Art History of the West

Introduction of Arts
Music- primarily a temporal art, which is to
say that there is music when there is someone
to play the instruments and sing the songs.
Visual arts and architecture- are spatial arts
that have permanence. When a religious
service is over, people may still come into the
building to admire its architecture or marvel
at its paintings or sculptures or look at the
decorative details of the building.
Literature - a permanent quality in that it is
recorded in books, although some literature is
meant not to be read but to be heard.

How to look at Art
Our response to such objects depends a good
deal on our own education and cultural
biases.
The history of art is nothing more than the
record of how people have used their minds
and imaginations to symbolize who they are
and what they value.
The very complexity of human art makes it
difficult to interpret. That difficulty increases
when we are looking at art from a much
different culture and/or a far different age.
Use of arts as communication
This is one of intellectual or emotional context.
An artist may strive for an ideal (I want to
paint the most beautiful woman in the world,
or I wish my painting to be taken for reality
itself, or I wish to move people to love or
hate or sorrow by my sculpture),illustrate the
power of an idea, or (as in the case with most
primitive art) capture the power of the spirit
world for religious and/or magical purposes.
The Beginning of Civilization
Mesopotamians were constantly reminded:
Listen to the word of your mother as to your
god; do not anger the heart of your older sister.
The Beginning of Civilization
1. Some form of urban life involving the
construction
of permanent settlementscities, in short.
2. A system of government that regulates political
relations.
3. The development of distinct social classes,
distinguished from one another by two related
factors:
wealth and occupation.
4. Tools and specialized skills for the production of
goods, leading to the rise of manufacturing and
trade.
5. Some form of written communication, making it
possible to share and preserve information.
6. A shared system of religious belief, whose
officials
or priests often play a significant role in community
affairs.
Paleolithic Art
Toward the end of the Paleolithic period, around
15,000 bce, a major breakthrough occurred. The
human desire for self-expression resulted in the
invention of visual art. Although the art of this
remote age would be valuable for its historical
significance alone, many of the paintings and
statues stand as masterpieces in their own right.
The earliest cave paintings show animals and
hunting, which played a vital part in providing food
and clothing.
Akkadian and Babylonian Culture
When Akkadian rule was brought to an abrupt
and violent end by the invasion of the Gutians
from Iran, the cities of Mesopotamia reverted
to earlier ways. As in the early Sumerian
period, the chief buildings constructed were
large brick platforms with superimposed
terraces, known as ziggurats. These clearly
had religious significance; the one built at Ur
around 2100 BCE had huge staircases that led
to a shrine at the top.
ANCIENT EGYPT
In a land where regional independence
already existed in the natural separation of
Upper from Lower Egypt, national unity was
maintained by a strong central government
firmly controlled by a single ruler, the
pharaoh. He was regarded as a living god, the
equal of any other deity. He had absolute
power, although the execution of his orders
depended on a large official bureaucracy
whose influence tended to increase in time.
EGYPTIAN RELIGION
The funeral rites, together with their meaning,
were described in a series of sacred texts
known collectively as the Book of the Dead.
The god who presided over these ceremonies
was Osiris. The worship of Osiris, his wife Isis,
and their son, the falcon god Horus, which
came in time to symbolize a sense of spiritual
