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The son of migrant workers, Adán Hernández was born in Childress, Texas on October 15, 1951. Hernández, who has been actively painting the past two decades, has had his work exhibited in museums in the United States and Mexico. In 1991, his work caught the attention of film director Taylor Hackford (La Bamba, Devil's Advocate), who signed him up to create more than 30 original paintings, drawings, and a mural, and to star in a cameo role for the 1993 epic barrio cult-classic, Blood In…Blood Out. 

Hernández's work merges neo-expressionism with "Chicano noir". The aesthetics in his art evoke emotions of alienation, uncertainty, desperation, and loss, which dominate the Chicano experience. In describing his work, Hernández says, ''the high drama and highly charged content in my work reflects the day-to-day epic struggle of life in the barrio. Here, the challenge to overcome overwhelming adversity, which we celebrate in films, is a common occurrence. 

Chicano Artist Adan Hernandez has a dream, he wants to make life better for as many people as possible that need help, starting in his own barrio. He dreams of bringing prosperity to his community by opening a gallery, providing a welcoming space to hold art gatherings and for people to come view the accomplishments of Chicano artists; to be inspired by them, encouraging the Chicano Fine Arts Movement to both barrio youths and to the world.

Adan’s art has already moved many, it was a crucial component to the 1993 released film – Blood In Blood Out – that follows the intertwining lives of three Chicano relatives from 1972 to 1984. Adan created the works for actor Jesse Borrego’s artist character, Cruz Candelaria. The iconic film has become important to the Mexican-American world, it was the first feature film to showcase Chicano art. Two of Adan’s works are a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection. He also volunteers at schools talking to kids about growing up in the barrio and its culture, art and empowering them to create their own.

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Adan Hernandez is one of the seminal figures in San Antonio's Chicano art movement, which began to get attention in the 1970s. His parents were migrant cotton pickers. The family eventually settled in San Antonio, where Hernandez became interested in drawing. It wasn't until he saw a painting show by Jesse Treviño in 1980 that it occurred to him that he could be a serious artist, and his big break came when film director Taylor Hackford chose 30 of Hernandez's paintings for his 1993 crime-drama Blood In, Blood Out.

In addition to his large body of work that occupies both public and private collections (including Cheech Marin's definitive Chicano art collection), Hernandez also published the novel Los Vryosos: A Tale from the Varrio and is currently working on an ambitious project to bring a Chicano art museum to San Antonio.

What was your first art experience? Was there a moment when you knew you wanted to be an artist?

I didn't know I could be or make a living as an artist until I was 30 years old. I would come home from work and paint the walls with trivial art, and I was evicted a few times for doing this. I didn't realize my potential until Jesse Treviño had an art show downtown. That's when my girlfriend (and later my wife) Debi Fischer convinced me to quit my job and focus on being a serious artist. If not for her, I never would have been an artist.

How would you describe your work to someone who's never seen it?

I would say my artwork is sacred to me and mi gente because it comes from a people who have suffered brutal hardships. That this art has been pummeled to the ground in hopes that it would just go away by a racist regime, which is our institutions. This art stands for something significant in the American experience.

Where do you think the state of Chicano art is today?

I think Chicano art today is, like most Mexican-Americans, still clawing to exist. There are, however, glimpses of hope here and there. To be a working artist is hard enough, and to be a Chicano artist is highly hopeless. Although there are pockets of collectors who have kept me, and others like me, in the art scene.

What was it like growing up as a Latino in San Antonio in the 1960s?

Growing up as a Chicano on the West Side of San Antonio was an incredible experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. In the '60s, it was a hard time to make a living. My parents had eight kids, and I worked in the fields every summer just to put food on the table and have clothes for school. In spite of that, we had so much fun and laughed so hard. Chicano culture on the West Side was like barrio theater, with the way we handled hardship with humor and friendship.

Were there artists you looked up to?

My peers wouldn't even talk to me. Only after I gained national recognition when the [Metropolitan Museum of Art] bought two of my pieces for their permanent collection, and after my paintings were featured in a movie, did I gain some grudging respect. As far as influential art, I loved Jesse Treviño's art, which was about my barrio, and César Chávez, whose art I really admired. In Los Angeles, I was influenced by the late Carlos Almaraz ... César Martínez, who has lived next door to me since 1986, has become like a brother to me, and I think his work is incredible.

If someone were to ask you about the content behind Chicano art, what would you say?

I prefer to call myself a Chicano artist because I come from a time when we were slave labor. My parents and grandparents knew nothing else. It was the Chicano Civil Rights movement that allowed us to realize our dreams. We came out of the fields and into the classroom and became empowered. Most Mexican-American youths don't know about our struggle. They think their rights were given to them by a caring America. We are also grateful for white people like Robert and Ethel Kennedy, who came to our struggle. Nobody seems to care about our struggle, even though there was plenty of violence against our leaders. Our rallying cry was, "Adelante con la causa! La gente primero! Y que viva la raza!"

What's your best advice to young artists?

My advice to young artists is that if you are not obsessed with art, viewing or creating it, find other ventures. Art demands everything from you if it is to be worth viewing. And if you are that person who is devoted, remember that every age has its great truths, and it is up to artists and authors to reveal them to the world.

Why do you think artists and musicians never seem to find appreciation where they live?

In 1980, local Chicano artist Jesse Treviño took the city by storm. Never had this town seen such incredible Chicano art. He influenced me greatly, and 10 years later I got a break when my work was discovered by Hollywood, and I was hired to create 30 paintings for Taylor Hackford's cult classic Blood In, Blood Out. Local actor Jesse Borrego played the Chicano artist in the film. It took Hollywood for my work to be accepted, in a film that crashed cultural barriers internationally. And most of that had to do with my art in the film. Viva Chicano art!

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Artist Adán Hernandez‘s work was collected by Hollywood celebs, including the likes of Cheech Marin and the one and only Helen Mirren. Still, most recognized his artwork more likely from the paintings he created for the 1993 movie “Blood In Blood Out“. Before “Blood In Blood Out,” Hernandez was a down on his luck artist. After the film came out, the monetary value of his work jumped, & 2 of his paintings were first bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for its collection. One of his art pieces from the film is in the San Antonio Museum of Art collection.“All my dreams came true in an avalanche,” he mentioned in the interview with video producer Dan Segovia submitted last year to Chased By Hounds, a Facebook fan page dedicated to the movie. Marin published a picture of the 2 of them on Instagram Monday, writing, “There is no purer voice from the barrio than Adán Hernandez. He was the artistic soul of Chicano noir.” Some of Hernandez’s work was included in”Chicano Visions,” a touring exhibition drawn from Marin’s collection that started at the San Antonio Museum of Art in 2002. As news of the artist’s death reached Hollywood, his family received condolence calls from some people who worked on “Blood In Blood Out,” his brother Armando mentioned, including director Taylor Hackford & costar Benjamin Bratt.

The 1993 film follows three youthful gang members in East Los Angeles whose lives abide by divergent paths as adults– one goes to prison (Damian Chapa), one becomes a cop (Bratt) & one becomes an artist (Jesse Borrego).HERNANDEZ WAS HIRED FOR THE JOB AFTER A PRODUCTION DESIGNER HAPPENED TO SEE SOME OF HIS WORK IN A SAN ANTONIO GALLERY WINDOW.

Originally, the team had considered shooting the film at this said gallery. Hackford asked Hernandez to make more than thirty paintings ascribed to Borrego’s character. He regularly made a painting a day to fulfill the tight deadline. In an interview, he recalled that he was working so fast & so long that his hands were cramped and his vision was impaired. In addition to providing the paintings for the movie, ” he appeared in a small scene. And then he taught Borrego how to mix paint & how to hold a paintbrush. Borrego, a fellow San Antonian, also used a great deal of time in Hernandez’s studio, watching him work & folding details from these hours Into his performance. They became intimate friends. And they had expected to one day open up a Chicano art museum on the West Side. Borrego, to this day, expects to make that happen, with pieces by Hernandez as a centerpiece.

“But it’s going to be sad, looking at all types of his work that’s going to be past work, not the stuff he still wanted to paint,” he mentioned. “His work will live on after him, & I think it’s going to be remarkable for art history one day. Independent curator Joseph Bravo, which was well-acquainted with Hernandez for more than 20 years, sees the late artist as one among the biggies of all Chicano art, putting him on the same degree as Mel Casas, Jesse Treviño, and César Martínez.

The movie is what catapulted him into that tier, Bravo stated.

“Those paintings were tremendously important in the Chicano imagination because where were you going to see paintings in the barrio? There were no museums, no retail art galleries,” he mentioned.

The film relayed the message that being an artist is a possibility for Latinos, ” he mentioned. And Hernandez’s paintings for the film captured optimistic images.

“Yes, they dressed the way they dressed; they looked like cholos,” Bravo stated. “But he humanized them, and they weren’t simply caricatures any longer.”

Later, Hernandez’s work shifted to Chicano noir, darker, heavier, more disturbing paintings. In a similar vein, he also composed and illustrated”Los Vryosos: A Tale From the Varrio,” a crime novel published in 2006. César Martinez, who resided right next door to Hernandez, stated he was intrigued with his work the 1st time he saw it, and the two artists broke a friendship.“Like me, he tended to be very private & needed privacy to do his work, but was affable in-person & very easy to hang out with,” Martínez stated via email. “His passing leaves a void.”

Hernandez used the earlier years of his life in Robstown, by which he & his family worked in the cotton fields. When he was 9, they proceeded to San Antonio’s West Side. He discovered an affinity for art at Edgewood High School and studied at San Antonio School for a while. However, he was put off with the emphasis on classical Greco-Roman forms — he didn’t see much of a link in the middle of that and the Chicano experiences that he wanted to capture in his work — so he fell out. After that, he was largely self-taught. “My brother & I grew up idolizing 3 San Antonio artists as kids: César Martínez, Jesse Treviño, & Adán Hernandez, the holy trinity of San Anto Art in the 1980s & early’90s,” Rigoberto Luna, an artist & curator of both Presa House Gallery, composed in an email. “I was lucky to meet Adán through the late Manuel Castillo. My brother and my first art gallery show were at Adán’s gallery El Otro Ojo. He was an original, an innovator, & a torchbearer for Chicano art.”

Painter Gerardo Quetzatl Garcia remembered introducing himself as a teen to Hernandez, worried about meeting the artist who had made the “Blood In Blood Out” paintings. “Never one to belittle or condescend, his huge skill seemed to have a small influence on how he treated others, and I feel that’s one of the many things that will be missed by his passing,” Garcia stated. Hernandez inspired Eddie Salinas, his second cousin, to go after a music career.

“He was an amazing artist and activist for the Chicano culture, & he’s influenced thousands, if not millions of Latino artists, myself being living proof that his art and stance in the culture has inspired many to strive for life outside of the barrios that a lot of us struggle to get out of,” Salinas stated.

“He opened the door & showed that it’s possible to pursue passions, especially within the art realm.” And then he was all the time game to talk about “Blood In Blood Out.” When Segovia reached out to him via Facebook about five years ago and asked if he can interview him about the movie, Hernandez responded right away, inviting him to film their chat in his studio. “That isn’t an uncommon story,” Segovia mentioned. “If you talk to almost anyone who was a big fan of his work, he extended an invite. That’s the kind of male he was. He was very open to the community, very willing to share his story.” Segovia stated many opinions on the “Chased By Hounds” page have to do with Hernandez’s work. “It’s wild to see others tattooing his art on their body,” he mentioned. “That’s what those images mean to people.” As important as the film is to many, including Borrego, Hernandez’s influence goes beyond it, the actor stated. “His work is very remarkable & prolific beyond the cult status of ‘Blood In Blood Out,”’ he stated. “We lost a good one.” He is survived by his kids, Adam Hernandez, James Hernandez, Cory Hernandez, Italia Lane and Clayton Hernandez, & from his siblings, Gloria Treviño, Robert Hernandez, David Hernandez, Ruben Hernandez, Armando Hernandez & Bert Hernandez

Chicano Arts in World / American & Spanish ( Chicano Movement ) /  History / Society & Mexico / North America / Creativity / America Works / Arts /  Comprehensive Portrayal

The Chicano art movement refers to the ground-breaking Mexican-American art movement in which artists developed an artistic identity, heavily influenced by the Chicano movement of the 1960s. Chicano artists aimed to form their own collective identity in the art world, an identity that promoted pride, affirmation, and a rejection of racial stereotypes. The most well-known and famous Chicano artists include Carlos Almaraz, Chaz Bojórquez, Richard Duardo, Yreina Cervántez, and Magú. Chicano artists developed their works to exist as a form of a community-based representation of life in the barrio, but it also acted as a form of activism for social issues faced by Latin-American people in the United States.

The Chicano art movement began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, alongside the growth of the Chicano movement, or El Movimiento, and was created and defined by Mexican people, or people of Mexican descent living in the United States. The term “Chicano” is used interchangeably with “Mexican-American”, emerging from the youth who rejected assimilation to the Euro-Centric American culture. The term was widely used in the 1960s and 1970s and became associated with indigenous pride, culture affirmation, ethnic solidarity, and political empowerment. The Chicano art movement involved Chicano artists forming and establishing a specific and unique artistic identity, that diverted from the mainstream United States art forms. As the movement was meant to represent a rejection of the White-American culture and its forms of art, the Chicano movement aimed to form and develop a collective identity that distinguished itself as Mexican-American. Chicano muralists and Chicano painters drew their inspiration from Mexican murals and Pre-Columbian Art. Pre-Columbian art refers to works made by the Aztec, Inca, Mayan, and Native Mexican people.

These communities, all native to Latin America or South America, were heavily disrupted by the colonization by the Spanish conquistadors. The Chicano movement, and by extension, the Chicano art movement aimed to reject the dominant White American culture, which their ancestors were unable to do when the Spanish invaded. Chicano artists developed their work as an expression of their experiences and culture. Often, Chicano art drawings feature the subject of “rasquachismo”, which refers to the Spanish word, “rasquache”, which means “poor”. Rasquachismo refers to the cultural attitude to always be hard-working and resourceful, getting by with the few resources they tend to have in a society dominated by wealthy White Americans. In other words, the Chicano art movement was meant to be a form of protest, with the artwork often being very direct and vibrant. Chicano mural paintings not only promoted community in their subject matter but often involved community members in their creation; discussing and formulating what they wanted to depict based on their cultural history and struggles. These murals were often painted by self-taught artists, which again shows the movement’s value for resourcefulness. These murals were usually painted on public walls, where entire communities would be able to see by walking or driving by. The public nature of this art form emphasized histories that were often overshadowed by the White-American narrative, which tended to present historical events in a pro-European light. This public nature allowed for audiences to be politicized and mobilized without expecting them to go into an art gallery or museum. Besides murals, Chicano artists also used silkscreen creations, which allowed for the production of posters and printed images, that could be distributed in large numbers, spreading the political and social aspect of the Chicano movement. The subject matter of Chicano art commonly features imagery relating to issues of immigration and displacement, issues that the Latin communities of the United States often dealt with. Mexicans often struggle with immigration to the United States and native Mexicans and South Americans were being displaced by Spanish and Portuguese colonization.

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The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement (El Movimiento) which began in the 1960s.

Chicano art was influenced by post-Mexican Revolution ideologies, pre-Columbian art, European painting techniques and Mexican-American social, political and cultural issues.[1] The movement worked to resist and challenge dominant social norms and stereotypes for cultural autonomy and self-determination. Some issues the movement focused on were awareness of collective history and culture, restoration of land grants, and equal opportunity for social mobility. Women used ideologies from the feminist movement to highlight the struggles of women within the Chicano art movement.

Throughout the movement and beyond, Chicanos have used art to express their cultural values, as protest or for aesthetic value. The art has evolved over time to not only illustrate current struggles and social issues, but also to continue to inform Chicano youth and unify around their culture and histories. Chicano art is not just Mexican-American artwork: it is a public forum that emphasizes otherwise "invisible" histories and people in a unique form of American

Beginning in the early 1960s, the Chicano Movement, was a sociopolitical movement by Mexican-Americans organizing into a unified voice to create change for their people. The Chicano Movement was focused on a fight for civil and political rights of its people, and sought to bring attention to their struggles for equality across southwest America and expand throughout the United States.[3] The Chicano movement was concerned with addressing police brutality, civil rights violations, lack of social services for Mexican-Americans, the Vietnam War, educational issues and other social issues.[3]

The Chicano Movement included all Mexican-Americans of every age, which provided for a minority civil rights movement that would not only represent generational concerns, but sought to use symbols that embodied their past and ongoing struggles. Young artists formed collectives, like Asco in Los Angeles during the 1970s, which was made up of students who were just out of high school.[4]

The Chicano movement was based around the community, an effort to unify the group and keep their community central to social progression, so they too could follow in the foot steps of others and achieve equality. From the beginning Chicanos have struggled to affirm their place in American society through their fight for communal land grants given to them by the Mexican government were not being honored by the U.S. government after the U.S. acquired the land from Mexico. The solidification of the Chicano/a struggles for equality into the Chicano Movement came post World War II, when discrimination towards returning Mexican-American servicemen was being questioned, for the most part these were usually instances of racial segregation/discrimination that spanned from simple dining issues to the burial rights of returning deceased servicemen.

The formation of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), co-founded by César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Gil Padilla, sought to unionize Mexican-American labor forces to fight for improved wages/working conditions through such forms as strikes, marches, and boycotts was a notable spike in the national awareness of El Movimiento.[3] Using symbols, such as the black eagle and creating unique poster and union art, helped raise awareness of the social issues NFWA faced, even while the workers themselves were largely invisible.[2]

Aztlán is also another consistent symbol used by the Chicano Movement, the term unified the Mexican Americans under a term of inheritance of land and culture. Along with this common rhetoric of land claims and civil rights, an alternative to the peaceful protesting of César Chávez, Reies Lopez Tijerina attempted to resolve the issues of communal land grants in New Mexico through the creation of Alianza Federal de Mercedes and eventually resulting in attempts to secede from the Union and form their own territory, Republic of Chama.

The union then brought in thousands more lettuce and vegetable pickers in the Salinas Chicano Movement art developed out of necessity for a visual representation of the self perceived sociopolitical injustice that the movement was seeking out to change. As in any movement there is a need for signage that brings awareness to the issues at hand, starting with murals. Murals represented the main form of activism in Mexico prior to the Chicano Movement taking place in the United States. The murals depicted the lives of native Mexicans and their struggles against the oppression of the United States, as well as, native problems to Mexico's poverty and farming industry. Many of the images and symbols embodied in these classic Mexican graffiti murals were later adopted by the Chicano Movement to reaffirm and unify their collective under a specific light of activism.

Chicano art as activism

“El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán understood art as a vehicle of the movement and of revolutionary culture”.[5] Although the Chicano movement dissolved, Chicano art continued as an activist endeavor, challenging the social constructions of racial/ethnic discrimination, citizenship and nationality, labor exploitation, and traditional gender roles in effort to create social change. As Fields further explains, “Linked to its constitutive phased with the Chicano movement, or Movimiento, of the 1960s and 1970s, Chicano/a art articulated and mirrored a broad range of themes that had social and political significance, particularly with respect to cultural affirmation”.[6] Activism often took form in representing alternative narratives to the dominant through the development of historical consciousness, illustrations of injustices and indignities faced by Mexican-American communities, and development of a sense of belonging of Chicanos within the United States. Chicano art in its activist endeavors has become a form of popular education, of the people and by the people, in its ability to create a dialogue about these issues while empowering Chicanos to construct their own solutions.

Geography, immigration and displacement are a common themes in Chicano art.[7] Taking an activist approach, artists illustrate the historical presence of Mexicans and indigenous peoples in the Southwest, human rights abuses of undocumented immigrants, racial profiling, and the militarization of the border. “Many Chicano artists have focused on the dangers of the border, often using barbed wire as a direct metaphorical representation of the painful and contradictory experiences of Chicanos caught between two cultures”.[8] Art provides a venue to challenge these xenophobic stereotypes about Mexican-Americans and bring awareness to our broken immigration law and enforcement system, while simultaneously politicizing and mobilizing its audience to take action. Another common theme is the labor exploitation in agricultural, domestic work, and service industry jobs, particularly of the undocumented. Drawing from the Chicano movement, activists sought art as a tool to support social justice campaigns and voice realities of dangerous working conditions, lack of worker's rights, truths about their role in the U.S. job market, and the exploitation of undocumented workers. Using the United Farm Workers campaign as a guideline, Chicano artists put stronger emphasis on working-class struggles as both a labor and civil rights issue for many Chicanos and recognized the importance of developing strong symbols that represented the movement's efforts, such as the eagle flag of the UFW, now a prominent symbol of La Raza.[9] Often through the distribution of silk-screen posters, made on large scales, artists are able to politicize their community and make a call to mobilize in effort to stop immigration raids in the workplace and boycott exploitative and oppressive corporations, while exemplifying dignity and visibility to an often invisible working population.

The Chicano People's Park (Chicano Park) in San Diego highlights the importance of activism to Chicano art. For many years, Barrio Logan Heights petitioned for a park to be built in their community, but were ignored.[10] In the early 1960s, the city instead tore down large sections of the barrio to construct an intersection for the Interstate 5 freeway and on-ramp for the Coronado Bridge which bisected their community and displaced 5000 residents.[10] In response, “on April 22, 1970, the community mobilized by occupying the land under the bridge and forming human chains to halt the bulldozers” who were working to turn the area into a parking lot. The park was occupied for twelve days, during which people worked the land, planting flowers and trees and artists, like Victor Ochoa, helped paint murals on the concrete walls.[10] Now this park is full of murals and most of them refer to the history of the Chicanos. Some of them include Cesar Chavez, La Virgen de Guadalupe and many others.[11] Residents raised the Chicano flag on a nearby telephone pole and began to work the land themselves, planting flowers and “re-creating and re-imagining dominant urban space as community-enabling place”.[12] After extensive negotiations, the city finally agreed to the development of a community park in their reclamation of their territory.[10] From here, Salvador Torres, a key activist for the Chicano Park, developed the Chicano Park Monumental Mural Program, encouraging community members and artists to paint murals on the underpass of the bridge, transforming the space blight to beauty and community empowerment. The imagery of the murals articulated their cultural and historical identities through their connections to their indigenous Aztec heritage, religious icons, revolutionary leaders, and current life in the barrios and the fields. Some iconography included Quetzalcoatl, Emiliano Zapata, Coatlicue (Aztec Goddess of Earth), undocumented workers, La Virgen de Guadalupe, community members occupying the park, and low-riders.[13] As Berelowitz further explains, “the battle for Chicano Park was a struggle for territory, for representation, for the constitution of an expressive ideological-aesthetic language, for the recreation of a mythic homeland, for a space in which Chicano citizens of this border zone could articulate their experience and their self-understanding”.[12] The significance of the repossession of their territory through the Chicano People's Park is intimately connected to their community's experience, identity, and sense of belonging.

As expressed through the Chicano Peoples’ Park, community-orientation and foundation is another essential element to Chicano art. Murals created by Chicano artists reclaim public spaces, encourage community participation, and aid in neighborhood development and beautification. “In communities of Mexican descent within the United States, the shared social space has often been a public space. Many families have been forced to live their private lives in public because of the lack of adequate housing and recreational areas”.[15] Community-based art has developed into two major mediums – muralism and cultural art centers. Chicano art has drawn much influence from prominent muralists from the Mexican Renaissance, such as Diego Rivera and José Orozco.[16] Chicano art was also influenced by pre-Columbian art, where history and rituals were encoded on the walls of pyramids.[16] Even so, it has distinguished itself from Mexican muralism by keeping production by and for members of the Chicano community, representing alternative histories on the walls of the barrios and other public spaces, rather than sponsorship from the government to be painted in museums or government buildings. In addition, Chicano mural art is not an exhibition of only one person's art, but rather a collaboration among multiple artists and community members, giving the entire community ownership of mural. Its significance lies in its accessibility and inclusivity, painted in public spaces as a form of cultural affirmation and popular education of alternative histories and structural inequalities.[17] The community decides the meaning and content of the work. “In an effort to ensure that the imagery and content accurately reflected the community, Chicano artists often entered into dialogue with community members about their culture and social conditions before developing a concept – even when the mural was to be located in the muralist’s own barrio”.[18] Accessibility not only addresses public availability to the community, but also includes meaningful content, always speaking to the Chicano experience.

Pinches Rinches Series by Natalia Anciso, as seen from Galeria de la Raza's Studio 24, on the corner of 24th and Bryant in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Cultural art centers are another example of community-based Chicano art, developed during the Chicano Movement out of need for alternative structures that support artistic creation, bring the community together, and disseminate information and education about Chicano art. These centers are a valuable tool that encourages community gatherings as a way to share culture, but also to meet, organize and dialogue about happenings in the local Chicano community and society as a whole. “In order to combat this lack of voice, activists decided it was essential to establish cultural, political, and economic control of their communities”.[19] To again ensure accessibility and relevance, cultural art centers were located in their immediate community. These spaces provided Chicanos with an opportunity to reclaim control over how their culture and history is portrayed and interpreted by society as a whole. As Jackson explains, these centers “did not take the public museum as their guide; not only did they lack the money and trained staff, they focused on those subjects denied by the public museum’s homogenized narrative and history of the United States”. An example of a prominent cultural art center is Self-Help Graphics and Art Inc., a hub for silkscreen printmaking, an exhibition location, and space for various types of civic engagement. Beginning in the 1970s, their goal to foster “Chicanismo” by educating, training and empowering young adults has continued to the present day.[21] Self-Help Graphics offered apprenticeship opportunities, work alongside an experienced silkscreen printer, or ‘master printer,’ to develop their own limited-edition silkscreen print. The center also maintained efforts to support the local community by allowing artists to exhibit their own prints and sell them to support themselves financially.[22] As common to successful cultural art centers, Self-Help Graphics supported the development of Chicano art, encouraged community development, and provided an opportunity for empowerment for the Chicano peoples.Other community-based efforts include projects for youth, such as the Diamond Neighborhood murals where Victor Ochoa and Roque Barros helped teach youth to paint in an area that had once been overwhelmed with graffiti. About 150 teenagers attended daily art classes taught by Ochoa and graffiti declined significantly.  

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Japanese Art

Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It has a long history, ranging from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present-day country.

Japan has been subject to sudden invasions of new ideas followed by long periods of minimal contact with the outside world. Over time the Japanese developed the ability to absorb, imitate, and finally assimilate those elements of foreign culture that complemented their aesthetic preferences. The earliest complex art in Japan was produced in the 7th and 8th centuries in connection with Buddhism. In the 9th century, as the Japanese began to turn away from China and develop indigenous forms of expression, the secular arts became increasingly important; until the late 15th century, both religious and secular arts flourished. After the Ōnin War (1467–1477), Japan entered a period of political, social, and economic disruption that lasted for over a century. In the state that emerged under the leadership of the Tokugawa shogunate, organized religion played a much less important role in people's lives, and the arts that survived were primarily secular. The Meiji Period (1868-1912) saw an abrupt influx of Western styles, which have continued to be important.

Painting is the preferred artistic expression in Japan, practiced by amateurs and professionals alike. Until modern times, the Japanese wrote with a brush rather than a pen, and their familiarity with brush techniques has made them particularly sensitive to the values and aesthetics of painting. With the rise of popular culture in the Edo period, a style of woodblock prints became a major form and its techniques were fine-tuned to produce colorful prints. The Japanese, in this period, found sculpture a much less sympathetic medium for artistic expression; most large Japanese sculpture is associated with religion, and the medium's use declined with the lessening importance of traditional Buddhism.

Japanese pottery is among the finest in the world[citation needed] and includes the earliest known Japanese artifacts; Japanese export porcelain has been a major industry at various points. Japanese lacquerware is also one of the world's leading arts and crafts, and works gorgeously decorated with maki-e were exported to Europe and China, remaining important exports until the 19th century.[1][2] In architecture, Japanese preferences for natural materials and an interaction of interior and exterior space are clearly expressed.

History of Japanese art

Jōmon art

The first settlers of Japan were the Jōmon people (c. 10,500 – c. 300 BCE),[3] named for the cord markings that decorated the surfaces of their clay vessels, were nomadic hunter-gatherers who later practiced organized farming and built cities with populations of hundreds if not thousands. They built simple houses of wood and thatch set into shallow earthen pits to provide warmth from the soil. They crafted lavishly decorated pottery storage vessels, clay figurines called dogū, and crystal jewels.

Early Jōmon period

During the Early Jōmon period (5000-2500 BCE),[3] villages started to be discovered and ordinary everyday objects were found such as ceramic pots purposed for boiling water. The pots that were found during this time had flat bottoms and had elaborate designs made out of materials such as bamboo. In addition, another important find was the early Jōmon figurines which might have been used as fertility objects due to the breasts and swelling hips that they exhibited.[3]

The Middle Jōmon period (2500-1500 BCE),[3] contrasted from the Early Jōmon Period in many ways. These people became less nomadic and began to settle in villages. They created useful tools that were able to process the food that they gathered and hunted which made living easier for them. Through the numerous aesthetically pleasing ceramics that were found during this time period, it is evident that these people had a stable economy and more leisure time to establish beautiful pieces. In addition, the people of the Middle Jōmon period differed from their preceding ancestors because they developed vessels according to their function, for example, they produced pots in order to store items.[3] The decorations on these vessels started to become more realistic looking as opposed to the early Jōmon ceramics. Overall, the production of works not only increased during this period, but these individuals made them more decorative and naturalistic.[3]

Late and Final Jōmon period

During the Late and Final Jōmon period (1500-300 BCE),[3] the weather started to get colder, therefore forcing them to move away from the mountains. The main food source during this time was fish, which made them improve their fishing supplies and tools. This advancement was a very important achievement during this time. In addition, the numbers of vessels largely increased which could possibly conclude that each house had their own figurine displayed in them. Although various vessels were found during the Late and Final Jōmon Period, these pieces were found damaged which might indicate that they used them for rituals. In addition, figurines were also found and were characterized by their fleshy bodies and goggle like eyes.[3]

Dogū figurines

Dogū

Dogū ("earthen figure") are small humanoid and animal figurines made during the later part of the Jōmon period.[4] They were made across all of Japan, except Okinawa.[4] Some scholars theorize the dogū acted as effigies of people, that manifested some kind of sympathetic magic.[5] Dogū are made of clay and are small, typically 10 to 30 cm high.[6] Most of the figurines appear to be modeled as female, and have big eyes, small waists, and wide hips.[4] They are considered by many to be representative of goddesses. Many have large abdomens associated with pregnancy, suggesting that the Jomon considered them mother goddesses.

Affiliated

The earliest Japanese sculptures of the Buddha are dated to the 6th and 7th century.[10] They ultimately derive from the 1st- to 3rd-century AD Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, characterized by flowing dress patterns and realistic rendering,[11] on which Chinese artistic traits were superimposed. After the Chinese Northern Wei buddhist art had infiltrated a Korean peninsula, Buddhist icons were brought to Japan by Various immigrant groups.[12] Particularly, the semi-seated Maitreya form was adapted into a highly developed Ancient Greek art style which was transmitted to Japan as evidenced by the Kōryū-ji Miroku Bosatsu and the Chūgū-ji Siddhartha statues.[13] Many historians portray Korea as a mere transmitter of Buddhism.[14] The Three Kingdoms, and particularly Baekje, were instrumental as active agents in the introduction and formation of a Buddhist tradition in Japan in 538 or 552.[15] They illustrate the terminal point of the Silk Road transmission of art during the first few centuries of our era. Other examples can be found in the development of the iconography of the Japanese Fūjin Wind God,[16] the Niō guardians,[17] and the near-Classical floral patterns in temple decorations.[18]

The earliest Buddhist structures still extant in Japan, and the oldest wooden buildings in the Far East are found at the Hōryū-ji to the southwest of Nara. First built in the early 7th century as the private temple of Crown Prince Shōtoku, it consists of 41 independent buildings. The most important ones, the main worship hall, or Kondō (Golden Hall), and Gojū-no-tō (Five-story Pagoda), stand in the center of an open area surrounded by a roofed cloister. The Kondō, in the style of Chinese worship halls, is a two-story structure of post-and-beam construction, capped by an irimoya, or hipped-gabled roof of ceramic tiles.

Inside the Kondō, on a large rectangular platform, are some of the most important sculptures of the period. The central image is a Shaka Trinity (623), the historical Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas, sculpture cast in bronze by the sculptor Tori Busshi (flourished early 7th century) in homage to the recently deceased Prince Shōtoku. At the four corners of the platform are the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions, carved in wood around 650. Also housed at Hōryū-ji is the Tamamushi Shrine, a wooden replica of a Kondō, which is set on a high wooden base that is decorated with figural paintings executed in a medium of mineral pigments mixed with lacquer.

Temple building in the 8th century was focused around the Tōdai-ji in Nara. Constructed as the headquarters for a network of temples in each of the provinces, the Tōdaiji is the most ambitious religious complex erected in the early centuries of Buddhist worship in Japan. Appropriately, the 16.2-m (53-ft) Buddha (completed 752) enshrined in the main Buddha hall, or Daibutsuden, is a Rushana Buddha, the figure that represents the essence of Buddhahood, just as the Tōdaiji represented the center for Imperially sponsored Buddhism and its dissemination throughout Japan. Only a few fragments of the original statue survive, and the present hall and central Buddha are reconstructions from the Edo period.

Clustered around the Daibutsuden on a gently sloping hillside are a number of secondary halls: the Hokke-dō (Lotus Sutra Hall), with its principal image, the Fukukenjaku Kannon (不空羂索観音立像, the most popular bodhisattva), crafted of dry lacquer (cloth dipped in lacquer and shaped over a wooden armature); the Kaidanin (戒壇院, Ordination Hall) with its magnificent clay statues of the Four Guardian Kings; and the storehouse, called the Shōsōin. This last structure is of great importance as an art-historical cache, because in it are stored the utensils that were used in the temple's dedication ceremony in 752, the eye-opening ritual for the Rushana image, as well as government documents and many secular objects owned by the Imperial family.

Choukin (or chōkin), the art of metal engraving or sculpting, is thought to have started in the Nara period.

World / News / ( Egypt ) / Middle East / Red Sea / Ancient Arts & Artefacts from Egyptian Abu Simbel Temple & Complex & Different Related / Protokoll 26.11.2022

Abu Simbel, site of two temples built by the Egyptian king Ramses II (reigned 1279–13 BCE), now located in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), southern Egypt. In ancient times the area was at the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt, facing Nubia. The four colossal statues of Ramses in front of the main temple are spectacular examples of ancient Egyptian art. By means of a complex engineering feat in the 1960s, the temples were salvaged from the rising waters of the Nile River caused by erection of the Aswan High Dam.

Carved out of a sandstone cliff on the west bank of the Nile, south of Korosko (modern Kuruskū), the temples were unknown to the outside world until their rediscovery in 1813 by the Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. They were first explored in 1817 by the early Egyptologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

You know basic history facts inside and out. But what about the details in between? Put your history smarts to the test to see if you qualify for the title of History Buff.The 66-foot (20-metre) seated figures of Ramses are set against the recessed face of the cliff, two on either side of the entrance to the main temple. Carved around their feet are small figures representing Ramses’ children, his queen, Nefertari, and his mother, Muttuy (Mut-tuy, or Queen Ti). Graffiti inscribed on the southern pair by Greek mercenaries serving Egypt in the 6th century BCE have provided important evidence of the early history of the Greek alphabet. The temple itself, dedicated to the sun gods Amon-Re and Re-Horakhte, consists of three consecutive halls extending 185 feet (56 metres) into the cliff, decorated with more Osiride statues of the king and with painted scenes of his purported victory at the Battle of Kadesh. On two days of the year (about February 22 and October 22), the first rays of the morning sun penetrate the whole length of the temple and illuminate the shrine in its innermost sanctuary.

Just to the north of the main temple is a smaller one, dedicated to Nefertari for the worship of the goddess Hathor and adorned with 35-foot (10.5-metre) statues of the king and queen.

In the mid-20th century, when the reservoir that was created by the construction of the nearby Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge Abu Simbel, UNESCO and the Egyptian government sponsored a project to save the site. An informational and fund-raising campaign was initiated by UNESCO in 1959. Between 1963 and 1968 a workforce and an international team of engineers and scientists, supported by funds from more than 50 countries, dug away the top of the cliff and completely disassembled both temples, reconstructing them on high ground more than 200 feet (60 metres) above their previous site. In all, some 16,000 blocks were moved. In 1979 Abu Simbel, Philae, and other nearby monuments were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica ( Resource )

This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Zeidan.

Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculptures, drawings on papyrus, faience, jewelry, ivories, architecture, and other art media. It is also very conservative: the art style changed very little over time. Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments, giving more insight into the ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs.

The ancient Egyptian language had no word for "art". Artworks served an essentially functional purpose that was bound with religion and ideology. To render a subject in art was to give it permanence. Therefore, ancient Egyptian art portrayed an idealized, unrealistic view of the world. There was no significant tradition of individual artistic expression since art served a wider and cosmic purpose of maintaining order (Ma'at).

Art of Pre-Dynastic Egypt (6000–3000 BC)

Pre-Dynastic Egypt, corresponding to the Neolithic period of the prehistory of Egypt, spanned from c. 6000 BC to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, around 3100 BC.

Continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile and adopt a more sedentary lifestyle during the Neolithic. The period from 9000 to 6000 BC has left very little archaeological evidence, but around 6000 BC, Neolithic settlements began to appear all over Egypt.[1] Studies based on morphological,[2] genetic,[3] and archaeological data[4] have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent returning during the Neolithic Revolution, bringing agriculture to the region.[5]

Merimde culture (5000–4200 BC)

From about 5000 to 4200 BC, the Merimde culture, known only from a large settlement site at the edge of the Western Nile Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to the Faiyum A culture as well as the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced simple undecorated pottery, and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were raised, and wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried their dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines.[6] The first Egyptian life-size head made of clay comes from Merimde.[7]

Badarian culture (4400–4000 BC)

The Badarian culture, from about 4400 to 4000 BC,[8] is named for the Badari site near Der Tasa. It followed the Tasian culture (c. 4500 BC) but was so similar that many consider them one continuous period. The Badarian culture continued to produce blacktop-ware pottery (albeit much improved in quality) and was assigned sequence dating (SD) numbers 21–29.[9] The primary difference that prevents scholars from merging the two periods is that Badarian sites use copper in addition to stone and are thus chalcolithic settlements, while the Neolithic Tasian sites are still considered Stone Age.

Art of Dynastic Egypt

Early Dynastic Period (3100–2685 BC)

The Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately follows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the end of the Naqada III archaeological period until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom.[8]

Cosmetic palettes reached a new level of sophistication during this period, in which the Egyptian writing system also experienced further development. Initially, Egyptian writing was composed primarily of a few symbols denoting amounts of various substances. In the cosmetic palettes, symbols were used together with pictorial descriptions. By the end of the Third Dynasty, this had been expanded to include more than 200 symbols, both phonograms and ideograms.[20]

Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650–1550 BC)

The Hyksos, a dynasty of ruler originating from the Levant, do not appear to have produced any court art,[32] instead appropriating monuments from earlier dynasties by writing their names on them. Many of these are inscribed with the name of King Khyan.[33] A large palace at Avaris has been uncovered, built in the Levantine rather than the Egyptian style, most likely by Khyan.[34] King Apepi is known to have patronized Egyptian scribal culture, commissioning the copying of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus.[35] The stories preserved in the Westcar Papyrus may also date from his reign.[36]

The so-called "Hyksos sphinxes" or "Tanite sphinxes" are a group of royal sphinxes depicting the earlier Pharaoh Amenemhat III (Twelfth Dynasty) with some unusual traits compared to conventional statuary, for example prominent cheekbones and the thick mane of a lion, instead of the traditional nemes headcloth. The name "Hyksos sphinxes" was given due to the fact that these were later reinscribed by several of the Hyksos kings, and were initially thought to represent the Hyksos kings themselves. Nineteenth-century scholars attempted to use the statues' features to assign a racial origin to the Hyksos.[37] These sphinxes were seized by the Hyksos from cities of the Middle Kingdom and then transported to their capital Avaris where they were reinscribed with the names of their new owners and adorned their palace.[31] Seven of those sphinxes are known, all from Tanis, and now mostly located in the Cairo Museum.[31][38] Other statues of Amenehat III were found in Tanis and are associated with the Hyksos in the same manner.

Metals

While not a leading center of metallurgy, ancient Egypt nevertheless developed technologies for extracting and processing the metals found within its borders and in neighbouring lands. Copper was the first metal to be exploited in Egypt. Small beads have been found in Badarian graves; larger items were produced in the later Predynastic Period, by a combination of mould-casting, annealing and cold-hammering. The production of copper artifacts peaked in the Old Kingdom when huge numbers of copper chisels were manufactured to cut the stone blocks of pyramids. The copper statues of Pepi I and Merenre from Hierakonpolis are rare survivors of large-scale metalworking. The golden treasure of Tutankhamun has come to symbolize the wealth of ancient Egypt, and illustrates the importance of gold in pharaonic culture. The burial chamber in a royal tomb was called "the house of gold". According to the Egyptian religion, the flesh of the gods was made of gold. A shining metal that never tarnished, it was the ideal material for cult images of deities, for royal funerary equipment, and to add brilliance to the tops of obelisks. It was used extensively for jewelry, and was distributed to officials as a reward for loyal services ("the gold of honour").Silver had to be imported from the Levant, and its rarity initially gave it greater value than gold (which, like electrum, was readily available within the borders of Egypt and Nubia). Early examples of silverwork include the bracelets of the Hetepheres. By the Middle Kingdom, silver seems to have become less valuable than gold, perhaps because of increased trade with the Middle East. The treasure from El-Tod consisted of a hoard of silver objects, probably made in the Aegean, while silver jewelry made for female members of the 12th Dynasty royal family was found at Dahshur and Lahun. In the Egyptian religion, the bones of the gods were said to be made of silver.Iron was the last metal to be exploited on a large scale by the Egyptians. Meteoritic iron was used for the manufacture of beads from the Badarian period. However, the advanced technology required to smelt iron was not introduced into Egypt until the Late Period. Before that, iron objects were imported and were consequently highly valued for their rarity. The Amarna letters refer to diplomatic gifts of iron being sent by Near Eastern rulers, especially the Hittites, to Amenhotep III and Akhenaten. Iron tools and weapons only became common in Egypt in the Roman Period.

