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Key Transitions in Western Art

Explore the evolution of Western art from ancient Greek realism to modern abstraction, tracing major movements and innovations across ~2500 years. Gain insights into different artistic approaches and how they reflect societal changes.

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Key Transitions in Western Art

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  1. Key Transitions in Western Art Cindy Morefield Western Thought & Culture Winterim 2002

  2. Overview ~450 BC - AD 400 (~1000 years) REALISM Greek thru Early Christian ~400-1400 (~1000 years) ABSTRACTION Medieval ~1400- 1900 (~500 years) REALISM Renaissance thru Realism 1900 - 1960 (~60 years) ABSTRACTION Expressionism thru AbEx 1960 - present (~40 years) MIXTURE Pop thro PoMo

  3. Definitions • Representational • Non-representational • Realistic • Abstract

  4. Definitions Representational Non- representational Photo-Realism Impressionism Cubism Abstract Expressionism more realistic moreabstract

  5. Greco-Roman to Medieval Carpenter’s Guild window, detail, Chartres Cathedral, early 13th c. Empress Theodora, detail of apse mosaic, San Vitale, c.547.

  6. Italian Pre-Renaissance Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned, c.1280 Giotto, Madonna Enthroned, c.1310

  7. Renaissance Technical Innovations • Linear Perspective • Oil Paint

  8. Linear Perspective Masaccio, Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Donors, 1427.

  9. Linear Perspective Albrecht Durer, Draftsman Drawing a Nude, c.1525. Woodcut.

  10. Oil Paint Rogier van der Weyden, Descent from the Cross, c.1435. Oil on wood.

  11. Oil Paint Jan Davidsz de Heem, Still Life with Lobster, late 1640s. Oil on canvas.

  12. “Reign of Realism” (c. 1400-1900) Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, c.1614-20. Oil on canvas.

  13. “Reign of Realism” (c. 1400-1900) Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais, 1849. Oil on canvas.

  14. “Reign of Realism” to Modern Abstraction • Media Innovations • Photography • Film Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, Le Boulevard du Temple, 1839. Daguerrotype.

  15. Impressionism Claude Monet, Grainstack (Snow effect), 1891.

  16. Impressionism Claude Monet, Grainstack (Sunset), 1891.

  17. Post-Impressionism - Analytical thread Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-86.

  18. Post-Impressionism - Expressive thread Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889.

  19. Progression of Modern Abstraction • Expressive thread • German Expressionism • Abstract Expressionism (esp Action Painting) • Analytic thread • Cubism • Minimalism

  20. German Expressionism Emile Nolde, Prophet, 1912. Woodcut.

  21. German Expressionism Wassily Kandinsky, Black Lines, 1913.

  22. Abstract Expressionism Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1952.

  23. Cubism Georges Braque, Violin and Palette, 1909.

  24. Minimalism Donald Judd, Untitled, 1967. Green lacquer on galvanized iron.

  25. Modernism to Post-Modernism • Modernist Beginnings • Dada • Surrealism • Pop Art

  26. Dada • What makes an object an “art” object? Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1951.

  27. Surrealism • What is reality? Rene Magritte, The Betrayal of Images, 1928.

  28. Pop Art • First canonized break with modern abstraction Andy Warhol, 100 Cans, 1962.

  29. Pop Art Roy Lichtenstein, Cubist Still Life with Playing Cards, 1974

  30. Post-Modernism • Eclecticism & plurality of styles • Self-consciousness • Proliferation of media • Art as experience • Aesthetic of difficulty Sigmar Polke, Der Ritter (Knight), 1988. Artificial resin & acrylic on fabric.

  31. Post-Modernism Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin 1971-95.

  32. Post-Modernism Ann Hamilton, the capacity of absorption, 1988-89. Installation at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

  33. Where from here? • Problems • Exhaustion • Quantity erodes quality • Aesthetic of difficulty alienating, elitist • Self-conscious to a fault

  34. Where from here? • Possibilities • More art • Greater range of materials, forms • Decentralization of art world • Multi-level scene, niches • Revival of sacred and religious art

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