write art history essay

write art history essay

The Evolution of Art: A Comprehensive Analysis Through History

1. Introduction to Art History

This paper is an introductory analysis of the history of art. It argues first that the history of art offers unique and incomparable features for the understanding of every society that has ever existed until today. Thereby, its necessity is both methodological and economical. Methodological because it is part of our way of learning, and economical because it is a powerful tool for a larger understanding of reality as well as an important part of our individual culture. With a detailed scholastic taxonomy of art disciplines, it recalls the ongoing tension between nature and humanity, which has accompanied our civilizations. It explains art-like behavior in primates and argues for the existence of a survival function in the genesis of art. It classifies the most important art periods, making sure to explain both their essence and development. After a historical excursus that addresses all prehistorical societies, two central chapters are dedicated to Ancient Civilizations. The conclusions show the importance of the study of the history of art.

2. Ancient Art: From Prehistoric to Classical

The clothing that they made with quite advanced techniques indicates expectations that went beyond physical protection and reached the symbolic and spiritual level. And it is found that they had social development, allowing division of labor. Various specialized activities crystallized over the centuries, thus resulting in mutual services and exchange. Specialization led to an improvement in the basic techniques with which they produced tools and ornamental jewels of surprising artistic quality. The use of already cut copper around the 7th millennium BCE—certainly an alloy of lead and copper—stands out from the rest. Such artistic potentiating of early humanity marks the end of prehistory and the start of the historic period of humankind.

In the long history of human life on Earth, prehistory crosses the timeline of our lives by about ninety percent of its length. It is shown through the building and manufacture of useful objects. Through using materials from the natural environment, early people tried to satisfy particular needs of their own lives and those of their families, especially protection against predators and other people with rival interests. At the same time, they came to use materials for the beauty and spiritual quality they provided: in short, art. Their practical objects—whether tools or weapons, the latter designed as self-protection or for the hunt—may have been designed with an attitude that used abilities beyond the necessary ones.

3. Medieval and Renaissance Art: The Birth of Humanism

Since then, humanism has played a major role in the development and direction that art has taken. During periods when it faltered, there has appeared a corresponding decline in the quality and quantity of great art. Conversely, whenever the strength of humanism has revived, the result has always been a renewal of the creative human spirit. It is not therefore only interesting to examine the ideas and works of individual artists but also to place them in their true historical context as contributors to a continuous process. This is the story of the evolution of art.

Moving into the medieval era, art was utilized primarily for teaching, often taking the form of illustrated manuscripts to spread religious messages and stories. Then, at the start of the 14th century, there came enormous changes in Europe: the development of city-states, a huge increase in international trade, the growth of a merchant class with money to spend, and the establishment of universities. Out of this came a new intellectual movement: humanism. Humanists, while still accepting the truth of religious teaching, concentrated their studies on secular matters and recognized that men and women were the center of the universe. This new way of thinking led to the great explosion of art that we call the Renaissance.

4. Baroque to Romanticism: Artistic Revolutions

Baroque art is a forerunner of Romantic art – it puts the individual at the center (especially the religious individual) and adorns him with a sublime exaltation of feelings. Caravaggio, Rubens, and Rembrandt represent notable exceptions outside this concept.

When you enter the long nave of Baroque art, it leads to three masterpieces never before seen in the history of man. All are by the same artist and all exhibit an extraordinary, serene creative calm. They exist on very different expressive planes: Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, David, and The Chair of Saint Peter.

Art, under Baroque patronage, indulges in a variety of styles as a hymn of praise to Catholicism. Warrior popes like Urban VIII boast that army and navy funding is being paid for with gold smiles on the cheeks of Bernini’s chiseled angels.

5. Modern and Contemporary Art: From Impressionism to Postmodernism

The nineteenth century marks the starting point of Modern Art. This term applies to a wide variety of artistic achievements during a period of approximately a century and a half, varying in terms of the creativity and approaches of the artists. The artists no longer had to paint for patrons or the Church, but most of their emotional, creative retirements encourage independent reflections and make art out into the public sphere. Such diversity appeared within them in the 18th and 19th centuries that it no longer makes sense to speak about “art,” but rather about “arts.” The beginning of this process coincided with the establishment of art as an element and a reflection of social life with the Declaration of Independence of the United States in 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. From that moment on, tasks which had been fundamentally exclusive to the ruling classes began to be performed by the whole of society.

Art evolves continuously, and since the late 19th century, it has done so at a fast pace compared to the changes achieved in previous centuries. As in the timescapes of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, where certain styles prevailed in defined periods, some periods from the Modern period could be denominated in its initial concept as individual artistic movements for their unique characteristics. The analysis of these characteristics is what we will do in the following 4 chapters.