Paint a Picture, It’ll Last Longer
Today, the world of visual arts — paintings, photography, sculpture — is vast and vibrant. But have you ever wondered how we got here, and what our artistic roots look like?
Humans were making art even before we began recording our own history. The earliest art pieces were created with natural materials, such as stones and pigments made from plants and animals. As humankind progressed, we began making more complicated kinds of art. Pottery and sculptures soon took centre stage.
Some of the first art ever made was cave art. Some of the most well-known examples of cave art today can be found in the caves of Lascaux in France, and depict animals like deer and aurochs, an extinct cow species. They were coloured with charcoal and iron oxide, and are around 20, 000 years old. (Wikimedia Commons)
Some archaeologists think that cave art may have been the first form of cinema. This drawing of a cave lion from the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave appears to show three movements of its head in a row. When the light of torches lit up these pictures, the flickering shadows produced may have made it look like it was pouncing. (Wikimedia Commons)
One of the most ancient forms of art is pottery. Some of the oldest pottery pieces have been discovered in East Asia. This beautifully carved pot was made during Japan’s Jomon era, and is one of many that have since been found. Such pottery dates from about 10,500 to 300 BCE. (Wikimedia Commons)
Sculptures were yet another common art form in the ancient world. This one, titled “Laocoön and His Sons”, was made somewhere around 323 BCE. It is likely Greek in origin and depicts human anatomy and facial expressions in fantastic detail. (Wikimedia Commons)
God, It’s Beautiful
As we moved into the Middle Ages, the kind of art we made began to change. Christianity soon became the biggest religion in Europe, and the artistic creations of Europeans grew to reflect its importance in their lives.
In the 1400s, the Renaissance arrived, bringing with it a renewed interest in individualism and the classics. Art thus began to move away from religious imagery and started to show scenes from everyday life, as well as Greek and Roman mythology. During this period, many great artists were born, including Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli.
Illuminated manuscripts, or illustrated manuscripts, became common in the Middle Ages. Each of these were hand-lettered and hand-decorated, making them labour-intensive and extremely expensive. One well-known example is the Book of Kells, which was created around 800 CE and recorded the Four Gospels. This page features Christ sitting on his throne. (Wikimedia Commons)
Stained glass windows found in churches were often beautifully decorated. This example is from the Augsburg Cathedral in Germany, which dates back to around 1000 CE. Its panels depict various Biblical figures, such as Moses, Daniel and David. (Wikimedia Commons)
The renewed interest in Greek and Roman mythology during the Renaissance produced paintings like Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”. Painted in the mid-1480s, the piece tells the tale of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, arriving on the island of Cyprus after emerging from the ocean. (Wikimedia Commons)
This painting, “Children’s Games”, was created by artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1560. Among other things, it demonstrated that the lives of people, even children, were worthy of being captured on paper. (Wikimedia Commons)
Keeping It Real
From the late 1700s onwards, Romanticism took over. It focused on imagination and nature, which soon became the most important inspirations for artists during this period. Just a few decades later, the camera was invented. Influenced by photography, paintings became more realistic and lifelike.
Later, artists began to turn inwards, depicting their own experiences and inner worlds instead of simply drawing what they saw. As they each “spoke their truth”, Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism were born, and visual art became more and more abstract.
Paintings made during the Romanticism era often depicted the wonder and vastness of nature, with the human figure painted as small and insignificant in comparison. This painting, the “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” by David Friedrich, demonstrates this. (Wikimedia Commons)
After Romanticism, artists began to turn their attention towards capturing scenes accurately. This resulted in lifelike depictions of scenery, animals and people. One of the most famous artists of the Realism movement was Gustave Courbet, who decided to paint only what he could see. This painting, “Le Veau Blanc” (or “The White Calf”), is one of his pieces. (Wikimedia Commons)
You may know Claude Monet for his many paintings of water lilies, but did you know he single-handedly started the Impressionist movement? His painting “Impression, Sunrise” was where the movement got its name. Impressionistic paintings often look unfinished. They are meant to capture the feel of the scene as the artist experiences it, not the scene itself. (Wikimedia Commons)
Cubism purposely moved away from depicting things or scenes as they were, choosing to fracture or break up the subjects of their paintings. This painting, “Weeping Woman”, was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1937. It is meant to capture the grief and pain of the Spanish Civil War, which shattered many both physically and mentally. (Wiki Art)
State of (the) Art
Today, the visual arts scene is more diverse, wacky, and vibrant than ever. Modern, abstract art has become popular. Digital forms of art are now mainstream as well, with pieces being created on digital devices rather than with paint and canvas. And with the introduction of art A.I.s, the art world will never be the same.
But in some ways, this is nothing new. Change and artistic exploration have always been features of the visual arts. We have seen how the arts have changed dramatically from past to present. What will they look like in the future?
Visual art today has grown incredibly strange. This art piece by Maurizio Cattelan, titled “Comedian”, is merely a fresh banana duct-taped to the wall. It sold for USD$120, 000. (Wiki Art)
Today, artists are more likely to use tablets and digital pens to make their sketches, as compared to real pencils and paper. (Wikimedia Commons)
Artist Jason Allen caused controversy when he submitted this piece to the 2022 Colorado State Fair’s art competition — and won. Titled “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial”, the piece was made entirely on Midjourney, an artificial intelligence (A.I.) programme. (Colorado State Fair Instagram)
Sources: Atlas Obscura, BBC, Britannica (1, 2) Google Arts & Culture, Invaluable, Lascaux Website, My Modern Met (1, 2), New York Times, Smithsonian Mag, Wheel and Clay