afterlife, as opposed to simple material
survival, represented the mystical side of
Egyptian religion.
1.12 Sethos I, c. 1290
1279 bce. Sethos, who
was buried
in a tomb adjoining
the temple decorated
with this image,
holds the hand of
Thoth, the ibis-headed
god of wisdom (in
particular, writing),
who places his hand
on Sethos shoulder.
THE OLD AND MIDDLE KINGDOMS
The huge scale of many Egyptian works of art is at least in part
the result of the easy availability of stone, the most frequently
used material from the early Old Kingdom to the Late Period. In
Dynasty III, the architect Imhotep used stone to construct the
earliest pyramid as a tomb for his master, the pharaoh Zoser.
This began the tradition of building massive funerary
monuments that would guarantee immortality for their
occupants. At the same time, the practice of mummification
developed. The body was embalmed to maintain its physical
form, because Egyptian religious belief held that preservation
of the body was necessary for the survival of the soul. Imhotep,
the first architect known to history, was in later ages regarded
as the epitome of wisdom and was deified.
The Age of the Pyramids
Chefren, who commissioned the second of the three
pyramids at Giza, was also responsible for perhaps the
most famous of all Egyptian images, the colossal
Sphinx, a guardian for his tomb. The aloof tranquility of
the human face, perhaps a portrait of the pharaoh, set
on a lions body, made an especially strong impression
fifteen hundred years later on the Classical Greeks,
who saw it as a divine symbol of the mysterious and
enigmatic. Greek art frequently uses the sphinx as a
motif, and it also appears in Greek mythology, most
typically in the story of how Oedipus solved its riddle
and thereby saved the Greek city of Thebes from
disaster.
The Great Sphinx, c. 25752525 BCE. Behind the Great Sphinx on the left is the Pyramid of
Chefren, and on the right is the Pyramid of Cheops. The Sphinx is carved out of the natural
surface of the rock. It has the body of a lion and a human head(perhaps an idealized portrait
of Chefren) and guards the pharaohs burial chamber at the heart of his pyramid.
Chefren (left side and
front), c. 25752525
BCE. The sculptor has
shown the drapery and
anatomy with great
realism, while producing
an idealized portrait of
the god king. His divine
power is represented by
Horus, the falcon god of
the Morning Sun,
perched behind his head.
THE NEW KINGDOM
Queen Nefertiti is the subject of perhaps the
most famous of all Egyptian portraits
sculpture that shows none of the exaggeration
to which Amarna art is sometimes prone, but
a grace and elegance very different from
earlier official portraits.
Queen Nefertiti, c. 13551335 BCE. Although the
portrait is not exaggerated, it is idealized.
Return to Tradition
Our knowledge of the cultures of the ancient world is
constantly being revised by the work of archaeologists;
many of their finds are minor, but some are major and
spectacular. In the case of excavations such as the
tomb of Tutankhamen, the process of uncovering the
past sometimes becomes as exciting and significant as
what is discovered. The long search conducted by
Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings that
culminated in the opening of the inner chamber of the
sealed tomb of Tutankhamen on February 17, 1923,
and the discovery of the intact sarcophagus of the king
has become part of history
Death Mask of Tutankhamen, c. 1323 BCE. Note
the false beard, symbol of kingship, and the
sumptuous use of gold and lapis lazuli.
By the close of the New
Kingdom, the taste for
monumental building had
returned. The temples
constructed during the reign
of Ramses II (12981232
BCE) at Luxor, Karnak, and
Abu Simbel are probably the
most colossal of all Egyptian
constructions. Within a
century, however, internal
dissensions and foreign
events had produced a sharp
decline in Egypts power.
Greece