Wood

Because of its relatively poor survival in archaeological contexts, wood is not particularly well represented among artifacts from Ancient Egypt. Nevertheless, woodworking was evidently carried out to a high standard from an early period. Native trees included date palm and dom palm, the trunks of which could be used as joists in buildings, or split to produce planks. Tamarisk, acacia and sycamore fig were employed in furniture manufacture, while ash was used when greater flexibility was required (for example in the manufacture of bowls). However, all these native timbers were of relatively poor quality; finer varieties had to be imported, especially from the Levant.

Abu Simbel / Temple / Egypt / Nile / Middle East / Also Connectivity to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ( NEOM ) / Protokoll / 26.11.2022 AD

The Notorious B.I.G  / Art /  One of the Most Notorious Figures & Personalities in the History of New York  / ( Wikipedia Source ) / 01.12.2022 / Protokollierung 

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie,[2] was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.[3]Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Wallace signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993, and gained exposure through features on several other artists' singles that year. His debut album Ready to Die (1994) was met with widespread critical acclaim, and included his signature songs "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". The album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, and restored New York's visibility at a time when the West Coast hip hop scene was dominating hip hop music.[4] Wallace was awarded the 1995 Billboard Music Awards' Rapper of the Year.[5] The following year, he led his protégé group Junior M.A.F.I.A., a team of himself and longtime friends, including Lil' Kim, to chart success.

During 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace became ensnarled in the escalating East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. Following Tupac Shakur's death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, speculations of involvement in Shakur's murder by criminal elements orbiting the Bad Boy circle circulated as a result of Wallace's public feud with Shakur. On March 9, 1997, six months after Shakur's death, Wallace was murdered by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting while visiting Los Angeles. Wallace's second album Life After Death, a double album, was released two weeks later. It reached number one on the Billboard 200, and eventually achieved a diamond certification in the United States.[6]With two more posthumous albums released, Wallace has certified sales of over 28 million copies in the United States,[7] including 21 million albums.[8] Rolling Stone has called him the "greatest rapper that ever lived",[9] and Billboard named him the greatest rapper of all time.[10] The Source magazine named him the greatest rapper of all time in its 150th issue. In 2006, MTV ranked him at No. 3 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, calling him possibly "the most skillful ever on the mic".[11] In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Life and career

1972–1991: Early life

Christopher George Latore Wallace was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on May 21, 1972, the only child of Jamaican immigrant parents. His mother, Voletta Wallace, was a preschool teacher, while his father, Selwyn George Latore, was a welder and politician.[12][13] His father left the family when Wallace was two years old, and his mother worked two jobs while raising him. Wallace grew up at 226 St. James Place in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill,[14] near the border with Bedford-Stuyvesant.[12][15] Raised Catholic, Wallace excelled at Queen of All Saints Middle School, winning several awards as an English student. He attended St Peter Claver Church in the borough.[16] He was nicknamed "Big" because he was overweight by the age of 10.[17] Wallace claimed to have begun dealing drugs at about age 12. His mother, often at work, first learned of this during his adulthood.[18]

He began rapping as a teenager, entertaining people on the streets, and performed with local groups, the Old Gold Brothers as well as the Techniques.[19] His earliest stage name was MC CWest.[20] At his request, Wallace transferred from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn, which future rappers Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes were also attending. According to his mother, Wallace was still a good student but developed a "smart-ass" attitude at the new school.[13] At age 17 in 1989, Wallace dropped out of high school and became more involved in crime. That same year in 1989, he was arrested on weapons charges in Brooklyn and sentenced to five years' probation. In 1990, he was arrested on a violation of his probation.[21] A year later, Wallace was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine. He spent nine months in jail before making bail.[18]

1991–1994: Early career and first child

After release from jail, Wallace made a demo tape, Microphone Murderer, while calling himself Biggie Smalls, alluding both to Calvin Lockhart's character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again and to his own stature and obesity, 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) and 300 to 380 lb (140–170 kg).[22] Although Wallace reportedly lacked real ambition for the tape, local DJ Mister Cee, of Big Daddy Kane and Juice Crew association, discovered and promoted it, thus it was heard by The Source rap magazine's editor in 1992.[21]In March, The Source column "Unsigned Hype", dedicated to airing promising rappers, featured Wallace.[23] He then spun the attention into a recording.[23] Upon hearing the demo tape, Sean "Puffy" Combs, still with the A&R department of Uptown Records, arranged to meet Wallace. Promptly signed to Uptown, Wallace appeared on labelmates Heavy D & the Boyz's 1993 song "A Buncha Niggas".[19][24] Mid-year, or a year after Wallace's signing, Uptown fired Combs, who, a week later, launched Bad Boy Records,[25] instantly Wallace's new label.[26]On August 8, 1993, Wallace's longtime girlfriend gave birth to his first child, T'yanna,[26] although the couple had split by then.[27] A high-school dropout, Wallace promised his daughter "everything she wanted", in his reasoning that if he had had the same in childhood, he would have graduated at the top of his class.[28] Although he continued dealing drugs, Combs discovered that and obliged him to quit.[19] Later that year, Wallace gained exposure on a remix of Mary J. Blige's single "Real Love". Having found his moniker Biggie Smalls already claimed, he took a new one, holding for good, The Notorious B.I.G.[29]Around this time, Wallace became friends with fellow rapper Tupac Shakur. Lil' Cease recalled the pair as close, often traveling together whenever they were not working. According to him, Wallace was a frequent guest at Shakur's home and they spent time together when Shakur was in California or Washington, D.C.[30] Yukmouth, an Oakland emcee, claimed that Wallace's style was inspired by Shakur.[31]The "Real Love" remix single was followed by another remix of a Mary J. Blige song, "What's the 411?" Wallace's successes continued, if to a lesser extents, on remixes of Neneh Cherry's song "Buddy X" and of reggae artist Super Cat's song "Dolly My Baby", also featuring Combs, all in 1993. In April, Wallace's solo track "Party and Bullshit" was released on the Who's the Man? soundtrack.[32] In July 1994, he appeared alongside LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes on a remix of his own labelmate Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear", the remix reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.[33]

1994: Ready to Die and marriage to Faith Evans

On August 4, 1994, Wallace married R&B singer Faith Evans, whom he had met eight days prior at a Bad Boy photoshoot.[34] Five days later, Wallace had his first pop chart success as a solo artist with double A-side, "Juicy / Unbelievable", which reached No. 27 as the lead single to his debut album.[35]Ready to Die was released on September 13, 1994. It reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart[36] and was eventually certified four times platinum.[37] The album shifted attention back to East Coast hip hop at a time when West Coast hip hop dominated US charts.[38] It gained strong reviews and has received much praise in retrospect.[38][39] In addition to "Juicy", the record produced two hit singles: the platinum-selling "Big Poppa", which reached No. 1 on the U.S. rap chart,[40] and "One More Chance", which sold 1.1 million copies in 1995.[41][42] Busta Rhymes claimed to have seen Wallace giving out free copies of Ready to Die from his home, which Rhymes reasoned as "his way of marketing himself".[43]Wallace also befriended basketball player Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal said they were introduced during a listening session for "Gimme the Loot"; Wallace mentioned him in the lyrics and thereby attracted O'Neal to his music. O'Neal requested a collaboration with Wallace, which resulted in the song "You Can't Stop the Reign". According to Combs, Wallace would not collaborate with "anybody he didn't really respect" and that Wallace paid O'Neal his respect by "shouting him out".[44] Wallace later met with O'Neal on Sunset Boulevard in 1997.[45] In 2015, Daz Dillinger, a frequent Shakur collaborator, said that he and Wallace were "cool", with Wallace traveling to meet him to smoke cannabis and record two songs.[46]

1995: Collaboration with Michael Jackson, Junior M.A.F.I.A., success and coastal feud

Wallace worked with pop singer Michael Jackson on the song "This Time Around", featured on Jackson's 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.[47] Lil' Cease later claimed that while Wallace met Jackson, he was forced to stay behind, with Wallace citing that he did not "trust Michael with kids" following the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson.[48] Engineer John Van Nest and producer Dallas Austin recalled the sessions differently, saying that Wallace was eager to meet Jackson and nearly burst into tears upon doing so.[49]In the summer, Wallace met Charli Baltimore and they became involved in a romantic relationship.[50] Several months into their relationship, she left him a voicemail of a rap verse that she had written and he began encouraging her to pursue a career in rap music.[51]Wallace was booked to a show in Sacramento, When they arrived at the venue they were not a lot of people there, and when they started performing they were getting coins tossed at them. When they left they were held at gunpoint in the venue's parking lot set up by E-40's goons. They were mad over an interview he did with a Canadian magazine, when asked to rank a handful of artists on a scale from one to 10, Wallace gave him a zero. One of Wallace's entourage said to get E-40 on the phone, Wallace explained how they had "got him drunk" and had got him "to say anything", E-40 told his men to stand down and safely escorted them to the airport.[52]In August 1995, Wallace's protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. ("Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes"), released their debut album Conspiracy. The group consisted of his friends from childhood and included rappers such as Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, who went on to have solo careers.[53] The record went gold and its singles, "Player's Anthem" and "Get Money", both featuring Wallace, went gold and platinum. Wallace continued to work with R&B artists, collaborating with R&B groups 112 (on "Only You") and Total (on "Can't You See"), with both reaching the top 20 of the Hot 100. By the end of the year, Wallace was the top-selling male solo artist and rapper on the U.S. pop and R&B charts.[19] In July 1995, he appeared on the cover of The Source with the caption "The King of New York Takes Over", a reference to his alias Frank White, based on a character from the 1990 film King of New York.[54][55] At the Source Awards in August 1995, he was named Best New Artist (Solo), Lyricist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year, and his debut Album of the Year.[56] At the Billboard Awards, he was Rap Artist of the Year.[21]In his year of success, Wallace became involved in a rivalry between the East and West Coast hip hop scenes with Shakur, now his former friend. In an interview with Vibe in April 1995, while serving time in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur accused Uptown Records' founder Andre Harrell, Sean Combs, and Wallace of having prior knowledge of a robbery that resulted in him being shot five times and losing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry on the night of November 30, 1994. Though Wallace and his entourage were in the same Manhattan-based recording studio at the time of the shooting, they denied the accusation.[57]Wallace said: "It just happened to be a coincidence that he [Shakur] was in the studio. He just, he couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time. So he just kinda' leaned the blame on me."[58] In 2012, a man named Dexter Isaac, serving a life sentence for unrelated crimes, claimed that he attacked Shakur that night and that the robbery was orchestrated by entertainment industry executive and former drug trafficker, Jimmy Henchman.[59]Following his release from prison, Shakur signed to Death Row Records on October 15, 1995. This made Bad Boy Records and Death Row business rivals, and thus intensified the quarrel.[60]

1996: More arrests, accusations regarding Shakur's death, car accident and second child

On March 23, 1996, Wallace was arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening to kill two fans seeking autographs, smashing the windows of their taxicab, and punching one of them.[21] He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. In mid-1996, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, for drug and weapons possession charges.[21]During the recording for his second album, Wallace was confronted by Shakur for the first time since "the rumors started" at the Soul Train Awards and a gun was pulled.[61]In June 1996, Shakur released "Hit 'Em Up", a diss track in which he claimed to have had sex with Faith Evans, who was estranged from Wallace at the time, and that Wallace had copied his style and image. Wallace referenced the first claim on Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest", in which he raps: "If Faye have twins, she'd probably have two 'Pacs. Get it? 2Pac's?" However, he did not directly respond to the track, stating in a 1997 radio interview that it was "not [his] style" to respond.[58]On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and died six days later. Rumors of Wallace's involvement with Shakur's murder spread. In a 2002 Los Angeles Times series titled "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?", based on police reports and multiple sources, Chuck Philips reported that the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang, the Southside Crips, to avenge a beating by Shakur hours earlier, and that Wallace had paid for the gun.[62][63]Los Angeles Times editor Mark Duvoisin wrote that "Philips' story has withstood all challenges to its accuracy, ... [and] remains the definitive account of the Shakur slaying."[64] Wallace's family denied the report,[65] producing documents purporting to show that he was in New York and New Jersey at the time. However, The New York Times called the documents inconclusive, stating:

The pages purport to be three computer printouts from Daddy's House, indicating that Wallace was in the studio recording a song called Nasty Boy on the night Shakur was shot. They indicate that Wallace wrote half the session, was in and out/sat around and laid down a ref, shorthand for a reference vocal, the equivalent of a first take. But nothing indicates when the documents were created. And Louis Alfred, the recording engineer listed on the sheets, said in an interview that he remembered recording the song with Wallace in a late-night session, not during the day. He could not recall the date of the session but said it was likely not the night Shakur was shot. We would have heard about it, Mr. Alfred said."[66]Evans remembered her husband calling her on the night of Shakur's death and crying from shock. She said: "I think it's fair to say he was probably afraid, given everything that was going on at that time and all the hype that was put on this so-called beef that he didn't really have in his heart against anyone." Wayne Barrow, Wallace's co-manager at the time, said Wallace was recording the track "Nasty Boy" the night Shakur was shot.[67] Shortly after Shakur's death, he met with Snoop Dogg, who claimed that Wallace declared he never hated Shakur.[68]

Two days after the death of Shakur, Wallace and Lil' Cease were arrested in Brooklyn for smoking marijuana in public and had their car repossessed.[69] The next day, the dealership chose them a Chevrolet Lumina rental SUV as a substitute, despite Lil' Cease's objections. The vehicle had brake problems but Wallace dismissed them.[70] The car collided with a rail in New Jersey, shattering Wallace's left leg, Lil' Cease's jaw and Charli Baltimore with numerous injuries.[71Wallace spent months in a hospital following the accident. He was temporarily confined to a wheelchair,[19] forced to use a cane,[57] and had to complete therapy. Despite his hospitalization, he continued to work on the album. The accident was referred to in the lyrics of "Long Kiss Goodnight": "Ya still tickle me, I used to be as strong as Ripple be / Til Lil' Cease crippled me."[72.On October 29, 1996, Evans gave birth to Wallace's son, Christopher "C.J." Wallace Jr.[26] The following month, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Kim released her debut album, Hard Core, under Wallace's direction while the two were having a "love affair".[19] Lil' Kim recalled being Wallace's "biggest fan" and "his pride and joy".[73] In a 2012 interview, Lil' Kim said Wallace had prevented her from making a remix of the Jodeci single "Love U 4 Life" by locking her in a room. According to her, Wallace said that she was not "gonna go do no song with them",[74] likely because of the group's affiliation with Tupac and Death Row Records.

1997: Life After Death

On January 27, 1997, Wallace was ordered to pay US$41,000 in damages following an incident involving a friend of a concert promoter who claimed Wallace and his entourage beat him following a dispute in May 1995.[75] He faced criminal assault charges for the incident, which remains unresolved, but all robbery charges were dropped.[21] Following the events, Wallace spoke of a desire to focus on his "peace of mind" and his family and friends.[76]In February 1997, Wallace traveled to California to promote his album Life After Death and record a music video for its lead single, "Hypnotize". That month Wallace was involved in a domestic dispute with girlfriend Charli Baltimore at the Four Seasons hotel, over pictures of Wallace and other girls. Wallace had told Lil' Cease the night prior to take the bag out of the room of the photos but never did; she ended up throwing Wallace's ring and watch out the window. They found the watch but did not recover the ring.[77]

Death

On March 8, 1997, Wallace attended Soul Train Awards after-party hosted by Vibe and Qwest Records at the Petersen Automotive Museum.[57] Guests included Evans, Aaliyah and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs.[17] The next day at 12:30 a.m. PST, after the fire department closed the party early due to overcrowding, Wallace left with his entourage in two GMC Suburbans to return to his hotel.[78] He traveled in the front passenger seat alongside associates Damion "D-Roc" Butler, Lil' Cease, and driver Gregory "G-Money" Young. Combs traveled in the other vehicle with two bodyguards. The two trucks were trailed by a Chevrolet Blazer carrying Bad Boy director of security Paul Offord.[17][79]By 12:45 a.m., the streets were crowded with people leaving the party. Wallace's truck stopped at a red light 50 yards (46 m) from the Petersen Automotive Museum, and a black Chevy Impala pulled up alongside it. The Impala's driver, an unidentified African-American man dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol, and fired at Wallace's car. Four bullets hit Wallace, and his entourage subsequently rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.[17] He was 24 years old. His autopsy, which was released 15 years after his death, showed that only the final shot was fatal; it entered through his right hip and struck his colon, liver, heart, and left lung before stopping in his left shoulder.[80]Wallace's funeral was held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan on March 18. There were around 350 mourners at the funeral, including Lil' Cease, Queen Latifah, Mase, Faith Evans, SWV, Jay-Z, Damon Dash, DJ Premier, Charli Baltimore, Da Brat, Flavor Flav, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, Run-D.M.C., DJ Kool Herc, Treach, Busta Rhymes, Salt-N-Pepa, DJ Spinderella, Foxy Brown, and Sister Souljah. David Dinkins and Clive Davis also attended the funeral.[81] After the funeral, his body was cremated and the ashes were given to his family.[82]

World / News / Asia  / India / Arts / Transcontinental India / Exemplified in Opportunities / Indian Gods /  Different  ( Resources )  from Web / Protokoll / 13.12.2022

India is a country with diverse heritage and rich culture. It is home to some of the most beautiful folk art traditions! Its folk art is colorful, vibrant, beautiful, and elaborate. You may have noticed that there is a huge amount of Indian folk art that depicts Gods and Goddesses. Religious and mystical elements are essential features of folk art that are not only seen in elaborate paintings but also in other forms of folk art. Some tell their stories, depict their environment, others praise their miracles and valorous deeds. Let’s take a look at a few handpicked Indian folk art that depict Gods and Goddesses.

According to the Hindu view, there are four goals of life on earth, and each human being should aspire to all four. Everyone should aim for dharma, or righteous living; artha, or wealth acquired through the pursuit of a profession; kama, or human and sexual love; and, finally, moksha, or spiritual salvation. This holistic view is reflected as well as in the artistic production of India. Although a Hindu temple is dedicated to the glory of a deity and is aimed at helping the devotee toward moksha, its walls might justifiably contain sculptures that reflect the other three goals of life. It is in such a context that we may best understand the many sensuous and apparently secular themes that decorate the walls of Indian temples.

Hinduism is a religion that had no single founder, no single spokesman, no single prophet. Its origins are mixed and complex. One strand can be traced back to the sacred Sanskrit literature of the Aryans, the Vedas, which consist of hymns in praise of deities who were often personifications of the natural elements. Another strand drew on the beliefs prevalent among groups of indigenous peoples, especially the faith in the power of the mother goddess and in the efficacy of fertility symbols. Hinduism, in the form comparable to its present-day expression, emerged at about the start of the Christian era, with an emphasis on the supremacy of the god Vishnu, the god Shiva, and the goddess Shakti (literally, “Power”).

The pluralism evident in Hinduism, as well as its acceptance of the existence of several deities, is often puzzling to non-Hindus. Hindus suggest that one may view the Infinite as a diamond of innumerable facets. One or another facet—be it Rama, Krishna, or Ganesha—may beckon an individual believer with irresistible magnetism. By acknowledging the power of an individual facet and worshipping it, the believer does not thereby deny the existence of many aspects of the Infinite and of varied paths toward the ultimate goal. Deities are frequently portrayed with multiple arms, especially when they are engaged in combative acts of cosmic consequence that involve destroying powerful forces of evil. The multiplicity of arms emphasizes the immense power of the deity and his or her ability to perform several feats at the same time. The Indian artist found this a simple and an effective means of expressing the omnipresence and omnipotence of a deity. Demons are frequently portrayed with multiple heads to indicate their superhuman power. The occasional depiction of a deity with more than one head is generally motivated by the desire to portray varying aspects of the character of that deity. Thus, when the god Shiva is portrayed with a triple head, the central face indicates his essential character and the flanking faces depict his fierce and blissful aspects.

.By Subhamoy Das

Updated on February 20, 2019

The Vedic deities symbolize the forces of nature as well as inside human beings. While discussing the symbolic significance of Vedic deities in his The Secret of the Vedas, Rishi Aurobindo says that the gods, goddesses, and demons mentioned in the Vedas represent various cosmic powers, on one hand, and man's virtues and vices on the other.

Why Worship Idol?

Idol worship and rituals are at the heart of Hinduism and have great religious and philosophical significance. All Hindu deities are themselves symbols of the abstract Absolute and point to a particular aspect of the Brahman. The Hindu Trinity is represented by three Godheads: Brahma - the creator, Vishnu - the protector, and Shiva - the destroyer.

Why Worship Different Deities?

Unlike the followers of any other religion, Hindus enjoy the freedom of worshipping their personally chosen icon to offer their prayers to the indefinable Brahman. Each deity in Hinduism controls a particular energy. These energies, present in man as wild forces must be controlled and canalized fruitfully to infuse a divine consciousness in him. For this, man has to gain the goodwill of different gods who stir up his consciousness accordingly to help him master the different forces of nature. In a person's path of spiritual progress, he or she needs to develop the various attributes of these godheads in him or her to attain all-round spiritual perfection.

Symbolism of Gods & Goddesses

Each Hindu God and Goddess has many characteristics, like the dress, 'vehicle', weapons, etc., that are themselves symbols of the deity's power. Brahma holds the Vedas in his hands, which signifies that he has the supreme command over creative and religious knowledge. Vishnu holds a conch which stands for the five elements and eternity; a discus, which is the symbol of the mind; a bow that symbolizes power and a lotus which is the symbol of the cosmos. Shiva's trident represents the three gunas. Similarly, Krishna's flute symbolizes divine music.

Many deities can be recognized by the symbols associated with them. Shiva is often symbolized by the 'linga' or 'tripundra' - the three horizontal lines on his forehead. In the same way, Krishna can be identified by the peacock feather he wears in his head and also by the prong-like mark on his forehead.

Vehicles of the Gods

Each deity has a particular vehicle on which he or she travels. These vehicles, which are either animals or birds, represent the various forces that he or she rides. Goddess Saraswati's vehicle, the graceful and beautiful peacock denotes that she is the controller of the pursuit of performing arts. Vishnu sits on the primal serpent, which represents the desire of consciousness in humankind. Shiva rides the Nandi bull, which stands for the brute and blind power, as well as the unbridled sexual energy in man - the qualities only he can help us control. His consort Parvati, Durga or Kali rides on a lion, which symbolizes mercilessness, anger, and pride - vices she can help her devotees check. Ganesha's carrier, the mouse represents the timidity and nervousness that overwhelm us at the onset of any new venture - feelings that can be overcome by the blessings of Ganesha.

Paraguay / Arts from Continent South America / Transcontinental to ( EU ) / Collage Arts Defined Below  / Protokoll 14.01.2023

Paraguayan Indigenous art is the visual art created by the indigenous peoples of Paraguay. While indigenous artists embrace contemporary Western art media, their arts also include pre-Columbian art forms. Indigenous art includes ceramics, baskets, weaving and threading, feather art and leather work. It is a hybrid nature includes the embroideries, lace, woodcarving and different metal products. Paraguay is particularly known for its indigenous featherwork and basket weaving.[1]

Handmade products

The handmade products of Paraguay are of a great variety and comprise ceramic articles, as well as embroideries and sewn articles, as well as wood, baskets, leather work and silver work. Pre-Columbian ceramics made in the Paraguayan territory were rustic and made from terracotta clay. They were painted in red, and occasionally in black and white. The clay used to be worked by hand. Some tribes incised their pottery with decorations before firing. The Spanish, especially the Jesuits, influenced the technical level of production and the finishing of the native ceramics. These had been characterized by extreme simplicity and production of functional goods. The Jesuits taught the Indian population in the missions.

Ceramic products produced today by some Indian groups include jars, flower vases, and some without specific shapes, as well as water vases. Among those, the pottery most widely sold today due to its beauty and quality comes from Tobaty and Ita.

Baskets weaving

Baskets are woven from the fibers of canes. Paraguayan Indians weave open baskets, baskets with handles, hand fans, shades, place mats, and especially piri, the typical Paraguayan hat of the country men. Leather products, such as bags, hats, sacks, etc. have their main centers in Limpio and Luque, where also centers for production of beautiful baskets. Materials for wickerwork include indigenous bromeliads including tacuarembó and caraguatá, as well as pindo palm leaves.[1] The rich Indian basket production of Paraguay is dividing by plantations. For example, in some communities where the main crop is cassava, baskets are solid with great storage capacity. The ajaka mbya basket is an average of 35 centimeters diameter with rigid supports that can to hold the heavy weight of the cassavas. The ajak is a basket made by weaving tacuarembo and dark guembepi, making braided figures as well as geometric ones, in accordance with the Guaraní concept of beauty. The baskets associated with the production of corn are smaller and lighter and are constructed from pindo palm tree leaves.

Ceramics

Ceramics are an ancient art form in Paraguay, and ancient ceramics have been preserved through the centuries. Ceramics range from the utilitarian—cooking vessels, water jugs—to the sacred, such as funerary urns.[1]

Featherwork

A precolumbian art form, featherwork provides distinctive personal adornment. Brilliantly colored feathers are fashioned into anklets, bracelets, collars, headdresses, and even entire cloaks. Guaraní medicine men used to wear full feather cloaks. The Guaraní create feather headdresses called jeguaka worn during ceremonial occasions.[1]

Textile arts

Ñandutí lace from Asunción, Paraguay

Indian embroidery, weaving, and other textile art are an important source of income for the domestic economy. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Indians used a horizontal piece of material to make hammocks with cotton threads, as well as the baskets and bags to transport food and nets for fishing and hunting. Later on they also knitted ponchos and other clothing items. As with ceramics, the Jesuits also introduced new techniques in this area, using the vertical frame to make the threads. Tribal artisans began producing sheets, towels, blankets, table clothes and other articles, as well as the special hammocks, which were knitted and still are with cotton threads and ornaments on the sides. New technical resources brought by the Spanish inspired the typical cotton dresses, the ones called ao poi, made with a fine thread, and the povyi, a little wider thread weaving, as well as linen, and the beautiful ñanduti, which means "spider web" in Guaraní language and consists of fine embroidery, with which table clothes, curtains, blouses and more are made.The most coveted textiles are the Ñandutí embroideries made in the cities of Guarambaré and Itauguá. Woven ponchos, known for their beauty and quality, are made by the ethnic groups Lengua, Maskoy, Nivaclé, and Wichí from the Gran Chaco. They use sheep wool tinted in red and the ones called of 60 lists, made in Pirayú and Yataity, in the Guairá Department.

Rock art

Ancient indigenous peoples of Paraguay carved petroglyphs into stone, particularly in the hills of Amambay Department.[2]

Woodcarving

Wood is carved into ceremonial masks, smoking pipes, chairs known as apyká, and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic effigies.[1] Gourds are also carves with images.

By tribe

Chamacoco

The Chamacoco ethnic group, from the Alto Paraguay Department, used dresses during their annual ritual called Debylyby. These are knitted of special fibers. Associated masks are carved from the karaguata tree and adorned with feathers from Chaco birds.

The Chamacocos used a pupo, a protective vest made of karaguata. The pupo is knitted when the fibers are wet; these become rigid when dry and can serve as armor. They protected the wearer from the arrows of the enemies.

Karaguata

The weaving of Karaguata is an important element of Indigenous art in Paraguay. It is an expression of the Indian people of the Gran Chaco. The bags of Karaguata are some of the most common applications of fiber twining. Collector's bags are mainly used by women, who carry them on their backs and have a form of a large half moon. Hunting bags are smaller, rectangular, carried by men on their shoulders.

Paï-Tavytera

The Pai Tavytera from Eastern Paraguay and Brazil are known for their necklaces made from carved wood and colorful seeds of different fruits.[3] They use urucú, a red dye made from Bixa orellana for body painting. Personal adornment is made from feathers, such as those of the toucan, and cotton. Labrets are made from resin. Men typically weave baskets, while women make ceramics.[4] They are also being consulted in interpreting ancient rock art in Amambay.[2]

Toba-Qom

The Toba tribe makes textiles from colorful wool threads, as well as the traditional bags, piri hats and carandilla leaf baskets.

Transcontinental Art of  Italy  / Europe / Vatican City / Leonardo Da Vinci  / Romans /  Jesus Christ  /  Renaissance Works of  Italian  Historically  Paintings in World / Julius Caesar 100 B.C / 16.03.2023

Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political states, some independent but others controlled by external powers. The painters of Renaissance Italy, although often attached to particular courts and with loyalties to particular towns, nonetheless wandered the length and breadth of Italy, often occupying a diplomatic status and disseminating artistic and philosophical ideas.[1]

The city of Florence in Tuscany is renowned as the birthplace of the Renaissance, and in particular of Renaissance painting, although later in the era Rome and Venice assumed increasing importance in painting. A detailed background is given in the companion articles Renaissance art and Renaissance architecture.

Italian Renaissance painting is most often divided into four periods: the Proto-Renaissance (1300–1425), the Early Renaissance (1425–1495), the High Renaissance (1495–1520), and Mannerism (1520–1600). The dates for these periods represent the overall trend in Italian painting and do not cover all painters as the lives of individual artists and their personal styles overlapped these periods.

The Proto-Renaissance begins with the professional life of the painter Giotto and includes Taddeo Gaddi, Orcagna and Altichiero. The Early Renaissance style was started by Masaccio and then further developed by Fra Angelico, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca, Sandro Botticelli, Verrocchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Giovanni Bellini. The High Renaissance period was that of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Coreggio, Giorgione, the latter works of Giovanni Bellini, and Titian. The Mannerist period, dealt with in a separate article, included the latter works of Michelangelo, as well as Pontormo, Parmigianino, Bronzino and Tintoretto.

Influences

Fresco. St Anne rests in bed, in a richly decorated Renaissance room. Two women hold the newborn baby Mary, while a third prepares a tub to bath her. A group of richly dressed young women are visiting. On the left is a staircase with two people embracing near an upper door.

The influences upon the development of Renaissance painting in Italy are those that also affected Philosophy, Literature, Architecture, Theology, Science, Government and other aspects of society. The following is a summary of points dealt with more fully in the main articles that are cited above.

Philosophy

A number of Classical texts, that had been lost to Western European scholars for centuries, became available. These included Philosophy, Poetry, Drama, Science, a thesis on the Arts and Early Christian Theology. The resulting interest in Humanist philosophy meant that man's relationship with humanity, the universe and with God was no longer the exclusive province of the Church. A revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello. The revival of a style of architecture based on classical precedents inspired a corresponding classicism in painting, which manifested itself as early as the 1420s in the paintings of Masaccio and Paolo Uccello.

Science and technology

Simultaneous with gaining access to the Classical texts, Europe gained access to advanced mathematics which had its provenance in the works of Byzantine and Islamic scholars. The advent of movable type printing in the 15th century meant that ideas could be disseminated easily, and an increasing number of books were written for a broad public. The development of oil paint and its introduction to Italy had lasting effects on the art of painting.

Society

The establishment of the Medici Bank and the subsequent trade it generated brought unprecedented wealth to a single Italian city, Florence. Cosimo de' Medici set a new standard for patronage of the arts, not associated with the church or monarchy. The serendipitous presence within the region of Florence of certain individuals of artistic genius, most notably Giotto, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Piero della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, formed an ethos that supported and encouraged many lesser artists to achieve work of extraordinary quality.[2]

A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in Venice through the talented Bellini family, their influential inlaw Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto.

Themes

Much painting of the Renaissance period was commissioned by or for the Catholic Church. These works were often of large scale and were frequently cycles painted in fresco of the Life of Christ, the Life of the Virgin or the life of a saint, particularly St. Francis of Assisi. There were also many allegorical paintings on the theme of Salvation and the role of the Church in attaining it. Churches also commissioned altarpieces, which were painted in tempera on panel and later in oil on canvas. Apart from large altarpieces, small devotional pictures were produced in very large numbers, both for churches and for private individuals, the most common theme being the Madonna and Child.

Throughout the period, civic commissions were also important. Local government buildings were decorated with frescoes and other works both secular, such as Ambrogio Lorenzetti's The Allegory of Good and Bad Government, and religious, such as Simone Martini's fresco of the Maestà, in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Portraiture was uncommon in the 14th and early 15th centuries, mostly limited to civic commemorative pictures such as the equestrian portraits of Guidoriccio da Fogliano by Simone Martini, 1327, in Siena and, of the early 15th century, John Hawkwood by Uccello in Florence Cathedral and its companion portraying Niccolò da Tolentino by Andrea del Castagno. Painting. A forest scene with figures, the central representing Venus. Left, the Three Graces dance and the God Mercury drives away clouds with his staff. Right, a wind God with dark wings swoops to catch a wood nymph who is transformed into another figure, the stately Goddess Flora who scatters flowers. During the 15th century portraiture became common, initially often formalised profile portraits but increasingly three-quarter face, bust-length portraits. Patrons of art works such as altarpieces and fresco cycles often were included in the scenes, a notable example being the inclusion of the Sassetti and Medici families in Domenico Ghirlandaio's cycle in the Sassetti Chapel. Portraiture was to become a major subject for High Renaissance painters such as Raphael and Titian and continue into the Mannerist period in works of artists such as Bronzino. With the growth of Humanism, artists turned to Classical themes, particularly to fulfill commissions for the decoration of the homes of wealthy patrons, the best known being Botticelli's Birth of Venus for the Medici. Increasingly, Classical themes were also seen as providing suitable allegorical material for civic commissions. Humanism also influenced the manner in which religious themes were depicted, notably on Michelangelo's Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Other motifs were drawn from contemporary life, sometimes with allegorical meaning, some sometimes purely decorative. Incidents important to a particular family might be recorded like those in the Camera degli Sposi that Mantegna painted for the Gonzaga family at Mantua. Increasingly, still lifes and decorative scenes from life were painted, such as the Concert by Lorenzo Costa of about 1490. Important events were often recorded or commemorated in paintings such as Uccello's Battle of San Romano, as were important local religious festivals. History and historic characters were often depicted in a way that reflected on current events or on the lives of current people. Portraits were often painted of contemporaries in the guise of characters from history or literature. The writings of Dante, Voragine's Golden Legend and Boccaccio's The Decameron were important sources of themes.

In all these subjects, increasingly, and in the works of almost all painters, certain underlying painterly practices were being developed: the observation of nature, the study of anatomy, of light, and perspective.[2][3][5]

Proto-Renaissance painting

Small altarpiece with folding wings. Background of shining gold. Centre, the Virgin Mary in dark blue, holds the Christ Child. There is a standing saint in each side panel. The colours are rich and luminous, the figures are elongated and stylised.

Duccio di Buoninsegna: Madonna and Child (c. 1280) at the National Gallery, London, is mainly Italo-Byzantine in style.

The art of the region of Tuscany in the late 13th century was dominated by two masters of the Italo-Byzantine style, Cimabue of Florence and Duccio of Siena. Their commissions were mostly religious paintings, several of them being very large altarpieces showing the Madonna and Child. These two painters, with their contemporaries, Guido of Siena, Coppo di Marcovaldo and the mysterious painter upon whose style the school may have been based, the so-called Master of St Bernardino, all worked in a manner that was highly formalised and dependent upon the ancient tradition of icon painting.[6] In these tempera paintings many of the details were rigidly fixed by the subject matter, the precise position of the hands of the Madonna and Christ Child, for example, being dictated by the nature of the blessing that the painting invoked upon the viewer. The angle of the Virgin's head and shoulders, the folds in her veil, and the lines with which her features were defined had all been repeated in countless such paintings. Cimabue and Duccio took steps in the direction of greater naturalism, as did their contemporary, Pietro Cavallini of Rome.

Giotto's contemporaries

Giotto had a number of contemporaries who were either trained and influenced by him, or whose observation of nature had led them in a similar direction. Although several of Giotto's pupils assimilated the direction that his work had taken, none was to become as successful as he. Taddeo Gaddi achieved the first large painting of a night scene in an Annunciation to the Shepherds in the Baroncelli Chapel of the Church of Santa Croce, Florence.[2]

The paintings in the Upper Church of the Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi, are examples of naturalistic painting of the period, often ascribed to Giotto himself, but more probably the work of artists surrounding Pietro Cavallini.[9] A late painting by Cimabue in the Lower Church at Assisi, of the Madonna and St. Francis, also clearly shows greater naturalism than his panel paintings and the remains of his earlier frescoes in the upper church.

Mortality and redemption

A small section of a badly damaged fresco showing people who are doomed to Hell. While horrible demons are clutching at them, the humans are intent on pursuing their evil ways of murder and seduction, seeming ignorant of their precarious state on the edge of a pit.

A common theme in the decoration of Medieval churches was the Last Judgement, which in northern European churches frequently occupies a sculptural space above the west door, but in Italian churches such as Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel it is painted on the inner west wall. The Black Death of 1348 caused its survivors to focus on the need to approach death in a state of penitence and absolution. The inevitability of death, the rewards for the penitent and the penalties of sin were emphasised in a number of frescoes, remarkable for their grim depictions of suffering and their surreal images of the torments of Hell.

These include the Triumph of Death by Giotto's pupil Orcagna, now in a fragmentary state at the Museum of Santa Croce, and the Triumph of Death in the Camposanto Monumentale at Pisa by an unknown painter, perhaps Francesco Traini or Buonamico Buffalmacco who worked on the other three of a series of frescoes on the subject of Salvation. It is unknown exactly when these frescoes were begun but it is generally presumed they post-date 1348.[2]

Two important fresco painters were active in Padua in the late 14th century, Altichiero and Giusto de' Menabuoi. Giusto's masterpiece, the decoration of the Padua Baptistery, follows the theme of humanity's Creation, Downfall, and Salvation, also having a rare Apocalypse cycle in the small chancel. While the whole work is exceptional for its breadth, quality and intact state, the treatment of human emotion is conservative by comparison with that of Altichiero's Crucifixion at the Basilica of Sant'Antonio, also in Padua. Giusto's work relies on formalised gestures, where Altichiero relates the incidents surrounding Christ's death with great human drama and intensity.[10]

An altarpiece with a golden background and a frame surmounted by five richly carved Gothic pediments. Centre, the Virgin Mary, who has been reading, turns in alarm as the Angel Gabriel kneels to the left. The angel's greeting "Ave Maria, Gratia Plena" is embossed on the gold background. The figures are elongated, stylised and marked by elegance. There are saints in the side panels.

Simone Martini: The Annunciation, 1333, Uffizi, is International Gothic in style.

In Florence, at the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, Andrea di Bonaiuto was commissioned to emphasise the role of the Church in the redemptive process, and that of the Dominican Order in particular. His fresco Allegory of the Active and Triumphant Church is remarkable for its depiction of Florence Cathedral, complete with the dome which was not built until the following century.[2]

International Gothic

During the later 14th century, International Gothic was the style that dominated Tuscan painting. It can be seen to an extent in the work of Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, which is marked by a formalized sweetness and grace in the figures, and Late Gothic gracefulness in the draperies. The style is fully developed in the works of Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano, which have an elegance and a richness of detail, and an idealised quality not compatible with the starker realities of Giotto's paintings.[2]

In the early 15th century, bridging the gap between International Gothic and the Renaissance are the paintings of Fra Angelico, many of which, being altarpieces in tempera, show the Gothic love of elaboration, gold leaf and brilliant colour. It is in his frescoes at his convent of Sant' Marco that Fra Angelico shows himself the artistic disciple of Giotto. These devotional paintings, which adorn the cells and corridors inhabited by the friars, represent episodes from the life of Jesus, many of them being scenes of the Crucifixion. They are starkly simple, restrained in colour and intense in mood as the artist sought to make spiritual revelations a visual reality.[2][11]

Early Renaissance painting

Small bronze sculpture in high relief. The space is crowded with action. At the top of a mountain, Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac, who kneels on an altar. As Abraham wields a knife, an Angel raises his hand to stop the action, and directs him to sacrifice a sheep caught in a bush. At left are two servants and a donkey.A pair of large bronze doors, with ornate frames. The doors are divided into ten rectangular sections with decorations between them. Each section contains a relief sculpture telling a story from the Old Testament. The panels and parts of the frames are covered with gold.

Florence

The earliest truly Renaissance images in Florence date from 1401, although they are not paintings. That year a competition was held amongst seven young artists to select the artist to create a pair of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery, the oldest remaining church in the city. The competitors were each to design a bronze panel of similar shape and size, representing the Sacrifice of Isaac.Two of the panels from the competition have survived, those by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. Each panel shows some strongly classicising motifs indicating the direction that art and philosophy were moving, at that time. Ghiberti used the naked figure of Isaac to create a small sculpture in the Classical style. The figure kneels on a tomb decorated with acanthus scrolls that are also a reference to the art of Ancient Rome. In Brunelleschi's panel, one of the additional figures included in the scene is reminiscent of a well-known Roman bronze figure of a boy pulling a thorn from his foot. Brunelleschi's creation is challenging in its dynamic intensity. Less elegant than Ghiberti's, it is more about human drama and impending tragedy.[12]

Ghiberti won the competition. His first set of Baptistry doors took 27 years to complete, after which he was commissioned to make another. In the total of 50 years that Ghiberti worked on them, the doors provided a training ground for many of the artists of Florence. Being narrative in subject and employing not only skill in arranging figurative compositions but also the burgeoning skill of linear perspective, the doors were to have an enormous influence on the development of Florentine pictorial art.

