroix, Italian artist Francisco Hayez, etc., who glorified nature as sublime. The movement even touched upon music and literature celebrating the idea of the mystic and supernatural.
From Realism to Fauvism: Plein Air Nature to Expressions of Anarchy and Chaos
Realism was an offshoot of the post-industrial revolution turmoil, depicting the more real, ordinary life of the common man straightforwardly as opposed to the emotional and supernatural baggage of romanticism. People and objects of rural and grueling industrial life came into the foreground, with artists like Gustave Courbet (The Stone Breakers) or Jean-Fracois Millet (The Gleaners) glorifying life as it was in reality. The movement also influenced photography and literature to a great scale, culminating in other liberating art forms like impressionism and post-impressionism, mastered by artists like Claude Monet (Soleil Levant), Vincent Van Gogh (The Starry Night), Renoir (Dance at Bougival), etc.
Impressionist artists focused more on depicting nature as seen outdoors, with plein air sort of creations, using fleeting movements of brushstrokes and runny colors, and working on the movements and effects of light to show the animated scenery and landscapes outside.
Post-impressionist ideals were close to these natural portrayals, with new techniques of emotion and exaggeration added to them. Painters like Van Gogh, Seurat, or Gauguin strived to push the boundaries of expressions, parting their ways from realism and paving the way for expressionism and fauvism, a neo-normal form of creation resulting from the uncertainty and agony of World War I. The works of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc showed how alienation and despair dominated the art scene with the use of unusual colors and distortions.
Capturing Multi-dimensional Reality with Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism
Pablo Picasso, the connoisseur of Cubism, leaped from usual art forms to more fragmented and geometrical shapes to portray reality from a multi-dimensional perspective. It was radical and awe-inspiring, creating more space for the abstract, fragmented form and the unusual.
Dada art surfaced with the idea of the whimsical, questioning the boundaries of an artist’s understanding of life and creation. With a playful and quirky name as Dada, which means a hobby horse for children, Dada artists challenged the notion of conformity and subjugation, stepping on the blurred line between real and unreal in the art sense. It was rather an anti-art proposition, expanding the horizons of art objects to include more bizarre and unintentional themes like a urinal pot (‘The Fountain’ by Marcel Duchamp). It provoked the theme of nonsense with later offshoots of Surrealism and popular art culture.
Surrealism stemmed from the Dada philosophy, with artists like Salvador Dalí (The Persistence of Memory), René Magritte (The Lovers), and Max Ernst (The Elephant Celebes) introducing the sense of juxtaposed reality, fantasy, and dreamlike sequences in art. It was greatly influenced by the idea of the id, ego, and superego, liberating the unconscious and the subconscious mind. The artists played with the themes of fear and fantasies through automated drawings, distortions, and juxtapositions.
Abstract Expressionism to Street Art and Graffiti: Liberating Art for the Masses
Expressions have no scope or order; they can be haphazard, random, and individualistic. This was the norm of the American abstract expressionist artists, who preferred abrupt strokes, riots of colors, and abstract ideas. This movement shifted the art focus to the United States of America, with artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning leaving their marks on enormous canvases with creations like ‘Mural’, ‘Autumn Rhythm’, by Pollock etc.
With mass media and the emergence of popular culture, the art scene mutated into more consumerist art forms, like advertising and billboard art, popular street art and graffiti, comic art, artwork content for packages, cinema hoarding, etc. Art was no longer confined to a much-hyped, high-profile, and sophisticated portrayal. The focus changed from an elite perspective to a commonplace and utility perception. In other words, art became more accessible and inclusive, with lucid ideas of relevance. It was spread to the masses. Creations of Roy Lichtenstein or Andy Warhol can be a testimony to commercial art.
GenX Art Making Ways to Augmented Virtual Realities: Tracing Art through Timescape
Collective art tendencies, or the global art movement types have been deeply influencing the art scene as we usher into the new era of digital reality. Yet, the legacy prevails. From the Renaissance movement to the art of the absurd and Avant-Garde, these movements still matter to art-seekers, artists, and historians worldwide as they showcase the evolution of art with the passage of creation, repurposing the meaning of art versus life, and liberating it from all grids and notions.
Thus, art goes on ...
Comments