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| ANCIENT GREEK ART |
The History of art is a multidisciplinary science. The study of the history of art was initially developed in the Renaissance. Long before there was a discipline of “art therapy,“ artists explained themselves with their inner images as references to reality. Sculptures, cave paintings, rock paintings, dating to roughly 40,000 years ago have been found, but the precise meaning of such art is often disputed because so little is known about the cultures that produced them. The oldest art objects in the world—a series of tiny, drilled snail shells about 75,000 years old—were discovered in a South African cave.
Many great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the great ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, Ancient Greece, Rome, as well as Inca, Maya, and Olmec. Each of these centers of early civilization developed a unique and characteristic style in its art. Today, art enjoys a wide network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic legacy of mankind throughout history. The 20th century has seen the proliferation of institutions, foundations, art museums and galleries.
Art, in the first period of history, began with the invention of writing, founded by the great civilizations of Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia. One of the great advances of this period was writing, generated primarily by the need to keep records of economical and commercial nature. The first writing code was the cuneiform script, which emerged in Mesopotamia circa 3500 BC, written on clay tablets. In Western Middle Ages, much art focused on the expression of Biblical and nonmaterial truths, and used styles that showed the higher unseen glory of a heavenly world, such as the use of gold in the background of paintings, or glass in mosaics or windows.
In further east, religion dominated artistic styles and forms too. India and Tibet saw emphasis on painted sculptures and dance, while religious painting borrowed many conventions from sculpture and tended to bright contrasting colors with emphasis on outlines. China saw the flourishing of many art forms: jade carving, bronze work, pottery, poetry, calligraphy, music, painting, drama, fiction, etc. Chinese styles vary greatly from era to era and each one is traditionally named after the ruling dynasty. The history of twentieth century art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new standards.
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| ANCIENT ART |
Japanese woodblock prints (which had themselves been influenced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an immense influence on Impressionism and subsequent development. As for today, it is now taken for granted that nothing which concerns art can be taken for granted any more: neither art itself, nor art in relationship to the whole, nor even the right of art to exist.
