Art History Eras & Movements

Question 1

Stone Age

Answer 1

30,000 BCEE - 2,500 BCEE
- Cave painting, fertility goddesses, megalithic structures

Question 2

Mesopotamian

Answer 2

3,500 BCE - 539 BCE
Warrior art and narration in stone relief

Question 3

Egyptian

Answer 3

3,100 BCE - 30 BCE
Art with an afterlife focus: pyramids and tomb painting

Question 4

Greek & Hellenistic

Answer 4

850 BCE - 31 BCE
Greek idealism, balance, perfect proportions; architectural orders (Doric, Iconic, Corinthian)

Question 5

Roman

Answer 5

500 BCE - CE 476
Roman realism: practical and down-to-earth; the arch

Question 6

Byzantine & Islamic

Answer 6

CE 476 - 1453
Heavenly Byzantine mosaics; Islamic architecture and amazing mazelike design

Question 7

Middle Ages

Answer 7

500 - 1400
Celtic art, Carolingian Renaissance, Romanesque, Gothic

Question 8

Early & High Renaissance

Answer 8

1400 - 1550
Rebirth of classical culture (Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo)

Question 9

Venetian & Northern Renaissance

Answer 9

1430 - 1550
The Renaissance spreads northward to France, the Low Countries, Poland, Germany, and England (Bellini, Titian, Bruegel, Bosch, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden)

Question 10

Mannerism

Answer 10

1527 - 1580
Art that breaks the rules; artifice over nature. Distortion of the human figure (queerly elongated limbs) (El Greco, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Sofonisba, Anguissola)

Question 11

Baroque

Answer 11

1600 - 1750
Splendor and flourish for God; art as a weapon in religious wars. The Baroque style was considered to be closely linked with the Catholic Church. Drama, grandeur, and tension. (Reubens, Caravaggio, Artemesia Gentileschi)

Question 12

Neoclassical

Answer 12

1750 - 1850
Art that recaptures Greco-Roman grace and grandeur. Characterized by clarity of form, sober colors, and shallow space. Evoke’s Greece and Rome’s order, harmony, and reason. Often somewhat serious in tone - it depicts scenes from ancient history. (Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kaufmann, Elisabeth Vigee Le Burn, Canova)

Question 13

Romanticism

Answer 13

1780 - 1850
Emphasis on emotions, individualism, imagination, and nature. (Caspar Friedrich, Gericault, Delacroix, Turner, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Goya)

Question 14

Realism, Hudson River School, Pre-Raphaelites, The Ten, Ashcan School

Answer 14

1848 - 1910
Realism: mid-nineteenth century artistic movement characterized by subjects painted from everyday life in a naturalistic manner. Celebrated the working class & peasants.
Hudson River School: The first native school of painting in the United States. A proud celebration of the natural beauty of the American landscape and in the desire of its artists to become independent of European schools of painting.
Pre-Raphaelites: A group of English artists who believed art should be as similar to the real world as possible.
The Ten: A Group of American painters who painted in an Impressionist style.
Ashcan School: Produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city’s poorer neighborhoods. (Corot, Courbet, Daumier, Bonheur, Millet, Durand, Bierstadt, Homer, Rossetti, Dewing, Tarbell, Benson, Sloan, Luks).

Question 15

Impressionism

Answer 15

1869 - 1885
Capturing fleeting effects of natural light. (Monet, Manet, Renior, Pissarro, Cassatt, Morisot, Degas, Chase, Hassam, Frieseke, Peterson).

Question 16

Post-Impressionism

Answer 16

1886 - 1892
A soft revolt against Impressionism. Predominantly French, Post-Impressionists extended the use of vivid colors, thick application of paint, distinctive brushstrokes, and real-life subject matter. (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Seurat, Ensor, Rodin).

Question 17

Fauvism and Expressionism

Answer 17

1905 - 1939
Harsh colors and flat surfaces, distorting form. (Matisse, Derain, Kirchner, Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt)

Question 18

Cubism, Futurism, Supremativism, Constructivism, De Stijl, Precisionism, Harlem Renaissance

Answer 18

1905 - 1944
Cubism: Art movement characterized by the use of geometric and inorganic shapes to depict objects from multiple perspectives. (Picasso, Braque)
Futurism: An Italian art movement that aimed to capture in art the dynamism and energy of the modern world (Umberto Boccioni).
Supermativism: Abstract movement founded in Russia during WWI. Pure abstraction (Malevich).
Constructivism: Founded by Tatlin and Rodchenko. It aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space.
De Stijl: Founded by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesberg in the Netherlands. Based on strict ideals of vertical and horizontal geometry.
Precisionism: Focused on themes of industrialization and modernization in the American landscape, using sharply defined geometrical forms (O’Keeffe)
Harlem Renaissance: Intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship. Art explored a fusion of realism, modernism, African art, and antiquity (Douglas).

Question 19

Dada & Surrealism, Modernist Architecture

Answer 19

1917 - 1950
Dada: Formed in Zurich during WWI as a negative reaction to the horrors of war (Marcel Duchamp).
Surrealism: Painting dreams and exploring the unconscious. Artist utilize strange beauty and the uncanny, the disregarded and unconventional (Dali, Ernst, Magritte, Miro, Kahlo)

Question 20

Abstract Expressionism & Pop Art

Answer 20

1940s
Abstract Expressionism: Characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, the impression of spontaneity. There is not one focal point (Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Krasner, Frankenthaler, Gorky).
1960s
Pop Art: Inspired by popular and commercial culture in western world and began as a rebellion to traditional forms of art. Bold use of color and imagery, incorporation of consumer culture, repetition, irony, celebrity (Warhol, Lichtenstein, Yoko Ono).