Brancacci Chapel

Fresco. Jesus' disciples question him anxiously. Jesus gestures for St Peter to go to the lake. At right, Peter gives a coin, found in the fish, to a tax-collector

The first Early Renaissance frescos or paintings were started in 1425 when two artists commenced painting a fresco cycle of the Life of St. Peter in the chapel of the Brancacci family, at the Carmelite Church in Florence. They both were called by the name of Tommaso and were nicknamed Masaccio and Masolino, Slovenly Tom and Little Tom. More than any other artist, Masaccio recognized the implications in the work of Giotto. He carried forward the practice of painting from nature. His frescos demonstrate an understanding of anatomy, of foreshortening, of linear perspective, of light, and the study of drapery. In the Brancacci Chapel, his Tribute Money fresco has a single vanishing point and uses a strong contrast between light and dark to convey a three-dimensional quality to the work. As well, the figures of Adam and Eve being expelled from Eden, painted on the side of the arch into the chapel, are renowned for their realistic depiction of the human form and of human emotion. They contrast with the gentle and pretty figures painted by Masolino on the opposite side of Adam and Eve receiving the forbidden fruit. The painting of the Brancacci Chapel was left incomplete when Masaccio died at 26 in 1428. The Tribute Money was completed by Masolino while the remainder of the work in the chapel was finished by Filippino Lippi in the 1480s. Masaccio's work became a source of inspiration to many later painters, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.[13]

Development of linear perspective

Fresco. A scene in muted colours showing the porch of a temple, with a steep flight of steps. The Virgin Mary, as a small child and encouraged by her parents, is walking up the steps towards the High Priest.

Paolo Uccello: The Presentation of the Virgin shows his experiments with perspective and light.

During the first half of the 15th century, the achieving of the effect of realistic space in a painting by the employment of linear perspective was a major preoccupation of many painters, as well as the architects Brunelleschi and Alberti who both theorised about the subject. Brunelleschi is known to have done a number of careful studies of the piazza and octagonal baptistery outside Florence Cathedral and it is thought he aided Masaccio in the creation of his famous trompe-l'œil niche around the Holy Trinity he painted at Santa Maria Novella.[13]

According to Vasari, Paolo Uccello was so obsessed with perspective that he thought of little else and experimented with it in many paintings, the best known being the three The Battle of San Romano paintings (completed by 1450s) which use broken weapons on the ground, and fields on the distant hills to give an impression of perspective.

In the 1450s Piero della Francesca, in paintings such as The Flagellation of Christ, demonstrated his mastery over linear perspective and also over the science of light. Another painting exists, a cityscape, by an unknown artist, perhaps Piero della Francesca, that demonstrates the sort of experiment that Brunelleschi had been making. From this time linear perspective was understood and regularly employed, such as by Perugino in his Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter (1481–82) in the Sistine Chapel.[12]

Rectangular panel painting. The composition is divided in two, with an interior scene and an exterior scene. To the left, the pale, brightly lit figure of Jesus stands tied to a column while a man whips him. The ruler sits to the left on a throne. The building is Ancient Roman in style. To the right, two richly dressed men and a barefooted youth stand in a courtyard, much closer to the viewer, so appearing larger.

Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation demonstrates the artist's control over both perspective and light.

Understanding of light

Giotto used tonality to create form. Taddeo Gaddi in his nocturnal scene in the Baroncelli Chapel demonstrated how light could be used to create drama. Paolo Uccello, a hundred years later, experimented with the dramatic effect of light in some of his almost monochrome frescoes. He did a number of these in terra verde ("green earth"), enlivening his compositions with touches of vermilion. The best known is his equestrian portrait of John Hawkwood on the wall of Florence Cathedral. Both here and on the four heads of prophets that he painted around the inner clock face in the cathedral, he used strongly contrasting tones, suggesting that each figure was being lit by a natural light source, as if the source was an actual window in the cathedral.[14]

Piero della Francesca carried his study of light further. In the Flagellation he demonstrates a knowledge of how light is proportionally disseminated from its point of origin. There are two sources of light in this painting, one internal to a building and the other external. Of the internal source, though the light itself is invisible, its position can be calculated with mathematical certainty. Leonardo da Vinci was to carry forward Piero's work on light.[15]

The Madonna

A circular terracotta plaque, sculptured in relief and glazed in intense colours of blue and green with white figures and motifs. At the centre the Virgin Mary, watched by John the Baptist, kneels in adoration of the baby Jesus. Little cherubs look on

Square panel painting, devotional picture. Although in richly coloured paint, and set against a dark forest, the composition of Virgin and Child is very similar to that on the terracotta plaque.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, revered by the Catholic Church worldwide, was particularly evoked in Florence, where there was a miraculous image of her on a column in the corn market and where both the Cathedral of "Our Lady of the Flowers" and the large Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella were named in her honour.

The miraculous image in the corn market was destroyed by fire, but replaced with a new image in the 1330s by Bernardo Daddi, set in an elaborately designed and lavishly wrought canopy by Orcagna. The open lower storey of the building was enclosed and dedicated as Orsanmichele. Depictions of the Madonna and Child were a very popular art form in Florence. They took every shape from small mass-produced terracotta plaques to magnificent altarpieces such as those by Cimabue, Giotto and Masaccio. In the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries, one workshop more than any other dominated the production of Madonnas. They were the della Robbia family, and they were not painters but modellers in clay. Luca della Robbia, famous for his cantoria gallery at the cathedral, was the first sculptor to use glazed terracotta for large sculptures. Many of the durable works of this family have survived. The skill of the della Robbias, particularly Andrea della Robbia, was to give great naturalism to the babies that they modelled as Jesus, and expressions of great piety and sweetness to the Madonna. They were to set a standard to be emulated by other artists of Florence. Among those who painted devotional Madonnas during the Early Renaissance are Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Verrocchio and Davide Ghirlandaio. The custom was continued by Botticelli who produced a series of Madonnas over a period of twenty years for the Medici; Perugino, whose Madonnas and saints are known for their sweetness and Leonardo da Vinci, for whom a number of small attributed Madonnas such as the Benois Madonna have survived. Even Michelangelo who was primarily a sculptor, was persuaded to paint the Doni Tondo, while for Raphael, they are among his most popular and numerous works.

Early Renaissance painting in other parts of Italy

Andrea Mantegna in Padua and Mantua

One of the most influential painters of northern Italy was Andrea Mantegna of Padua, who had the good fortune to be in his teen years at the time in which the great Florentine sculptor Donatello was working there. Donatello created the enormous equestrian bronze, the first since the Roman Empire, of the condotiero Gattemelata, still visible on its plinth in the square outside the Basilica of Sant'Antonio. He also worked on the high altar and created a series of bronze panels in which he achieved a remarkable illusion of depth, with perspective in the architectural settings and apparent roundness of the human form all in very shallow relief.

At only 17 years old, Mantegna accepted his first commission, fresco cycles of the Lives of Saints James and Christopher for the Ovetari Chapel in the transept of the church of the Eremitani, near the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Unfortunately, the building was mostly destroyed during World War II, and they are only known from photographs which reveal an already highly developed sense of perspective and a knowledge of antiquity, for which the ancient University of Padua had become well known, early in the 15th century.[16]

Fresco. A close-up view of richly dressed middle-aged couple seated on a terrace with their family, servants and hound. The man discusses a letter with his steward. A little girl seeks her mother's attention. The older sons stand behind the parents. The space is restricted and crowded in a formal manner, but the figures are interacting naturally.

Mantegna's last work in Padua was a monumental San Zeno altarpiece, created for the abbot of the Basilica of San Zeno, Verona from 1457 to 1459.[17] This polyptych of which the predella panels are particularly notable for the handling of landscape elements, was to influence the further development of Renaissance art in Northern Italy.[17][18]

Mantegna's most famous work is the interior decoration of the Camera degli Sposi in the Ducal palace, Mantua, dated about 1470. The walls are frescoed with scenes of the life of the Gonzaga family, talking, greeting a younger son and his tutor on their return from Rome, preparing for a hunt and other such scenes that make no obvious reference to matters historic, literary, philosophic or religious. They are remarkable for simply being about family life. The one concession is the scattering of jolly winged putti, who hold up plaques and garlands and clamber on the illusionistic pierced balustrade that surrounds a trompe-l'œil view of the sky that decks the ceiling of the chamber.[12] Mantegna's main legacy in considered the introduction of spatial illusionism, carried out by a mastery of perspective, both in frescoes and in sacra conversazione paintings: his tradition of ceiling decoration was followed for almost three centuries.

( Antonello da Messina )

In 1442 Alfonso V of Aragon became ruler of Naples, bringing with him a collection of Flemish paintings and setting up a Humanist Academy. Antonello da Messina seems to have had access to the King's collection, which may have included the works of Jan van Eyck.[19] Recent evidence indicates that Antonello was likely in contact with Van Eyck's most accomplished follower, Petrus Christus, in Milan in early 1456 and likely learned the techniques of oil painting, including painting almost microscopic detail and minute gradations of light, directly from Christus.[20] As well, his works' calmer expressions on peoples' faces and calmness in the works' overall composition also appears to be a Netherlandish influence.[21] Antonello went to Venice in 1475 and remained there until the fall of 1476 so it is likely that Antonello passed on the techniques of using oil paints,[22] painting the gradation of light, and the principles of calmness to Venetian painters, including Giovanni Bellini, one of the most significant painters of the High Renaissance in Northern Italy, during that visit.[23][2][16]

Antonello painted mostly small meticulous portraits in glowing colours. But one of his most famous works, St. Jerome in His Study, demonstrates his superior ability at handling linear perspective and light. The composition of the small painting is framed by a late Gothic arch, through which is viewed an interior, domestic on one side and ecclesiastic on the other, in the centre of which the saint sits in a wooden corral surrounded by his possessions while his lion prowls in the shadows on the floor. The way the light streams in through every door and window casting both natural and reflected light across the architecture and all the objects would have excited Piero della Francesca.[2][16]

Bosnia & Herzegovina  /  Transcontinental European Continent / Representation of Bosnian Arts in World / Protokoll 16.03.2023

Ancient heritage

Prehistory

Bosnia and Herzegovina hosts the oldest monument of the Paleolithic age in southeastern Europe, engravings in Badanj cave near Stolac in Herzegovina. The most famous engraving is the Horse attacked by arrows, preserved in fragments dated around 14000 - 12000 B.C.[1]During the time when Neolithic and Copper cultures were starting to appear, Mediterranean Panonian cultures began to mix. Herzegovina was highly influenced by the impresso ceramics from the Western Mediterranean, as seen in Green Cave near Mostar, Čairi near Stolac, Lisičići near Konjic and Peć Mlini near Grude. In the upper regions of the Bosna river and the Northeastern parts of Bosnia (Obre I near Kakanj) the local culture was influenced by Adriatic cultures in the South and the Starčević culture in the Northeast. Original expressions of that culture are ceramic pots on four legs, called Rhyton. They are also found in the Danilo culture on the Croatian coast. Because of these influences, Kakanj culture is considered part of a wide circle of Neolithic tribes that followed a cult of life force (from northern Italy, Dalmatia and Epirus to Aegean). Butmir Culture near Sarajevo is distinctive with fine glazed ceramics and miscellaneous geometrical decorations, often spirals.[2][3] From the 7th century BC onwards, bronze was replaced by iron, and only jewelry and art objects were still made out of bronze. The bronze culture of the Illyrians, an ethnic group with a distinct art form, started to organize itself in what is today Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Different Illyrian tribes, under the influence of Halstat cultures from the North, formed original regional centers. With the notable exception of Pod near Bugojno in the upper valley of the Vrbas River, nothing is known of their settlements. In eastern Bosnia in the cemeteries of Belotić and Bela Crkva, the rites of inhumation and cremation are attested, with skeletons in stone cists and cremations in urns. Metal implements appear here side by side with stone implements. Most of the remains belong to the Middle Bronze Age.

A very important role played their death cult, evidence of which is seen in their careful burials and burial ceremonies. Japodian tribes (found around Bihać) produced heavy, oversized necklaces out of yellow, blue or white glass paste, large bronze fibulas, as well as spiral bracelets, diadems and helmets out of bronze foils. In the 4th century BC, the first Celts arrived in the region, bringing with them the technique of the pottery wheel, new types of fibulas and different bronze and iron belts. However, their influence on Bosnia and Herzegovina's art is negligible.

Antiquity

The Neretva Delta in the South was heavily dominated by Hellenistic influences of the Daors, an Illyrian tribe who had their capital in Daorson near Stolac.[4] Romans subdued the Illyrians in the first century BC, with the Illyrian provinces turning into provinces of Rome and Byzantium.In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romans built several small temples decorated with reliefs. They utilized Bosnia and Herzegovina's mineral deposits, particularly silver, to build military, civilian and industrial settlements.[4] The complex of step sanctuary in Gradac near Posušje from year 184 AD had marble temple dedicated to recently deceased emperor Marcus Aurelius. Late Roman art in B&H is marked most dominantly expressed by the construction of villas, Christian mausoleums, basilicas and oratories like the Mausoleum in Šipovo near Jajce and Villa Mogorjelo near Čapljina as well as sculptures.[5]

Medieval art in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina the Romanesque influence came from Croatia although it was never fully accepted and thus only adopted some elements from it.Influences of Gothic art in the 14th century are represented by preaching orders and knightly culture. In Bosnian culture, religion and nobility were the main perpetuating factors.From the earliest times of Bosnian Kingdom the nobility was buried in large necropolises near roads with graves marked by monumental tombstones (stećak). A Stećak was sometimes engraved with reliefs showing all sorts of motifs, from figurative to symbols, and sometimes writings in Bosnian Cyrillic. They are strongly linked to the Bosnian Church and most of the motifs are derived from its particular belief system, although some are also derived from Romanesque (crosses, arcades with semi-circular arches, son, half-moon etc.) and Gothic (arcades with sharp arches, knight riders, shields, swords, lilies etc.) art of the West.The two most extraordinary examples of illuminated manuscripts from medieval Bosnia are Hval’s missionary in Zagreb, a lavishly decorated manuscript with many miniatures. Misal Hrvoja Vukčića Hrvatinića - a liturgical book of the Bosnian duke and ruler of Dalmatia - Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, today in Istanbul, is colourfully painted with many details of knightly culture. Both were painted in Split, Croatia.

Ottoman art in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the 16th century, all of Bosnia was under Ottoman, extinguishing the Western influence of renaissance and later baroque art from the region. The only places where some Western art remained was in Franciscan monasteries in Visoko, Kreševo, Franciscan monastery in Fojnica, Franciscan monastery in Kraljeva Sutjeska etc.However, the Ottoman period opened a new era in B&H art, that of Islamic Art which flourished until the 19th century. At that time three constant art traditions coexisted in B&H: Catholic-Western, Orthodox-Byzantine and the dominating Ottoman-Islamic one.The Ottomans were quickly developing urban cities upon their conquest of B&H, enriched by Islamic and Byzantine influences. For example, in Foča in the 16th century, the Ottomans built 17 mosques, 29 public fountains, 6 public baths (hamam) and 13 caravanserai motels (han). Sarajevo is an example of a non-urban open city where the most important buildings are organized around one veining street, a čaršija (Persian chahar-su meaning all four sides). In Sarajevo the largest is famous Baščaršija with shops of 50 different crafts from the 15th century.Islamic manuscripts, decorated in the Persian style with Islamic calligraphy, and many remain in Bosnian libraries to this day. In the 16th century, the Jews expelled from Spain came to Sarajevo, where they were allowed to settle. Beside their important influence on Bosnian culture, they brought with them a luxuriously decorated manuscript called Sarajevo Haggadah from the 14th century, which is now housed in the Sarajevo museum.The bridge is an important part of Islamic art, not only because of the great skill required of an architect, but because of its symbolic meaning a mediator between Heaven and Earth. One of the most famous examples is the Old Bridge in Mostar, built by Hajredin, a pupil of the famous architect Mimar Sinan from Istanbul.In Bosnian Islamic architecture, stone is reserved for religious, public buildings and fortifications, while private houses were built out of wood and ćerpić (native simple bonding material made of clay and straw). With often console constructions of the upper floors, these houses allowed for more open spaces and large windows. When the power of Ottomans started to descend in the middle of the 17th century, so did the influence of Islamic art in Bosnia and Herzegovina.After Bosnia became part of Austro-Hungarian, the region's art scene witnessed an intensification of activity as cities modernized and changed in structure. Architecture was dominated by eclectic pseudo styles like classicism, neo-renaissance, neo-baroque, and even neo-Romanesque as well as neo-gothic. A unique pseudo style is the“oriental eclectic” style (also referred to "Pseudo-Moorish style"), based on Moorish architecture found in Southern Spain and Egypt. The style contrasted markedly with the urban ambient of Bosnian cities at the time, as can be seen in Sarajevo (National Library and City Hall), Mostar Gymnasium and Travnik (Retirement Home).The first Bosnian artists were educated in large European academies in Vienna, München, Prag, Krakow, Budapest and Paris, thanks to scholarships of cultural societies like Prosvjeta and Napredak. Artists like Atanasije Popović, Lazar Drljača, Gabrijel Jurkić, Branko Radulović, Petar Šain etc., are influenced by academism with slight touches of impressionism, art nouveau, and pointillism. After the Great Exhibition of Bosnian Artists in 1917, the native born artists have prevailed. Modern styles that entered B&H were expressionism and Cézannes-ism.

Art in the Yugoslavian Kingdom

After the end of World War I, the society of artists from SHS (state of Serbians, Croats and Slovenians) was created and held numerous exhibitions and artistic gatherings like the Blažuj colony of Vladimir Becić. Participants o were Roman Petrović and Jovan Bijelić, both with abstract proclivities, while Karlo Mijić was devoted to colouristic landscapes.However, art production in B&H was severely restricted, leading many artists to never return to B&H from their studies in Zagreb and Beograd, while many were leaving the country. The first renewal happened with the "Group of Four" and "engaged art" of Roman Petrović and his circle, "The children of the Street". Mijić and Đoko Mazalić founded an art association called Krug (The Circle) with a strong focus on urban aesthetics of nature. Vojo Dimitrijević painted the Spain in 37, a representative artwork of colouristic expression with traces of Picasso and Chagall.In the 1930s, architects were influenced by ideas of functionalism, humane architecture and Bauhaus. Those buildings were uniting function, content and form, without unnecessary plastic decoration, and with a simple rhythm of windows and modern constructions.

Art in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Right after World War II, Communist Yugoslavia was founded, which allowed artists to find a new expression through the themes of Revolution and War. Prominent representatives of this are Ismet Mujezinović and Branko Šotra. Architecture was also under the direct influence of Socialistic architecture, but never reached the monumentality of the original works.In the 1950s, art slowly transformed to a more abstract outlook, based on industrial and economic motives. The first to do so was sculptor Mirko Ostoja who replaced classical modeling with iron welding. Even the Communist State changed its feeling toward modern art by commissioning large abstract monuments dedicated to famous battles in The War (Sutjeska, Kozara, Makljen etc.). Young architects gathered around Professor Juraj Neidhardt, and tried to connect modern architecture with B&H tradition and its surroundings. The result were buildings like The Mostar Mall, “Razvitak”, built in 1970 by A. Paljaga or the Jajce Mall in 1976 by R. Jadrić, Dž. Karić and N. Kurto.In the 1960s many architects were leaving traditional boundaries and made important buildings in the manner of functionalism: The telecommunication building in Addis Abeba by Ivan Štraus and Zdravko Kovacević, or the Skenderija Hall in Sarajevo by Živorad Janković and Halid Muhasilović are exemplary.[6]In the 1970s, an art expression inspired by old Bosnian culture and tradition appeared in the graphic work of Dževad Hozo and in the paintings of Mehmed Zaimović, Seid Hasanefendić and Mersad Berber. Opposite to that, the urban expression of Ismar Mujezinović's works is more related to modern film montage and photo-optics, while Braco Dimitrijević was a Conceptual artist who worked mainly outside B&H.An example of architecture in the 1980s is the Holiday Inn Hotel built in 1983 and the Unis Twin Towers built in Sarajevo in 1986, designed by Ivan Štraus.

Art after the Bosnian War

Cultural preservation is under way in Bosnia and Herzegovina which can be seen with the most recent reconstruction of Stari Most in Mostar and many other structures of cultural and historical significance which were damaged or destroyed in the war. Commercial construction in the years following the Bosnian War has seen a boom in Sarajevo. Sarajevo is one of the cities with the most construction in southeastern Europe. The Unis Twin Towers have been renovated completely. On the site of the former Oslobodjenje Towers, the Avaz towers have now been constructed. In the Hrasno residential area, the Bosnian Company Bosmal has constructed the Bosmal City Center, which includes the tallest set of twin towers in the Balkans at 120 meters each.The Avaz Twist Tower located in Marijin Dvor, Sarajevo, is the tallest tower in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the new headquarters for Avaz, the most popular Bosnia and Herzegovina newspaper company

Poland / ( EU ) Counts to 27 Member States / European Continent / Polish Art & Design / Wikipedia Source / Protokoll 16.03.2023 AD

Nineteenth century

Polish art has often reflected European trends while maintaining its unique character. The Kraków school of history painting developed by Jan Matejko produced monumental portrayals of significant events and customs throughout Polish history. He is referred to as the most famous Polish painter or even as the "national painter" of Poland.[2][3][4] Stanisław Witkiewicz was an ardent supporter of Realism in Polish art, its main representative being Jozef Chełmoński.

Kazimierz Stabrowski, Peacock. Portrait of Zofia Borucińska, 1908The Młoda Polska (Young Poland) movement witnessed the birth of modern Polish art and engaged in a great deal of formal experimentation led by Jacek Malczewski (Symbolism), Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, and a group of Polish Impressionists.

Twentieth century

Artists of the twentieth-century Avant-Garde represented various schools and life. The art of Tadeusz Makowski was influenced by Cubism; while Władysław Strzemiński and Henryk Stażewski worked within the Constructivist idiom. Distinguished contemporary artists include Roman Opałka, Wilhelm Sasnal, Leon Tarasewicz, Jerzy Nowosielski, Wojciech Siudmak, Mirosław Bałka, and Katarzyna Kozyra and Zbigniew Wąsiel in the younger generation. Tamara de Lempicka was a Polish artist creating Art Déco paintings. Józef Czajkowski was an artist of many forms, including painting, architecture, and furniture design.[5] The most celebrated Polish sculptors include Xawery Dunikowski, Katarzyna Kobro, Alina Szapocznikow and Magdalena Abakanowicz.[citation needed] Since the inter-war years, Polish art and documentary photography has enjoyed worldwide recognition. After the Second World War in Poland only few famous artists like painters Andrzej Wróblewski, Bronisław Linke and film director Andrzej Wajda (recipient of an Honorary Oscar) commemorated the war's victims of the Nazi Holocaust, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Warsaw Uprising.Kapists (Jan Cybis, Jan Szancenbach, Artur Nacht-Samborski, Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa), Andrzej Wróblewski, Grupa Krakowska (Tadeusz Kantor, Maria Jarema, Jerzy Nowosielski), individuals like Piotr Potworowski, Władysław Hasior, Ludwik Konarzewski (junior), Jerzy Duda-Gracz, Zdzisław Beksiński were some important Polish post-war painters.In the sixties the Polish Poster School was formed, with Henryk Tomaszewski and Waldemar Świerzy at its head.[6]

Contemporary art since 1989

Some of the most important representatives of contemporary art are Wilhelm Sasnal, Rafał Bujnowski, Józef Robakowski, Paweł Althamer, Artur Żmijewski, Mirosław Bałka, Leszek Knaflewski, Robert Kuśmirowski, Zuzanna Janin, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Paulina Ołowska, Katarzyna Kozyra, Joanna Rajkowska, Gruppa Azorro.

Independent galleries, mainly in Warsaw, Krakow, and Poznań, play an important role. In many cities museums of modern art are being built, gathering not only national but also international collections (Krakow, Wrocław, and Toruń). In Warsaw, work is underway to build the Museum of Modern Art, which operates a temporary building, creating an international collection of contemporary art. It is open to the public since 2013.

World / News / Arts / Mexican Art & In Affiliation An Collage Arts  / Resource & Sourcing Wikipedia / Representation Date / Release Date / Protokollierung 23.03. 2023 AD 

Various types of visual arts developed in the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the prehispanic Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after Mexican War of Independence, the development Mexican national identity through art in the nineteenth century, and the florescence of modern Mexican art after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Mesoamerican art is that produced in an area that encompasses much of what is now central and southern Mexico, before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire for a period of about 3,000 years from Mexican Art can be bright and colourful this is called encopended. During this time, all influences on art production were indigenous, with art heavily tied to religion and the ruling class. There was little to no real distinction among art, architecture, and writing. The Spanish conquest led to 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, and art production remained tied to religion—most art was associated with the construction and decoration of churches, but secular art expanded in the eighteenth century, particularly casta paintings, portraiture, and history painting. Almost all art produced was in the European tradition, with late colonial-era artists trained at the Academy of San Carlos, but indigenous elements remained, beginning a continuous balancing act between European and indigenous traditions.[1] After Independence, art remained heavily European in style, but indigenous themes appeared in major works as liberal Mexico sought to distinguish itself from its Spanish colonial past. This preference for indigenous elements continued into the first half of the 20th century, with the Social Realism or Mexican muralist movement led by artists such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and Fernando Leal, who were commissioned by the post-Mexican Revolution government to create a visual narrative of Mexican history and culture. The strength of this artistic movement was such that it affected newly invented technologies, such as still photography and cinema, and strongly promoted popular arts and crafts as part of Mexico's identity. Since the 1950s, Mexican art has broken away from the muralist style and has been more globalized, integrating elements from Asia, with Mexican artists and filmmakers having an effect on the global stage. 

Pre-Columbian Art

 It is believed that the American continent's oldest rock art, 7500 years old, is found in a cave on the peninsula of Baja California.[2]The pre-Hispanic art of Mexico belongs to a cultural region known as Mesoamerica, which roughly corresponds to central Mexico on into Central America,[3] encompassing three thousand years from 1500 BCE to 1500 CE generally divided into three eras: Pre Classic, Classic and Post Classic.[4] The first dominant Mesoamerican culture was that of the Olmecs, which peaked around 1200 BCE. The Olmecs originated much of what is associated with Mesoamerica, such as hieroglyphic writing, calendar, first advances in astronomy, monumental sculpture (Olmec heads) and jade work.[5] They were a forerunner of later cultures such as Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City, the Zapotecs in Oaxaca and the Mayas in southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. While empires rose and fell, the basic cultural underpinnings of the Mesoamerica stayed the same until the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.[5] These included cities centered on plazas, temples usually built on pyramid bases, Mesoamerican ball courts and a mostly common cosmology.[3] While art forms such as cave paintings and rock etchings date from earlier, the known history of Mexican art begins with Mesoamerican art created by sedentary cultures that built cities, and often, dominions.[4][5] While the art of Mesoamerica is more varied and extends over more time than anywhere else in the Americas, artistic styles show a number of similarities.[6][7] Unlike modern Western art, almost all Mesoamerican art was created to serve religious or political needs, rather than art for art's sake. It is strongly based on nature, the surrounding political reality and the gods.[8] Octavio Paz states that "Mesoamerican art is a logic of forms, lines, and volumes that is as the same time a cosmology." He goes on to state that this focus on space and time is highly distinct from European naturalism based on the representation of the human body. Even simple designs such as stepped frets on buildings fall into this representation of space and time, life and the gods.[9] Art was expressed on a variety of mediums such as ceramics, amate paper and architecture.[7] Most of what is known of Mesoamerican art comes from works that cover stone buildings and pottery, mostly paintings and reliefs.[6] Ceramics date from the early the Mesoamerican period. They probably began as cooking and storage vessels but then were adapted to ritual and decorative uses. Ceramics were decorated by shaping, scratching, painting and different firing methods.The earliest known purely artistic production were small ceramic figures that appeared in Tehuacán area around 1,500 BCE and spread to Veracruz, the Valley of Mexico, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas and the Pacific coast of Guatemala.[4] The earliest of these are mostly female figures, probably associated with fertility rites because of their often oversized hips and thighs, as well as a number with babies in arms or nursing. When male figures appear they are most often soldiers.[10] The production of these ceramic figures, which would later include animals and other forms, remained an important art form for 2000 years. In the early Olmec period most were small but large-scale ceramic sculptures were produced as large as 55 cm.[11][12]After the middle pre-Classic, ceramic sculpture declined in the center of Mexico except in the Chupícuaro region. In the Mayan areas, the art disappears in the late pre-Classic, to reappear in the Classic, mostly in the form of whistles and other musical instruments. In a few areas, such as parts of Veracruz, the creation of ceramic figures continued uninterrupted until the Spanish conquest, but as a handcraft, not a formal art. Mesoamerican painting is found in various expressions—from murals, to the creation of codices and the painting of ceramic objects. Evidence of painting goes back at least to 1800 BCE and continues uninterrupted in one form or another until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.[14] Although it may have occurred earlier, the earliest known cases of artistic painting of monumental buildings occur in the early Classic period with the Mayas at Uaxactun and Tikal, and in Teotihuacan with walls painted in various colors.[4] Paints were made from animal, vegetable and mineral pigments and bases.[15] Most paintings focus one or more human figures, which may be realistic or stylized, masculine, feminine or asexual. They may be naked or richly attired, but the social status of each figure is indicated in some way. Scenes often depict war, sacrifice, the roles of the gods or the acts of nobles. However, some common scenes with common people have been found as well.

Other subjects included gods, symbols and animals.[15] Mesoamerican painting was bi-dimensional with no efforts to create the illusion of depth. However, movement is often represented.[17] Non-ceramic sculpture in Mesoamerica began with the modification of animal bones, with the oldest known piece being an animal skull from Tequixquiac that dates between 10,000 and 8,000 BCE.[10] Most Mesoamerican sculpture is of stone; while relief work on buildings is the most dominant, freestanding sculpture was done as well. Freestanding three-dimensional stone sculpture began with the Olmecs, with the most famous example being the giant Olmec stone heads. This disappeared for the rest of the Mesoamerican period in favor of relief work until the late post-Classic with the Aztecs. The majority of stonework during the Mesoamerican period is associated with monumental architecture that, along with mural painting, was considered an integral part of architecture rather than separate.[19] Monumental architecture began with the Olmecs in southern Veracruz and the coastal area of Tabasco in places such as San Lorenzo; large temples on pyramid bases can still be seen in sites such as Montenegro, Chiapa de Corzo and La Venta. This practice spread to the Oaxaca area and the Valley of Mexico, appearing in cities such as Monte Albán, Cuicuilco and Teotihuacan. These cities had a nucleus of one or more plazas, with temples, palaces and Mesoamerican ball courts. Alignment of these structures was based on the cardinal directions and astronomy for ceremonial purposes, such as focusing the sun's rays during the spring equinox on a sculpted or painted image. This was generally tied to calendar systems.[21] Relief sculpture and/or painting were created as the structures were built. By the latter pre-Classic, almost all monumental structures in Mesoamerica had extensive relief work. Some of the best examples of this are Monte Albán, Teotihuacan and Tula.[22] -Hispanic reliefs are general lineal in design and low, medium and high reliefs can be found. While this technique is often favored for narrative scenes elsewhere in the world, Mesoamerican reliefs tend to focus on a single figure. The only time reliefs are used in the narrative sense is when several relief steles are placed together. The best relief work is from the Mayas, especially from Yaxchilan.[23] Writing and art were not distinct as they have been for European cultures. Writing was considered art and art was often covering in writing.[9] The reason for this is that both sought to record history and the culture's interpretation of reality. (salvatvolp14) Manuscripts were written on paper or other book-like materials then bundled into codices.[24] The art of reading and writing was strictly designated to the highest priest classes, as this ability was a source of their power over society.[14][17] The pictograms or glyphs of this writing system were more formal and rigid than images found on murals and other art forms as they were considered mostly symbolic, representing formulas related to astronomical events, genealogy and historic events.[17] Most surviving pre-Hispanic codices come from the late Mesoamerican period and early colonial period, as more of these escaped destruction over history. For this reason, more is known about the Aztec Empire than the Mayan cultures.[15][24] Important Aztec codices include the Borgia Group of mainly religious works, some of which probably pre-date the conquest, the Codex Borbonicus, Codex Mendoza, and the late Florentine Codex, which is in a European style but executed by Mexican artists, probably drawing on earlier material that is now lost. Important museum collections in Mexico include those of the National Museum of Anthropology and the Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli, both in Mexico City, as well as provincial museums.

( Oceania ) Australian Arts  / Transcontinental Arts / History /  Update / Protokoll 18.04.2023 / ( Wikipedia Resource ) Arts Below Listed

The Arts in Australia refers to the visual arts, literature, performing arts and music in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian art, music and story telling attaches to a 40–60,000-year heritage and continues to affect the broader arts and culture of Australia. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary, visual and theatrical traditions began with strong links to the broader traditions of English and Irish literature, British art and English and Celtic music. However, the works of Australian artists – including Indigenous as well as Anglo-Celtic and multicultural migrant Australians – has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent to the global arts scene – exploring such themes as Aboriginality, Australian landscape, migrant and national identity, distance from other Western nations and proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living and the "beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush. Notable Australian writers have included the Nobel laureate Patrick White, the novelists Colleen McCullough and Henry Handel Richardson and the bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. Leading Australian performing artists have included Robert Helpmann of the Australian Ballet, Joan Sutherland of Opera Australia and the humourist Barry Humphries. Prominent Australian musical artists have included the Australian country music singer Slim Dusty, rising star Cody Simpson, folk-rocker Paul Kelly, "pop princess" Kylie Minogue and rock n roll bands the Bee Gees, AC/DC, INXS and Powderfinger. Quintessentially Australian art styles include the Heidelberg School the Hermannsburg School and the Western Desert Art Movement. Australian cinema has a long tradition with a body of work producing popular classics such as Crocodile Dundee and The Man From Snowy River, and arthouse successes such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Ten Canoes. Prominent Australian trained filmed artists include Errol Flynn, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Notable institutions for the arts include the UNESCO listed Sydney Opera House, the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

Visual arts

Painting, drawing and sculpture

The visual arts have a long history in Australia, dating back around 30,000 years, and examples of ancient Aboriginal rock art can be found throughout the continent, notably in national parks such as the UNESCO-listed sites at Uluru and Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, and also within protected parks in urban areas such as Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in Sydney.[6] In the mid-twentieth century, the landscape paintings of Albert Namatjira were popular and received national and international acclaim.[7] Since the 1970s, contemporary Indigenous Australian artists have used acrylic paints in styles such as that of the Western Desert Art Movement, which leading critic Robert Hughes saw as "the last great art movement of the 20th century".[8] Art is important both culturally and economically to Indigenous society; art critic Sasha Grishin concluded that central Australian Indigenous communities have "the highest per capita concentrations of artists anywhere in the world".[9] Contemporary artists whose work has been exhibited internationally such as at the Venice Biennale, include Rover Thomas and Emily Kngwarreye, while designs were commissioned from several nationally recognised artists in 2006 for the new Musée du quai Branly buildings. The artists included Paddy Bedford, John Mawurndjul, Ningura Napurrula, Lena Nyadbi, Michael Riley, Judy Watson, Tommy Watson and Gulumbu Yunupingu.[10][11] Following the arrival of permanent European settlement in Australia in 1788, the story of early Australian painting has been described[by whom?] as requiring of artists a shift from a "European sense of light" to an "Australian sense of light". The origins of distinctly Australian painting is often associated with the Heidelberg School of the 1880s–1890s. Artists such as Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts applied themselves to recreating in their art a truer sense of light and colour as seen in the Australian landscape. Like the European Impressionists, they painted in the open air. These artists found inspiration in the unique light and colour which characterises the Australian bush. Among the first Australian artists to gain a reputation overseas was the impressionist John Russell during the 1880s. Another notable expatriate artist of the era was Rupert Bunny, a painter of landscape, allegory and sensual and intimate portraits. Ernst William Christmas also made a name internationally. Among the principal Australian artists of the 20th century are the surrealists Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Russell Drysdale, the avant-garde Brett Whiteley, the painter/sculptors William Dobell and Norman Lindsay, the landscapists Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Albert Namatjira and Lloyd Rees, and modernist photographer Max Dupain. Each has helped to define the unique character of the visual arts in Australia.[1] Modernism arrived in Australia early in the 20th century. Among the earliest exponents were Grace Cossington Smith and Margaret Preston. Humorist Barry Humphries has been a provocative exponent of dadaism in Australia.[12] Popular with the general community have been Ken Done, best known for his design work, Pro Hart and Rolf Harris, a British/Australian living in the UK who is popular as a musician, composer, painter and television host. Ricky Swallow, Patricia Piccinini, Susan Norrie, Callum Morton, Rover Thomas and Emily Kame Kngwarreye have all represented Australians at the Venice Biennale using the traditional mediums of sculpture, photography and painting while instilling them with a renewed vigour. A new generation of Aboriginal artists, while not rejecting the culture of the past, endeavour to move the artistic dialog forward, including Gordon Bennett, Rosella Namok, Richard Bell and Julie Dowling. In recent years the art market has been democratised and art is judged on its merits rather than snobbery. A cohort of male artists aged under fifty (Dane Lovett, Adam Cullen, Ben Quilty, Anthony Bennett, Simon Cuthbert, Rhys Lee, Ben Frost and Alasdair McIntyre) have an expressive style and use humour in their work. In addition street art is also a prominent feature in major cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. Though there is some debate over the legality, some councils have expressed greater recognition of the urban art movement. Australia has a number of notable museums and galleries, including the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery of Australia and National Museum of Australia in Canberra, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Australia has a long history of film production. Australia's first dedicated film studio, the Limelight Department, was created by The Salvation Army in Melbourne in 1898, and is believed to have been the world's first.[13] The world's first feature-length film was the Australian production The Story of the Kelly Gang of 1906.[14] After such early successes, Australian cinema suffered from the rise of Hollywood. In 1933, In the Wake of the Bounty was directed by Charles Chauvel, who cast Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn as the leading actor.[15] Flynn went on to a celebrated career in Hollywood. Chauvel directed a number of successful Australian films, the last being 1955's Jedda, which was notable for being the first Australian film to be shot in colour, and the first to feature Aboriginal actors in lead roles and to be entered at the Cannes Film Festival.[16] It was not until 2006 and Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes that a major feature-length drama was shot in an indigenous language.

Television broadcasting began in Australia in 1956. The majority of locally produced content was broadcast live-to-air, with very little local programming from these first few years of Australian TV broadcasting recorded. Notable early arts programs were Bandstand, hosted by Brian Henderson; Six O'Clock Rock, hosted by Johnny O'Keefe and the first Australian serial drama, Autumn Affair. A TV series The Adventures of Long John Silver was made in Sydney for the American and British market; it was shown on the ABC in 1958. During the late 1960s and 1970s an influx of government funding saw the development of a new generation of filmmakers telling distinctively Australian stories, including directors Peter Weir, George Miller and Bruce Beresford. Films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Sunday Too Far Away (1975) had an immediate international impact. The 1980s is often regarded[by whom?] as a golden age of Australian cinema, with many successful films, from the historical drama of Gallipoli (1981) to the dark science fiction of the Mad Max sequels (1981–85), the romantic adventure of The Man From Snowy River (1982) or the comedy of Crocodile Dundee (1986).[18] In 1982, the first Australian game development studios to achieve global success, Melbourne House (now Krome Studios Melbourne) publisherd a text adventure adaption of The Hobbit for the ZX Spectrum. Other early game development studios in Australia include Strategic Studies Group, who developed Reach for the Stars in 1983, and Micro Forté, founded in 1985. A major theme of Australian cinema has been survival in the harsh Australian landscape. A number of thrillers and horror films dubbed "outback gothic" have been created, including Wake in Fright, Walkabout (1971), The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Razorback (1984) and Shame (1988) in the 1980s, and Japanese Story (2003), The Proposition (2005) and the world-renowned Wolf Creek (2006) in the 21st century. These films depict the Australian outback and its wilderness and creatures as deadly, and its people as outcasts and psychopaths disconnected to modern urban Australia. These are combined with futuristic post-apocalyptic themes in the Mad Max series. The 1990s saw a run of successful comedies such as Strictly Ballroom (1992), Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Castle (1996), which helped launch the careers of Toni Collette, P. J. Hogan, Eric Bana and Baz Luhrmann. This group was joined in Hollywood by actors including Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger who also rose to international prominence. The domestic film industry continues to produce a reasonable[quantify] number of films each year. The industry is also supported by US producers who produce in Australia following the decision by Fox head Rupert Murdoch to utilise new studios in Melbourne and Sydney where filming could be completed well below US costs. Notable productions include The Matrix, Star Wars episodes II and III, and Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

Literature

Australian writers who have obtained international renown include the Nobel winning author Patrick White, as well as authors Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, Colleen McCullough, Nevil Shute and Morris West. Notable contemporary expatriate authors include the feminist Germaine Greer, art historian Robert Hughes and humorists Barry Humphries and Clive James.[19]Among the important authors of classic Australian works are the poets Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, C J Dennis and Dorothea McKellar. Dennis wrote in the Australian vernacular, while McKellar wrote the iconic patriotic poem My Country. At one point, Lawson and Paterson contributed a series of verses to The Bulletin magazine in which they engaged in a literary debate about the nature of life in Australia. Lawson said Paterson was a romantic and Paterson said Lawson was full of doom and gloom.[20] Lawson is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest writers of short stories, while Paterson's poems The Man From Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow remain amongst the most popular Australian bush poems. Significant political poets of the 20th century included Dame Mary Gilmore and Judith Wright. Among the best known contemporary poets are Les Murray and Bruce Dawe.

Novelists of classic Australian works include Marcus Clarke (For the Term of His Natural Life), Henry Handel Richardson (The Fortunes of Richard Mahony), Joseph Furphy (Such Is Life), Miles Franklin (My Brilliant Career) and Ruth Park (The Harp in the South). In terms of children's literature, Norman Lindsay (The Magic Pudding) and May Gibbs (Snugglepot and Cuddlepie) are among the Australian classics, while eminent Australian playwrights have included Steele Rudd, David Williamson, Alan Seymour and Nick Enright.Although historically only a small proportion of Australia's population have lived outside the major cities, many of Australia's most distinctive stories and legends originate in the outback, in the drovers and squatters and people of the barren, dusty plains.[21] Contemporary works dealing with the migrant experience include Melina Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi and Anh Do's memoir The Happiest Refugee, which won the Indie Book of the Year Award for 2011 and tells the story of his experience as a Vietnamese refugee travelling to and growing up in Australia.[22] David Unaipon is known as the first indigenous author. Oodgeroo Noonuccal was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse.[23] A significant contemporary account of the experiences of Indigenous Australia can be found in Sally Morgan's My Place. Charles Bean (The Story of Anzac: From the Outbreak of War to the End of the First Phase of the Gallipoli Campaign 4 May 1915, 1921) Geoffrey Blainey (The Tyranny of Distance, 1966), Robert Hughes (The Fatal Shore, 1987), Manning Clark (A History of Australia, 1962–87), and Marcia Langton (First Australians, 2008) are authors of important Australian histories.