Principle of Greek Deities
Zeus Father of Gods and Men
Hera Wife of Zeus, Queen of Heaven
Poseidon Brother of Zeus, God of the Sea
Hephaestus Son of Zeus and Hera, God of Fire
Ares God of War
Apollo God of Prophecy, Intellect, Music, and Medicine
Artemis Goddess of Chastity and the Moon
Demeter Earth Mother, Goddess of Fertility
Aphrodite Goddess of Beauty, Love, and Marriage
Athena Goddess of Wisdom
Hermes Messenger of the Gods, God of Cleverness
Dionysus God of Wine and the Emotions


The Greeks turned to their deities for
explanations of both natural phenomena and
psychological characteristics they recognized
in themselves.
ART AND SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE
Geometric Art
Based largely on painted pottery, hardly a
major art form even in later times, for little
else has survived.
THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK
SCULPTURE
The influence of Near Eastern and
Egyptian models on Greek
sculpture and architecture is more
consistent and easier to trace than
that of pottery. The first Greek
settlers in Egypt were given land
around the mid-seventh century
bce by the Egyptian pharaoh
Psammetichos I.
It is surely no coincidence that
the earliest Greek stone
sculptures, which date from
about the same period,
markedly resemble
Egyptian cult statues and
were placed in similarly
grandiose temples. (The
earliest surviving temple,
that of Hera at Olympia,
dates at least in part to this
period.)
These stone figures consist of a few subjects repeated over and over. The most popular were the
standing female, or kore, clad in drapery (left), and the standing male, or kouros, always shown
nude (right).
Kore, early 6th century bce. Unlike the kouros to the right, the
female figure is completely clothed, although both have the
same rigid stance. The figures right lower arm was probably
slotted into the hole at the elbow with the hand extended
outwards.
Kouros, c. 600 bce. Note the detailed treatment of the hair, the
carefully balanced design of the body, and the absence of a sense
of movement: although one foot is forward, there is no
displacement of the hips. Note the realism of the muscles and the
new sense of power. Funerary monument to a young man,
Kroisos, who had died heroically in battle.
Calf-Bearer, c. 550 bce. The archaic smile is
softened in this figure. Realism appears in the
displacement of the mans hair by the animals
legs and in the expression of the calf.
Peplos Kore, c. 530 bce. The statue
is identified by the woolen peplos
(mantle) the woman is wearing
over her dress. The missing left arm
was extended. The Greeks painted
important parts of their stone
statues; traces of paint show here.
Relief Sculpture
In addition to these freestanding figures, two other kinds of sculpture now appeared:
large-scale statues made to decorate temples and carved stone slabs.

High relief the figures project
from the background so much
as to seem almost three-
dimensional.
Low relief the carving preserves
the flat surface of the stone.
Temple sculpture or, as it is often called,
architectural sculpture, was frequently
in high relief, as in the depiction of the
decapitation of Medusa from Selinus.
Individual carved stone
slabs are generally in low
relief. Most that have survived
were used as grave markers.
The workmanship is often of a
remarkable subtlety, as on the
grave stele, or gravestone, of
Aristion.
Discovered the numerical relationship of
musical harmonies. Our modern musical
scale, consisting of an octave (a span of
eight tones) divided into its constituent
parts, derives ultimately from his
researches.
Inspired by this discovery, Pythagoras went
on to claim that mathematical relationships
represented the underlying principle of the
universe and of morality, the so-called
harmony of the spheres.
The Harmony of the Spheres was in part an ancient scale of
electromagnetic frequencies. These were the sounds that
eventually came to be expressed in such music as Gregorian
chants. The unique harmony of these frequencies was believed
to impart spiritual blessing and to lead to a deeper level of
consciousness. Because the musical tones were thought so
potent, they were sometimes banned in Medieval times.
CLASSICAL GREECE
THE ATHENIAN TRAGIC DRAMATISTS
Aeschylus The earliest of the playwrights,
Aeschylus (525456 bce). His work shows a
deep awareness of human weakness and the
dangers of power (he had fought at the Battle of
Marathon in 490 bce), but he retains an enduring
belief that in the end right will triumph. In
Aeschyluss plays, the process of being able to
recognize what is right is painful. One must suffer
to learn ones errors; yet the process is
inevitable, controlled by a divine force of justice
personified under the
name of Zeus.
Oresteia trilogy. This trilogy, the only complete one that has survived, won
first prize in the festival of 458 bce at Athens. The subject of the trilogy is
nothing less than the growth of civilization, represented by the gradual
transition from a primitive law of vendetta (blood for blood) to the rational
society of civilized human beings.
Sophocles (496406 bce) written 123 plays,
but only seven have survived, all of which
date from the end of his career. They all
express a much less positive vision of life
than that of Aeschylus. His philosophy is
not easy to extract from his work,
because he is more concerned with
exploring and developing the individual
characters in his dramas than with
expounding a point of view; in general,
Sophocles seems to combine an
awareness of the tragic consequences of
individual mistakes with a belief in the
collective ability and dignity of the human
race.