Annotated Mona Lisa (Prehistoric Through Medieval) Flashcards
5 tools of art
Composition, Movement, Unity and Balance, Color and light/ dark contrast, Mood
Large, vertical stones with a covering slab like a giant table
Dolmen
Single stone set on its end
Menhir
Circular arrangement of stones, such as Stonehenge
Cromlech
Architecture of Mesopotamia
Tower of Babel, Hanging Gardens
Age of Pericles
Golden age of Greece. Pericles championed democracy and encouraged free thinking
Pottery ornamented with geometric banding and friezes of simplified animals, humans (9th-8th century B.C.)
Geometric art
Black forms stood out against a reddish clay background
Black-figured style
The figures, on a black background, were composed of natural red clay with details painted in black
Red-figured style
The weight of the body rested on one leg with the body realigned accordingly, giving the illusion of a figure in arrested motion
Contrapposto
Rival of Phidias, wrote book on proportion; most celebrated work colossal gold and ivory statue of Hera at Argos
Polykleitos
Athenian sculptor famous for first entirely nude Aphrodite statue; introduced more sensual, natural concept of physical beauty
Praxiteles
Early phase of Classical sculpture characterized by reserved, remote expressions
Severe Style
referred to all the standard components of a temple, typically found on mainland Greece
Doric Order
More widespread in the Greek settlements of Asia Minor ond the Aegean
Ionic Order
Its columns topped by stylized leaves of the acanthus plant, developed much later. It was not widely used on exteriors until Roman times
Corinthian Order
Female figures that replaced fluted columns
Caryatids
Period includes kouros stone figures and vase painting (600-480 B.C.)
Archaic Art
Earliest (625-480 B.C.) free-standing statues of human figures; frontal stance, left foot forward, clenched fists, and grimace known as “Archaic smile”
Kouros (nude male youth) Kore (clothed maiden)
Peak of Greek art and architecture, idealized figures exemplify order and harmony (480-323 B.C.)
Classical art
Greed-derived style, found in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Egypt; more melodramatic than Classical style (323-31 B.C.)
Hellenistic Art
An oblong building with semicircular apses on either end and high clerestory windows, used as meeting place in Roman times and widely imitated in medieval Christian churches
Basilica
Deep arch forming a half-cylindrical roof
Barrel Vault
Two intersecting barrel vaults at the same height that form a right angle
Groin Vault
Southwest tribe known for geometric-design rugs colored with herbal and mineral dyes, especially cormine red. Shamans created sand paintings to heal disease, promote fertility, or assure a successful hunt
Navaho
Carved and painted kochina dolls out of cottonwood roots to represent gods and teach religion. Also decorated ceremonial underground kivas in Arizona with elaborate mural paintings of agriculture deities.
Hopi
Carved and painted kochina dolls out of cottonwood roots to represent gods and teach religion. Also decorated ceremonial underground kivas in Arizona with elaborate mural paintings of agriculture deities.
Kwakiutl
Alaskan tribe that carved masks with moving parts used by shamans; often combined odd materials in surprising ways.
Eskimo
Created enormous temples in stepped-pyramid form. Huge limestone temples were richly carved with relief sculpture and hieroglyphics
Mayan
Capital was Mexico City, the urban center of this large empire. Produced massive statues of gods who demanded regular human sacrifices. Skilled in gold work.
Aztec
Peruvian tribe known for precisely constructed masonry temples and metallurgy; civilization at height when Spaniards arrived.
Incan
Went to Tahiti in 1891, seeking an exotic culture unspoiled by civilization. The brilliant colors and simplified anatomy of his island paintings reflect decorative Oceanic art.
Gauguin
Discovered African and South Pacific sculpture around 1904-8. Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck were key painters who enthusiastically collected African masks
The Fauves
Picasso and Braque pioneered this movement based on African tribal sculpture and masks, which fractured reality into overlapping planes. Stimulated developments throughout Europe, leading to the abstraction of Malevich and Mondrian.
Cubists
In the 1920s, antirational artists like Ernst, Miro, Magritte, Giacometti, and Dali collected Pacific carvings, African masks, and fanciful Eskimo masks.
Surrealists
Jose Clemente Orozco, David Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera dominated Mexican art in the 1930s by paying homage to the Mayan and Aztec empires.
Mexican Muralists
Sophisticated artists like Modigliani found a freshness and vitality in tribal art missing in conventional art. His paintings of long-necked women resemble African carved figures.
Modernists
The impermanence of Navaho sand paintings, destroyed at the end of a rite, caused this group to focus on the process of artistic creation rather than the end product.
Abstract Expressionists
Artists as diverse as Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, and David Salle have incorporated images of African masks into this era of works.
Contemporary
Mosaics, icons
Byzantine art
Frescoes, stylized sculptures
Romanesque art
Stained glass, more natural sculpture
Gothic art
Central-dome church
Byzantine Architecture
Barrel-vaulted church
Romanesque Architecture
Pointed arch cathedral
Gothic Architecture
Hagia Sophia
Central dome church
St. Serrin
Barrel-vaulted church
Chartres
Pointed-arch cathedral
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus
Mathematicians Justinian chose to build Hagia Sofia
Book of Kells
Collection of rich, purely ornamental drawings produced by irish monks. Enormous letters, fantastic animal imagery