World / Transcontinental Arts / North America / ( Canadian Arts & Formidable  Canada Art & Design ) / 18.04.2023 AD / ( Wikipedia Source )

Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by Indigenous peoples followed by waves of immigration which included artists of European origins and subsequently by artists with heritage from countries all around the world. The nature of Canadian art reflects these diverse origins, as artists have taken their traditions and adapted these influences to reflect the reality of their lives in Canada. The Government of Canada has played a role in the development of Canadian culture, through the department of Canadian Heritage by giving grants to art galleries,[1] as well as establishing and funding art schools and colleges across the country, and through the Canada Council for the Arts (established in 1957), the national public arts funder, helping artists, art galleries and periodicals, thus contributing to the visual exposure of Canada`s heritage.[2] The Canada Council Art Bank also helps artists by buying and publicizing their work. The Canadian government has sponsored four official war art programs: the First World War Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF), the Second World War Canadian War Records (CWR), the Cold War Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (CAFCAP), and the current Canadian Forces Artists Program (CFAP).[3] The Group of Seven is often considered the first uniquely Canadian artistic group and style of painting;[4] however, this claim is challenged by scholars and artists.[5] Historically, the Catholic Church was the primary patron of art in early Canada, especially Quebec, and in later times, artists have combined British, French, and American artistic traditions, at times embracing European styles and at the same time, working to promote nationalism. Canadian art remains the combination of these various influences.

Indigenous art

Indigenous peoples were producing art in the territory that is now called Canada for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Canada as a nation state. Like the peoples that produced them, Indigenous art traditions spanned territories that extended across the current national boundaries between Canada and the United States. Indigenous art traditions are often organized by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups, the most common regional distinctions being: Northwest Coast, Northwest Plateau, Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Subarctic, and Arctic.[6] As might be expected, art traditions vary enormously amongst and within these diverse groups. One thing that distinguishes Indigenous art from European traditions is a focus on art that tends to be made for "utilitarian, shamanistic or decorative purposes, or for pleasure", as Maria Tippett writes. Such objects might be "venerated or considered ephemeral objects".[7] Many of the artworks preserved in museum collections date from the period after European contact and show evidence of the creative adoption and adaptation of European trade goods such as metal and glass beads. The distinct Métis cultures that have arisen from inter-cultural relationships with Europeans have also contributed new culturally hybrid art forms. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, the Canadian government pursued an active policy of assimilation toward Indigenous peoples. One of the instruments of this policy was the Indian Act, which banned manifestations of traditional religion and governance, such as the Sun Dance and the Potlatch, including the works of art associated with them.[8] It was not until the 1950s and 60s that Indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin,[9] Bill Reid,[10] and Norval Morrisseau[11] began to publicly renew and, in some cases, re-invent indigenous art traditions. Currently there are many Indigenous artists practicing in all media in Canada and two Indigenous artists, such as Edward Poitras[12] and Rebecca Belmore,[13] who have represented Canada at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 1995 and 2005, respectively. Toronto-based Cree artist Kent Monkman is the only Canadian artist to be commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2019, he produced the diptych mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) as part of a new series of contemporary projects presented in the Met's Great Hall.[14]

French colonial period (1665–1759)

Early explorers such as Samuel de Champlain made sketches of North American territory as they explored. They also documented conflicts between European colonizers and Indigenous peoples. For instance, a drawing by Champlain, published in 1613, depicts the battle between Champlain's party and the Haudenosaunee that took place in present-day Lake Champlain in 1609.[15] The Roman Catholic Church in and around Quebec City was the first to provide artistic patronage.[16] Abbé Hughes Pommier is believed to be the first painter in New France. Pommier left France in 1664 and worked in various communities as a priest before taking up painting extensively. Painters in New France, such as Pommier and Claude François (known primarily as Frère Luc, believed in the ideals of High Renaissance art, which featured religious depictions often formally composed with seemingly classical clothing and settings.[17] Few artists during this early period signed their works, making attributions today difficult. Near the end of the 17th century, the population of New France was growing steadily but the territory was increasingly isolated from France. Fewer artists arrived from Europe, but artists in New France continued with commissions from the Church. Two schools were established in New France to teach the arts and there were a number of artists working throughout New France up until the British Conquest.[18] Pierre Le Ber, from a wealthy Montreal family, is one of the most recognized artists from this period. Believed to be self-taught since he never left New France, Le Ber's work is widely admired. In particular, his depiction of the saint Marguerite Bourgeoys was hailed as "the single most moving image to survive from the French period" by Canadian art historian Dennis Reid.[19] While early religious painting told little about everyday life, numerous ex-votos completed by amateur artists offered vivid impressions of life in New France. Ex-votos, or votive painting, were made as a way to thank God or the saints for answering a prayer. One of the best known examples of this type of work is Ex-voto des trois naufragés de Lévis (1754). Five youths were crossing the Saint Lawrence River at night when their boat overturned in rough water. Two girls drowned, weighed down by their heavy dresses, while two young men and one woman were able to hold on to the overturned boat until help arrived. Saint Anne is depicted in the sky, saving them. This work was donated to the church at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré as an offering of thanks for the three lives saved.[20]

Early art in British North America

The early ports of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland did not experience the same degree of artistic growth, largely due to their Protestant beliefs in simple church decoration which did not encourage artists or sculptors. However itinerant artists, painters who travelled to various communities to sell works, frequented the area. Dutch-born artist Gerard Edema is believed to have painted the first Newfoundland landscape in the early 18th century.[21]

British Colonial period (1759–1820)

The battle for Quebec left numerous British soldiers garrisoned in strategic locations in the territory. While off-duty, many of these soldiers sketched and painted the Canadian land and people, which were often sold in European markets hungry for exotic, picturesque views of the colonies. Many officers in the regiments sent to North America had passed through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where watercolour painting was part of the curriculum[22] since watercolours were required by soldiers to record the land, as photography had not been invented.[23] Thomas Davies is championed as one of the most talented. Davies recorded the capture of Louisburg and Montreal among other scenes.[24] Many of Richard Short's drawings and watercolours were reproduced as prints to disseminate knowledge of British expansion. For instance, in 1761, Short’s sketches became the basis for a set of prints depicting the British conquest of Quebec City two years earlier.[25] Scottish-born George Heriot was one of the first artist-soldiers to settle in Canada and later produced Travels Through the Canadas in 1807 filled with his aquatint prints.[26] James Cockburn also was most prolific, creating views of Quebec City and its surroundings.[27] Forshaw Day worked as a draftsman at Her Majesty's Naval Yard from 1862–79 in Halifax, Nova Scotia then moved to Kingston, Ontario to teach drawing at the Royal Military College of Canada from 1879–97.

Lower Canada's Golden Age

In the late 18th century, art in Lower Canada began to prosper due to a larger number of commissions from the public and Church construction. Portrait painting in particular is recognized from this period, as it allowed a higher degree of innovation and change. François Baillairgé was one of the first of this generation of artists. He returned to Montreal in 1781 after studying sculpture in London and Paris. The Rococo style influenced several Lower Canadian artists who aimed for the style's light and carefree painting. However, Baillairgé did not embrace Rococo, instead focusing on sculpture and teaching influenced by Neoclassicism. Lower Canada's artists evolved independently from France as the connection was severed during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. While not living in Lower Canada, William Berczy participated in the period's artistic growth. He immigrated to North America from Europe, perhaps Saxony, and completed several important portraits of leading figures. For example, he painted three portraits of Kanien’kehá:ka leader Joseph Brant and his best known work, The Woolsley Family, painted in Quebec City in 1808–09. As the title of the latter painting suggests, the work features full-length portraits of all the members of the Woolsley family. It is celebrated in part because of its complex arrangement of figures, decorative floor panels, and the detailed view of the landscape through the open window.[29] Art historian J. Russell Harper believes this era of Canadian art was the first to develop a truly Canadian character.[30] A second generation of artists continued this flourishing of artistic growth beginning around the 1820s. Joseph Légaré was trained as a decorative and copy painter. However, this did not inhibit his artistic creativity as he was one of the first Canadian artists to depict the local landscape. Légaré is best known for his depictions of disasters such as cholera plagues, rocks slides, and fires.[31] Antoine Plamondon, a student of Légaré, went on to study in France, the first French Canadian artist to do so in 48 years. Plamondon went on to become the most successful artist in this period, largely through religious and portrait commissions.[32]

Krieghoff and Kane

The works of most early Canadian painters were heavily influenced by European trends. During the mid-19th century, Cornelius Krieghoff, a Dutch-born artist in Quebec, painted scenes of the life of the habitants (French-Canadian farmers). At about the same time, the Canadian artist Paul Kane painted pictures of Indigenous life around the Great Lakes, Western Canada and the Oregon Territories. The figure of "the Native" played different roles in art, among others from an "intermediary of the environment" to a model of political resistance".[33] Kane and other Western artists catered to the overseas demand for misleading and stereotypical images of violent Prairie warriors. Kane's dramatic painting The Death of Omoxesisixany (Big Snake) (1849–56) was his only work to be mass-produced and marketed in its own time.[34]

Art under the Dominion of Canada

John Fraser's Summit Lake near Lenchoile, Bow River, Canadian Pacific Railway. (1886) Possibly Paget Peak and Sherbrooke Lake in British Columbia

Formed in 1867 by a group of professional painters, including John Fraser, John Bell-Smith, father of Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith and Adolphe Vogt, the Society of Canadian Artists in Montreal[35] represented the possibilities these artists felt in the city as an exhibiting place for the arts.[36] The group consisted of artists with diverse background, with many new Canadians and others of French heritage spread out over Ontario and Quebec. Without group philosophical or artistic objectives, most artists tended simply to please the public in order to produce income. Romanticism remained the predominant stylistic influence, with a growing appreciation for Realism originating with the Barbizon school as practiced by Canadians Homer Watson and Horatio Walker.[37] The Society however did not last beyond 1872.[38] In 1872, the Ontario Society of Artists was founded in Toronto; it is still exhibiting today. The list of objectives drawn up by the founding executive in its constitution included the "fostering of Original Art in the province, the holding of Annual Exhibitions, the formation of an Art Library and Museum and School of Art", all goals that were fulfilled.[39][40] In 1880, the Royal Canadian Academy was founded and it, too, is still active today. It was modelled after the British Royal Academy of Arts with a hierarchy of members, and provided a new national context and vehicle for the promotion of the visual arts.[41]][42] The RCA, under the leadership of Robert Harris, actively sought to place Canadian artists in international exhibitions, such as the Canadian Exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904.

Early 20th century

The Canadian Art Club, in existence from 1907 to 1915, was formed in an effort to improve the quality of the various standard exhibitions. The founders of the Club were the painters Edmund Morris and Curtis Williamson, who attempted to establish higher standards through small, carefully hung shows. Membership of the Club was by invitation only. Homer Watson was the first president, and other members included William Brymner, Maurice Cullen, and James Wilson Morrice.[43] The First World War sparked a wide range of artistic expression: photography, film, painting, prints, reproductions, illustration, posters, craft, sculpture, and memorials. Artists initiated some of this work themselves, but the Canadian government and private agencies sponsored the vast majority of it.[44]

Nationalism and the Group of Seven

The Group of Seven asserted a distinct national identity combined with a common heritage stemming from early modernism in Europe, including Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.[45] Some of the later members worked as commercial artists at a Toronto company called Grip Ltd. where they were encouraged to paint outdoors in their spare time.[46] As mature artists, Influenced by the example of Tom Thomson, they painted works in the studio from sketches made on small panels while on location in Northern Ontario or in the environment closer to home.[47]

The group had its genesis at Toronto's Arts & Letters Club[47] before the First World War, though the war delayed its official formation until 1920. The eventual members were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Harris helped, with Dr. James MacCallum, by funding the construction of the Studio building in Toronto in 1913 for some of the group's use as studio space.[47] He also helped fund many of the group's northern excursions beginning 1919 by having a box car outfitted with sleeping quarters and heat, then left at prearranged train track locations to be re-located when the group wanted to move or return.[48] These actions were possible due to Harris' family fortune and influence: his father had been secretary to the A. Harris company which amalgamated with Massey to form the Massey-Harris Company[47] which shipped most of its production by train. Emily Carr and various other artists were associated with the Group of Seven but were not invited to be members. Tom Thomson, often referred to, but never officially a member, died in 1917 due to an accident on Canoe Lake in Northern Ontario.[49] In 1933, members of the Group of Seven decided to enlarge the group and formed the Canadian Group of Painters, made up of 28 artists from across the country.[50]Today, particularly with the work of Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven and Emily Carr, Canadian art is reaching new highs in the Canadian auction market.[51] Tom Thomson`s work is especially recognized as a contribution to North American Post-Impressionism[52] and the Group of Seven mythology has become an important part of national identity.[53]

Beginning of non-objective art

In the 1920s, Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker and Lowrie Warrener independently experimented with abstract or non-objective art in Canada.[54] Some of these artists viewed abstract art as a way to explore symbolism and mysticism as an integral part of their spirituality. After the Group of Seven was enlarged into the Canadian Group of Painters, in about 1936, Lawren Harris began to paint abstractly. These individual artists indirectly influenced the following generation of artists who would come to form groups of abstract art following World War II, by changing the definition of art in Canadian society and by encouraging young artists to explore abstract themes.[55

Contemporaries of the Group of Seven

The Beaver Hall Group (1920-1922) in Montreal, a collective of eighteen painters and one sculptor, was founded just after the Group of Seven`s first show. It was named for a building at 305 Beaver Hall which provided a meeting and exhibition space.[56]By the late 1930s, many Canadian artists began resenting the quasi-national institution the Group of Seven had become. As a result of a growing rejection of the view that the efforts of a group of artists based largely in Ontario constituted a national vision or oeuvre, many artists—notably those in Québec—began feeling ignored and undermined. Founded in 1938 in Montréal, Québec, the Eastern Group of Painters included Montréal artists whose common interest was painting and an art for art's sake aesthetic, not the espousal of a nationalist credo as was the case with the Group of Seven or the Canadian Group of Painters. The group's members included Alexander Bercovitch, Goodridge Roberts, Eric Goldberg, Jack Weldon Humphrey, John Goodwin Lyman, and Jori Smith. The Eastern Group of Painters was formed to restore variation of purpose, method, and geography to Canadian art. It evolved into the Contemporary Arts Society (Société d'art contemporain) which was formed in 1939 by John Goodwin Lyman to promote an awareness of modern art in Montréal.[57]

1930s regionalism

Since the 1930s, Canadian painters have developed a wide range of highly individual styles and painted in different regions of Canada. Emily Carr became famous for her paintings of totem poles, native villages, and the forests of British Columbia. Jack Humphrey painted Saint John, New Brunswick, Carl Schaefer painted Hanover, Ontario, John Lyman painted the Laurentians, and a contingent of artists painted Baie St. Paul in Charlevoix County, Quebec.[58] Later painters who painted specific landscapes include the prairie painter William Kurelek.

After World War II

The abstract painters Jean-Paul Riopelle and multi-media artist Michael Snow can be said to have an influence beyond Canadian borders.[59] Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec, founded by Paul-Émile Borduas in the early 1940s.[60][61] It lasted till 1954, the year of the group`s last exhibition.[61] However, their artistic influence was not quickly felt in English Canada, or indeed much beyond Montreal.[62] The abstract art group Painters Eleven (1953-1960), founded in Toronto, particularly the artist William Ronald, who is credited with the group's formation, and Jack Bush, also had an important impact on modern art in Canada. Painters Eleven increased opportunities to exhibit by its members.[63]

Regina Five is the name given to five abstract painters, Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Douglas Morton, Ted Godwin, and Ronald Bloore, who exhibited their works in the 1961 National Gallery of Canada's exhibition "Five Painters from Regina". Though not an organized group per se, the name stuck with the 'members' and the artists continued to show together.[64]

Canadian sculpture has been enriched by the walrus ivory and soapstone carvings of Inuit artists. These carvings show objects and activities from their daily lives, both modern and traditional, as well as scenes from their mythology.[65]

Contemporary art

Interior of the Toronto Eaton Centre showing one of Michael Snow's best known sculptures, titled Flightstop, which depicts Canada geese in flight. The 1960s saw the emergence of several important local and regional developments in dialogue with international trends. Robert Murray, one of Canada`s foremost abstract sculptors, moved to New York City from Saskatchewan in 1960, and began his progression to International fame.[66] In Toronto, Spadina Avenue in the 1960s became a hotspot for a loose affiliation of artists, notably Gordon Rayner, Graham Coughtry, and Robert Markle, who came to define the "Toronto look."[67] Other notable moments when Canadian contemporary artists—as individuals or groups—have distinguished themselves through international recognition or collaborations.

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD). From 1967 to 1990, Garry Neill Kennedy, as President, remade the College into an international centre for artistic activity and invited notable artists to come to NSCAD as visiting artists, particularly those involved in conceptual art.[69] Artists who made significant contributions during this period include Vito Acconci, Sol LeWitt, Dan Graham, Eric Fischl, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Beuys and Claes Oldenburg.[70] Krzysztof Wodiczko, became an artist-in-residence at NSCAD in 1976 and taught there till 1981. In 1984, he became a Canadian citizen, but went on to increasing fame in New York.[71]

AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal under the name of General Idea, active from 1967 to 1994, achieved international success.[72][73]

The video art and photography of David Askevold, an early and highly influential contributor to the development and pedagogy of the conceptual art movement, occurred. He was invited to NSCAD in 1968.[74] His work is included in the collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.[75]

CAR, later CARFAC (in French, Le Front des artistes canadiens) was founded in Ontario by Jack Chambers, with the aid of Tony Urquhart, and Kim Ondaatje in 1968,, ensuring the recognition of artists` copyrights.[76] Due to it, Canada became the first country to pay mandatory exhibition fees to artists.[77] In Moncton, the creation of a fine arts department at the nascent Université de Moncton in 1963[78] was headed by sculptor Claude Roussel, who was representative of CARFAC[79] in New Brunswick and attended the first national conference in Winnipeg of CAR 1971.[80]

Colin Campbell[81] and Lisa Steele[82] began their pioneering early video art in Toronto in the early 1970s - Steele`s Birthday Suit – with scars and defects (1974) is a classic.

In Vancouver, Ian Wallace was particularly influential in nurturing an international dialogue through his teaching and exchange programs from 1972 on when he was hired at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (formerly the Vancouver School of Art). He also encouraged visits from influential figures such as Lucy Lippard and Robert Smithson which exposed younger artists to conceptual art.[83]

In 1981, Arnaud Maggs worked on three grid-based portrait works documenting members of Toronto’s art and cultural community: 48 Views, Turning, and Downwind. Together, these works form an extensive visual archive—a kind of who’s who—of the Toronto arts and culture scene in the 1980s.[85]

The career of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, who represented Canada at the 49th Venice Biennial in 2001, became internationally successful.[86]

The films of Mark Lewis, who represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 2009, have been exhibited in solo museum shows at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (2014), The Power Plant, Toronto (2015), the Art Gallery of Ontario which organized Mark Lewis. Canada (2017),[87] the Museo de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) (2020),[88] and at numerous other international venues. His work has been purchased for public collections world wide.[89]

The paintings of Steven Shearer, who represented Canada in the Venice Biennale in 2011, are increasingly sought after and shown at international galleries.[90]

The ceramic figure work of Shary Boyle, who represented Canada in the Venice Biennale in 2013, is increasingly recognized internationally.[91][92]

Geoffrey Farmer, who represented Canada in the Venice Biennale in 2017, has attracted significant international media attention in international publications contributing to a global conversation about contemporary art in Canada, particularly for his show titled A Way Out of the Mirror.In 2019, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned Kent Monkman to produce the diptych mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) (2019) as part of a new series of contemporary projects presented in its Great Hall. In 2020, The Met acquired the dipytch, which consists of the paintings Welcoming the Newcomers and Resurgence of the People.[94]

Recent achievements of Canadian artists are showcased online at the Canada Council Art Bank site.[95]

Greek Arts / Greece ( Europe ) /  Art / History / ( Wikipedia Source ) / Transcontinental to North America / Trojan Horse / Sculptures / Archaic Chiseled Sightseeings / Protokoll 18.04.2023 

Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic development between about 750 and 300 BC was remarkable by ancient standards, and in surviving works is best seen in sculpture. There were important innovations in painting, which have to be essentially reconstructed due to the lack of original survivals of quality, other than the distinct field of painted pottery. Greek architecture, technically very simple, established a harmonious style with numerous detailed conventions that were largely adopted by Roman architecture and are still followed in some modern buildings. It used a vocabulary of ornament that was shared with pottery, metalwork and other media, and had an enormous influence on Eurasian art, especially after Buddhism carried it beyond the expanded Greek world created by Alexander the Great. The social context of Greek art included radical political developments and a great increase in prosperity; the equally impressive Greek achievements in philosophy, literature and other fields are well known. The earliest art by Greeks is generally excluded from "ancient Greek art", and instead known as Greek Neolithic art followed by Aegean art; the latter includes Cycladic art and the art of the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures from the Greek Bronze Age.[1] The art of ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods: the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. The Geometric age is usually dated from about 1000 BC, although in reality little is known about art in Greece during the preceding 200 years, traditionally known as the Greek Dark Ages. The 7th century BC witnessed the slow development of the Archaic style as exemplified by the black-figure style of vase painting. Around 500 BC, shortly before the onset of the Persian Wars (480 BC to 448 BC), is usually taken as the dividing line between the Archaic and the Classical periods, and the reign of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC) is taken as separating the Classical from the Hellenistic periods. From some point in the 1st century BC onwards "Greco-Roman" is used, or more local terms for the Eastern Greek world.[2] In reality, there was no sharp transition from one period to another. Forms of art developed at different speeds in different parts of the Greek world, and as in any age some artists worked in more innovative styles than others. Strong local traditions, and the requirements of local cults, enable historians to locate the origins even of works of art found far from their place of origin. Greek art of various kinds was widely exported. The whole period saw a generally steady increase in prosperity and trading links within the Greek world and with neighbouring cultures.The survival rate of Greek art differs starkly between media. We have huge quantities of pottery and coins, much stone sculpture, though even more Roman copies, and a few large bronze sculptures. Almost entirely missing are painting, fine metal vessels, and anything in perishable materials including wood. The stone shell of a number of temples and theatres has survived, but little of their extensive decoration.[3]

Pottery

By convention, finely painted vessels of all shapes are called "vases", and there are over 100,000 significantly complete surviving pieces,[5] giving (with the inscriptions that many carry) unparalleled insights into many aspects of Greek life. Sculptural or architectural pottery, also very often painted, are referred to as terracottas, and also survive in large quantities. In much of the literature, "pottery" means only painted vessels, or "vases". Pottery was the main form of grave goods deposited in tombs, often as "funerary urns" containing the cremated ashes, and was widely exported. The famous and distinctive style of Greek vase-painting with figures depicted with strong outlines, with thin lines within the outlines, reached its peak from about 600 to 350 BC, and divides into the two main styles, almost reversals of each other, of black-figure and red-figure painting, the other colour forming the background in each case. Other colours were very limited, normally to small areas of white and larger ones of a different purplish-red. Within the restrictions of these techniques and other strong conventions, vase-painters achieved remarkable results, combining refinement and powerful expression. White ground technique allowed more freedom in depiction, but did not wear well and was mostly made for burial.[6]

Conventionally, the ancient Greeks are said to have made most pottery vessels for everyday use, not for display. Exceptions are the large Archaic monumental vases made as grave-markers, trophies won at games, such as the Panathenaic Amphorae filled with olive oil, and pieces made specifically to be left in graves; some perfume bottles have a money-saving bottom just below the mouth, so a small quantity makes them appear full.[7] In recent decades many scholars have questioned this, seeing much more production than was formerly thought as made to be placed in graves, as a cheaper substitute for metalware in both Greece and Etruria.[8]

Most surviving pottery consists of vessels for storing, serving or drinking liquids such as amphorae, kraters (bowls for mixing wine and water), hydria (water jars), libation bowls, oil and perfume bottles for the toilet, jugs and cups. Painted vessels for serving and eating food are much less common. Painted pottery was affordable even by ordinary people, and a piece "decently decorated with about five or six figures cost about two or three days' wages".[9] Miniatures were also produced in large numbers, mainly for use as offerings at temples.[10] In the Hellenistic period a wider range of pottery was produced, but most of it is of little artistic importance. In earlier periods even quite small Greek cities produced pottery for their own locale. These varied widely in style and standards. Distinctive pottery that ranks as art was produced on some of the Aegean islands, in Crete, and in the wealthy Greek colonies of southern Italy and Sicily.[12] By the later Archaic and early Classical period, however, the two great commercial powers, Corinth and Athens, came to dominate. Their pottery was exported all over the Greek world, driving out the local varieties. Pots from Corinth and Athens are found as far afield as Spain and Ukraine, and are so common in Italy that they were first collected in the 18th century as "Etruscan vases".[13] Many of these pots are mass-produced products of low quality. In fact, by the 5th century BC, pottery had become an industry and pottery painting ceased to be an important art form. The range of colours which could be used on pots was restricted by the technology of firing: black, white, red, and yellow were the most common. In the three earlier periods, the pots were left their natural light colour, and were decorated with slip that turned black in the kiln.[6] Greek pottery is frequently signed, sometimes by the potter or the master of the pottery, but only occasionally by the painter. Hundreds of painters are, however, identifiable by their artistic personalities: where their signatures have not survived they are named for their subject choices, as "the Achilles Painter", by the potter they worked for, such as the Late Archaic "Kleophrades Painter", or even by their modern locations, such as the Late Archaic "Berlin Painter".[14]

History

During the Protogeometric and Geometric periods, Greek pottery was decorated with abstract designs, in the former usually elegant and large, with plenty of unpainted space, but in the Geometric often densely covering most of the surface, as in the large pots by the Dipylon Master, who worked around 750. He and other potters around his time began to introduce very stylised silhouette figures of humans and animals, especially horses. These often represent funeral processions, or battles, presumably representing those fought by the deceased.[15] The Geometric phase was followed by an Orientalizing period in the late 8th century, when a few animals, many either mythical or not native to Greece (like the sphinx and lion respectively) were adapted from the Near East, accompanied by decorative motifs, such as the lotus and palmette. These were shown much larger than the previous figures. The Wild Goat Style is a regional variant, very often showing goats. Human figures were not so influenced from the East, but also became larger and more detailed.[16] The fully mature black-figure technique, with added red and white details and incising for outlines and details, originated in Corinth during the early 7th century BC and was introduced into Attica about a generation later; it flourished until the end of the 6th century BC.[17] The red-figure technique, invented in about 530 BC, reversed this tradition, with the pots being painted black and the figures painted in red. Red-figure vases slowly replaced the black-figure style. Sometimes larger vessels were engraved as well as painted. Erotic themes, both heterosexual and male homosexual, became common.[18]By about 320 BC fine figurative vase-painting had ceased in Athens and other Greek centres, with the polychromatic Kerch style a final flourish; it was probably replaced by metalwork for most of its functions. West Slope Ware, with decorative motifs on a black glazed body, continued for over a century after.[19] Italian red-figure painting ended by about 300, and in the next century the relatively primitive Hadra vases, probably from Crete, Centuripe ware from Sicily, and Panathenaic amphorae, now a frozen tradition, were the only large painted vases still made.[20]

Metalwork

Fine metalwork was an important art in ancient Greece, but later production is very poorly represented by survivals, most of which come from the edges of the Greek world or beyond, from as far as France or Russia. Vessels and jewellery were produced to high standards, and exported far afield. Objects in silver, at the time worth more relative to gold than it is in modern times, were often inscribed by the maker with their weight, as they were treated largely as stores of value, and likely to be sold or re-melted before very long.[22] During the Geometric and Archaic phases, the production of large metal vessels was an important expression of Greek creativity, and an important stage in the development of bronzeworking techniques, such as casting and repousse hammering. Early sanctuaries, especially Olympia, yielded many hundreds of tripod-bowl or sacrificial tripod vessels, mostly in bronze, deposited as votives. These had a shallow bowl with two handles raised high on three legs; in later versions the stand and bowl were different pieces. During the Orientalising period, such tripods were frequently decorated with figural protomes, in the shape of griffins, sphinxes and other fantastic creatures.[23] Swords, the Greek helmet and often body armour such as the muscle cuirass were made of bronze, sometimes decorated in precious metal, as in the 3rd-century Ksour Essef cuirass.[24] Armour and "shield-bands" are two of the contexts for strips of Archaic low relief scenes, which were also attached to various objects in wood; the band on the Vix Krater is a large example.[25] Polished bronze mirrors, initially with decorated backs and kore handles, were another common item; the later "folding mirror" type had hinged cover pieces, often decorated with a relief scene, typically erotic.[26] Coins are described below. From the late Archaic the best metalworking kept pace with stylistic developments in sculpture and the other arts, and Phidias is among the sculptors known to have practiced it.[27] Hellenistic taste encouraged highly intricate displays of technical virtuousity, tending to "cleverness, whimsy, or excessive elegance".[28] Many or most Greek pottery shapes were taken from shapes first used in metal, and in recent decades there has been an increasing view that much of the finest vase-painting reused designs by silversmiths for vessels with engraving and sections plated in a different metal, working from drawn designs.[29] Exceptional survivals of what may have been a relatively common class of large bronze vessels are two volute kraters, for mixing wine and water.[30] These are the Vix Krater, c. 530 BC, 1.63m (5'4") high and over 200 kg (450 lbs) in weight, holding some 1,100 litres, and found in the burial of a Celtic woman in modern France,[31] and the 4th-century Derveni Krater, 90.5 cm (35 in.) high.[32] The elites of other neighbours of the Greeks, such as the Thracians and Scythians, were keen consumers of Greek metalwork, and probably served by Greek goldsmiths settled in their territories, who adapted their products to suit local taste and functions. Such hybrid pieces form a large part of survivals, including the Panagyurishte Treasure, Borovo Treasure, and other Thracian treasures, and several Scythian burials, which probably contained work by Greek artists based in the Greek settlements on the Black Sea.[33] As with other luxury arts, the Macedonian royal cemetery at Vergina has produced objects of top quality from the cusp of the Classical and Hellenistic periods.[34] Jewellery for the Greek market is often of superb quality,[35] with one unusual form being intricate and very delicate gold wreaths imitating plant-forms, worn on the head. These were probably rarely, if ever, worn in life, but were given as votives and worn in death.[36] Many of the Fayum mummy portraits wear them. Some pieces, especially in the Hellenistic period, are large enough to offer scope for figures, as did the Scythian taste for relatively substantial pieces in gold.[37]

The Greeks decided very early on that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour.[39] Seeing their gods as having human form, there was little distinction between the sacred and the secular in art—the human body was both secular and sacred. A male nude of Apollo or Heracles had only slight differences in treatment to one of that year's Olympic boxing champion. In the Archaic Period the most important sculptural form was the kouros (plural kouroi), the standing male nude (See for example Biton and Kleobis). The kore (plural korai), or standing clothed female figure, was also common, but since Greek society did not permit the public display of female nudity until the 4th century BC, the kore is considered to be of less importance in the development of sculpture.[40] By the end of the period architectural sculpture on temples was becoming important. As with pottery, the Greeks did not produce monumental sculpture merely for artistic display. Statues were commissioned either by aristocratic individuals or by the state, and used for public memorials, as offerings to temples, oracles and sanctuaries (as is frequently shown by inscriptions on the statues), or as markers for graves. Statues in the Archaic period were not all intended to represent specific individuals. They were depictions of an ideal—beauty, piety, honor or sacrifice. These were always depictions of young men, ranging in age from adolescence to early maturity, even when placed on the graves of (presumably) elderly citizens. Kouroi were all stylistically similar. Graduations in the social stature of the person commissioning the statue were indicated by size rather than artistic innovations.[41] Unlike authors, those who practiced the visual arts, including sculpture, initially had a low social status in ancient Greece, though increasingly leading sculptors might become famous and rather wealthy, and often signed their work (unfortunately, often on the plinth, which typically became separated from the statue itself).[42] Plutarch (Life of Pericles, II) said "we admire the work of art but despise the maker of it"; this was a common view in the ancient world. Ancient Greek sculpture is categorised by the usual stylistic periods of "Archaic", "Classical" and "Hellenistic", augmented with some extra ones mainly applying to sculpture, such as the Orientalizing Daedalic style and the Severe style of early Classical sculpture.[43]

Materials, forms

Surviving ancient Greek sculptures were mostly made of two types of material. Stone, especially marble or other high-quality limestones was used most frequently and carved by hand with metal tools. Stone sculptures could be free-standing fully carved in the round (statues), or only partially carved reliefs still attached to a background plaque, for example in architectural friezes or grave stelai.[44] Bronze statues were of higher status, but have survived in far smaller numbers, due to the reusability of metals. They were usually made in the lost wax technique. Chryselephantine, or gold-and-ivory, statues were the cult-images in temples and were regarded as the highest form of sculpture, but only some fragmentary pieces have survived. They were normally over-lifesize, built around a wooden frame, with thin carved slabs of ivory representing the flesh, and sheets of gold leaf, probably over wood, representing the garments, armour, hair, and other details.[45] In some cases, glass paste, glass, and precious and semi-precious stones were used for detail such as eyes, jewellery, and weaponry. Other large acrolithic statues used stone for the flesh parts, and wood for the rest, and marble statues sometimes had stucco hairstyles. Most sculpture was painted (see below), and much wore real jewellery and had inlaid eyes and other elements in different materials.[46] Terracotta was occasionally employed, for large statuary. Few examples of this survived, at least partially due to the fragility of such statues. The best known exception to this is a statue of Zeus carrying Ganymede found at Olympia, executed around 470 BC. In this case, the terracotta is painted. There were undoubtedly sculptures purely in wood, which may have been very important in early periods, but effectively none have survived.[47]

Archaic

Bronze Age Cycladic art, to about 1100 BC, had already shown an unusual focus on the human figure, usually shown in a straightforward frontal standing position with arms folded across the stomach. Among the smaller features only noses, sometimes eyes, and female breasts were carved, though the figures were apparently usually painted and may have originally looked very different. Inspired by the monumental stone sculpture of Egypt and Mesopotamia, during the Archaic period the Greeks began again to carve in stone: Greek mercenaries and merchants were active abroad, as in Egypt in the service of Pharaoh Psamtik I (664–610 BC), and were exposed to the monumental art of these countries.[48][49] It is generally agreed that "Egyptian statuary of the 2nd millennium BC gave the decisive impulse for the innovation of Greek sculpture in life-size and in hyper formats in the Archaic Period during the late 7th century."[48] Free-standing figures share the solidity and frontal stance characteristic of Eastern models, but their forms are more dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture, as for example the Lady of Auxerre and Torso of Hera (Early Archaic period, c. 660–580 BC, both in the Louvre, Paris). After about 575 BC, figures, such as these, both male and female, wore the so-called archaic smile. This expression, which has no specific appropriateness to the person or situation depicted, may have been a device to give the figures a distinctive human characteristic.[50] Three types of figures were used—the standing nude youth (kouros), the standing draped girl (kore) and, less frequently, the seated woman.[51] All emphasize and generalize the essential features of the human figure and show an increasingly accurate comprehension of human anatomy. The youths were either sepulchral or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), an early work; the Strangford Apollo from Anafi (British Museum, London), a much later work; and the Anavyssos Kouros (National Archaeological Museum of Athens). More of the musculature and skeletal structure is visible in this statue than in earlier works. The standing, draped girls have a wide range of expression, as in the sculptures in the Acropolis Museum of Athens. Their drapery is carved and painted with the delicacy and meticulousness common in the details of sculpture of this period.[52]Archaic reliefs have survived from many tombs, and from larger buildings at Foce del Sele (now in the museum at Paestum) in Italy, with two groups of metope panels, from about 550 and 510, and the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi, with friezes and a small pediment. Parts, all now in local museums, survive of the large triangular pediment groups from the Temple of Artemis, Corfu (c. 580), dominated by a huge Gorgon, and the Old Temple of Athena in Athens (c. 530-500).[53]

Classical

The Artemision Bronze, either Poseidon or Zeus, c. 460 BC, National Archaeological Museum, Athens. This masterpiece of classical sculpture was found by fishermen off Cape Artemisium in 1928. It is more than 2 m in height.

In the Classical period there was a revolution in Greek statuary, usually associated with the introduction of democracy and the end of the aristocratic culture associated with the kouroi. The Classical period saw changes in the style and function of sculpture. Poses became more naturalistic (see the Charioteer of Delphi for an example of the transition to more naturalistic sculpture), and the technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting the human form in a variety of poses greatly increased. From about 500 BC statues began to depict real people. The statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton set up in Athens to mark the overthrow of the tyranny were said to be the first public monuments to actual people.[54]

At the same time sculpture and statues were put to wider uses. The great temples of the Classical era such as the Parthenon in Athens, and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, required relief sculpture for decorative friezes, and sculpture in the round to fill the triangular fields of the pediments. The difficult aesthetic and technical challenge stimulated much in the way of sculptural innovation. Unfortunately these works survive only in fragments, the most famous of which are the Parthenon Marbles, half of which are in the British Museum.[57] Funeral statuary evolved during this period from the rigid and impersonal kouros of the Archaic period to the highly personal family groups of the Classical period. These monuments are commonly found in the suburbs of Athens, which in ancient times were cemeteries on the outskirts of the city. Although some of them depict "ideal" types—the mourning mother, the dutiful son—they increasingly depicted real people, typically showing the departed taking his dignified leave from his family. They are among the most intimate and affecting remains of the ancient Greeks.[58] In the Classical period for the first time we know the names of individual sculptors. Phidias oversaw the design and building of the Parthenon. Praxiteles made the female nude respectable for the first time in the Late Classical period (mid-4th century): his Aphrodite of Knidos, which survives in copies, was said by Pliny to be the greatest statue in the world.[59] The most famous works of the Classical period for contemporaries were the colossal Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon. Both were chryselephantine and executed by Phidias or under his direction, and are now lost, although smaller copies (in other materials) and good descriptions of both still exist. Their size and magnificence prompted emperors to seize them in the Byzantine period, and both were removed to Constantinople, where they were later destroyed in fires.[60]

Hellenistic

The Ttransition from the Classical to the Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century BC. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC), Greek culture spread as far as India, as revealed by the excavations of Ai-Khanoum in eastern Afghanistan, and the civilization of the Greco-Bactrians and the Indo-Greeks. Greco-Buddhist art represented a syncretism between Greek art and the visual expression of Buddhism. Thus Greek art became more diverse and more influenced by the cultures of the peoples drawn into the Greek orbit.[61] In the view of some art historians, it also declined in quality and originality. This, however, is a judgement which artists and art-lovers of the time would not have shared. Indeed, many sculptures previously considered as classical masterpieces are now recognised as being Hellenistic. The technical ability of Hellenistic sculptors is clearly in evidence in such major works as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Pergamon Altar. New centres of Greek culture, particularly in sculpture, developed in Alexandria, Antioch, Pergamum, and other cities, where the new monarchies were lavish patrons.[62] By the 2nd century the rising power of Rome had also absorbed much of the Greek tradition—and an increasing proportion of its products as well.[63] During this period sculpture became more naturalistic, and also expressive; the interest in depicting extremes of emotion being sometimes pushed to extremes. Genre subjects of common people, women, children, animals and domestic scenes became acceptable subjects for sculpture, which was commissioned by wealthy families for the adornment of their homes and gardens; the Boy with Thorn is an example. Realistic portraits of men and women of all ages were produced, and sculptors no longer felt obliged to depict people as ideals of beauty or physical perfection.[64] The world of Dionysus, a pastoral idyll populated by satyrs, maenads, nymphs and sileni, had been often depicted in earlier vase painting and figurines, but rarely in full-size sculpture. Now such works were made, surviving in copies including the Barberini Faun, the Belvedere Torso, and the Resting Satyr; the Furietti Centaurs and Sleeping Hermaphroditus reflect related themes.[65] At the same time, the new Hellenistic cities springing up all over Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia required statues depicting the gods and heroes of Greece for their temples and public places. This made sculpture, like pottery, an industry, with the consequent standardisation and some lowering of quality. For these reasons many more Hellenistic statues have survived than is the case with the Classical period. Some of the best known Hellenistic sculptures are the Winged Victory of Samothrace (2nd or 1st century BC),[66] the statue of Aphrodite from the island of Melos known as the Venus de Milo (mid-2nd century BC), the Dying Gaul (about 230 BC), and the monumental group Laocoön and His Sons (late 1st century BC). All these statues depict Classical themes, but their treatment is far more sensuous and emotional than the austere taste of the Classical period would have allowed or its technical skills permitted. The multi-figure group of statues was a Hellenistic innovation, probably of the 3rd century, taking the epic battles of earlier temple pediment reliefs off their walls, and placing them as life-size groups of statues. Their style is often called "baroque", with extravagantly contorted body poses, and intense expressions in the faces. The reliefs on the Pergamon Altar are the nearest original survivals, but several well known works are believed to be Roman copies of Hellenistic originals. These include the Dying Gaul and Ludovisi Gaul, as well as a less well known Kneeling Gaul and others, all believed to copy Pergamene commissions by Attalus I to commemorate his victory around 241 over the Gauls of Galatia, probably comprising two groups.[67] The Laocoön Group, the Farnese Bull, Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus ("Pasquino group"), Arrotino, and the Sperlonga sculptures, are other examples.[68] From the 2nd century the Neo-Attic or Neo-Classical style is seen by different scholars as either a reaction to baroque excesses, returning to a version of Classical style, or as a continuation of the traditional style for cult statues.[69] Workshops in the style became mainly producers of copies for the Roman market, which preferred copies of Classical rather than Hellenistic pieces.[70] Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century surrounding the (now submerged) ancient Egyptian city of Heracleum include a 4th-century BC, unusually sensual, detailed and feministic (as opposed to deified) depiction of Isis, marking a combination of Egyptian and Hellenistic forms beginning around the time of Egypt's conquest by Alexander the Great. However this was untypical of Ptolemaic court sculpture, which generally avoided mixing Egyptian styles with its fairly conventional Hellenistic style,[71] while temples in the rest of the country continued using late versions of traditional Egyptian formulae.[72] Scholars have proposed an "Alexandrian style" in Hellenistic sculpture, but there is in fact little to connect it with Alexandria.[73] Hellenistic sculpture was also marked by an increase in scale, which culminated in the Colossus of Rhodes (late 3rd century), which was the same size as the Statue of Liberty. The combined effect of earthquakes and looting have destroyed this as well as other very large works of this period.

Israel / Art in the Middle East / Israeli Text About Arts in Israel / Source ( IsraeliBlogger ) / Protokoll 18.04.2023  

Since the starting of the 20th century, visual arts in Israel became influenced by creative artistic orientations from East and West Europe and also from local artistic movements. Indeed, Israeli arts are a blend of different cultures, both locals and Europeans, reflecting the character of the Land of Israel and the various cities of this beautiful country. Paintings, sculptures, photography, and architecture bring with them traits of the Israeli landscape and nature, assimilating and blending elements from Europe. The stunning variety of the Israeli landscapes was and is an inspiration for many artists. Among the fantastic panoramas of Israel, there are hill terraces and ridges with unique lines and shapes such as the foothills of the Negev, the general greyish-green plants, and the bright glowing light exhibit as results peculiar colour effects; additionally, the sea and sand of Israel are incredibly unique. In general, regional landscapes, affairs, and politics prevail in Israeli art, making it absolutely amazing.

The Beginning Of Israeli Art

Coordinated art movements in Israel began in 1906 when Professor Boris Schatz arrived in Israel from Bulgaria and created the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. The foundation of the Bezalel Academy was possible thanks to a plan approved at the 1905 Zionist Congress to support gifted young Jews to study art in the Land of Israel. By 1910, the school included 32 different departments, a group of 500 students, and a ready business concerning its artworks involving the entire Jewish world. Besides painting and sculpture, the country’s artistic life includes many artisans who bring art to life every day in Israel. In Israel, several talented craftspeople, such as ceramicists, silver and goldsmiths, weavers, calligraphers, glass blowers, and much more, practice art with different modern interpretations of traditional Jewish ritual objects.

Star of David in mosaic – symbol of Judaism

Most Israelis are very enthusiastic regarding art and, the State of Israel supports artistic activities, financing exhibitions and curating all the museums. Indeed, it is a habit for Israelis to attend art exhibitions – from one-artist retrospectives to large group shows at the country’s many museums and private galleries, especially visiting the artists’ quarters of Safed and Yafo or the artists’ village of Ein Hod, where it is also possible to purchase the artworks of local artists.

Israeli Painting

In the beginning, Bezalel’s artistic orientation, which intended to create an “original Jewish art” by combining European techniques with Middle Eastern elements. The results were paintings of biblical scenes portraying romanticised attitudes of antiquity connected to romantic concepts of the future, with depicted images of the ancient Jewish Eastern communities and the local Bedouins.

Ancient Jewish communities in Israel

The famous artists of this period were Shmuel Hirszenberg, Ephraim Lilien, and Abel Pann. The first significant art exhibition held at David’s Citadel in Jerusalem’s Old City was overshadowed by painters from Bezalel Academy. Shortly after that, Bezalel’s anachronistic and national-oriental style was disputed both by young innovators within the Bezalel institution and by lately arrived artists, who started seeking an expression appropriate to them labelled as “Hebrew” contrary to the concept of “Jewish” art. In an attempt to define their original artistic personality and display their view of Israel as a source of national rebirth, they portrayed the daily reality of the Middle Eastern environment, emphasising the bright light and glowing colours of the landscape and highlighting exotic topics such as the daily Arab lifestyle, employing mainly an ancient technique, as observed in the artworks of painters such as Israel Paldi, Tziona Tagger, Pinhas Litvinovsky, Nahum Gutman, and Reuven Rubin. Since the mid-decade of the last century, most of the principal artists were based in the new and vibrant city of Tel Aviv, which has endured to be the centre of the artistic activities of Israel. The art of the 1930s was heavily affected by early 20th-century Western discoveries; among them, the most powerful was the expressionism arising in the ateliers of Paris. The artworks of painters such as Moshe Castel, Menachem Shemi, and Arie Aroch favoured the portrayal of an emotional world, frequently interpreted as a mystical reality using distortion. And although themes were still about regional landscapes and portraits, the narrative elements dating back years earlier disappeared with the time, and the oriental-Muslim world disappeared completely. Elements from German expressionism were introduced with the arrival of immigrant artists escaping the horror of rising Nazism. These immigrants joined the group directed by German-born artists Anna Ticho and Leopold Krakauer, who had moved to Jerusalem about 20 years earlier. This artistic group included Hermann Struck, Mordechai Ardon, and Jakob Steinhardt, and it was devoted mainly to personal descriptions of the landscape of Jerusalem and its surrounding hills. These artists contributed significantly to the growth of Israeli art, prominently thanks to the leadership provided to the Bezalel Academy of Art by the two directors, Ardon and Steinhardt, who guided a new generation of artists. During World War II, the separation from Paris and the trauma of the Holocaust induced several artists such as Moshe Castel, Yitzhak Danziger, and Aharon Kahana to embrace the innovative ‘Canaanite’ ideology. This new ideology ventured to find an identity with the local inhabitants of the land of Israel, creating a group of “new Hebrew people” by restoring ancient myths and pagan motifs. During the 1948 War of Independence, other artists such as Naftali Bezem and Avraham Ofek embraced an activist style expressing a distinct social message. The most important group created in this period was the “New Horizons” one, which aimed to detach Israeli art from its regional character, introducing it into the circle of contemporary European art. Two significant artistic trends developed: Yosef Zaritzky, the group’s principal personage, pointed towards a mysterious lyricism marked by identifiable components of the local landscape and cool colour hues. His style was adopted by Avigdor Stematsky and Yehezkel Streichman. The second trend was a stylised abstractionism varying from geometricity to symbolism. It was evident in the artworks of the Romanian artist Marcel Janco, who was one of the founders of Dadaism in Paris. The New Horizons group created abstract art in Israel and was also its dominant team until the early 1960s. Artists of the 1960s contributed to creating a link between the activities of the New Horizons group and an individual artistic trait in the next decade. Streichman and Stematsky, who were both teachers at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv, completely inspired the second generation of artists such as Raffi Lavi, Aviva Uri, Uri Lifschitz and Lea Nikel. These artists sought personal symbolism and confronted abstractionism’s elegant brushwork, including various expressive and symbolic abstract techniques.These artists formed “The Group of Ten,” founded in the late 1950s, disputing against the prevailing artistic universalism. Their purpose was addressing art subjects towards the Israeli landscape and Israeli people. Unlike the elite European atmosphere encompassing the New Horizons group, the Group of Ten found its identity in the native Israeli ‘Sabra’ and the Palmah generation. During the 1960s, realist artists Ori Reisman and Yitzhak Mambush joined the Group of Ten. Additionally, at Bezalel Academy, Ardon’s influence in motifs and techniques was evident in the artworks of Avigdor Arikha, who produced a typology of art that overflowed with deep spirituality, also adding figurative subjects reminiscent of the Holocaust and traditional Jewish topics, like in the surrealistic paintings of Yossl Bergner and Samuel Bak. Jacob Agam expressed a radically different style, and he was such a pioneer in optic and kinetic art that his work has been exhibited both in Israel and abroad. In the 1970s, in Israel, whilst minimalist art most of the time included amorphic and transparent patterns evocative of abstractionism, the exhibit of concepts dominated the aesthetics of the artworks of artists such as Larry Abramson and Moshe Gershuni. Between the 1980s and 1990s, artists created in an ambience of personal experimentation. They wanted Israel’s intrinsic spirit by combining an extensive range of materials, techniques, and images from Israeli and general elements such as the Hebrew alphabet letters and human emotions. Modern artistic inclinations, which are visible in the artworks of Pinhas Cohen-Gan, Deganit Beresht, Gabi Klezmer, Tsibi Geva, Tzvi Goldstein, and David Reeb, continue to aim to an extension of Israeli art beyond its traditional concepts and conventional materials, making it a unique expression of the indigenous culture including also progressive elements of the contemporary Western art.

Israeli Sculpture

Sculpture prospered in Israel thanks to the efforts of some sculptors such as Avraham Melnikoff, who is known for his massive stone lion at Tel Hai, and Ze’ev Ben-Zvi, who introduced cubism. Moshe Ziffer, Aharon Priver and Batya Lishansky, who managed the department before the establishment of the State of Israel, represented the academic school of sculpture. In the last part of the 1940s, the “Canaanite” movement influenced several artists; among them, the most notable was Yitzhak Danziger, who created a figure of the pagan hero Nimrod, which was carved from red Nubian sandstone, combining elements from the Middle Eastern sculpture and the modern concepts of the human body. In the 1950s, the statues were created using new materials on a monumental scale. Indeed, sculptures became increasingly abstract because of the modern introduction of iron and Cor-Ten steel as sculptural materials. The purpose of producing concrete memorials for the heroes who fell in Israel’s wars introduced a new impetus in the Israeli sculpture starting from the 1960s. Indeed, in those years, prominent non-figurative monuments were created in Israel. An example is the welded steel naval memorial at Achziv by Yehiel Shemi, which blends nature’s harshness and human violence and destruction.

The French school and expressionism in particular influenced Israeli art, which employed a variety of materials. Contemporary artists created sculptures to represent their responses to socio-political realities by using unique shapes and symbols. The artworks of provocative Israel Prize winner Yigal Tumarkin display his remonstrance against war through geometric and symbolic abstract designs. On the other side, the geometric minimalism of Menashe Kadishman continued to use sheep images, which recalls the ram in the biblical sacrifice of Isaac as a mythological symbol of a helpless victim. Various Israeli sculptors have attained international recognition, including Tumarkin, Karavan, Kosso Elul, and Israel Hadany, whose artworks are displayed in different galleries and museums abroad.

Israeli Photography

Photography in Israel approaches personal subjects such as life, death, art and illusions, and the national-political elements. It is characterised by closeness, self-control, and amusement with the self, both a reaction to and an outgrowth of the romantic, informational style that dominated its early development stages. In the mid-19th century, Israeli photography essentially provided photographic services, focusing on holy places, such as Christian ones, to sell them as souvenirs to pilgrims and tourists. Since 1880, photographers started to document the evolution of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel, depicting Israelis working the land and building cities through a modern and secular philosophy, which was also a requirement of clients who commissioned their pictures. Hence, many gifted photojournalists documented Israel’s improvement; among them, the most notable are David Harris, Micha Bar-Am, Tim Gidal, David Rubinger, Werner Braun, Boris Carmi, and Zev Radovan.

The photography in Israel includes “photography as documentation” and “art photography”, examples are Aliza Auerbach, who focuses on portraiture; Neil Folberg, Doron Horwitz and Shai Ginott, whose subject is nature; David Darom, a skilful underwater photographer; Dubi Tal and Mony Haramati, who are specialised in aerial photography. Among the several photography venues in Israel, the most renowned are the photography biennale at Mishkan Le’Omanut in Kibbutz Ein Harod and the new Museum of Photography at Tel Hai in the northern Galilee. Recently, photography became a recognised art form, and numerous imaginative photographers appeared, thanks to the support of galleries, museums, curators, and collectors in Israel and overseas.

The most famous artistic photographer is Adi Nes, born in Kiryat Gat to a family of Kurdistan and Iran families. Nes became famous in the 1990s with his artwork “Soldiers”, a photographic series concerning the national identity and Israeli male identity. Another work of Adi Nes is “Bible Stories”, which evocates Biblical moments with a contemporary setting.

Another notable photographer is Barry Frydlender, who combines dozens, or hundreds, of photographs into a single image with accuracy, precision, and perspective. In 2007, in Tel Aviv Museum Of Art, there was an exhibition of its “Place and time”, featuring contemporary Israel pictures such as an all-male gathering in East Jerusalem, Haredi Jews on an annual pilgrimage, and the forced evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. Afterwards, the exhibition moved to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the first solo exhibition of an Israeli artist in MOMA.

HTTP://www.andreaspennophotography.de 

Mongolia / Asia / Mongolian Arts / Transcontinental Arts to Europe / Wikipedia Sourcing / Protokollierung ( 18.04.2023 )

Visual Art of Mongolia

Cinema

Cinema, the miracle of the 20th century, came to Mongolia in 1910s. First movies were shown in the capital city, at the American Consulate and Russian Stock Exchange's hotel. In 1913 Mongolian prince Namnansuren is known to have brought some films from Russia to show at the residence of the Bogd Khan. After the revolution of 1921, equipment and movies have been purchased and students trained in Russia . Thus people have acquired access to cinema. At that time, cinema in Mongolia was called "Shadow show", and it was free of charge, until the first cinema theatre "Ard" was built in 1930s. In 1935, under the decision of the Council of Ministers, a movie production company "Mongol kino" was set up with Soviet assistance. The first production of the company was a documentary "74th Celebration of 1st May". In 1936, the first feature movie created with the technical assistance of the Soviet "Lenfilm". Mongolia 's first movie directors, cameramen, editors and other personnel were trained on the job by professionals from the Soviet Union . And in 1938 Mongolians were able to make independently "Norjmaa's way", and "Wolves" in 1939. Movies directed by the famous Mongolian film director D.Jigjid, such as "Tsogt taij" (1945), "People's messenger" (1959), "Flood", "Son-in-law" and others have became classics of Mongolian cinema. Film directors of younger generation, such as H.Damdin, Ts.Navaan, Ch.Gombo, B.Baljinnyam, B.Sumhuu and O.Urtnasan have made their unique contribution to further development of Mongolian cinema. The 1990s have became a turning point in the history of Mongolian cinema. Around 20 private film studios that have emerged between 1992 and 1997, produced more than 100 feature movies. Foreign relations with films companies have expanded as well. Joint productions of both documentary and feature films with French, Japanese, Chinese and Mongolian film producers have successfully participated in various international film festivals.

Fine Art

Fine arts of Mongolia are famous for its incredible paintings. Cave paintings aged 3-8 thousand years and found in the Khoid Tsenkher cave, Munkhan somon of Khovd aimag, are considered the first works of art discovered in the territory of Mongolia . The history of art and architecture of the Mongolian Empire begins in the 12th century and at later times was influenced by other nations. The capital city of the Mongol Dynasty, Khar Khorum, was a magnificent proof of the glory and majesty of the Mongolian Empire. With the development of religious arts and architecture, in 16 to early 20th century, design of buildings acquired features of Buddhist temples. Many monasteries were built during this time. Works, that represents today's classical painting techniques, are U.Yadamsuren's "The Old Horse-fiddler", A.Senghetsokhio's "The Mongol Lady", B.Avarzed's "Uurgach" and Ts.Minjuur's "Caravan Guide".

A.Senghetsokhio's "The Mongol Lady"

Modern Art

A new social system which was founded upon the victory of Revolution in 1921 was focused on art works. Therefore art works of that time were dedicated to publicity of he new system. Since then Mongolian artists became acquainted with European paintings and began using both Mongolian and European drawing methods. In order to develop Mongolian art systematically specialised artists were prepared and there were established specialised agencies in Mongolia . In 1950s many genres of fine art, carpet and porcelain production were introduced and developed. During this period many artists and architects became very famous for their single thematic works, namely, painter O. Tsevegjav-animals, U.Yadamsuren-workers, N.Tsultem and G.Odon-history and everyday life, L.Gavaa-nature and an architect S.Choimbol-monuments etc. In 1960s there was a great change in the tradition of art-refusing to use linear perspectives, harmonisation of colours and colour endowments in every respect and began to use other techniques of painting as well as themes and contents of art were expanded. Famous artists of 1970-1980 are D.Amgalan who mastered xylography, M.Butemj, Ya.Urjnee, G.Soosoi, M.Chuvaamid who mastered monumental arts, S.Dondog, B.Chogsom, M.Tsembeldorj and D.Munkhuu etc. On beginning democracy in Mongolia since 1990 there has been a change in the social life and in the sector of arts and culture. As Mongolia expands its foreign relations, artists and architects of Mongolia are provided with possibilities of studying and creating abstract and impressionist arts which were unfamiliar to Mongols.

Painting

Mongolian painting began to develop more than two thousand years ago from simple rock drawings. Uighur paintings of the 8th century prove that this art was flourishing in Mongolia and Asia long ago. Buddhism was the main theme of the painting. and it developed into a fine art form. B. Sharav is the painter who linked the old with the new in his art. The Mongolian way of life was depicted in his famous work "One Day in Mongolia " and various portraits. The traditional painting was influenced by European art. The Mongolian painters L. Gavaa, O. Tsevegjav and Ts. Dorjpalam are famous not only at home, but also abroad. They made a great contribution to the creation of new art based in tradition and trained several generations of painters. At present, new and different artistic trends are emerging, and creative young artists are developing the national art.

Sculpture

Deer carvings in rock constitute the historical monuments of ancient times. Thousands of these rocks are evidence of the development and wealth of sculpture in ancient Mongolia . Undur Gegeen Zanabazar, a prominent religious figure and famous sculptor of the 17th century, created 21 tare (consorts of Buddha), which show the beauty of Mongolian woman. Zanabazar laid the foundation for the depiction and praise of the human form in Mongolian sculpture. Now there are many famous sculptors such as S. Choimbol, A. Davaatssren, N. Jambai and L. Dashdeleg. The monument to D. Sukhbaatar by S. Choimbol is a symbol of Mongolia and it gives an idea of our country to foreign visitors. It is a unique example of a Mongolian horse-rider represented through the medium of sculpture. It is hoped that creative young artists will further contribute to sculpture in Mongolia.

Federal Republic of Germany ( EU ) / Europe /  Cologne / Transcontinental to North America or Asia Pacific ( Roman & Germanic Museum ) ( Source Wikipedia & Museenkoeln ) Protokoll 18.04.2023 AD

The Roman-Germanic Museum (RGM, in German: Römisch-Germanisches Museum) is an archaeological museum in Cologne, Germany. It has a large collection of Roman artifacts from the Roman settlement of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, on which modern Cologne is built. The museum protects the original site of a Roman town villa, from which a large Dionysus mosaic remains in its original place in the basement, and the related Roman Road just outside. In this respect the museum is an archaeological site. The museum also has the task of preserving the Roman cultural heritage of Cologne, and therefore houses an extensive collection of Roman glass from funerals and burials and also exercises archaeological supervision over the construction of the Cologne underground. Most of the museum's collection was housed at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne until 1946. In the front of the museum the former northern town gate of Cologne with the inscription CCAA (for Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium) is on display in the building.

The Römisch-Germanisches Museum, which opened in 1974, is near Cologne Cathedral, on the site of a 3rd-century villa. The villa was discovered in 1941 during the construction of an air-raid shelter. On the floor of the main room of the villa is the renowned Dionysus mosaic. Since the mosaic could not be moved easily, the architects Klaus Renner and Heinz Röcke designed the museum around the mosaic. The inner courtyards of the museum mimic the layout of the ancient villa.

Sepulchre of Poblicius, 40 AD

In addition to the Dionysus mosaic, which dates from around A.D. 220/230, there is the reconstructed sepulchre of the legionary Poblicius (about A.D. 40). There is also an extensive collection of Roman glassware as well as an array of Roman and medieval jewellery. Many artefacts of everyday life in Roman Cologne — including portraits (e.g., of Roman emperor Augustus and his wife Livia Drusilla), inscriptions, pottery, and architectural fragments — round out the displays. On the night of 18 January 2007, Cyclone Kyrill blew a sheet of plywood through the glass front of the museum right onto the Dionysus mosaic. The damage was repaired within a week. The museum has the world's largest collection of locally produced glass from the Roman period.

The Römisch-Germanisches Museum (Romano-Germanic Museum) presents the archaeological heritage of the city and the surrounding area from the Palaeolithic period to the early Middle Ages. Among the oldest finds are the one hundred thousand year-old stone tools from the Kartstein cave in the Eifel. Finds from the Neolithic settlement of Cologne-Lindenthal, in which the earliest arable farmers of the Rhineland lived, are internationally well-known. Decorated architectural elements, stone inscriptions, portraits, wall-paintings, mosaics and exquisite tableware reflect life and luxury in Roman Cologne. The museum has the worldwide biggest collection of Roman glass vessels. Among the most precious objects are the rich goldsmith works from the Diergardt Collection, relics of Germanic and equestrian nomad peoples from all over Europe. Precious burial goods from graves of the 5th to 7th centuries provide evidence of the lives of Romani and Franks in early medieval Cologne. Built in 1974 in the centre of Cologne and in the immediate vicinity of Cologne Cathedral, it has so far welcomed more than 20 million visitors. The museum stands on the foundations of an urban Roman villa with the world-famous Dionysius mosaic. Like the monumental tomb of the veteran legionary Poblicius it can be admired from the cathedral square through a panorama window before the visitor enters the museum. The museum is the office in charge of monument conservation and archaelological preservation in line with the regulations on the preservation of the cultural heritage of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia. Every year, several dozen excavations to preserve archaeological remains and prospections are carried out throughout the area of the city. The excavations are devoted to all the phases of the city’s cultural history: Palaeolithic relics, finds from the Neolithic, Iron and Bronze Age cultures, Roman and medieval finds and relics from the more recent past. In addition, the Romano-Germanic Museum stewards more than one hundred archaeological monuments within the municipal area, among them the excavated remains of the Roman city wall, the excavations beneath St. Severin, the Roman gully in Berrenrather Straße and the Roman burial chamber in the Cologne district of Weiden.

Chile / South America / Chilean Art / Transcontinental to North America & Europe / Arts / Protokollierung / 22.06.2023 AD

Chilean art refers to all kinds of visual art developed in Chile, or by Chileans, from the arrival of the Spanish conquerors to the modern day. It also includes the native pre-Columbian pictorial expression on modern Chilean territory.

Ceramics were the greatest artistic contribution of the northern peoples. These examples of Diaguita ceramics show this people's fascination with geometric figures.

Prehistoric painting in Chile, also called pre-Columbian Chilean painting, refers to any type of painting or painting technique used to represent objects or people during the period before the Spanish conquest. Developed prior to the existence of written sources, study of this period is based on the material remains and vestiges of the cultures that developed.[1]

The beginning of pre-Columbian art in Chile coincided with the appearance of indigenous cultures in the territory, and ended around the start of the Spanish conquest of Chile around 1500AD. After this period, indigenous art was virtually eliminated by the Catholic community as part of the process of converting native people. (see also: Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery, Spanish missions in South America).

Prehistoric art is closely related to the cave paintings and petroglyphs developed during the prehispanic period, especially in the extreme North of Chile.[2]

History

Art historian Luis Álvarez Urquieta was one of the first authors to raise the issue of pre-Columbian art in his book "Pintura en Chile" (Painting in Chile). The author explains that most of the painting developed before the arrival of the Spanish was done by the Atacameño and Araucano cultures, and also identified Diaguita and Inca influences.

The use of art in this time could be aesthetic, practical, ritual or religious, depending on the culture and the resources available. Animal figures and symbols abound but images of people did not appear unless they were important or had some magical significance for the tribe.[3]

Petroglyphs south of Atacama, Chile, near to the facilities of La Silla Observatory, Atacama Region, northern Chile.

The cultural references varied depending on the area where the people lived. Northern cultures, like the Diaguita, preferred geometric figures and used pottery and petroglyphs extensively. The Mapuche[4] people, based in the centre of the modern Chilean territory, were more focused on the rituals performed by the machi (the Mapuche shamans), as well as their gods and deities. They developed colourful ritual textiles, used by the machi, and pottery specifically designed for use in burials. Their designs did also include some northern influences.

In the far south, there is some evidence of petroglyph art but less than in the north. Notable among the southern cultures was the artwork of the Selknam people, also known as Ona, who decorated their bodies as part of a religious ritual.[5][6]

Overall, prehistoric native art throughout the Americas was almost entirely destroyed by the Spanish conquerors, and Chile did not escape this. Some remains were preserved in the north, where, thanks to the preservative qualities of the arid Atacama Desert, certain objects of pictorial heritage value have survived preserved in time.

Colonial art

Chilean colonial[7] art refers to art produced in the Chilean colonial period that extended from 1598 AD to 1810 AD. The period saw a mixing of European techniques with native cultural heritage.

Artistically, the period began around the mid-17th century and was led at first by the Spanish Jesuits and by working artisans who lacked specialized artistic training. It was directly influenced by European artistic trends such as Mannerism and Baroque, but, like all other Chilean culture that developed during this period, it was also influenced by native art and culture, creating a new style. Art was seen as vital for the education and religious conversion of the indigenous people and played an important role in the transmission of Spanish dominance and Catholic world vision.

The Immaculate Conception (Anonymous), produced about 1680. Currently the “Day of the Immaculate Conception” is celebrated on December 8 in Chile. It is noteworthy that the first paintings in Chile were almost entirely related to religion, with painting seen as a tool for educating and evangelizing the indigenous people.

History

Colonial painting developed in a time when South American countries were not politically or geographically grouped as they are today and had not yet formed national identities, art and cultural individuality. Just as it is difficult for historians to define the indigenous art of each country, because there were no geographical demarcations or pictorial characteristics endemic to the modern territories, it is also difficult to speak precisely of Peruvian, Argentinian or Chilean colonial art. Some countries, like Mexico, Ecuador and Peru, had their own art schools where local artists could work and study. Chile did not, however, because it did not represent a major interest for the Spanish government, so it relied on importing pieces from foreign art schools. Overall, colonial painting in Chile and across all Latin America was influenced by Spanish art, which taught the anatomical study of bodies, the chiaroscuro style, and subjects clothed in aristocratic attire. For the Spanish conquerors, craft and artisan work was seen as demeaning and antithetical to nobility, so they chose to leave this work to the “mestizos” and native peoples, instead importing and admiring European art.[8]According to art historian Luis Álvarez Urquieta, Spanish painting of the time incorporated Asian influences as a result of Spanish trade with the far east. It is from here, he claims, that Spanish painting inherited its color palette, the expressionless faces of its subjects, and the profusion of golden shades. The same author also emphasizes the influence of indigenous people on Chilean art, which can be seen in the simplicity of the composition of religious scenes, as well as local traditions, customs and mannerisms represented in the paintings. The Virgin of Sorrow. The collector and art historian Luis Álvarez Urquieta, believed that this painting was the first made by any artist in Chilean territory. The influence of the Quito school is noticeable, it shows the abnormal distribution of forms and the artist's lack of knowledge of perspective. This is partly because most of the painters of the time were not professional but amateur. In the opinion of Álvarez Urquieta, technical skill was somewhat neglected in early colonial painting, with more importance given to the objects being painted and their educational use. Most American colonial painting shows a lack of study of light and shade and poor use of perspective and proportion, though it has been praised for its liveliness and use of colour, as well as its documentary value in representing the social integration of the Spanish and American peoples.

Art historians Ivelíc and Galaz [9] agree that painting in the early Americas lost some of the academic rigor and technique of Europe in the process of mixing with native styles, as Álvarez Urquieta has also claimed.

Jesuit influences

There are not many colonial art museums, because of the small number of works produced during these years. However, the Society of Jesus, faithful to their artistic tradition, stored some old pictures on the walls of their monasteries, churches and convents.

yes primarily focused on religious themes, which were most in demand and therefore more lucrative. Religious paintings tended to be displayed in churches, cloisters and convents - their logical destination, considering that the majority were commissioned by members of the church or as donations to the church. They are known for their lack of facial expression and proportion in their portrayal of human figures, and the lack of interest they show for subjects like landscape or nature.[10] The Compañía de Jesús (Jesuits) were one of the most influential religious groups, contributing to the expansion of the fine arts throughout Latin America as well as the monastic educational tradition. The Jesuits were among the first to teach the native peoples European artistic techniques and worked to preserve the symbolism of the Christian artistic legacy. They also provided excellent conditions for the preservation of artwork (in churches, cloisters, etc.), until they were expelled from the Latin American territories by the Spanish authorities.[11] The Jesuits promoted and developed skills such as clock making, carpentry, silversmithing, sculpture and portrait painting. One such skilled Jesuit was Ignacio Andía y Varela, who would later sculpt the Spanish coat of arms that now sits upon Cerro Santa Lucía hill in Santiago, among other works.

Many of the colonial artworks preserved until present day by the Jesuits are found in their churches, such as the high altar at the San Francisco Church, Santiago de Chile which holds the Virgen Dolorosa[12] (Virgin of Sorrow, 1576), one of the first colonial paintings ever produced in Chile.

San Francisco Church also holds another of the most important paintings of the period, the Genealogía de los Franciscanos (Genealogy of the Franciscans), an oil of over four meters length and width. The canvas has 644 small portraits, crowned by the Virgin Mary, and reads: "For the honour and glory of our Lord and the Holy Mother Church, this tree of the religion is dedicated to the parents of the order." The artist who produced the work is anonymous, as decreed by the Jesuit code of humility, with only the date the work was finished included in the signature. Another notable Jesuit painting is the Mesa de la Cena (Supper Table, 1652), five meters high by three meters wide, which was formerly hung in the sacristy of Santiago Cathedral.[13]

One important Jesuit artist was the Bavarian monk Carlos Haymhausen, who arrived in Chile in the mid-18th century. The monk was a great lover of the arts and, along with Ambrosio Santelices and Fermin Morales, he is one of the first professional painters recorded in the former Chilean territory. The historian Uriqueta viewed Haymhausen as a model for future generations of painters because, in addition his own talent as an artist, he brought with him other foreign artists who would pave the future of Chile's national art.The Casa del Arte gallery in Concepción keeps examples Chilean of colonial painting. Note that the paintings are anonymous according to the custom of the Society of Jesus.

Quito School

The “Escuela Quiteña”[14] (Quito School) was also influential in the colonial period. Ever since the conquest of the Americas, Quito, Ecuador had attracted a large number of artists from Europe, contributing to the founding of an important school that would influence art across Latin America, including Chile.

The school was founded by Franciscan friars in Quito and was deeply religious. The most important painter from this school is Miguel de Santiago, considered one of the most noteworthy painters of the entire colonial period. Miguel de Santiago raised Latin American painting to a higher level, leaving behind a great number of fine paintings.

Winged Virgin of the Apocalypse by Miguel de Santiago, one of the leading exponents of the Quito School of the seventeenth century, and an important influence on the Chilean art of the time.

Quito lady, portrayed with her black slave. Vicente Alban, 18th century.

However, the greatest Quito pieces tended to be kept by the artistic patrons of Ecuador and Peru and few filtered through to Chile. According to the historian Álvarez Uriqueta, Chile's Spanish rulers did not have the resources to spend on art, preoccupied as they were with Chile's extreme geography and defiant Mapuche people, who continued to fight the conquistadors throughout the colonial period. Because of this, while the influence of Quito school is undeniable in Chile, it is not as strong as in other Latin American countries.

Santo Domingo, 1817, by Peruvian artist José Gil de Castro. Gil de Castro is known by art historians as a transition painter. His arrival in Chile marks the end of colonial painting and the beginning of the traveller painters of the nineteenth century, also called precursors of Chilean painting.

European influences

During the government of Isabella I of Castile[15] and Carlos V[16] in Spain, art was considered a vital tool for the religious conversion and education of the people in Spain's conquered territories in the Americas. The prevailing artistic style at the time was the Mannerism, which represented the Christian ideals of the age. However, as wealthy Europeans began to commission portraits of themselves and their families, reducing their donations to the church, this decreased the production of religious art in Europe and its Latin American territories during the 18th century. Painting of aristocratic origin stopped being a tool for social change and education and started to become a symbol of wealth. The Flemish School,[17] with its use of Chiaroscuro, also influenced colonial art in Chile. Among its exponents were the Italian painters Angelino Medoro, Bernardo Bitti and Mateo Perez de Alessio who brought the first engravings and religious prints to Chile.

Legacy

The colonial period marked a profound change in Chilean art from the previous pre-Columbian period, with a concerted effort to eliminate the vestiges of the pagan culture that existed prior to the conquest. However, pre-Columbian painting survived due to the process of integration that occurred during this period, whereby the symbols and customs found expression in colonial work.[18] Generally, the colonial period is considered to end with the appearance of José Gil de Castro, an important painter of Peruvian origin, which began the tradition of the traveling painters in Chile.

China / Chinese Arts in World / Asian Continent / World / Different Kinds of Chinese Arts / Protokoll / 22.06.2023 

Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese culture, heritage, and history. Early "Stone Age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. After that period, Chinese art, like Chinese history, was typically classified by the succession of ruling dynasties of Chinese emperors, most of which lasted several hundred years. The Palace Museum in Beijing and the National Palace Museum in Taipei contains extensive collections of Chinese art.[1][2]

Chinese art is marked by an unusual degree of continuity within, and consciousness of, tradition, lacking an equivalent to the Western collapse and gradual recovery of Western classical styles of art. Decorative arts are extremely important in Chinese art, and much of the finest work was produced in large workshops or factories by essentially unknown artists, especially in Chinese ceramics.

Much of the best work in ceramics, textiles, carved lacquer were produced over a long period by the various Imperial factories or workshops, which as well as being used by the court was distributed internally and abroad on a huge scale to demonstrate the wealth and power of the Emperors. In contrast, the tradition of ink wash painting, practiced mainly by scholar-officials and court painters especially of landscapes, flowers, and birds, developed aesthetic values depending on the individual imagination of and objective observation by the artist that are similar to those of the West, but long pre-dated their development there. After contacts with Western art became increasingly important from the 19th century onwards, in recent decades China has participated with increasing success in worldwide contemporary art.

Traditional Chinese painting, like Chinese calligraphy, is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink; oils are not used. As with calligraphy, the most popular materials on which paintings are made of paper and silk. The finished work can be mounted on scrolls, such as hanging scrolls or handscrolls. Traditional painting can also be done on album sheets, walls, lacquerware, folding screens, and other media.

The two main techniques in Chinese painting are:

Gong-bi (工筆), meaning "meticulous", uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimits details very precisely. It is often highly coloured and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. It is often practised by artists working for the royal court or in independent workshops. Bird-and-flower paintings were often in this style.

Ink and wash painting, in Chinese Shui-mo or (水墨[3]) also loosely termed watercolour or brush painting, and also known as "literati painting", as it was one of the "four arts" of the Chinese Scholar-official class.[4] In theory this was an art practised by gentlemen, a distinction that begins to be made in writings on art from the Song dynasty, though in fact the careers of leading exponents could benefit considerably.[5] This style is also referred to as "xie yi" (寫意) or freehand style.

Artists from the Han (202 BC) to the Tang (618–906) dynasties mainly painted the human figure. Much of what is known of early Chinese figure painting comes from burial sites, where paintings were preserved on silk banners, lacquered objects, and tomb walls. Many early tomb paintings were meant to protect the dead or help their souls get to paradise. Others illustrated the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, or showed scenes of daily life. Most Chinese portraits showed a formal full-length frontal view, and were used in the family in ancestor veneration. Imperial portraits were more flexible, but were generally not seen outside the court, and portraiture formed no part of Imperial propaganda, as in other cultures.

Many critics consider landscape to be the highest form of Chinese painting. The time from the Five Dynasties period to the Northern Song period (907–1127) is known as the "Great age of Chinese landscape". In the north, artists such as Jing Hao, Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, and Guo Xi painted pictures of towering mountains, using strong black lines, ink wash, and sharp, dotted brushstrokes to suggest rough rocks. In the south, Dong Yuan, Juran, and other artists painted the rolling hills and rivers of their native countryside in peaceful scenes done with softer, rubbed brushwork. These two kinds of scenes and techniques became the classical styles of Chinese landscape painting.

Sculpture

Chinese ritual bronzes from the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties come from a period of over a thousand years from c. 1500 BC, and have exerted a continuing influence over Chinese art. They are cast with complex patterned and zoomorphic decoration, but avoid the human figure, unlike the huge figures only recently discovered at Sanxingdui.[7] The spectacular Terracotta Army was assembled for the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China from 221 to 210 BC, as a grand imperial version of the figures long placed in tombs to enable the deceased to enjoy the same lifestyle in the afterlife as when alive, replacing actual sacrifices of very early periods. Smaller figures in pottery or wood were placed in tombs for many centuries afterwards, reaching a peak of quality in the Tang dynasty.[8] Native Chinese religions do not usually use cult images of deities, or even represent them, and large religious sculpture is nearly all Buddhist, dating mostly from the 4th to the 14th century, and initially using Greco-Buddhist models arriving via the Silk Road. Buddhism is also the context of all large portrait sculpture; in total contrast to some other areas in medieval China even painted images of the emperor were regarded as private. Imperial tombs have spectacular avenues of approach lined with real and mythological animals on a scale matching Egypt, and smaller versions decorate temples and palaces.[9] Small Buddhist figures and groups were produced to a very high quality in a range of media,[10] as was relief decoration of all sorts of objects, especially in metalwork and jade.[11] Sculptors of all sorts were regarded as artisans and very few names are recorded.[12]

Ceramics

the pre-dynastic periods, and is one of the most significant forms of Chinese art. China is richly endowed with the raw materials needed for making ceramics. The first types of ceramics were made during the Palaeolithic era, and in later periods range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated Chinese porcelain wares made for the imperial court. Most later Chinese ceramics, even of the finest quality, were made on an industrial scale, thus very few individual potters or painters are known. Many of the most renowned workshops were owned by or reserved for the Emperor, and large quantities of ceramics were exported as diplomatic gifts or for trade from an early date.

Decorative arts

As well as porcelain, a wide range of materials that were more valuable were worked and decorated with great skill for a range of uses or just for display.[11] Chinese jade was attributed with magical powers, and was used in the Stone and Bronze Ages for large and impractical versions of everyday weapons and tools, as well as the bi disks and cong vessels.[13] Later a range of objects and small sculptures were carved in jade, a difficult and time-consuming technique. Bronze, gold and silver, rhinoceros horn, Chinese silk, ivory, lacquer and carved lacquer, cloisonne enamel and many other materials had specialist artists working in them. Cloisonne underwent an interesting process of artistic hybridization in China, particularly in the pieces promoted by missionaries and Chinese Christian communities.[14]

Folding screens (Chinese: 屏風; pinyin: píngfēng) are often decorated with beautiful art; major themes include mythology, scenes of palace life, and nature. Materials such as wood panel, paper and silk are used in making folding screens. They were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their paintings and calligraphy.[15][16] Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.[15] There were two distinct artistic folding screens mentioned in historical literature of the era.

Architecture

The Great Wall of China, near Jinshanling

Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many centuries. Especially Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Ryukyu. The structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details. Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

From the Neolithic era Longshan Culture and Bronze Age era Erlitou culture, the earliest rammed earth fortifications exist, with evidence of timber architecture. The subterranean ruins of the palace at Yinxu dates back to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC–1046 BC). In historic China, architectural emphasis was laid upon the horizontal axis, in particular the construction of a heavy platform and a large roof that floats over this base, with the vertical walls not as well emphasized. This contrasts Western architecture, which tends to grow in height and depth. Chinese architecture stresses the visual impact of the width of the buildings. The deviation from this standard is the tower architecture of the Chinese tradition, which began as a native tradition[citation needed] and was eventually influenced by the Buddhist building for housing religious sutras — the stupa — which came from Nepal. Ancient Chinese tomb model representations of multiple story residential towers and watchtowers date to the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD). However, the earliest extant Buddhist Chinese pagoda is the Songyue Pagoda, a 40 m (131 ft) tall circular-based brick tower built in Henan province in the year 523 AD. From the 6th century onwards, stone-based structures become more common, while the earliest are from stone and brick arches found in Han Dynasty tombs. The Zhaozhou Bridge built from 595 to 605 AD is China's oldest extant stone bridge, as well as the world's oldest fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch bridge.

The vocational trade of architect, craftsman, and engineer was not as highly respected in premodern Chinese society as the scholar-bureaucrats who were drafted into the government by the civil service examination system. Much of the knowledge about early Chinese architecture was passed on from one tradesman to his son or associative apprentice. However, there were several early treatises on architecture in China, with encyclopedic information on architecture dating back to the Han Dynasty. The height of the classical Chinese architectural tradition in writing and illustration can be found in the Yingzao Fashi, a building manual written by 1100 and published by Li Jie (1065–1110) in 1103. In it there are numerous and meticulous illustrations and diagrams showing the assembly of halls and building components, as well as classifying structure types and building components.

There were certain architectural features that were reserved solely for buildings built for the Emperor of China. One example is the use of yellow roof tiles; yellow having been the Imperial color, yellow roof tiles still adorn most of the buildings within the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven, however, uses blue roof tiles to symbolize the sky. The roofs are almost invariably supported by brackets, a feature shared only with the largest of religious buildings. The wooden columns of the buildings, as well as the surface of the walls, tend to be red in colour.

Denmark / Danish Arts / Scandinavia / European Continent / Danish Artists in History of Time / 22.06.2023 / Protokollierung

Danish art is the visual arts produced in Denmark or by Danish artists. It goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, such as the Trundholm sun chariot. For many early periods, it is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. Art from what is today Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, and then Norse and Viking art. Danish medieval painting is almost entirely known from church frescos such as those from the 16th-century artist known as the Elmelunde Master. The Reformation greatly disrupted Danish artistic traditions, and left the existing body of painters and sculptors without large markets. The requirements of the court and aristocracy were mainly for portraits, usually by imported artists, and it was not until the 18th century that large numbers of Danes were trained in contemporary styles. For an extended period of time thereafter art in Denmark either was imported from Germany and the Netherlands or Danish artists studied abroad and produced work that was seldom inspired by Denmark itself. From the late 18th century on, the situation changed radically. Beginning with the Danish Golden Age, a distinct tradition of Danish art began and has continued to flourish until today. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Danish art has a big production per capita. Though usually not especially a major centre for art production or exporter of art, Denmark has been relatively successful in keeping its art; in particular, the relatively mild nature of the Danish Reformation, and the lack of subsequent extensive rebuilding and redecoration of churches, has meant that with other Scandinavian countries, Denmark has unusually rich survivals of medieval church paintings and fittings. One period when Nordic art exerted a strong influence over the rest of northern Europe was in Viking art, and there are many survivals, both in stone monuments left untouched around the countryside, and objects excavated in modern times.

Nordic Bronze Age

The Gundestrup cauldron

Lurs are a distinctive type of giant curving Bronze Age horn, of which 35 of the 53 known examples have been found in bogs in Denmark, very often in pairs. They are normally made of bronze, and often decorated.

A possibly alien find in Denmark is the Gundestrup cauldron, a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date to the 1st century BC.[1] It was found in 1891 in a peat bog near the hamlet of Gundestrup in north-eastern Jutland. The silversmithing of the plates is very skilled. Now in the National Museum of Denmark, it is the largest known example of European silver work from the period. The style and workmanship suggest Thracian origin, while the imagery seems Celtic, so it may not reflect local styles.

Norse art

The Germanic Iron Age period of about 400-800 AD is represented by the Golden Horns of Gallehus, now known only from drawings since they were stolen and melted down in 1802, and significant deposits from weapons sacrifice such as that at Illerup Ådal, where 15,000 items were found, deposited during the period 200–500.

Danish sites have given their names to two of the six main styles of Viking or Norse art, Jelling style (10th century) and its successor Mammen style (10-11th centuries), though the other styles are also represented in Denmark. Only one Danish ship burial is known, from Ladbyskibet. The images on the runestones at Jelling are probably the best known Danish works of the period. Although little of their original paint remains today, copies of the largest stone in the National Museum of Denmark and in the museum at Jelling have been redecorated in vivid colours based on the fragments of paint which remained on the original.[2]

Gothic frescos in Elmelunde Church

Church wall paintings (Danish: kalkmalerier) are to be found in some 600 churches across Denmark, probably representing the highest concentration of surviving church murals anywhere in the world.[3] Most of them date back to the Middle Ages. They lay hidden for centuries as after the Reformation in Denmark, they were covered with limewash (Danish: kalk) only to be revealed and restored during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Of most interest to Danish art are the Gothic paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries as they were painted in a style typical of native Danish painters.[4] Adopting the Biblia pauperum approach, they present many of the most popular stories from the Old and New Testaments in typological juxtapositions.

Renaissance to the 18th century

Danish panel painting and painted wood-carving of the late Middle Ages was mostly by, or heavily influenced by, the prevailing North German styles, especially those of Hamburg and other Hanseatic cities. At the Protestant Reformation religious painting virtually ceased, and for a long period the most notable portraits of the royal family were made by foreign artists, such as Hans Holbein the Younger's portrait of Christina of Denmark. Albrecht Dürer's portrait of her father Christian II of Denmark, painted in Brussels in 1521, has not survived, though portraits of him by other foreign artists have.

The establishment of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1754 followed the general European pattern, and was intended to develop a national school and reduce the need to import artists from other countries. After a period of development its pupils were indeed to lead the creation of a distinct Danish style. After an architect, the third and fifth Director was Johannes Wiedewelt (1772–1777) and from (1780-1789), a Neoclassical sculptor trained in Italy and France, who had followed his father as court sculptor, and is remembered for his memorials and garden decorations including the monument of King Frederick V in Roskilde Cathedral and the Naval Monument in Holmens Cemetery. The first painter to lead it was the Swedish-born Carl Gustaf Pilo (c. 1711 – 1793), a portraitist and history painter in the grand style, and the next Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard (1743–1809), himself an ex-student, who developed a Neo-Classical style. Leading Danish artists teaching at the Academy included Christian August Lorentzen and Jens Juel, also later Director. Unlike in England, for example, most leading Danish artists for at least the next century trained at the Academy and often returned to teach there, and the tension between academic art and other styles is much less a feature of Danish art history than that of France, England or other countries.

A student of Abildgaard's period at the Academy was Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844), by far the most famous Danish sculptor, who along with the Italian Canova was recognised across Europe as the leading Neoclassical sculptor. Among his works are the colossal series of statues of Christ and the twelve Apostles for the rebuilding of Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen. Motifs for his works (reliefs, statues, and busts) were drawn mostly from Greek mythology, but he also created portraits of important personalities, as in his tomb monument for Pope Pius VII in St Peter's Basilica, Rome. His works can be seen in many European countries, but there is a very large collection at the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen. He was based in Rome for many years, and played an important role in encouraging young Danish artists spending time in the city. Another important Neoclassicist produced by the Academy was the painter Asmus Jacob Carstens, whose later career was all spent in Italy or Germany.

The establishment in 1775 of the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory was another royal initiative, typical of monarchies in the period, though the business has outlasted the great majority of such factories, and survives today as part of a larger group, which also includes the Kosta Glasbruk glass company, founded in 1742 by two army officers, and the Orrefors Glasbruk (founded 1898), all known internationally.

The Golden Age

Around the beginning of the 19th century the Golden Age of Danish Painting emerged to form a distinct national style for the first time since the Middle Ages; the period lasted until the middle of the 19th century. It has a style drawing on Dutch Golden Age painting, especially its landscape painting,[5] and depicting northern light that is soft but allows strong contrasts of colour. The treatment of scenes is typically an idealized version of reality, but unpretentiously so, appearing more realist than is actually the case. Interior scenes, often small portrait groups, are also common, with a similar treatment of humble domestic objects and furniture, often of the artist's circle of friends. Little Danish art was seen outside the country (indeed it mostly remains there to this day) and the Danish-trained leader of German Romantic painting Caspar David Friedrich was important in spreading its influence in Germany. A crucial figure was Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, who had studied in Paris with Jacques-Louis David and was further influenced towards Neo-Classicism by Thorwaldsen. Eckersberg taught at the Academy from 1818 to 1853, becoming director from 1827 to 1828, and was an important influence on the following generation, in which landscape painting came to the fore.[6][7] He taught most of the leading artists of the period, including:[8]

A company of Danish artists in Rome, painted by Constantin Hansen, 1837. Lying on the floor is architect Bindesbøll. From left to right: Constantin Hansen, Martinus Rørbye, Wilhelm Marstrand, Albert Küchler, Ditlev Blunck and Jørgen Sonne. Wilhelm Bendz (1804–1832), remembered for his many technically accomplished portraits of fellow artists such as Ditlev Blunck and Christen Christensen, a scene from the Academy's anatomy class, as well as the group portraits "A Tobacco Party" and "Artist in the Evening at Finck's Coffee House in Munich"; Constantin Hansen (1804–1880), deeply interested in literature and mythology, and inspired by Niels Laurits Høyen, he developed national historical painting based on Norse mythology and painted many portraits, including the historical The Constitutional Assembly (Den grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling); Christen Købke (1810–1848), influenced by Niels Laurits Høyen, an art historian who promoted a nationalistic approach calling for artists to search for subject matter in the folk life of their country instead of searching for themes in other countries such as Italy; Wilhelm Marstrand (1810–1873), a vastly productive artist who mastered a remarkable variety of genres, remembered especially for a number of his works which have become familiar signposts of Danish history and culture: scenes from the drawing-rooms and streets of Copenhagen during his younger days; the festivity and public life captured in Rome; the many representative portraits of citizens and innovators; even the monumentalist commissions for universities and the monarchy;

Martinus Rørbye (1803–1848), remembered for his genre paintings of Copenhagen, for his landscapes and for his architectural paintings, as well as for the many sketches he made during his travels to countries rarely explored at the time.

Among other artists, C.A. Jensen (1792–1870) specialized almost exclusively in portraits.

At the end of the period painting style, especially in landscape art, became caught up in the political issue of the Schleswig-Holstein Question, a vital matter for Danes, but notoriously impenetrable for most others in Europe.

Later 19th century

Jørgen Roed (1808–1888), who painted many portraits as well as a number of altarpieces and religious paintings, including Jesu Korsfæstelse (Crucifixion of Jesus) for the restored church at Frederiksborg Palace;

Carl Bloch, Gethsemane

Johan Lundbye (1818–1848), remembered for his animal paintings and landscapes, especially those of Sealand including the large Kystparti ved Isefjord (Coast View by Isefjord);

P.C. Skovgaard (1817–1875), primarily known for his landscape paintings, for the special role he played in portraying Denmark's nature, helping to develop a unique Danish art form, and his growing interest in portraying atmosphere and light.

Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819–1881) was born in Żoliborz (Jolibord) a borough of Warsaw but moved to Denmark when she married Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau in 1846. She is best known for her portraits and was commissioned by the Danish Royal Family to paint their portraits to the annoyance and jealousy of local artists. The mild eroticism of a few of her paintings was looked upon unfavourably by many at the time but she remained aloof, perhaps reassured by the fact that some of her husband's sculptures were erotic in nature.[9]

Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834–1890) was a rare Danish history painter, mostly of Biblical subjects, who developed his academic style in Italy before returning to Copenhagen in 1866. He was commissioned to produce 23 paintings for the Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace consisting of scenes from the life of Christ which have become very popular as illustrations. For over 40 years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made much use of Carl Bloch's paintings, especially those from the Frederiksborg Palace collection, in its church buildings and printed media.

Edvard Eriksen (1876–1959) is best known as the sculptor of the bronze Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen, he completed the work in 1913.[10]

The Skagen and Funen movements

In 1871, Holger Drachmann (1846–1908) and Karl Madsen (1855–1938) visited Skagen in the far north of Jutland where they quickly built up one of Scandinavia's most successful artists' colonies. They were soon joined by P.S. Krøyer (1851–1909), Carl Locher (1851–1915), Laurits Tuxen (1853–1927), the Norwegian Christian Skredsvig (1854–1924) and Michael (1849–1927) and Anna Ancher (1859–1935). All participated in painting the natural surroundings and local people. The symbolist Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863–1958) also visited the Skagen community.[11]

A little later, at the very beginning of the 20th century, a similar phenomenon developed on the island of Funen with the encouragement of Johannes Larsen (1867–1961) and the inspiration of Theodor Philipsen. Fynboerne or the Funen Painters included: Peter Hansen, Fritz Syberg, Jens Birkholm, Karl Schou, Harald Giersing, Anna Syberg, Christine Swane and Alhed Larsen.

Modernism and expressionism

Vilhelm Hammershøi: Interior with Young Man Reading, 1898

Theodor Philipsen (1840–1920) through his personal contact with Paul Gauguin became the sole Danish impressionist of his generation.[12]

L. A. Ring (1854–1933), famous for his involvement in Danish symbolism, specialised in paintings of village life and landscapes in the south of Zealand.[13]

Paul Gustave Fischer (1860–1934) was a romantic impressionistic painter specialising in city street scenes and bright bathing compositions.

Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) was considered something of an enigma in his lifetime but is now remembered mainly for his subdued paintings of interiors, usually empty spaces (as in Dust Motes Dancing in Sunbeams) but occasionally with a solitary figure.[14]

Harald Giersing: Fodboldspillere. Sofus header (Soccer players. Sofus heads), 1917

Danish expressionist landscape painting developed between the world wars with Jens Søndergaard and Oluf Høst as its main representatives. In parallel, younger artists such as Niels Lergaard, Lauritz Hartz and Karl Bovin adopted the light French colours and formalism of modernism, founding the Corner group of artists in 1932. Around the same time, Edvard Weie, the Swedish artist Karl Isakson, Olaf Rude, Kræsten Iversen, Oluf Høst and Niels Lergaard were attracted by the natural beauty of the Baltic islands of Bornholm and the much smaller Christiansø. Together they initiated the so-called Bornholm School providing the basis of the permanent exhibition at the Bornholm Art Museum near Gudhjem. Painters of nature and everyday life such as Erik Hoppe and Knud Agger initiated the highly successful Grønningen association which provided a platform for exhibitions in Copenhagen.[15]

Sigurd Swane (1879–1973) was initially influenced by the work of the Fauves in Paris when he began a series of paintings of woodlands rich in greens, yellows and blues. He later painted a number of light-filled landscapes while living on a farm in Odsherred in north-western Zealand.[16]

Harald Giersing (1881–1927) was instrumental in developing the classic modernism movement in Denmark around 1910–1920.[17]

Vilhelm Lundstrøm (1893–1950), one of the greatest modernists, brought French cubism to Denmark. He is remembered for his still-life paintings with oranges and for cubistic scenes with nudes. His later work developed into much looser modern art with contrasting colours and form.[18]

Richard Mortensen (1910–1993) was an important surrealistic painter, inspired by Wassily Kandinsky. He was a joint founder of the "Linien" group of artists and also a member of the Grønningen group. His later expressionist works exhibit large, clear, brightly coloured surfaces.[19]

Asger Jorn (1914–1973) was a Danish artist, sculptor, writer and ceramist. Looking for inspiration outside Denmark, he traveled widely. After meeting artists such as Constant Nieuwenhuys, Appel and Dotremont, he became the driving force behind the Cobra group where he excelled in ceramics but also continued to paint in oils.[20]

Danish design became of international importance in the decades after World War II, especially in furniture, where it pioneered a style sometimes known as Danish modern. The style is a forerunner of the general Scandinavian Design style later popularized and mass-produced by IKEA for example. Important designers in Danish modern include Finn Juhl (1912–1989), Hans Wegner (1914–2007) and Arne Jacobsen (1902–1971).

Contemporary art

Collections of modern art enjoy unusually attractive settings at the Louisiana Museum north of Copenhagen and at the North Jutland Art Museum in Aalborg. The National Museum of Art and the Glyptotek, both in Copenhagen, contain treasures of Danish and international art.

Per Kirkeby: fresco (unnamed), Black Diamond, Copenhagen (1999)

Richard Winther (1926–2007) a talented Danish artist, started his long career in the arts aged 10. He worked on themes exploring mediums such as painting, photography, and ceramics. He is considered as one of the founders of the Linien II movement, part of concrete art at the time. Several[who?] known artists today have been greatly influenced by Richard Winther. Many of his paintings were done on canvas and masonite, but in an effort to simplify his art he not only diminished the number of colors he used but also switched to paint on cardboard. He was not shy about revisiting a theme and many years later amended some of his works. Also several of his works are presented on both sides of the same cardboard. He used photographic cameras to compose art and when he was not satisfied with the capabilities of the machines, he started making his own designs. He is known for his 360-degree cameras, instruments which are objects of art in themselves. Among the many prizes he was awarded, were the Eckersberg Medal (1971), Thorvaldsen Medal (1997) and the Prince Eugen Medal.

Per Kirkeby (1938–2018) has produced an impressive body of neo-expressionistic artwork on masonite, canvas, blackboards and paper as well as various sculptures and even architecture. Initially interested in pop art, his colourful paintings have been exhibited widely, most recently at the Tate Modern in London.[21] Educated as a geologist, his interest in terrain and nature in general is still in evidence in his painting.[22]

Merete Barker (born 1944) uses sketches and photographs from her many travels as the basis for highly expressive paintings where it is often difficult to distinguish between nature and culture.[23]

Elmgreen and Dragset have worked together since 1995 producing work which explores the relationship between art, architecture and design.[24] Michael Elmgreen (born 1961), a Dane, and Ingar Dragset (born 1968), a Norwegian draw on institutional critique, social politics, performance and architecture, reconfiguring everyday objects and situations with wit and subversive humour.[25]

Tal R, born in Israel in 1967, produces wild and colourful paintings, combining shapes and imagery with a reduced palette consisting of black, white, pink, green, red, yellow and brown.[26] Inspired by everything from the Holocaust to children's comic books, his widely exhibited work builds on the old tradition of autonomy and expression.[27]

Olafur Eliasson (born 1967) has attracted wide interest in his public space exhibitions such as the New York City Waterfalls (2008), the Weather Project at London's Tate Modern gallery in 2003 and the Take Your Time exhibit at MoMA in New York (2008).[28][29]

Jeppe Hein (born 1974) produces interactive art works or installations, often activated by the spectator. Among these are his Shaking Cube (2004), Moving Benches (2000), The Curve (2007) and his Space in Action / Action in Space (2002) exhibited at the 2003 Venice Biennale. He is now working on a major exhibit for the Danish pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai.[30][31]

Jens Galschiøt (born 1954) political sculptor, often highlighting violation of human rights through his art. He has made many happenings worldwide, including my inner beast in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Norway, Italy, Holand, Spain,[32] and in 1997 the Pillar of Shame in China,[33] Mexico, Brazil.

Margrethe II's tapestries

On the occasion of her 50th birthday in 1990, Queen Margrethe II decided to use a gift from industry of 13 million Danish crowns to produce a series of tapestries tracing the history of Denmark from the beginnings to the present day. Woven by the historic Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris, the tapestries were based on full-sized sketches by the versatile Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard.[34] Completed in 1999, they now hang in the Great Hall at Christiansborg Palace

Architecture

Following in the footsteps of Arne Jacobsen, Denmark has had some outstanding successes in contemporary architecture. Johann Otto von Spreckelsen, relying on simple geometrical figures, designed the Grande Arche at La Défense in Puteaux, near Paris. Prolific Henning Larsen designed the Foreign Ministry building in Riyadh, as well as a variety of prestige buildings throughout Scandinavia, including the recently completed Copenhagen Opera House.[35] Jørn Utzon's iconic Sydney Opera House earned him the distinction of becoming only the second person to have his work recognized as a World Heritage Site while still alive.[36] Bjarke Ingels whom the Wall Street Journal in October 2011 named the Innovator of the Year for architecture and, in July 2012, cited him as "rapidly becoming one of the design world's rising stars" in light of his extensive international projects.

Africa / Transcontinental to North America or Oceania  / Djibouti / Arts / Short  Article from Wkipedia / Protokoll 22.06.2023 AD

Djiboutian art is the artistic culture of the Somali, Afar both historical and contemporary. A lot of Djibouti's original art is passed on and preserved orally, mainly through song. The oldest evidence of art in Balho are pre-historic rock paintings. Many examples of Islamic, Ottoman, and French influences can also be noted in the local buildings, which contain plaster work, carefully constructed motifs and calligraphy. There is no tangible art present, except the beautifully preserved buildings demonstrating Islamic, French and Ottoman architectural elements.

France /  Europe / ( Wikipedia ) Sourcing / A.P.P  Represents French Historically Art on Corporation & Industry / Protokoll 22.06.2023

French art consists of the visual and plastic arts (including French architecture, woodwork, textiles, and ceramics) originating from the geographical area of France. Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleolithic,[citation needed] then left many megalithic monuments, and in the Iron Age many of the most impressive finds of early Celtic art. The Gallo-Roman period left a distinctive provincial style of sculpture, and the region around the modern Franco-German border led the empire in the mass production of finely decorated Ancient Roman pottery, which was exported to Italy and elsewhere on a large scale. With Merovingian art the story of French styles as a distinct and influential element in the wider development of the art of Christian Europe begins.

France can fairly be said to have been a leader in the development of Romanesque art[citation needed] and Gothic art, before the Renaissance led to Italy becoming the main source of stylistic developments until France matched Italy's influence during the Rococo and Neoclassicism periods[citation needed] and then regained the leading role in the Arts from the 19th to the mid-20th century.[citation needed]

Prehistory

Currently, the earliest known European art is from the Upper Palaeolithic period of between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago and France has a large selection of extant pre-historic art from the Châtelperronian, Aurignacian, Solutrean, Gravettian, and Magdalenian cultures. This art includes cave paintings, such as the famous paintings at Pech Merle in the Lot in Languedoc which date back to 16,000 BC, Lascaux, located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne, dating back to between 13,000 and 15,000 BC, or perhaps, as far back as 25,000 BC, the Cosquer Cave, the Chauvet Cave dating back to 29,000 BC, and the Trois-Frères cave; and portable art, such as animal carvings and great goddess statuettes called Venus figurines, such as the "Venus of Brassempouy" of 21,000 BC, discovered in the Landes, now in the museum at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye or the Venus of Lespugue at the Musée de l'Homme. Ornamental beads, bone pins, carvings, as well as flint and stone arrowheads also are among the prehistoric objects from the area of France.

Speculations exist that only Homo sapiens are capable of artistic expression, however, a recent find, the Mask of la Roche-Cotard—a Mousterian or Neanderthal artifact, found in 2002 in a cave near the banks of the Loire River, dating back to about 33,000 B.C.—now suggests that Neanderthal humans may have developed a sophisticated and complex artistic tradition.

In the Neolithic period (see Neolithic Europe), megalithic (large stone) monuments, such as the dolmens and menhirs at Carnac, Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens and elsewhere in France begin to appear; this appearance is thought to start in the fifth millennium BC, although some authors speculate about Mesolithic roots. In France there are some 5,000 megalithics monuments, mainly in Brittany, where there is the largest concentration of these monuments. In this area there is wide variety of these monuments that have been well preserved, like menhirs, dolmen, cromlechs and cairns. The Cairn of Gavrinis in southern Brittany is an outstanding example of megalithic art : its 14 meters inner corridor is nearly completely adorned with ornamental carvings. The great broken menhir of Er-Grah, now in four pieces was more than 20 meters high originally, making it the largest menhir ever erected. France has also numerous painted stones, polished stone axes, and inscribed menhirs from this period. The Grand-Pressigny area was known for its precious silex blades and they were extensively exported during the Neolithic.

Celtic and Roman periods

From the Proto-Celtic Urnfield and Hallstat cultures, a continental Iron Age Celtic art developed; mainly associated with La Tène culture, which flourished during the late Iron Age from 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the first century BC. This art drew on native, classical and perhaps, the Mediterranean, oriental sources. The Celts of Gaul are known through numerous tombs and burial mounds found throughout France. Celtic art is very ornamental, avoiding straight lines and only occasionally using symmetry, without the imitation of nature nor ideal of beauty central to the classical tradition, but apparently, often involves complex symbolism. This artwork includes a variety of styles and often incorporates subtly modified elements from other cultures, an example being the characteristic over-and-under interlacing which arrived in France only in the sixth century, although it was already used by Germanic artists. The Celtic Vix grave in present-day Burgundy revealed the largest bronze crater of the Antiquity, that was probably imported by Celtic aristocrats from Greece.

The region of Gaul (Latin: Gallia) came under the rule of the Roman Empire from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Southern France, and especially Provence and Languedoc, is known for its many intact Gallo-Roman monuments. Lugdunum, modern Lyon, was at the time of the Roman Empire the largest city outside Italy and gave birth to two Roman Emperors. The city still boasts some Roman remains including a Theater. Monumental works from this period include the amphitheater in Orange, Vaucluse, the "Maison Carrée" at Nîmes which is one of the best preserved Roman temples in Europe, the city of Vienne near Lyon, which features an exceptionally well preserved temple (the temple of Augustus and Livia), a circus as well as other remains, the Pont du Gard aqueduct which is also in an exceptional state of preservation, the Roman cities of Glanum and Vaison-la-Romaine, two intact Gallo-Roman arenas in Nîmes and Arles, and the Roman baths, and the arena of Paris.

Medieval period

Merovingian art is the art and architecture of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, which lasted from the fifth century to the eighth century in present-day France and Germany. The advent of the Merovingian dynasty in Gaul during the fifth century led to important changes in the arts. In architecture, there was no longer the desire to build robust and harmonious buildings. Sculpture regressed to being little more than a simple technique for the ornamentation of sarcophagi, altars, and ecclesiastical furniture. On the other hand, the rise of gold work and manuscript illumination brought about a resurgence of Celtic decoration, which, with Christian and other contributions, constitutes the basis of Merovingian art. The unification of the Frankish kingdom under Clovis I (465–511) and his successors, corresponded with the need to build churches. The plans for them probably were copied from Roman basilicas. Unfortunately, these timber structures have not survived because of destruction by fire, whether accidental or caused by the Normans at the time of their incursions.

Carolingian art

Carolingian art is the approximate 120-year period from 750 to 900—during the reign of Charles Martel, Pippin the Younger, Charlemagne, and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The Carolingian era is the first period of the Medieval art movement known as Pre-Romanesque. For the first time, Northern European kings patronized classical Mediterranean Roman art forms, blending classical forms with Germanic ones, creating entirely new innovations in figurine line drawing, and setting the stage for the rise of Romanesque art and, eventually, Gothic art in the West. Illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, small-scale sculpture, mosaics, and frescos survive from the period. The Carolingians also undertook major architectural building campaigns at numerous churches in France. These include, those of Metz, Lyon, Vienne, Le Mans, Reims, Beauvais, Verdun, Saint-Germain in Auxerre, Saint-Pierre in Flavigny, and Saint-Denis, as well as the town center of Chartres. The Centula Abbey of Saint-Riquier (Somme), completed in 788, was a major achievement in monastic architecture. Another important building (mostly lost today) was "Theodulf's Villa" in Germigny-des-Prés. With the end of Carolingian rule around 900, artistic production halted for almost three generations. After the demise of the Carolingian Empire, France split into a number of feuding provinces, lacking any organized patronage. French art of the tenth and eleventh centuries was produced by local monasteries to promote literacy and piety, however, the primitive styles produced were not so highly skilled as the techniques of the earlier Carolingian period. Multiple regional styles developed based on the chance availability of Carolingian manuscripts as models to copy, and the availability of itinerant artists. The monastery of Saint Bertin became an important center under its abbot Odbert (986–1007), who created a new style based on Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian forms. The nearby abbey of St. Vaast (Pas-de-Calais) also created a number of important works. In southwestern France a number of manuscripts were produced c. 1000, at the monastery of Saint Martial in Limoges, as well as at Albi, Figeac, and Saint-Sever-de-Rustan in Gascony. In Paris a unique style developed at the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In Normandy a new style arose in 975. By the later tenth century with the Cluny reform movement and a revived spirit for the concept of Empire, art production resumed.

Romanesque art

Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe during a period of one hundred and fifty years, from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style, which arose in the middle of the twelfth century in France. "Romanesque Art" was marked by a renewed interest in Roman construction techniques. For example, the twelfth-century capitals on the cloister of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, adopt an acanthus-leaf motif and the decorative use of drill holes, which were commonly found on Roman monuments. Other important Romanesque buildings in France include the abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire in Loiret, the churches of Saint-Foy in Conques of Aveyron, Saint-Martin in Tours, Saint-Philibert in Tournus of Saône-et-Loire, Saint-Remi in Reims, and Saint-Sernin in Toulouse. In particular, Normandy experienced a large building campaign in the churches of Bernay, Mont-Saint-Michel, Coutances Cathedral, and Bayeux.

Most Romanesque sculpture was integrated into church architecture, not only for aesthetic, but also for structural purposes. Small-scale sculpture during the pre-Romanesque period was influenced by Byzantine and Early Christian sculpture. Other elements were adopted from various local styles of Middle Eastern countries. Motifs were derived from the arts of the "barbarian," such as grotesque figures, beasts, and geometric patterns, which were all important additions, particularly in the regions north of the Alps. Among the important sculptural works of the period are the ivory carvings at the monastery of Saint Gall. Monumental sculpture was rarely practised separately from architecture in the Pre-Romanesque period. For the first time after the fall of the Roman empire, monumental sculpture emerged as a significant art form. Covered church façades, doorways, and capitals all increased and expanded in size and importance, as in the Last Judgment Tympanum, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, and the Standing Prophet at Moissac. Monumental doors, baptismal fonts, and candle holders, frequently decorated with scenes from biblical history, were cast in bronze, attesting to the skills of the contemporary metalworkers. Frescoes were applied to the vaults and walls of churches. Rich textiles and precious objects in gold and silver, such as chalices and reliquaries, were produced in increasing numbers to meet the needs of the liturgy, and to serve the cult of the saints. In the twelfth century, large-scale stone sculpture spread throughout Europe. In the French Romanesque churches of Provence, Burgundy, and Aquitaine, sculptures adorned the façades and statues were incorporated into the capitals.

Gothic

Gothic art and architecture were products of a Medieval art movement that lasted about three hundred years. It began in France, developing from the Romanesque period in the mid-twelfth century. By the late fourteenth century, it had evolved toward a more secular and natural style known as, International Gothic, which continued until the late fifteenth century, when it evolved further, into Renaissance art. The primary Gothic art media were sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco, and illuminated manuscript.

The Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral, c. 1145, these architectural statues are the earliest Gothic sculptures, a revolution in style and the models for a generation of sculptors

Gothic architecture was born in the middle of the twelfth century in Île-de-France, when Abbot Suger built the abbey at St. Denis, c. 1140, considered the first Gothic building, and soon afterward, the Chartres Cathedral, c. 1145. Prior to this, there had been no sculpture tradition in Île-de-France—so sculptors were brought in from Burgundy, who created the revolutionary figures acting as columns in the Western (Royal) Portal of Chartres Cathedral (see image) —it was an entirely new invention in French art, and would provide the model for a generation of sculptors. Other notable Gothic churches in France include Bourges Cathedral, Amiens Cathedral, Notre-Dame de Laon, Notre Dame in Paris, Reims Cathedral, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, Strasbourg Cathedral. The designations of styles in French Gothic architecture are as follows: Early Gothic, High Gothic, Rayonnant, and Late Gothic or "Flamboyant". Division into these divisions is effective, but debatable. Because Gothic cathedrals were built over several successive periods, and the artisans of each period not necessarily following the wishes of previous periods, the dominant architectural style often changed during the building of a particular building. Consequently, it is difficult to declare one building as belonging to certain era of Gothic architecture. It is more useful to use the terms as descriptors for specific elements within a structure, rather than applying it to the building as a whole. The French ideas spread. Gothic sculpture evolved from the early stiff and elongated style, still partly Romanesque, into a spatial and naturalistic treatment in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Influences from surviving ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were incorporated into the treatment of drapery, facial expression, and pose of the Dutch-Burgundian sculptor, Claus Sluter, and the taste for naturalism first signaled the end of Gothic sculpture, evolving into the classicistic Renaissance style by the end of the fifteenth century.

Enguerrand Quarton, The Coronation of the Virgin, 1452–53

Painting in a style that may be called, "Gothic," did not appear until about 1200, nearly fifty years after the start of Gothic architecture and sculpture. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and by no means clearly delineated, but one may see the beginning of a style that is more somber, dark, and emotional than the previous period. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220, and in Italy around 1300. Painting, the representation of images on a surface, was practiced during the Gothic period in four primary crafts, frescos, panel paintings, manuscript illumination, and stained glass. Frescoes continued to be used as the main pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions. In the north, stained glass remained the dominant art form until the fifteenth century. At the end of the 14th century and during the 15th century French princely courts like those of the dukes of Burgundy, the duke of Anjou or the duke of Berry as well as the pope and the cardinals in Avignon employed renowned painters, like the Limbourg Brothers, Barthélemy d'Eyck, Enguerrand Quarton or Jean Fouquet, who developed the so-called International Gothic style that spread through Europe and incorporated the new Flemish influence as well as the innovations of the Italian early Renaissance artists.

In the late fifteenth century, the French invasion of Italy and the proximity of the vibrant Burgundy court, with its Flemish connections, brought the French into contact with the goods, paintings, and the creative spirit of the Northern and Italian Renaissance. Initial artistic changes at that time in France were executed by Italian and Flemish artists, such as Jean Clouet and his son François Clouet, along with the Italians, Rosso Fiorentino, Francesco Primaticcio, and Niccolò dell'Abbate of what is often called the first School of Fontainebleau from 1531. Leonardo da Vinci also was invited to France by François I, but other than the paintings which he brought with him, he produced little for the French king.

The art of the period from François I through Henri IV often is heavily inspired by late Italian pictorial and sculptural developments commonly referred to as Mannerism, which is associated with the later works of Michelangelo as well as Parmigianino, among others. It is characterized by figures which are elongated and graceful that rely upon visual rhetoric, including the elaborate use of allegory and mythology. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the French Renaissance was the construction of the Châteaux of the Loire Valley. No longer conceived of as fortresses, such pleasure palaces took advantage of the richness of the rivers and lands of the Loire region and they show remarkable architectural skill.

Baroque and Classicism

The seventeenth century marked a golden age for French art in all fields. In the early part of the seventeenth century, late mannerist and early Baroque tendencies continued to flourish in the court of Marie de Medici and Louis XIII. Art from this period shows influences from both the north of Europe, namely the Dutch and Flemish schools, and from Roman painters of the Counter-Reformation. Artists in France frequently debated the contrasting merits of Peter Paul Rubens with his Flemish baroque, voluptuous lines and colors to Nicolas Poussin with his rational control, proportion, Roman classicist baroque style. Another proponent of classicism working in Rome was Claude Gellée, known as Le Lorrain, who defined the form of classical landscape. Many young French painters of the beginning of the century went to Rome to train themselves and soon assimilated Caravaggio's influence like Valentin de Boulogne and Simon Vouet. The later is credited with bringing the baroque in France and at his return in Paris in 1627 he was named first painter of the king. But French painting soon departed from the extravagance and naturalism of the Italian baroque and painters like Eustache Le Sueur and Laurent de La Hyre, following Poussin example developed a classicist way known as Parisian Atticism, inspired by Antiquity, and focusing on proportion, harmony and the importance of drawing. Even Vouet, after his return from Italy, changed his manner to a more measured but still highly decorative and elegant style.

But at the same time there was still a strong Caravaggisti Baroque school represented in the period by the amazing candle-lit paintings of Georges de La Tour. The wretched and the poor were featured in a quasi-Dutch manner in the paintings by the three Le Nain brothers. In the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne there are both propagandistic portraits of Louis XIII' s minister Cardinal Richelieu and other more contemplative portraits of people in the Catholic Jansenist sect. In architecture, architects like Salomon de Brosse, François Mansart and Jacques Lemercier helped define the French form of the baroque, developing the formula of the urban hôtel particulier that was to influence all of Europe and strongly departed from the Italian equivalent, the palazzo. Many aristocratic castles were rebuilt in the new classic-baroque style, some of the most famous being Maisons and Cheverny, characterized by high roofs "à la française" and a form that retained the medieval model of the castle adorned with prominent towers. From the mid to late seventeenth century, French art is more often referred to by the term "Classicism" which implies an adherence to certain rules of proportion and sobriety uncharacteristic of the Baroque, as it was practiced in most of the rest of Europe during the same period. Under Louis XIV, the Baroque as it was practiced in Italy, was not in French taste, for instance, as Bernini's famous proposal for redesigning the Louvre was rejected by Louis XIV.

Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte by Louis Le Vau.

Through propaganda, wars, and great architectural works, Louis XIV launched a vast program designed for the glorification of France and his name. The Palace of Versailles, initially a tiny hunting lodge built by his father, was transformed by Louis XIV into a marvelous palace for fêtes and parties, under the direction of architects Louis Le Vau (who had also built the château de Vaux-le-Vicomte) and Jules Hardouin Mansart (who built the church of the Invalides in Paris), painter and designer Charles Le Brun, and the landscape architect André Le Nôtre who perfected the rational form of the French garden that from Versailles spread in all of Europe. For sculpture Louis XIV's reign also proved an important moment thanks to the King's protection of artists like Pierre Puget, François Girardon and Antoine Coysevox. In Rome, Pierre Legros, working in a more baroque manner, was one of the most influential sculptors of the end of the century.

Rococo and Neoclassicism

Rococo and Neoclassicism are terms used to describe the visual and plastic arts and architecture in Europe from the early eighteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century. In France, the death of Louis XIV in 1715 lead to a period of freedom commonly called the Régence. Versailles was abandoned from 1715 to 1722, the young king Louis XV and the government led by the duke of Orléans residing in Paris. There a new style emerged in the decorative arts, known as rocaille : the asymmetry and dynamism of the baroque was kept but renewed in a style that is less rhetoric and with less pompous effects, a deeper research of artificiality and use of motifs inspired by nature. This manner used to decorate rooms and furniture also existed in painting. Rocaillle painting turned toward lighters subjects, like the "fêtes galantes", theater settings, pleasant mythological narratives and the female nude. Most of the times the moralising sides of myths or history paintings are omitted and the accent is put on the decorative and pleasant aspect of the scenes depicted. Paintings from the period show an emphasis more on color than drawing, with apparent brush strokes and very colorful scenes. Important French painters from this period include Antoine Watteau, considered the inventor of the fête galante, Nicolas Lancret and François Boucher, known for his gentle pastoral and galant scenes. Pastel portrait painting became particularly fashionable in Europe at the time and France was the major center of activity for pastellists, with the prominent figures of Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau and the Swiss Jean-Étienne Liotard. The Louis XV style of decoration, although already apparent at the end of the last reign, was lighter with pastel colors, wood panels, smaller rooms, less gilding, and fewer brocades; shells, garlands, and occasional Chinese subjects predominated. The Chantilly, Vincennes and then Sèvres manufactures produced some of the finest porcelain of the time. The highly skilled ébénistes, cabinet-makers mostly based in Paris, created elaborate pieces of furniture with precious wood and bronze ornaments that were to be highly praised and imitated in all of Europe. The most famous are Jean-François Oeben, who created the work desk of king Louis XV in Versailles, Bernard II van Risamburgh and Jean-Henri Riesener. Highly skilled artists, called the ciseleur-doreurs, specialized in bronze ornaments for furniture and other pieces of decorative arts - the most famous being Pierre Gouthière and Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Talented silversmiths like Thomas Germain and his son François-Thomas Germain created elaborate silverware services that were highly praised by the various royalties of Europe. Rooms in châteaux and hôtels particuliers were more intimate than during the reign of Louis XIV and were decorated with rocaille style boiseries (carved wood panels covering the walls of a room) conceived by architects like Germain Boffrand and Gilles-Marie Oppenord or ornemanistes (designers of decorative objects) like Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier. The most prominent architects of the first half of the century were, apart Boffrand, Robert de Cotte and Ange-Jacques Gabriel, who designed public squares like the place de la Concorde in Paris and the place de la Bourse in Bordeaux in a style consciously inspired by that of the era of Louis XIV. During the first half of the century, France replaced Italy as the artistic centre and main artistic influence in Europe and many French artists worked in other courts across the continent. The latter half of the eighteenth century continued to see French preeminence in Europe, particularly through the arts and sciences, and the speaking the French language was expected for members of the European courts. The French academic system continued to produce artists, but some, such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, explored new and increasingly impressionist styles of painting with thick brushwork. Although the hierarchy of genres continued to be respected officially, genre painting, landscape, portrait, and still life were extremely fashionable. Chardin and Jean-Baptiste Oudry were hailed for their still lives although this was officially considered the lowest of all genres in the hierarchy of painting subjects.

Prometheus by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam, 1762

One also finds in this period a Pre-romanticist aspect. Hubert Robert's images of ruins, inspired by Italian capriccio paintings, are typical in this respect as well as the image of storms and moonlight marines by Claude Joseph Vernet. So too the change from the rational and geometrical French garden of André Le Nôtre to the English garden, which emphasized artificially wild and irrational nature. One also finds in some of these gardens—curious ruins of temples—called "follies". The last half of the eighteenth century saw a turn to Neoclassicism in France, that is to say a conscious use of Greek and Roman forms and iconography. This movement was promoted by intellectuals like Diderot, in reaction to the artificiality and the decorative essence of the rocaille style. In painting, the greatest representative of this style is Jacques-Louis David, who, mirroring the profiles of Greek vases, emphasized the use of the profile. His subject matter often involved classical history such as the death of Socrates and Brutus. The dignity and subject matter of his paintings were greatly inspired by the works of Nicolas Poussin from the seventeenth century. Poussin and David were in turn major influences on Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Other important neoclassical painters of the period are Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Joseph-Marie Vien and, in the portrait genre, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Neoclassicism also penetrated decorative arts and architecture.

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1786

Architects like Ledoux and Boullée developed a radical style of neoclassical architecture based on simple and pure geometrical forms with a research of simetry and harmony, elaborating visionary projects like the complex of the Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans by Ledoux, a model of an ideal factory developed from the rational concepts of the Enlightment thinkers.

Modern period

19th century

The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars brought great changes to the arts in France. The program of exaltation and myth making attendant to the Emperor Napoleon I of France was closely coordinated in the paintings of David, Gros and Guérin. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was the main figure of neoclassicism until the 1850s and a prominent teacher, giving priority to drawing over color. Meanwhile, Orientalism, Egyptian motifs, the tragic anti-hero, the wild landscape, the historical novel, and scenes from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance—all these elements of Romanticism—created a vibrant period that defies easy classification. The most important romantic painter of the period was Eugène Delacroix, who had a successful public career and was the main opponent of Ingres. Before him, Théodore Géricault opened the path to romanticism with his monumental Raft of the Medusa exposed at the 1819 Salon. Camille Corot tried to escape the conventional and idealized form of landscape painting influenced by classicism to be more realist and sensible to atmospheric variations at the same time.

The Massacre at Chios, Eugène Delacroix, 1824

Romantic tendencies continued throughout the century, both idealized landscape painting and Realism have their seeds in Romanticism. The work of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon school are logical developments from it, as is the late nineteenth century Symbolism of such painters as Gustave Moreau, the professor of Henri Matisse and Georges Rouault, as well as Odilon Redon. Academic painting developed at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts was the most successful with the public and the State : highly trained painters like Jean-Léon Gérôme, William Bouguereau and Alexandre Cabanel painted historical scenes inspired by the antique, following the footsteps of Ingres and the neoclassics. Though criticized for their conventionalism by the young avant-garde painters and critics, the most talented of the Academic painters renewed the historical genre, drawing inspiration from multiple cultures and techniques, like the Orient and the new framings made possible by the invention of photography For many critics Édouard Manet wrote of the nineteenth century and the modern period (much as Charles Baudelaire does in poetry). His rediscovery of Spanish painting from the golden age, his willingness to show the unpainted canvas, his exploration of the forthright nude, and his radical brush strokes are the first steps toward Impressionism. Impressionism would take the Barbizon school one step farther, rejecting once and for all a belabored style and the use of mixed colors and black, for fragile transitive effects of light as captured outdoors in changing light (partly inspired by the paintings of J. M. W. Turner and Eugène Boudin). It led to Claude Monet with his cathedrals and haystacks, Pierre-Auguste Renoir with both his early outdoor festivals and his later feathery style of ruddy nudes, Edgar Degas with his dancers and bathers. Other important impressionists were Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro and Gustave Caillebotte. After that threshold was crossed, the next thirty years became a litany of amazing experiments. Vincent van Gogh, Dutch born, but living in France, opened the road to expressionism. Georges Seurat, influenced by color theory, devised a pointillist technique that governed the Impressionist experiment and was followed by Paul Signac. Paul Cézanne, a painter's painter, attempted a geometrical exploration of the world, that left many of his peers indifferent. Paul Gauguin, a banker, found symbolism in Brittany along Émile Bernard and then exoticism and primitivism in French Polynesia. These painters were referred to as Post-Impressionists. Les Nabis, a movement of the 1890s, regrouping painters such as Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis, was influenced by Gauguin's example in Brittany: they explored a decorative art in flat plains with the graphic approach of a Japanese print. They preached that a work of art is the end product and the visual expression of an artist's synthesis of nature in personal aesthetic metaphors and symbols. Henri Rousseau, the self-taught dabbling postmaster, became the model for the naïve revolution.

20th century

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, Facade (Sunset), c. 1892-1894

The early years of the twentieth century were dominated by experiments in colour and content that Impressionism and Post-Impressionism had unleashed. The products of the far east also brought new influences. At roughly the same time, Les Fauves (Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Albert Marquet, Raoul Dufy, Othon Friesz, Charles Camoin, Henri Manguin) exploded into color, much like German Expressionism. The discovery of African tribal masks by Pablo Picasso, a Spaniard living in Paris, lead him to create his Les Demoiselles d'Avignon of 1907. Working independently, Picasso and Georges Braque returned to and refined Cézanne's way of rationally comprehension of objects in a flat medium, their experiments in cubism also would lead them to integrate all aspects and objects of day-to-day life, collage of newspapers, musical instruments, cigarettes, wine, and other objects into their works. Cubism in all its phases would dominate paintings of Europe and America for the next ten years. (See the article on Cubism for a complete discussion.) World War I did not stop the dynamic creation of art in France. In 1916 a group of discontents met in a bar in Zurich, the Cabaret Voltaire, and created the most radical gesture possible, the anti-art of Dada. At the same time, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp were exploring similar notions. At a 1917 art show in New York, Duchamp presented a white porcelain urinal (Fountain) signed R. Mutt as work of art, becoming the father of the readymade. When Dada reached Paris, it was avidly embraced by a group of young artists and writers who were fascinated with the writings of Sigmund Freud, particularly by his notion of the unconscious mind. The provocative spirit of Dada became linked to the exploration of the unconscious mind through the use of automatic writing, chance operations, and, in some cases, altered states. The surrealists quickly turned to painting and sculpture. The shock of unexpected elements, the use of Frottage, collage, and decalcomania, the rendering of mysterious landscapes and dreamed images were to become the key techniques through the rest of the 1930s.

Georges Braque, Violin and Candlestick, 1910

Immediately after this war the French art scene diverged roughly in two directions. There were those who continued in the artistic experiments from before the war, especially surrealism, and others who adopted the new Abstract Expressionism and action painting from New York, executing them in a French manner using Tachism or L'art informel. Parallel to both of these tendencies, Jean Dubuffet dominated the early post-war years while exploring childlike drawings, graffiti, and cartoons in a variety of media. The late 1950s and early 1960s in France saw art forms that might be considered Pop Art. Yves Klein had attractive nude women roll around in blue paint and throw themselves at canvases. Victor Vasarely invented Op-Art by designing sophisticated optical patterns. Artists of the Fluxus movement such as Ben Vautier incorporated graffiti and found objects into their work. Niki de Saint Phalle created bloated and vibrant plastic figures. Arman gathered together found objects in boxed or resin-coated assemblages, and César Baldaccini produced a series of large compressed object-sculptures. César Baldaccini was a prominent French sculptor of the 1960s, who created large waste sculptures by compressing discarded materials like automobiles, metal, rubbish, and domestic objects.[1] In May 1968, the radical youth movement, through their atelier populaire, produced a great deal of poster-art protesting the moribund policies of president Charles de Gaulle.Many contemporary artists continue to be haunted by the horrors of the Second World War and the specter of the Holocaust. Christian Boltanski's harrowing installations of the lost and the anonymous are particularly powerful.

Jamaica ( Caribbean Islands ) / North America / Arts From Jamaica / ( Wikipedia Resoruce / Protokollierung 22.06.2023

Jamaican art dates back to Jamaica's indigenous Taino Indians who created zemis, carvings of their gods, for ritual spiritual purposes. The demise of this culture after European colonisation heralded a new era of art production more closely related to traditional tastes in Europe, created by itinerant artists keen to return picturesque images of the "new world" to Europe. Foremost among these were Agostino Brunias, Philip Wickstead, James Hakewill and J. B. Kidd. Perhaps the earliest artist to take a more Jamaican-centered approach to the island culture was Isaac Mendes Belisario (1795–1849). His portfolio of lithographs, Sketches of Character, In Illustration of the Habits, Occupation, and Costume of the Negro Population in the Island of Jamaica, published in collaboration with the lithographer Adolphe Duperly in 1837–38, documents activities of slaves immediately after their emancipation.[1]

Early Jamaican pottery

During the colonial period, slaves became an integral part of contributing to the economy apart from their slave masters in the 1670s. This helped the country of Jamaica to be able to build capital outside of slave labor. The goods built in order to contribute to said capital were often food and livestock but would also incorporate crafts. An addition to the Jamaican slave laws in 1711 allowed for slaves to legally make and distribute pottery, baskets, and rope. Pots, pipes, and buckets made from earthen material (Clay), were often traded amongst slaves themselves, or sold to the lower working class. Many of the pottery materials and innovations are dated back to West Africa where many slaves were taken from and brought to Jamaica. Pottery continues to be an integral part of Jamaican economy, but also continues be misunderstood and underrepresented.[2]

The modern movement

The National Gallery of Jamaica dates the nationalist-oriented art movement to the beginning of the twentieth century and the arrival of Edna Manley to Jamaica in 1922. Her observations and journals on art and artists from that time have provided early documentation on the movement's development. Her work, Bead Seller (1922), has been used as the earliest work in the National Gallery of Jamaica's permanent collection of mode. Educated in the UK, she publicly criticized Jamaica's local artwork as "anaemic," believing that it demonstrated a preoccupation with European-styled landscapes and portraiture, using traditional techniques that insufficiently reflected Jamaica's culture and people.[3] Manley strongly urged for Jamaican artist to create art that demonstrated their heritage and pride, in turn dismissing European influence and values.[4] Her support of volunteer art classes at the Institute of Jamaica fostered the talents of artists such as Albert Huie, Ralph Campbell, Henry Daley, and Osmond Watson. The classes in 1950 became formalized into an art program offered at the Jamaica School of Art, an institution that was later named the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts, as a tribute to her contribution.[5]

During the 1950s and 1960s, many of Jamaica's artists received formal training in Britain as a result of scholarships provided by the British Council. Ralph Campbell attended classes at Goldsmiths College;[6] Barrington Watson trained at the Royal College of Art;[7] and Osmond Watson studied at St Martins.[8] Each artist developed his own representational style, influenced by post-impressionism, realism, and cubism, respectively. All three artists returned to teach at the Jamaica School of Art. Since the island declared independence in 1962, Jamaican art has swung between two styles that Chief Curator, David Boxer, has defined as "mainstream" and "intuitive."[9] "Mainstream" references Jamaica's trained artists, more often exposed to art trends and styles used abroad. This style was typically adopted by Jamaican artist due to the necessity to earn a profit on their artwork and to attract tourist.[10] The 'intuitive' movement consists of artists who maintain stronger links with African forms of expression, are predominantly closed to any external influences, and are usually self-taught. During the 1980s, a trend towards the fusion of these two styles was apparent in the work of artists such as Milton George, Omari Ra (aka African or Robert Cookhorne), and Khalfani Ra (aka Makandal Dada or Douglas Wallace). Smithsonian curator Vera Hyatt labelled them New Imagists, referencing the way the body in convulsive forms dominates their canvases.

Jordanian Art & Artistry  / Jordan / Wikipedia ( Sourcing ) Connection NEOM / 22.06.2023 AD  / Protokoll

Jordanian art has a very ancient history. Some of the earliest figurines, found at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, have been dated to the Neolithic period. A distinct Jordanian aesthetic in art and architecture emerged as part of a broader Islamic art tradition which flourished from the 7th-century. Traditional art and craft is vested in material culture including mosaics, ceramics, weaving, silver work, music, glass-blowing and calligraphy. The rise of colonialism in North Africa and the Middle East, led to a dilution of traditional aesthetics. In the early 20th-century, following the creation of the independent nation of Jordan, a contemporary Jordanian art movement emerged and began to search for a distinctly Jordanian art aesthetic that combined both tradition and contemporary art forms.

Traditional Art

Jordan, as an independent nation was founded in 1924. Prior to that, the area that is now Jordan had been subject to a number of different rules. It was part of the Nabatean Kingdom, under Hellenistic rule following Alexander the Great's conquest of the area; under Roman rule in the 1st century BCE,[1] and was once part of the Umayyad Kingdom in the 7th century (CE) and part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th-century until the end of World War I[2] when it became a British protectorate until the time of independence.[3] Its art is part a broader Islamic artistic tradition, with evidence of classical influences.[4]

Traditional art was often based on material culture including hand-crafts such as rug-making, basket weaving, silver smithing, mosaics, ceramics, and glass-blowing. The Bedouins were largely self-sufficient in the production of goods, and made their own rugs, wove baskets and prepared ceramics. Such works exhibited wide variation in styles, as tribes often used their own tribal motifs.[5]

The Jordanian art historian, Wijdan Ali has argued that the traditional Islamic aesthetic evident in craft-based work was displaced by the arrival of colonialism in North Africa and the Middle East.[6] However, in the decolonised period of the 20th-century, a contemporary art form combining tradition and modern influences can be observed.[7]

Pre-Islamic art

As early as the Neolithic period in Jordan, figurines and sculptures were being made. In some of the earliest examples, human skulls were built up with plaster, and inlays were used for the eye sockets.[8] Two caches of figurines discovered at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, include animal models and some three dozen monumental figurines (pictured below), which scholars believe were important to the ritual and social structure of the peoples living there,[9] and may have formed part of a burial ritual.[10] The 'Ain Ghazal statues are very large, with some around three feet in height. Aïn Ghazal was occupied between 7,000 BCE and 5,000 BCE and the statues have been dated to around 6,500 BCE.[11] Showing extensive use of plaster,[12] the Aïn Ghazal statues represent a clear departure from the tiny, faceless figures of the Paleolithic period and mark the dawn of a distinct Neolithic art.[13]

The Nabateans incorporated numerous sculpted panels, figurines and decorative friezes into their buildings at Petra and made pottery. Examples include the architectural detail used on the temple of Qsr al-Bint at Petra[14] and the prevalent stele representing the gods, as carved reliefs and either cut directly into the rock-face or carved as stand-alone units and placed inside carved niches.[15]

The Romans conquered Palestine and Syria in 64-63 BCE, and annexed Nabatea in 106 CE by which time the whole of Jordan fell under Roman rule. The Roman occupation corresponded with a flowering of the visual arts - painting, architecture. By the time of the Emperor Justinian (527-565 CE), churches dotted Jordan's landscape and these featured intricate mosaic floors, frescoes and porticos.[16]

Islamic art

The Umayyad period marks the starting point of Islamic art and architecture.[17] The wealth and patronage of the Umayyad period stimulated the construction of religious, administrative and royal residences as well as prompting a distinctive style of bayt (domestic home). Jordan has some of the finest examples of early Islamic architecture including: caravanserais, desert castles (in Arabic known as qusayr), bath-houses, hunting lodges and palaces located in the fringe of the eastern desert.[18] Examples of great mosques constructed during the rule of the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I (705-714) include: the Great Mosque of Damascus (706 CE), the Al-Aqsa Mosque of Jerusalem (715 CE), and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina (709-715). Since the mid 19th-century, a number of the Umayyad sites have been excavated, revealing stunning frescoes, wall and ceiling paintings and statuary.[19] One of these paintings, the Painting of the Six Kings has been the subject of considerable scholarship with respect to its interpretation.[20] Notable frescoes and relief carvings can be found the desert castles of Quasyr Al Hallabat; Quasyr al-Kharanah, Quasyr el-Azraq, Qasr Mshatta and the Quasyr 'Amra which features frescoes of hunting scenes, musicians, acrobats, entertainers, nude women, wrestlers and scenes of the Royal court.[21] Lesser desert castles include Quasyr al-Tuba; Quasyr al-Hayr al-Gharbi; Quasyr Burqu', Qasr el `Uweinid and Qasr el Feifeh.[22] Poetry and calligraphy were elevated to high art. Under the Umayyad, writing assumed a special place, often based on scripture and the life of the prophet, Mahommed, but often seen as the carrier of independent meaning and a subject worthy of ornamentation.[23] Master calligraphers were venerated. The art of calligraphy was passed from master to student in a formal, rigorous system of training that took place over many years, required for students to learn the strict rules and protocols that governed the art form. Both religious and secular writing flourished under the Umayyad dynasty. Poets, (known as sha'ir meaning wizard) were thought to be inspired by a spirit (jinn), and were expected to defend the honour of their tribe, and to perpetuate its deeds and accomplishments.[24] The Mu'allaqat, a collection of seven poems by different poets, although pre-Islamic in origin, is thought to be the precursor to Arabic poetry.

Early modern art

The origins of modern art in Jordan have their roots in the 1920s and 1930s when a small number of artists settled in Amman. Omar Onsi (1901-1969) was a Lebanese artist who settled in Amman in around 1922,[25] and gave painting lessons to the children of Abdullah I.[26] In 1930, the Turkish artist, Ziauddin Suleiman (1880-1945) also settled in Amman and held the first solo exhibition at the Philadelphia Hotel.[27] In 1948, George Aleef arrived in Jordan with a group of Palestinian refugees and set up an art studio where he taught local students.[28] These three artists introduced local students to easel painting and contributed to a broader appreciation of art.[29]

As late as the 1940s, Jordan had no art galleries and art exhibitions were virtually unknown.[30] The few art exhibitions that were mounted, were held in public spaces such as schools and the halls of parliament.

Jordanian modern art movement

In the late 1950s, a group of young artists who had trained in Europe, returned to Jordan to lay the foundations of the Jordanian modern art movement.[31] A number of these students, including Muhanna Al-Dura, Rafiq Lahham, and Suha Katibah Noursi, received their earliest art education in Jordan from the Russian émigré, George Aleef, who was the first Western painter to establish a studio in Amman and teach local students. According to Muhanna Dura's memoirs, Aleef taught his students the basics of watercolor, drawing and painting, and the European understanding of perspective.[32] Dura along with these young artists helped to spark a local, Jordanian art movement.[33] Muhanna Dura ultimately taught painting and art history at the Teachers' Training College in Ammman and in 1964, established the Fine Arts Section at the Department of Culture and Art, Amman, and also established the Jordan Institute of Fine Arts in 1970. Thus, he inspired a generation of young artists. Among his notable students were the Princess Wijdan Ali who is best known for her attempts to revive the traditions of Islamic art.[34] and Nawal Abdallah, who is one of the leading lights of Jordan's contemporary arts scene and whose art often includes calligraphy.[35] A second group of artists, who trained in Europe and America in the 1960s, returned to Jordan and began to search for a distinctive Jordanian artistic expression and to assert their Arab identity. Notable artists in the Jordanian art movement include: Khalid Khreis (b. 1955); Nabil Shehadeh (b. 1949); Yasser Duwaik (b. 1940); Mahmoud Taha (b. 1942) and Aziz Amoura (b. 1944).

Hurufiyah art movement

The Hurufiyah Art Movement (also known as the Al-hurufiyyah movement or the North African Letterist movement) refers to the use of calligraphy as a graphic form within an artwork.[37] From around 1955, artists working in North Africa and parts of Asia transformed Arabic calligraphy into a modern art movement.[38] The use of calligraphy in modern art arose independently in various Islamic states; few of these artists had knowledge of each other, allowing for different manifestations of hurufiyyah to emerge in different regions.[39] In Sudan, for instance, artworks include both Islamic calligraphy and West African motifs.[40] Hurufiyah artists rejected Western art concepts, and instead searched for a new artistic identity drawn from within their own culture and heritage. These artists successfully integrate Islamic visual traditions, especially calligraphy, into contemporary, indigenous compositions.[41] Although hurufiyah artists were concerned with their individual dialogue with nationalism and attempted to engage with the modern art movement, they also worked towards an aesthetic that transcended national boundaries and represented a broader affiliation with an Islamic identity.[42] Jordan's most notable exponents of hurufiyyah art are the ceramicist, Mahmoud Taha and the artist and art historian, Princess Wijdan Ali who through her writing has been able to bring the art movement to the attention of a broader audience.[43]

Luxembourg Arts / Literary Act from ( Wikipedia ) Art / European Continent ( Transcontinental to Australia ) Protokoll 22.06.2023

Luxembourg art can be traced back to Roman times, especially as depicted in statues found across the country and in the huge mosaic from Vichten. Over the centuries, Luxembourg's churches and castles have housed a number of cultural artefacts but these are nearly all ascribed to foreign artists. The first examples of art with a national flavour are paintings and maps of the City of Luxembourg and its fortifications from the end of the 16th until the beginning of the 19th century, although these too were mostly created by foreign artists. Real interest in art among the country's own citizens began in the 19th century with paintings of Luxembourg and the surroundings after the country became a grand duchy in 1815. This was followed by interest in Impressionism and Expressionism in the early 20th century, the richest period in Luxembourg painting, while Abstraction became the focus of art after the Second World War. Today there are a number of successful contemporary artists, some of whom have gained wide international recognition.

Antiquity

A considerable number of sculptures and statues have been found in the ruins of Roman villas in various parts of Luxembourg, but the outstanding artistic treasure of the period is the Vichten mosaic which depicts the ancient Greek muses. It used to adorn the reception hall of a Roman villa in Vichten but can now be seen in Luxembourg's National Museum of History and Art.[1] Other notable artefacts from the second century include a terracotta goblet decorated with a relief of a hunting scene found in a tomb near Mamer, a statue and a relief of the Romano-Celtic goddess Epona found at Dalheim Ricciacum, as well as bronze statues of Jupiter and Mercury.

Echternach illuminated Gospel Book

The Codex Aureus of Echternach is an early 11th-century illuminated Gospel Book containing the Vulgate versions of the four gospels. One of the most lavishly illustrated Ottonian manuscripts, it was produced at the Abbey of Echternach under the direction of Abbot Humbert. The refined Echternach style of painting is characterized by rich colouring, clear shapes and careful accentuation of the figures, interpreting the art of the Master of Trier with considerable originality. The Echternach illuminators drew on the style and iconography of much older works found in the libraries of Trier and Reichenau. The Codex Aureus is one of just two manuscripts which was kept at Echternach over the centuries, most of the others being produced for the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III. It is now in the German National Museum in Nuremberg.[2][3]

Old views of Luxembourg

Mikal Nelson. One of the oldest works relating to the City of Luxembourg is a tinted pen-and-ink drawing of the Château Mansfeld or, more correctly, the Château de la Fontaine. The 16th-century work is attributed to the Flemish artist Tobias Verhaecht (1561–1631). Mansfeld was governor of Luxembourg from 1545 until his death in 1604. In 1598, Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg published the oldest known view of Luxembourg City, a copper engraving that appeared in Civitates orbis terrarum (Cologne, 1598). Half a century later, the Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu, drawing on Braun's work, published his "Luxemburgum" in the second volume of his Stedeboek (Amsterdam, 1649). Van der Meulen provides another view of Luxembourg from Limpertsberg where he depicts French troops taking the city in 1649.[4]

Early Luxembourg artists

It was at the beginning of the 19th century that Luxembourg artists finally began to acquire a spirit of nationalism resulting in works emphasizing the beauty of the city and the country as a whole. Jean-Baptiste Fresez (1800–1867) was the most important artist of the period, remembered above all for his almost photographic images of the City of Luxembourg.[5] Fresez also produced portraits clearly depicting not just lively facial features but also the figure's clothing including, for example, the transparency of the lace. His landscapes, which he began to publish as early as 1826, were also of considerable artistic merit. In 1855, he published his famous Album pittoresque du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg containing extremely detailed compositions, many of them depicting Luxembourg's most beautiful views. His works are of great documentary value, especially those of the fortress of Luxembourg before it was dismantled.[6] Nicolas Liez (1809–1892), who had been one of Fresez' students, was a painter, sculptor and architect. He is remembered above all for his lithographs of scenes throughout the Grand Duchy and for his oil painting of the City of Luxembourg.[7] His collection of lithographs published in "Voyage pittoresque à travers le Grand Duché de Luxembourg" (1934) contains some of his very best work. His most famous work is his view of the City of Luxembourg from the Fetschenhof, which he drew, painted and lithographed in 1870. It shows the city when the demolition of the fortress had just begun. Despite his attempt to emphasise the fortifications by exaggerating the height of the cliffs and the railway bridge, the painting is a good representation of the city and its skyscape.

The 20th century

The first half of the 20th century was a rich period for Luxembourg art. Joseph Kutter (1894–1941), considered Luxembourg's most successful painter, was influenced by the Impressionists but developed his own distinctive Expressionist style. In his paintings, the subjects often stand in the foreground as if photographed. His portraits, painted with strong brushstrokes, typically show figures with excessively large noses, sometimes looking like despairing clowns, but always attracting attention.[12] From 1918, Kutter's landscapes and floral works began to present increasingly Expressionist motifs, with intense lines and strong colours. His painting of "Luxembourg", commissioned for the 1937 World Exposition in Paris is a good example of his Expressionist style with the houses stacked behind one another, the cubic form of the buildings and the exaggerated strength of the fortifications, so different from J. M. W. Turner's representation of almost the same scene.[13] Although Kutter spent a number of years in Germany, his work was most influenced by trends in France and Belgium. He was one of the founders of the Luxembourg secessionist movement.[14] Another notable painter was the Impressionist Dominique Lang (1874–1919) whose paintings became increasingly uplifting, full of bright light and often depicting a young woman clothed in white. Using short brushstrokes, he would make abundant use of blues and greens. In 1912–13, he began to adopt the pure colouring favoured by Monet, Renoir and Pissarro. He would venture out along the banks of the River Alzette, painting scenes of orchards, flower picking and fruit harvesting or of peasants' houses in the area where he lived. His painting of Dudelange en 1917 is an excellent illustration of his characteristic aversion to industrialization. There is no sign of factories or workmen's housing in the idyllic countryside surrounding the town.[15][16]

Claus Cito: Gëlle Fra (1923)

Frantz Seimetz (1858–1934) was a prolific artist who painted portraits and landscapes in the Impressionist style.[19] His most fruitful period was in Echternach, where he painted numerous scenes of the surroundings including the Mullerthal. His pictures are generally realistic and slightly romantic, bordering on Impressionism. Especially after 1900, his style became brighter and more colourful, reflecting the happiness and beauty of the moments he experienced. Today Seimetz is remembered as a conscientious artist who dominated the Luxembourg art scene for a considerable time. He was the first Luxembourger to delve into Impressionism and the first, after Nicolas Liez, to paint in the open air. He was also the first who managed to live from art alone.[20] Sosthène Weis (1872-1941) painted over 5,000 watercolours, mostly of Luxembourg and its surroundings. He also worked as an architect, designing some of Luxembourg's most imposing buildings including the central post office and the Arbed building. His earlier paintings, up to 1900, show the influence of his architectural interests, as buildings are depicted with accurate but rather boring precision. Thereafter, his own romantic post-Impressionist style begins to emerge, especially in his work from 1915 to 1945. His warm colours predominate with an abundance of violets, blues and ochres. Weis mastered the art of capturing the moment, poetically reproducing the misty light of the early morning, the heat of noon or the haze gathering in the valleys at sunset. Little by little reality gave way to less precise, more suggestive images as he concentrated ever more on the essentials. He would rapidly fill out the main lines of his scenes, interpreting them more and more freely until finally his pictures revealed a world of dreams and fantasy.[20][21] The sculptor Claus Cito (1882–1965) is remembered above all for the Gëlle Fra (Golden Woman) sculpture crowning the Monument of Remembrance obelisk (1923), raised in memory of the Luxembourg soldiers who died for their country in the First World War. His finest work is however considered to be the marble bust of Grand Duchess Charlotte which was completed in 1939 and now stands in the former town hall in Differdange.[22]

Post-war contributors

Emile Kirscht (1913–1994) worked with acrylics and gouache on paper. In 1954, he was a co-founder of the Iconomaques group of abstract artists in Luxembourg.[23] Although Kirscht turned to abstract painting in the 1950s with works such as Composition and Automnal, it was not until the early 1960s when he substituted acrylics for oils that he truly mastered the style. One of his most notable works, Village (1959), makes use of geometrical forms to represent the internal lines and structures of the topic.[24] Michel Stoffel (1903–1963), together with Joseph Kutter, is considered one of Luxembourg's most prominent painters.[25] It was in 1950 that he first started to paint in the geometric style of abstract art, leading him in 1954 to be one of the founding members and spokesman of the Iconomaques, a group of Luxembourg artists devoted to abstract art. In 1956, he received an honorable mention at the fourth São Paulo Art Biennial. He completed two mosaics for Luxembourg's Nouvel Athénée in 1962 and became a member of the arts and literature section of Grand Ducal Institute.[26] Foni Tissen (1909–1975) is remembered principally for his hyperrealistic, darkly humorous paintings, many of which were self-portraits.[27] Tissen aimed to spread art to all parts of society in order to "elevate the spirit of man" as he put it. While his postage stamps, posters and the logo for the emergency services have become part of Luxembourg's collective memory, his close attachment to his native Rumelange and the area's Red Rocks can be seen in his landscapes and engravings. The most typical part of his work is however the surrealist series of paintings he referred to as his Maennerscher or little men, many of them self-portraits constituting a one-man comedy. The symbols he uses guide the spectator to the extensive workings of his imagination. All in all, his work reveals his search for what he called "the truth which is beauty and sincerity".[28] Gust Graas (born 1924) is a Luxembourg businessman and painter who has not only played a major role in the development of Luxembourg-based radio and television concern RTL but is also a talented abstract painter.[29] Graas has always taken an active interest in art, producing paintings and works of sculpture. When studying in Paris, he met several Impressionist painters from the Paris School with whom he maintained contact. In 1970, he was awarded the Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe.[30] Since his retirement in 1989, he has lived in Pollença on Majorca, where he has continued to paint. His exhibition Mis años en España (1989-2003) clearly shows how the sun and colour of the island has influenced his work.[31] Closely associated with the post-war artists was the sculptor Lucien Wercollier whose impressive abstract works in bronze and marble can be found not just in public places in Luxembourg but in the surrounding countries too.[32] One of the country's most successful contemporary artists is Su-Mei Tse who, in 2003, won the Golden Lion, a prize awarded to the best national participant at the Venice International Exhibition of Contemporary Art.[33] Les balayeurs du désert (The Desert Sweepers), her video projection there, shows street sweepers in their distinctive Paris uniforms pointlessly sweeping away at the desert sand to the soft sound of brooms against asphalt. The second major work, "The Echo", also a video, depicts an Alpine scene in which a tiny figure plays the cello, the simple sounds of the instrument being reflected by the mountains.

Portugal Arts / Artistry ( Wikipedia Source ) / Europe /Transcontinental Asia or Transpacific Japan / Protokoll 22.06.2022

Sculptures

Portuguese sculptures can be best analysed by studying the many tombs of the 12th and 13th centuries that are found throughout Portugal. In the late 1700s, the colony of Brazil was the main influence in Portuguese sculpture. This can be seen by the increase in Baroque wooden sculpture during this time. Joaquim Machado de Castro, a famous Portuguese artist who lived around thjais responsible for a lot of these works.[1]

Painting

The Classical and Romantic styles of painting, brought to Portugal from Italy and France, had an influence on Portuguese artist Machado de Castro in the late 18th century and António Soares dos Reis in the 19th century. A school for amateur painters, led by Nuno Gonçalves, was popular in the 15th century. As a result, Flemish artists added to the native style by decorating palaces and convents using their own techniques. The result gave Portugal a rich heritage of religious art. The Romantic period in the 19th century sparked a rebirth of national art. This was followed by an era of naturalist realism, which in turn was followed by experimentation the 20th century.[1]

Contemporary artists

Many Portuguese contemporary artists have made their mark on the world stage. Maria Helena Vieira de Silva was a famous Portuguese abstract painter and Carlos Botelho was known for his street scenes of Lisbon. Paula Rego is known for her "storytelling" in painting. She became famous for her works "Dog Woman" (1990's), and "Abortion", a reaction to the referendum in Portugal which made abortion a crime (late 1990s). Her art has been shown in museums such as Tate Modern in London and Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, in Cascais (dedicated solely to her art).[1]

Azulejos

The Portuguese glazed tiles (azulejos) are one of Portugal's best decorative arts. Many 16th and 17th century buildings are lined with tiles, and the rooms and halls of palaces and mansions have tilted panels following a colour motif. Some prime examples of this style of art are the Pátio da Carranca (courtyard of Carranca) of the Paço de Sintra (Palace of Sintra), the São Roque church in Lisbon and the Quinta da Bacalhoa at Vila Fresca de Azeitão near Setúbal.[1]

The Line, Saudi Arabia  / Kingdom of Saudi Arabia / ( NEOM )Transcontinental to (  Europe ) ( Asia ) Africa / Protokoll 25.08.2023 AD

The Line (styled THE LINE; Arabic: ذا لاين) is a linear smart city under construction in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk Province, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions.[2][3][4][5] The 170-kilometre-long (110 mi) city is part of Saudi Vision 2030 project, which Saudi Arabia claims will create around 460,000 jobs and add an estimated $48 billion to the country's GDP.[2] The Line is planned to be the first development of a $500 billion project in Neom.[6] The city's plans anticipate a population of 9 million.[7] Excavation work had started along the entire length of the project by October 2022. The project has faced criticism over its impact on the environment and the current population of the area, as well as doubts about its technological and economic viability.

Proposal

The Line is planned to be 170 kilometres (110 mi) long, preserving 95% of the nature within Neom.[3][4][8] It will stretch from the Red Sea approximately to the city of Tabuk. It is intended that it will have nine million residents, resulting in an average population density of 260,000 people per square kilometre.[7] By comparison, Manila, the world's most densely populated city in 2020, had a density of 44,000/km2.[9] The Line's plan consists of two mirrored buildings with an outdoor space in between, having a total width of 200 metres (660 ft) and a total height of 500 metres (1,600 ft).[7] The city will be powered entirely by renewable energy.[4] It will consist of three layers, one on the surface for pedestrians, one underground for infrastructure, and another underground for transportation.[2] Artificial intelligence will monitor the city and use predictive and data models to find ways to improve daily life for its citizens,[2] with residents being paid for submitting data to The Line.[10] The estimated building cost is US$100–200 billion (400–700 billion SAR),[8] with some estimates as high as $1 trillion.[11] It is claimed by the Saudi government that it will create 460,000 jobs, spur economic diversification, and contribute 180 billion SAR (US$48 billion) to domestic GDP by 2030.[7]

History

The plan for The Line was announced on 10 January 2021, by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a presentation that was broadcast on state television.[3] Earthworks began in October 2021 and the first residents were expected to move in during 2024.[12] As of July 2022, the first phase of the project was scheduled to be completed in 2030.[7] Bin Salman - also Chairman of the NEOM board of directors - released a statement and promotional video on 25 July 2021, which led to more widespread media coverage of the project.[13] This raised questions about the merits of the design and environmental issues, with critics concerned that the project would create a "dystopian"[14] and "artificial" facility[15] that had already displaced the Huwaitat indigenous tribe[16][17] and would impact the migration of birds and wildlife.[18]

Excavation progress of The Line, October 2022

In October of 2022, drone footage released by Ot Sky confirmed that construction on The Line was underway and excavation works were taking place along the entire length of the project.[19]

Construction

The line will consist of connected communities which are called modules. The total structure will consist of 135 modules of each 800 metres in length and 500 metres tall.[20]

Inspiration

Behind its futuristic aspects, The Line is largely a mixture of architectural fantasies from the industrial era:[21]

In 1882, the Spanish urban planner Arturo Soria already imagined a linear city, based on the then innovative use of the tramway. He applied part of his idea to a neighborhood in Madrid, but never went further due to lack of support.

In the 1950s, the French architect Yona Friedman proposed the concept of an integrated, modular and vertical "spatial city" to solve the problem of urban sprawl, but it remained a simple intellectual curiosity.

In the 1960s, the Italian avant-garde group Superstudio presented a radical artistic project: the continuous monument, "an architectural model for total urbanization," which was supposed to cover the entire Earth, but again without any feasibility or real utility.

Architects

The project management had all architects sign confidentiality agreements, which is why there are no references to The Line on any of the websites. German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung found out that two wellknown architects terminated their participation in the project due to human rights and ecological concerns — Norman Foster and Francine Houben from Mecanoo. The paper also reported that several high-ranking architects are still on board: David Adjaye, Ben van Berkel (UN Studios), Massimiliano Fuksas, the London office of the late Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) as well as Delugan Meissl and Wolf D. Prix from Coop Himmelb(l)au. The Süddeutsche critized the lack of sustainability and the prevailing double standards of the architects in moral issues.[22]

Modules 40-50

Until March 2023, more than 4,500 piles were driven in module 43. Reaching a peak of 60 piles a day. From this point on, piling work is shifting towards module 45, 46 and 47 which are located at the Marina. Excavation of about 1 million cubic metres of earth is taking place each week at the marina.[23]

Reception

In an interview with Dezeen, associate professor Marshall Brown at Princeton University said he believed that in such large-scale urban planning, it would be difficult to achieve the slick, futuristic aesthetic seen in the concept art because of the large number of factors involved.[24] Hélène Chartier of C40 Cities compared The Line to other, unrealised, linear city projects, such as the 1882 design by Soria and a 1965 proposal for a linear settlement in New Jersey.[24] Dutch architect Winy Maas said that while he would love to live in such an environment, its profile as seen in the concept art was monotonous and he believed it would facilitate unfavorable wind flow through the interior. He praised the overall concept for tackling densification and heat regulation inside the city.[24] Philip Oldfield of the University of New South Wales said that the quality of life would probably come down to whether the city was well-managed, rather than to its visual flair.[24] Oldfield said the project would have a carbon footprint of about 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in the glass, steel, and concrete, because "you cannot build a 500-meter-tall building out of low-carbon materials". He said the 170-km profile would create a large-scale barrier to adjacent ecosystems and migratory species similar to that created by highways, and the mirrored exterior facade would be dangerous for birds.[24] Digital rights researchers such as Vincent Mosco suggested that the city's data collection scheme could make it a "surveillance city", because of arrangements that would distort consent to sharing data, and because Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record might imply potential misuse of data. Neom CEO Joseph Bradley said that the Neom coordinators were resolving privacy issues and that Saudi Arabia had a personal data protection law.[10] Aside from the merits of the projected city, there was also scrutiny of the actions of the Saudi government in pursuing the project. In October 2022, Shadli, Ibrahim, and Ataullah al-Huwaiti, of the Howeitat tribe, were sentenced to death when they refused to vacate their village as part of the NEOM megaproject.[25] Shadli al-Huwaiti was the brother of Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, who was shot dead by security forces in April 2020 in his home in Al-Khariba, in the part of Tabuk province earmarked for NEOM, after he posted videos on social media opposing the displacement of local residents to make way for the project.[26]

Feasibility

According to the architect and urban planner Etienne Bou-Abdo, "the 3D images presented are not classical 3D architecture images", and the designers of the project "have rather called upon video game designers". More worryingly, among the various ideas presented as the basis of the project, there would be, according to him, "a lot of technology that we don't have today".[21]

Many of the project's other key announcements, particularly in the areas of energy and transportation, are based on technologies that do not even exist in prototype form.[27]

South Africa/  Art /African Continent / Transcontinental to North America & Europe or Oceania / Wikipedia ( Source / Protokoll/ 25.06.2023

South African art is the visual art produced by the people inhabiting the territory occupied by the modern country of South Africa. The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave. Archaeologists have discovered two sets of art kits thought to be 100,000 years old at a cave in South Africa. The findings provide a glimpse into how early humans produced and stored ochre – a form of paint – which pushes back our understanding of when evolved complex cognition occurred by around 20,000 – 30,000 years. Also, dating from 75,000 years ago, they found small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species. The scattered tribes of Khoisan and San peoples moving into South Africa from around 10000 BC had their own art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings.[1] They were superseded by Bantu and Nguni peoples with their own vocabularies of art forms. In the present era, traditional tribal forms of art were scattered and re-melded by the divisive policies of apartheid. New forms of art evolved in the mines and townships: a dynamic art using everything from plastic strips to bicycle spokes. In addition to this, there also is the Dutch-influenced folk art of the Afrikaner Trek Boers and the urban white artists earnestly following changing European traditions from the 1850s onwards, making for an eclectic mix which continues to evolve today.

Paleolithic rock art

The pre-Bantu peoples migrating southwards from around the year 30,000 BC were nomadic hunters who favoured caves as dwellings. Before the rise of the Nguni peoples along the east and southern coasts and central areas of Africa these nomadic hunters were widely distributed. It is thought they entered South Africa at least 1000 years ago. They have left many signs of life, such as artwork (San paintings) depicting hunting, domestic and magic-related art.[2] There is a stylistic unity across the region and even with more ancient art in the Tassili n'Ajjer region of northern Africa, and also in what is now desert Chad but was once a lush landscape.

The figures are dynamic and elongate, and the colours (derived probably from earthen and plant pigments and possibly also from insects) combine ochreous red, white, grey, black, and many warm tones ranging from red through to primary yellow. Common subjects include hunting, often depicting with great accuracy large animals which no longer inhabit the same region in the modern era, as well as: warfare among humans, dancing, domestic scenes, multiple images of various animals, including giraffes, antelope of many kinds, and snakes. The last of these works are poignant in their representation of larger, darker people and even of white hunters on horseback, both of whom would supplant the San peoples.

Many of the "dancing" figures are decorated with unusual patterns and may be wearing masks and other festive clothing. Other paintings, depicting patterned quadrilaterals and other symbols, are obscure in their meaning and may be non-representational. Similar symbols are seen in shamanistic art worldwide. This art form is distributed from Angola in the west to Mozambique and Kenya, throughout Zimbabwe and South Africa and throughout Botswana wherever cave conditions have favoured preservation from the elements.

Contemporary art in South Africa

The contemporary art scene in South Africa is as diverse and vibrant as the population and vast cultures in the country. Contemporary artists in South Africa have adopted new media technologies to produce varied and creative bodies of work, as seen in the work of Dineo Seshee Bopape and CUSS Group.[3] Their art gives insight into the pressing issues of South African society. On a global scale, contemporary South African art is relevant and sought-after. A charcoal and oil on canvas work by leading South African contemporary artist William Kentridge was sold on auction for R3,5 million in London in 2012.[4][5]

Black art post-apartheid

The Bantu Education Act of 1955 barred Black South Africans from receiving formal art training during the years of apartheid and as a result, the artistic movements that had originated from this community have, until recently, been distinctly classified as “craft” rather than “art.”[6] Informal art centers, that were funded by European states, became one of the few avenues in which Black South Africans could receive some form of artistic development. Throughout this time period from 1947 to the mid-1990s, the first practitioners to receive this informal training began passing down their knowledge to younger generations of practitioners.[7] However, the traditional canon of African art, categorized as “fine art” had been formed in the 20th century by European and U.S. art audiences.[8] South Africa's inequality gap is larger than that of other countries in the world so the audience for art is primarily the rich and not those who are subject to the artistic expression, giving these higher socio-economic groups a gatekeeper status in deciding what is classified as art.[9] After the Soweto Riots of 1976, a new social consciousness emerged that retaliated against the government's policy of segregation and effectively reexamined the classification of certain Black South African artworks. One of the first artistic styles to receive critic attention was Venda sculpting because it aesthetically appealed to white patrons while also maintaining its “artistic manifestations of ethnic diversity.”[8] These sculptures would be considered “transitional art” rather than “craft” and would gain access into fine art galleries. Other Black artistic expressions such as beadwork, photography, and studio arts have also begun to be slowly integrated into canonical South African art forms.

The Johannesburg Biennale's Africus (1995) and Trade Routes (1997) had a significant impact on the cultural awareness of new South African art. These events were among the first exhibitions that revealed the “new South African art” to the international community, but also other local South Africans.[10] This gave Black South African artists a new platform to express the effects to which apartheid had influenced society. In the post-apartheid regime, artists have now been given an apparatus to protest social issues such as inequality, sexuality, state control over the personal realm, and HIV/AIDS.[8] However, the emphasis to embody many of these social issues within Black South African art has a led to a stereotype that many young artists are now trying to escape. International pressure has been said to once again demand a level of ‘authenticity’ within South African art that portrays discourse on the topic of apartheid. Scholar Victoria Rovine goes as far as to state that “these exhibitions represent a South Africa that seeks liberation not from apartheid itself but from apartheid as an already predictable subject for artistic production.”[8] Furthermore, although South African art is not always political, conversations stemming from its interpretation are rarely apolitical and the high demand for apartheid symbols by private collectors have raised concerns over the collection of the art for the sake of nostalgia. [11]

Korea / Art / Korean Arts ( Wikipedia ) Source / Transcontinental Australia & North America or Red Sea / Protokoll 25.06.2023

Korean arts include traditions in calligraphy, music, painting and pottery, often marked by the use of natural forms, surface decoration and bold colors or sounds. The earliest examples of Korean art consist of Stone Age works dating from 3000 BC.[1] These mainly consist of votive sculptures and more recently, petroglyphs, which were rediscovered. This early period was followed by the art styles of various Korean kingdoms and dynasties. Korean artists sometimes modified Chinese traditions with a native preference for simple elegance, spontaneity, and an appreciation for purity of nature. The Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) was one of the most prolific periods for a wide range of disciplines, especially pottery. The Korean art market is concentrated in the Insadong district of Seoul where over 50 small galleries exhibit and occasional fine arts auctions. Galleries are cooperatively run, small and often with curated and finely designed exhibits. In every town there are smaller regional galleries, with local artists showing in traditional and contemporary media. Art galleries usually have a mix of media. Attempts at bringing Western conceptual art into the foreground have usually had their best success outside of Korea in New York, San Francisco, London and Paris.

History

Professionals have begun to acknowledge and sort through Korea's own unique art culture and important role in not only transmitting Chinese culture, but also assimilating and creating a unique culture of its own. "An art given birth to and developed by a nation is its own art".[2]

Neolithic era

Humans have occupied the Korean Peninsula from at least c. 50,000 BC.[3][4] Pottery dated to approximately 7,000 BC has been found. This pottery was made from clay and fired over open or semi-open pits at temperatures around 700 degrees Celsius.[5] The earliest pottery style, dated to circa 7,000 BC, were flat-bottomed wares (yunggi-mun) were decorated with relief designs, raised horizontal lines and other impressions.[6] Jeulmun-type pottery, is typically cone-bottomed and incised with a comb-pattern appearing circa 6,000 BC in the archaeological record. This type of pottery is similar to Siberian styles.[6] Mumun-type pottery emerged approximately 2000 BC and is characterized as large, undecorated pottery, mostly used for cooking and storage.

Bronze Age

Between 2000 BC and 300 BC bronze items began to be imported and made in Korea. By the seventh century BC, an indigenous bronze culture was established in Korea as evidenced by Korean bronze having a unique percentage of zinc.[5] Items manufactured during this time were weapons such as swords, daggers, and spearheads. Also, ritual items such as mirrors, bells, and rattles were made. These items were buried in dolmens with the cultural elite. Additionally, iron-rich red pots began to be created around circa 6th century. Comma-shaped beads, usually made from nephrite, known as kokkok have also been found in dolmen burials. Kokkok may be carved to imitate bear claws. Another Siberian influence can be seen in rock drawings of animals that display a "life line" in the X-ray style of Siberian art.[6]

Iron Age

The Korean Iron Age began around the 5th to 4th century BC with the arrival of the Chinese iron culture;[7][8][9] it most likely began through the contacts with the North-East Chinese state of Yan and was later developed through the Chinese Lelang Commandery.[10] Koreans have always tried to import Chinese technology and reshaped it in their own in order to make it uniquely Korean and in order to develop new technology.[8] The introduction of Chinese iron culture contributed to the rapid development of ancient Korea.[9] The Koreans then localized the Chinese iron culture into a new form of Korean iron casting technology.[7] By 300 BC, iron was widely used in Korea; however, the Iron culture of Korea continued to be deeply influenced by China which is attested by numerous archeological artifacts.[9] Korean pottery advanced with the introduction of the potters wheel and climbing kiln firing.

Three Kingdoms

Goguryeo

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Buddhist missionaries introduced Buddhism to Goguryeo in 372 CE, which then covered the central and southern parts of Manchuria and the northern half of modern-day Korea. As Buddhism infiltrated the culture, Goguryeo kings began commissioning art and architecture dedicated to Buddha. A notable aspect of Goguryeo art are tomb murals that vividly depict everyday aspects of life in the Korean ancient kingdom as well as its culture. UNESCO designated the Complex of Koguryo Tombs as a World Heritage Site. Goguryeo painting also inspired the creation of similar works in other parts of East Asia, like Japan. This can be seen in the wall murals of Horyu-ji which show its Goguryeo influence. Mural painting also spread to the other two kingdoms. These murals reveal valuable clues about the Goguryeo kingdom including the importance of Buddhism, its architecture, and the clothing commonly worn at the time. These murals were also the very beginnings of Korean landscape paintings and portraiture. However, because the tombs were easily accessed, its treasures were looted leaving very few physical artifacts.

Baekje

Baekje (or Paekche) is considered the kingdom with the greatest art among the three states. Baekje was a kingdom in southwestern Korea and was influenced by southern Chinese dynasties, such as the Liang dynasty. Baekje was also one of the kingdoms to introduce a significant Korean influence into the art of Japan during this time period.[13] Baekje Buddhist sculpture is characterized by its naturalness, warmness, and harmonious proportions exhibits a unique Korean style.[14] Another example of Korean influence is the use of the distinctive "Baekje smile", a mysterious and unique smile that is characteristic of many Baekje statutes.[15] While there are no surviving examples of wooden architecture, the Mireuksa site holds the foundation stones of a destroyed temple and two surviving granite pagodas that show what Baekje architecture may have looked. An example of Baekje architecture may be gleaned from Horyu-ji temple because Baekje architects and craftsmen helped design and construct the original temple. The tomb of King Muryeong held a treasure trove of artifacts not looted by grave robbers. Among the items were flame-like gold pins, gilt-bronze shoes, gold girdles (a symbol of royalty), and swords with gold hilts with dragons and phoenixes.[16]

Silla

The Silla Kingdom was the most isolated kingdom from the Korean peninsula because it was situated in the southeastern part of the peninsula. Because of Silla's geographic location on the peninsula, the kingdom was the last to adopt Buddhism and foreign cultural influences into their society.[17] The Silla Kingdom tombs were mostly inaccessible and so many examples of Korean art came from this kingdom. The Silla craftsman were famed for their gold-crafting ability which have similarities to Etruscan and Greek techniques, as exemplified by gold earrings and crowns.[5] Because of Silla gold artifacts bearing similarities to European techniques along with glass and beads depicting blue-eyed people found in royal tombs, many believe that the Silk Road went all the way to Korea. Most notable objects of Silla art are its gold crowns that are made from pure gold and have tree and antler-like adornments that suggest a Scythe-Siberian and Korean shamanistic tradition.[18]

Gaya

The Gaya confederacy was a group of city-states that did not consolidate into a centralized kingdom. It shared many similarities in its art, such as crowns with tree-like protrusions which are seen in Baekje and Silla. Many of the artifacts unearthed in Gaya tumuli are artifacts related to horses, such as stirrups, saddles, and horse armor. Ironware was best plentiful in this period than any age.

North-South States

North South States Period (698–926 CE) refers to the period in Korean history when Silla and Balhae coexisted in the southern and northern part of Korea, respectively.

Unified Silla

Unified Silla (668–935) was a time of great artistic output in Korea, especially in Buddhist art. Examples include the Seokguram grotto and the Bulguksa temple. Two pagodas on the ground, the Seokgatap and Dabotap are also unique examples of Silla masonry and artistry. Craftsmen also created massive temple bells, reliquaries, and statutes. The capital city of Unified Silla was nicknamed the "city of gold" because of use of gold in many objects of art.

Balhae

The composite nature of the northern Korean Kingdom of Balhae (698–926) art can be found in the two tombs of Balhae Princesses. Shown are some aristocrats, warriors, and musicians and maids of the Balhae people, who are depicted in the mural painting in the Tomb of Princess Jeonghyo, a daughter of King Mun (737-793), the third monarch of the kingdom. The murals displayed the image of the Balhae people in its completeness.

The remains of ten Buddhist temples have been found in the remains of the capital of Balhae, Sanggyeong, together with such Buddhist artifacts as Buddha statuettes and stone lanterns, which suggests that Buddhism played a predominant role in the life of the Balhae people. The Balhae tomb Majeokdal in Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, are associated with pagodas and temples: This also indicates that Buddhism had a strong influence over the funerary rituals in Balhae.

Goryeo dynasty

Dragon-shaped Celadon Ewer.

The Goryeo dynasty lasted from 918 CE to 1392. The most famous art produced by Goryeo artisans was Korean celadon pottery which was produced from circa 1050 CE to 1250 CE. While celadon originated in China, Korean potters created their own unique style of pottery that was so valued that the Chinese considered it "first under heaven" and one of the "twelve best things in the world." Jinsa "underglaze red", a technique using copper oxide pigment to create copper-red designs, was developed in Korea during the 12th century, and later inspired the "underglaze red" ceramics of the Yuan dynasty.[19][20][21] The Korean celadon had a unique glaze known as "king-fisher" color, an iron based blue-green glaze created by reducing oxygen in the kiln. Korean celadon displayed organic shapes and free-flowing style, such as pieces that were made to look like fish, melons, and other animals. Koreans invented an inlaid technique known as sanggam, where potters would engrave semi-dried pottery with designs and place materials within the decorations with black or white clay.

Joseon dynasty

Portrait of Oh jaesun (1727-1792), painted by Yi Myeonggi (1756-?) in the late 18th century, Joseon.

The influence of Confucianism superseded that of Buddhism in this period. However, Buddhist elements remained. Buddhist art did not decline, but continued and was encouraged, but not by the imperial centres of art, or the accepted taste of the Joseon dynasty publicly. However, in private homes and in the summer palaces of the Joseon dynasty kings, the simplicity of Buddhist art was given great appreciation – but it was not seen as citified art. While the Joseon dynasty began under military auspices, Goreyo styles were let to evolve, and Buddhist iconography (bamboo, orchid, plum and chrysanthemum; and the familiar knotted goodluck symbols) were still a part of genre paintings. Neither colours nor forms had any real change, and rulers stood aside from edicts on art. Ming ideals and imported techniques continued in early dynasty idealized works. Mid-dynasty painting styles moved towards increased realism. A national painting style of landscapes called "true view" began – moving from the traditional Chinese style of idealized general landscapes to particular locations exactly rendered. While not photographic, the style was academic enough to become established and supported as a standardized style in Korean painting. The mid- to late-Joseon dynasty is considered the golden age of Korean painting.[by whom?] It coincides with the shock of the collapse of Ming dynasty links with the Manchu emperors accession in China, and the forcing of Korean artists to build new artistic models based on nationalism and an inner search for particular Korean subjects. At this time China ceased to have pre-eminent influence, Korean art took its own course, and became increasingly distinctive. New genres of Korean painting flourished, such as chaekgeori (paintings of books) and munjado (paintings of letters), revealing the infatuation with books and learning in Korean culture.[22][23] Korean folk art, called minhwa, also emerged during this time.

Other visual arts

Korean art is characterized by transitions in the main religions at the time: early Korean shamanist art, then Korean Buddhist art and Korean Confucian art, through the various forms of Western arts in the 20th century. Art works in metal, jade, bamboo and textiles have had a limited resurgence. The South Korean government has tried to encourage the maintenance of cultural continuity by awards, and by scholarships for younger students in rarer Korean art forms.

Calligraphy and printing

Korean calligraphy is seen as an art where brushstrokes reveal the artist's personality enhancing the subject matter that is painted. This art form represents the apogee of Korean Confucian art. Korean fabric arts have a long history, and include Korean embroidery used in costumes and screenwork; Korean knots as best represented in the work of Choe Eun-sun, used in costumes and as wall-decorations; and lesser known weaving skills as indicated below in rarer arts. Korean paper art includes all manner of handmade paper (hanji), used for architectural purposes (window screens, floor covering), for printing, artwork, and the Korean folded arts (paper fans, paper figures), and as well Korean paper clothing which has an annual fashion show in Jeonju city attracting world attention. In the 1960s, Korean paper made from mulberry roots was discovered when the Pulguksa (temple) complex in Gyeongju was remodelled. The date on the Buddhist documents converts to a western calendar date of 751, and indicated that indeed the oft quoted claim that Korean paper can last a thousand years was proved irrevocably. However, after repeated invasions, very little early Korean paper art exists. Contemporary paper artists are very active.

Painting

From the mid-1960s, artists like Kwon Young-woo began to push paint, soak canvas, drag pencils, rip paper, and otherwise manipulate the materials of painting in ways that challenged preconceived notions of what it meant to be an ink painter (Asian painter) or oil painter (soyanghwaga), the two categories within which most artists were categorized. In the 1970s and 80, these challenges eventually became the foundation of Dansaekhwa, or Korean monochrome painting, one of the most successful and controversial artistic movements in twentieth-century Korea. Literally meaning "monochrome painting," the works of artists like Ha Chonghyun, Park Seo-bo, Lee Ufan, Yun Hyong Keun, Choi Myoung-young, Kim Guiline and Lee Dong-youb were promoted in Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris. Tansaekhwa grew to be the international face of contemporary Korean art and a cornerstone of contemporary Asian art. Abstract painting techniques around this time were influenced by Japanese and European developments in painting. Academic painting inspired by Japanese modernism was favored by the Park Chung-hee dictatorship and shown in state-run shows called Gukjeon (National Art Exhibition). The government's favoritism towards apolitical painting and censorship of political art sparked backlash from younger artists at the time who then created experimental art collectives in direct resistance to these developments in painting.[24]Some contemporary Korean painting demands an understanding of Korean ceramics and Korean pottery as the glazes used in these works and the textures of the glazes make Korean art more in the tradition of ceramic art, than of western painterly traditions, even if the subjects appear to be of western origin. Brush-strokes as well are far more important than they are to the western artist; paintings are judged on brush-strokes more often than pure technique. The contemporary artist Suh Yongsun, who is highly appreciated and was elected "Korea's artist of the year 2009",[25] makes paintings with heavy brushstrokes and shows topics like both Korean history and urban scenes especially of Western cities like New York and Berlin.[26] His artwork is a good example for the combination of Korean and Western subjects and painting styles. Other Korean artists combining modern Western and Korean painting traditions are i.e. Junggeun Oh and Tschoon Su Kim. While there have been only rare studies on Korean aesthetics, a useful place to begin for understanding how Korean art developed an aesthetic is in Korean philosophy, and related articles on Korean Buddhism, and Korean Confucianism.

North Korea

An artist of the Mansudae Art Studio paints. The particularities of North Korean communism have reinvigorated old subjects and techniques with a nationalist dimension. During Kim Il-sung's rule, painting was allowed only in the socialist realist genre and propaganda posters were the stock of North Korean visual arts. After Kim Il-sung's death in 1994, directives on painting were relaxed and sometimes completely abolished under Kim Jong-il. New art forms, including a kind of impressionism peculiar to North Korea, rose to complement posters.[27] Art forms other than socialist realism are particularly seen in the patriotic films that dominated that culture from 1949 to 1994, and the reawakened architecture, calligraphy, fabric work and neo-traditional painting, that has occurred from 1994 to date.[citation needed] The impact was greatest on revolutionary posters, lithography and multiples, dramatic and documentary film, realistic painting, grand architecture, and least in areas of domestic pottery, ceramics, exportable needlework, and the visual crafts. Sports art and politically charged revolutionary posters have been the most sophisticated and internationally collectible by auction houses and specialty collectors. North Korean painters who escaped to the United States in the late 1950s include the Fwhang sisters. Duk Soon Fwhang and Chung Soon Fwhang O'Dwyer avoid overtly political statements in favor of tempestuous landscapes, bridging Western and Far Eastern painting techniques.[28] North Korean painters are renowned for their skill, and those who manage to defect to South Korea are regularly employed as artists there.[27]

Ceramics and sculpture

The remains of early Korean pottery can be found predominantly in Gangjin. Gangjin was one of the main producers of ancient Korean pottery, therefore, many of the remains of ancient kilns can be found in that area.

Korean pottery is typically divided into three different categories: Cheongja (blue-green celadon), Baekja (white porcelain), and Buncheong (slip-coated stoneware).

Cheongja (청자)

Celadon is Korean stoneware which has gone through major development in the hands of potters during the Goryeo dynasty about 700 to 1,000 years ago.

Baekja (백자)

100–600 years ago, white porcelain ware was the main representation of Korean ceramic art. Baekja is type of ancient pottery that is characterized in various ways; the main feature was its milky white surface. Many of these artworks were decorated with a variety of painted designs using oxidized iron, copper, or cobalt blue pigments imported from Persia via China.[29]

Buncheong (분청)

These art pieces were made by Goryeo potters after the fall of their kingdom in 1392. It is mainly identified through its slip-coated surface and simple ornamental designs through various pottery techniques.[29]

In modern times, Korean pottery has gained attention and the highest praise from collectors all over the world.

Korean pottery is the most famous and senior art in Korea, it is closely tied to Korean ceramics which represents tile work, large scale ceramic murals, and architectural elements.

Spain / Arts / Declaration of Spanish Arts from History / Different Times in World / Protokollierung ( Protokoll )  25.06.2023

Spanish art has been an important contributor to Western art and Spain has produced many famous and influential artists including Velázquez, Goya and Picasso. Spanish art was particularly influenced by France and Italy during the Baroque and Neoclassical periods, but Spanish art has often had very distinctive characteristics, partly explained by the Moorish heritage in Spain (especially in Andalusia), and through the political and cultural climate in Spain during the Counter-Reformation and the subsequent eclipse of Spanish power under the Bourbon dynasty. The prehistoric art of Spain had many important periods-it was one of the main centres of European Upper Paleolithic art and the rock art of the Spanish Levant in the subsequent periods. In the Iron Age large parts of Spain were a centre for Celtic art, and Iberian sculpture has a distinct style, partly influenced by coastal Greek settlements. Spain was conquered by the Romans by 200 BC and Rome was rather smoothly replaced by the Germanic Visigoths in the 5th century AD, who soon Christianized. The relatively few remains of Visigothic art and architecture show an attractive and distinct version of wider European trends. With the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the 8th century there was a notable Moorish presence in art specially in Southern Iberia. Over the following centuries the wealthy courts of Al-Andalus produced many works of exceptional quality, culminating in the Alhambra in Granada, right at the end of Muslim Spain. Meanwhile, the parts of Spain remaining Christian, or that were re-conquered, were prominent in Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque art. Late Gothic Spanish art flourished under the unified monarchy in the Isabelline Gothic and Plateresque styles, and the already strong traditions in painting and sculpture began to benefit from the influence of imported Italian artists. The enormous wealth that followed the flood of American gold saw lavish spending on the arts in Spain, much of it directed at religious art in the Counter-Reformation. Spanish control of the leading centre of North European art, Flanders, from 1483 and also of the Kingdom of Naples from 1548, both ending in 1714, had a great influence on Spanish art, and the level of spending attracted artists from other areas, such as El Greco, Rubens and (from a safe distance) Titian in the Spanish Golden Age, as well as great native painters such as Diego Velázquez, José de Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Spanish Baroque architecture has survived in large quantity, and has both strains marked by exuberant extravagance, as in the Churrigueresque style, and a rather severe classicism, as in the work of Juan de Herrera. It was generally the former which marked the emerging art and Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish Empire outside Europe, as in Latin America (New Spanish Baroque and Andean Baroque), while the Baroque Churches of the Philippines are simpler. The decline of the Habsburg monarchy brought this period to an end, and Spanish art in the 18th and early-19th century was generally less exciting, with the huge exception of Francisco Goya. The rest of 19th-century Spanish art followed European trends, generally at a conservative pace, until the Catalan movement of Modernisme, which initially was more a form of Art Nouveau. Picasso dominates Spanish Modernism in the usual English sense, but Juan Gris, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró are other leading figures.

Ancient Iberia

The early Iberians have left many remains; northern-western Spain shares with south-western France the region where the richest Upper Paleolithic art in Europe is found in the Cave of Altamira and other sites where there are cave paintings made between 35,000 and 11,000 BC.[1] The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin (as UNESCO term it) is from the eastern side of Spain, probably dating from about 8000–3500 BC, and shows animal and hunting scenes often developed with a growing feeling for the whole composition of a large scene.[2] Portugal in particular is rich in megalithic monuments, including the Almendres Cromlech, and Iberian schematic art is stone sculpture, petroglyphs and cave paintings from the early metal ages, found all over the Iberian peninsula, with both geometric patterns, but also a higher usage of simple pictogram-like human figures than is typical of comparable art from other areas.[3] The Casco de Leiro, a late Bronze Age gold ritual helmet, may relate to other golden hats found in Germany, and the Treasure of Villena is a huge hoard of geometrically decorated vessels and jewellery, perhaps from the 10th century BC, including 10 kilos of gold.

Iberian sculpture before the Roman occupation reflects the contacts with other advanced ancient cultures who set up small coastal colonies, including the Greeks and Phoenicians; the Sa Caleta Phoenician Settlement on Ibiza has survived to be excavated, where most now lie under large towns, and the Lady of Guardamar was excavated from another Phoenician site. The Lady of Elche (probably 4th century BC) possibly represents Tanit, but also shows Hellenistic influence, as do the 6th century Sphinx of Agost and Biche of Balazote. The Bulls of Guisando are the most impressive examples of verracos, which are large Celtiberian animal sculptures in stone; the 5th century BC Bull of Osuna is a more developed single example. Some decorated falcata, the distinctive curving Iberian sword, have survived, and large numbers of bronze statuettes used as votive offerings. The Romans gradually conquered all of Iberia between 218 BC and 19 AD.[4]

As elsewhere in the Western Empire, the Roman occupation largely overwhelmed native styles; Iberia was an important agricultural area for the Romans, and the elite acquired vast estates producing wheat, olives and wine, with some later emperors coming from the Iberian provinces; many huge villas have been excavated. The Aqueduct of Segovia, Roman Walls of Lugo, Alcántara Bridge (104–106 AD), and the Tower of Hercules lighthouse are among a number of well-preserved major monuments, impressive remains of Roman engineering if not always art. Roman temples survive fairly complete at Vic, Évora (now in Portugal), and Alcántara, as well as elements in Barcelona and Córdoba. There must have been local workshops producing the high-quality mosaics found, though most of the better free-standing sculpture was probably imported.[5] The Missorium of Theodosius I is an important Late Antique silver dish that was found in Spain but was probably made in Constantinople.

Early Medieval

The Christianized Visigoths ruled Iberia after the collapse of the Empire, and the rich 7th century Treasure of Guarrazar, probably deposited to avoid looting in the Muslim Conquest of Spain, is now a unique survival of Christian votive crowns in gold; though Spanish in style, the form was probably then used by elites across Europe. Other Visigothic art in the form of metalwork, mostly jewellery and buckles, and stone reliefs, survives to give an idea of the culture of this originally barbarian Germanic people, who kept themselves very largely separate from their Iberian subjects, and whose rule crumbled when the Muslims arrived in 711.

The jewelled crux gemmata Victory Cross, La Cava Bible and the Agate Casket of Oviedo are survivals from the 9-10th century of the rich Pre-Romanesque culture of the Asturias region in north-western Spain, which remained under Christian rule; the Santa María del Naranco banqueting house overlooking Oviedo, completed in 848 and later surviving as a church, is a unique survival in Europe. The Codex Vigilanus, completed in 976 in the region of Rioja, shows a complex mixture of several styles.[8]

Muslim and Mozarab Spain

The extraordinary palace-city of Medina Azahara near Córdoba was built in the 10th century for the Ummayad Caliphs of Córdoba, intended as the capital of Islamic Andaluz, and is still being excavated. A considerable amount of the highly sophisticated decoration of the main buildings has survived, showing the enormous wealth of this very centralized state. The palace at Aljafería is later, from after Islamic Spain split into a number of kingdoms. Famous examples of Islamic architecture and its decoration are the Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba, whose Islamic elements were added in stages between 784 and 987, and the Alhambra and Generalife palaces in Granada from the final periods of Muslim Spain.[9]

The Pisa Griffin is the largest known Islamic sculpture of an animal, and the most spectacular of a group of such figures from Al-Andalus, many made to hold up the basins of fountains (as at the Alhambra), or in smaller cases as perfume-burners and the like.

The Christian population of Muslim Spain (the Mozarabs) developed a style of Mozarabic art whose best known survivals are a series of illuminated manuscripts, several of the commentaries on the Book of Revelation by the Asturian Saint Beatus of Liébana (c. 730 – c. 800), which gave subject matter that allowed the brightly coloured primitivist style full scope to demonstrate its qualities in manuscripts of the 10th century like the Morgan Beatus, probably the earliest, the Gerona Beatus (illuminated by a female artist Ende), Escorial Beatus and the Saint-Sever Beatus, which was actually produced some distance from Muslim rule in France. Mozarabic elements, including a background of brightly coloured strips, can be seen in some later Romanesque frescos.[10]

Hispano-Moresque ware pottery began in the south, presumably mainly for local markets, but Muslim potters were later encouraged to migrate to the Valencia region, where the Christian lords marketed their luxury lustrewares to elites all over Christian Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, including the Popes and the English court. Spanish Islamic ivory carving and textiles were also very fine; the continuing industries producing tiles and carpets in the peninsula owe their origins largely to the Islamic kingdoms.[11] After the expulsion of the Islamic rulers during the Reconquista, considerable Muslim populations, and Christian craftsmen trained in Muslim styles, remained in Spain, and Mudéjar is the term for work in art and architecture produced by such people. The Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the 14th century Patio de las Doncellas built for Peter of Castile in the Alcázar of Seville is another outstanding example. The style could harmonize well with Christian European medieval and Renaissance styles, for example in elaborate wood and stucco ceilings, and Mudéjar work often continued to be produced for some centuries after an area passed to Christian rule.[12]

Painting

Romanesque

In Spain, the art of the Romanesque period represented a smooth transition from the preceding Pre-Romanesque and Mozarabic styles. Many of the best surviving Romanesque church frescos that were at the time found all over Europe come from Catalonia with good examples in the churches of the Vall de Boí area; many of these were only uncovered during the 20th Century.[13] Some of the best examples have been moved to museums, especially the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, which has the famous Central Apse from Sant Climent in Taüll and the frescos from Sigena. The finest examples of Castillian Romanesque frescoes are considered to be those in the San Isidoro in Leon, the paintings from San Baudelio de Berlanga, now mostly in various museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and those from Santa Cruz de Maderuelo in Segovia.[14] There are also a number of altar frontals painted on wood and other early panel paintings.

Gothic

The Gothic art of Spain represented a gradual development from previous Romanesque styles, being led by external models, first from France, and then later from Italy. Another distinctive aspect was the incorporation of Mudejar elements. Eventually the Italian influence, which transmitted Byzantine stylistic techniques and iconography, entirely displaced the initial Franco-Gothic style[15] Catalonia continued to be a prosperous area which has left many fine altarpieces; however the region went into decline after the emphasis of trade moved to the Atlantic after the American colonies opened up, which partly accounts for so many medieval survivals there, as there was not the money for Renaissance and Baroque renovations to churches.

Early Renaissance

Due to important economic and political links between Spain and Flanders from the mid-15th century onwards, the early Renaissance in Spain was heavily influenced by Netherlandish painting, leading to the identification of a Hispano-Flemish school of painters. Leading exponents included Fernando Gallego, Bartolomé Bermejo, Pedro Berruguete and Juan de Flandes.

Renaissance and Mannerism.

Overall the Renaissance and subsequent Mannerist styles are hard to categorise in Spain, due to the mix of Flemish and Italian influences, and regional variations.[16]

The main centre for Italian Renaissance influence entering Spain was Valencia due to its proximity and close links with Italy. This influence was felt via then import of artworks, including four paintings by Piombo and many prints by Raphael, the arrival of the Italian Renaissance artist Paolo de San Leocadio,[17] and also by Spanish artists who spent time working and training there. Such artists included Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina (1475–1540) and Fernando Llanos, who displayed Leonadesque features in their works, such as delicate, melancholic expressions, and sfumato modelling of features.[18]

Elsewhere in Spain, the influence of the Italian Renaissance was less pure, with a relatively superficial use of techniques that were combined with preceding Flemish practices and incorporated Mannerist features, due to the relatively late examples from Italy, once Italian art was already strongly Mannerist.[19] Apart from technical aspects, the themes and spirit of the Renaissance were modified to the Spanish culture and religious environment. Consequently, very few classical subjects or female nudes were depicted, and the works frequently exhibited a sense of pious devotion and religious intensity – attributes that would remain dominant in much art of Counter Reformation Spain throughout the 17th century, and beyond. artists included Vicente Juan Masip (1475–1550) and his son Juan de Juanes (1510–1579), the painter and architect Pedro Machuca (1490–1550), and Juan Correa de Vivar (1510–1566). However, the most popular Spanish painter of the early 17th Century was Luis de Morales (1510?–1586), called by his contemporaries "The Divine", because of the religious intensity of his paintings.[20] From the Renaissance he also frequently used sfumato modeling, and simple compositions, but combined them with Flemish style precision of details. His subjects included many devotional images, including the Virgin and Child.

Golden Age

The Spanish Golden Age, a period of Spanish political ascendancy and subsequent decline, saw a great development of art in Spain.[21] The period is generally considered to have begun at some point after 1492 and ended by or with the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, though in art the start is delayed until the reign of Philip III (1598–1621), or just before, and the end also delayed until the 1660s or later. The style thus forms a part of the wider Baroque period in art, although as well as considerable influence from great Baroque masters such as Caravaggio and later Rubens, the distinctive nature of the art of the period also included influences that modified typical Baroque characteristics.[22] These included influence from contemporary Dutch Golden Age painting and the native Spanish tradition which give much of the art of the period an interest in naturalism, and an avoidance of the grandiosity of much Baroque art. Important early contributors included Juan Bautista Maíno (1569–1649), who brought a new naturalistic style into Spain,[23] Francisco Ribalta (1565–1628),[24] and the influential still life painter, Sánchez Cotán (1560–1627).

El Greco (1541–1614) was one of the most individualistic of the painters of the period, developing a strongly Mannerist style based on his origins in the post Byzantine Cretan school, in contrast to the naturalist approaches then predominant in Seville, Madrid and elsewhere in Spain.[26] Many of his works reflect the silvery-greys and strong colours of Venetian painters such as Titian, but combined with strange elongations of figures, unusual lighting, disposing of perspective space, and filling the surface with very visible and expressive brushwork. Although mostly active in Italy, particularly in Naples, José de Ribera (1591–1652) considered himself Spanish, and his style is sometimes used as an example of the extremes of Counter-Reformation Spanish art. His work was very influential (largely through the circulation of his drawing and prints throughout Europe) and developed significantly through his career.[28] Being the gateway to the New World, Seville became the cultural centre of Spain in the 16th Century, and attracted artists from across Europe, drawn by lure of commissions for the growing empire, and for the numerous religious houses of the wealthy city.[29] Starting from a strongly Flemish tradition of detailed and smooth brushwork, as revealed in the works of Francisco Pacheco (1564–1642), over time a more naturalistic approach developed, with the influence of Juan de Roelas (c. 1560–1624) and Francisco Herrera the Elder (1590–1654). This more naturalistic approach, influenced by Caravaggio, became predominant in Seville, and formed the training background of three Golden Age masters: Cano, Zurbarán and Velázquez.[30] Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) is known for the forceful, realistic use of chiaroscuro in his religious paintings and still lifes. Although seen as limited in his development, and struggling to handle complex scenes. Zurbarán's great ability to evoke religious feelings made him very successful in receiving commissions in conservative Counter-Reformation Seville.[31] Sharing the same painting master – Francisco Pacheco – as Velázquez, Alonso Cano (16601–1667) was also active in sculpture and architecture. His style moved from the naturalism of his early period, to a more delicate, idealistic approach, revealing Venetian and van Dyck influences.[32]

Velázquez

Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he created scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners. In many portraits, Velázquez gave a dignified quality to less fortunate members of society like beggars and dwarfs. In contrast to these portraits, the gods and goddesses of Velázquez tend to be portrayed as common people, without divine characteristics. Besides the forty portraits of Philip by Velázquez, he painted portraits of other members of the royal family, including princes, infantas (princesses), and queens.[33]

Later Baroque

Later Baroque elements were introduced as a foreign influence, through visits to Spain by Rubens, and the circulation of artists and patrons between Spain and the Spanish possessions of Naples and the Spanish Netherlands. Significant Spanish painters taking up the new style were Juan Carreño de Miranda (1614–1685), Francisco Rizi (1614–1685) and Francisco de Herrera the Younger (1627–1685), son of Francisco de Herrera the Elder an initiator of the naturalist emphasis of the Seville School. Other notable Baroque painters were Claudio Coello (1642–1693), Antonio de Pereda (1611–1678), Mateo Cerezo (1637–1666) and Juan de Valdés Leal (1622–1690).[34]

The pre-eminent painter of the period – and most famous Spanish painter prior to the 19th century appreciation of Velázquez, Zurbarán and El Greco – was Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682).[35] Working for most of his career in Seville, his early work reflected the naturalism of Caravaggio, using a subdued, brown palette, simple but not harsh lighting, and religious themes that are portrayed in a natural or domestic setting, as in his Holy Family with a Little Bird (c. 1650).[36] Later he incorporated elements of the Flemish Baroque from Rubens and Van Dyck. In the Soult Immaculate Conception, a brighter and more radiant colour range is used, the swirling cherubs bringing all the focus upon the Virgin, whose heavenward gaze and diffuse and warmly glowing halo make it an effective devotional image, an important component of his output; the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin theme alone was represented about twenty times by Murillo.[37]

18th century

The beginning of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain under Philip V led to great changes in art patronage, with the new French-oriented court favoring the styles and artists of Bourbon France. Few Spanish painters were employed by the court – a rare exception being Miguel Jacinto Meléndez (1679–1734) – and it took some time before Spanish painters adapted to the new Rococo and Neoclassical styles. Leading European painters, including Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Anton Raphael Mengs, were active and influential.[38] Restricted from royal sponsorship, many Spanish painters continued the Baroque style in religious compositions. This was true of Francisco Bayeu y Subias (1734–1795), a skilled fresco painter, and of Mariano Salvador Maella (1739–1819) who both developed in the direction of the severe Neoclassicism of Mengs.[39] Another important avenue for Spanish artists was portraiture, which was an active sphere for Antonio González Velázquez (1723–1794), Joaquín Inza (1736–1811) and Agustín Esteve (1753–1820).[40] But it is in the genre of the still life that royal patronage was also successfully found, in the works by artists such as the court painter Bartolomé Montalvo (1769–1846)[41] and Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716–1780). Continuing in the Spanish still life tradition of Sánchez Cotán and Zurbarán, Meléndez produced a series of cabinet paintings, commissioned by the Prince of Asturias, the future King Charles IV, intended to show the full range of edible foods from Spain. Rather than being merely formal studies in Natural History, he used stark lighting, low viewpoints and severe compositions to dramatise the subjects. He showed great interest and attention to the details of reflections, textures and highlights (such the highlight on the patterned vase in Still Life with Oranges, Jars, and Boxes of Sweets) reflecting the new spirit of the age of Enlightenment.[42]

Goya

Francisco Goya was a portraitist and court painter to the Spanish Crown, a chronicler of history, and, in his unofficial work, a revolutionary and a visionary. Goya painted the Spanish royal family, including Charles IV of Spain and Ferdinand VII. His themes range from merry festivals for tapestry, draft cartoons, to scenes of war, fighting and corpses. In his early stage, he painted draft cartoons as templates for tapestries and focused on scenes from everyday life with vivid colors. During his lifetime, Goya also made several series of grabados, etchings which depicted the decadence of society and the horrors of war. His most famous painting series are the Black Paintings, painted at the end of his life. This series features works that are obscure in both color and meaning, producing uneasiness and shock. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is often referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.

19th century

Various art movements of the 19th Century influenced Spanish artists, largely through them undertaking training in foreign capitals, particularly in Paris and Rome. In this way Neo-classicism, Romanticism, Realism and Impressionism became important strands. However, they were often delayed or transformed by local conditions, including repressive governments, and by the tragedies of the Carlist Wars.[43] Portraits and historical subjects were popular, and the art of the past - particularly the styles and techniques of Velázquez - were significant. Early years were still dominated by the academicism of Vincente López (1772–1850) and then the Neoclassicism of the French painter, Jacques-Louis David, as in the works by José de Madrazo (1781–1859), the founder of an influential line of artists and gallery directors. His son, Federico de Madrazo (1781–1859), was a leading figure in Spanish Romanticism, together with Leonardo Alenza (1807–1845), Valeriano Bécquer and Antonio María Esquivel.[44]

The later part of the century saw a strong period of Romanticism represented in history paintings, as in the works of Antonio Gisbert (1834–1901), Eduardo Rosales (1836–1873) and Francisco Pradilla (1848–1921). In these works the techniques of Realism were frequently used with Romantic subjects. This can clearly be seen in Joan the Mad, a famed early work by Pradilla. The composition, facial expressions, and stormy sky reflect the dramatic emotion of the scene; yet the precise clothing, the texture of the mud, and other details, show great realism in the artist's attitude and style.[45] Mariano Fortuny(1838–1874) also developed a strong Realist style, after earlier being influenced by the French Romantic Eugène Delacroix, and became Spain's famous artist of the century[46]

Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923) excelled in the dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land, thus reflecting the spirit of Impressionism in many paintings, particularly his famous seaside paintings. In Children on the beach he makes the reflections, shadows and gloss of the water and skin his true subject. The composition is very daring, with the horizon omitted, one of the boys cut off, and strong diagonals leading to the contrasts and increased saturation of the upper-left of the work.[47]

20th century

During the first half of 20th century many leading Spanish artists were working in Paris, where they contributed to – and sometimes led – developments in the Modernist art movement.[48] As perhaps the most important example of this, Picasso, working together with the French artist Braque, created the concepts of Cubism; and the sub-movement of Synthetic Cubism has been judged to have found its purest expression in the paintings and collages of Madrid-born Juan Gris.[49] In a similar way, Salvador Dalí became a central figure of the Surrealist movement in Paris; and Joan Miró was influential in abstract art.

Picasso's Blue Period (1901–1904), which consisted of somber, blue-tinted paintings was influenced by a trip through Spain. The Museu Picasso in Barcelona features many of Picasso's early works, created while he was living in Spain, as well as the extensive collection of Jaime Sabartés, Picasso's close friend from his Barcelona days who, for many years, was Picasso's personal secretary. There are many precise and detailed figure studies done in his youth under his father's tutelage, as well as rarely seen works from his old age that clearly demonstrate Picasso's firm grounding in classical techniques. Picasso presented the most durable homage to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas in his characteristically cubist form. While Picasso was worried that if he copied Velázquez's painting, it would be seen only as a copy and not as any sort of unique representation, he proceeded to do so, and the enormous work—the largest he had produced since Guernica in 1937—earned a position of relevance in the Spanish canon of art. Málaga, Picasso's birthplace, houses two museums with significant collections, the Museo Picasso Málaga and Birthplace Museum. Salvador Dalí was a central artist within the Surrealist movement in Paris. Although Dalí was criticized for accommodating Franco's regime, André Breton, the Surrealist leader and poet, asked him to represent Spain at the 1959 Homage to Surrealism Exhibition which celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Surrealism. In line with the Surrealist movement's objectives, Dalí stated that his artistic aim was that "the world of imagination and of concrete irrationality may be as objectively evident ... as that of the exterior world",[50] and this goal can be seen in one of his most familiar paintings,[51] The Persistence of Memory. Here he paints with a precise, realistic style, based on studies of Dutch and Spanish masters,[52] but with a subject that dissolves the boundaries between organic and mechanical and is more akin to the nightmarish scenes of the Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, whose Garden of Earthly Delights provided the model for the central, sleeping figure of Dalí's work. Joan Miró was also closely associated with the Surrealists in Paris, who particularly approved of his use of automatism in composition and execution, designed to expose the subconscious mind.[53] Although his later and more popular paintings are refined, whimsical and apparently effortless, his influential period in the 1920s and 1930s produced works that were provocative in their sexual symbolism and imagery, and employing rough, experimental materials, including sandpaper, unsized canvases, and collage.[54] In mature period painting, La Leçon de Ski, his characteristic language of signs, figures and black linear forms against more textured and painterly background is evident.

Post WW2

In the post-War period, the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies became famous for his abstract works, many of which use very thick textures and the incorporation of non-standard materials and objects. Tàpies has won several international awards for his works.[55]

Sculpture

Sepulcher of Elanor of Aragon, in the Cathedral of Toledo.

The Plateresque style extended from beginnings of the 16th century until the last third of the century and its stylistic influence pervaded the works of all great Spanish artists of the time. Alonso Berruguete (sculptor, painter and architect) is called the "Prince of Spanish sculpture" because of the grandeur, originality, and expressiveness achieved in his works. His main works were the upper stalls of the choir of the Cathedral of Toledo, the tomb of Cardinal Tavera in the same Cathedral, and the altarpiece of the Visitation in the church of Santa Úrsula in the same locality.

Saint John the Baptist, by Alonso Cano from the province of Valladolid. Now in the National Museum of Sculpture of Castile and León, Valladolid.

Another period of Spanish Renaissance sculpture, the Baroque, encompassed the last years of the 16th century and extended into the 17th century until reaching its final flowering the 18th, developing a truly Spanish school and style, of sculpture, more realistic, intimate and independently creative than that of the previous one which was tied to European trends, especially those of the Netherlands and Italy. There were two Schools of special flair and talent: the Seville School, to which Juan Martínez Montañés belonged (called the Sevillian Fidias), whose most celebrated works are the Crucifix in the Cathedral of Seville, another in Vergara, and a Saint John; and the Granada School, to which Alonso Cano belonged, to whom an Immaculate Conception and a Virgin of Rosary, are attributed.

The Valladolid school of the 17th century (Gregorio Fernández, Francisco del Rincón) was succeeded in the 18th century, although with less brilliance, by the Madrid School, and it was soon transformed into a purely academic style by the middle of the century. In turn, the Andalusian school was replaced by that of Murcia, epitomised in the person of Francisco Salzillo, during the first half of the century. This last sculptor is distinguished by the originality, fluidity, and dynamic treatment of his works, even in those representations of great tragedy. More than 1,800 works are attributed to him, the most famous products of his hand being the Holy Week floats (pasos) in Murcia, most notable amongst which are those of the Agony in the Garden and the Kiss of Judas.

In the 20th century the most important Spanish sculptors were Julio González, Pablo Gargallo, Eduardo Chillida and Pablo Serrano.

Spanish collectors and museums of art

The Spanish royal collection was accumulated by Spanish monarchs beginning with Isabel the Catholic, Queen of Castile (1451–1504), who accumulated large and impressive collections of objets d'art, 370 tapestries, and 350 paintings, a number by important artists including Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Hieronymus Bosch, Juan de Flandes, and Sandro Botticelli.[56] However many of these were dispersed by auction after her death in 1504. Isabel's grandson, Charles I, the first Habsburg king of Spain, was a patron and collector of art, as was his sister, Mary of Hungary. Both admired works by Titian. When the siblings died, the art passed to Philip II of Spain, Charles's son, an even keener collector.[57] Philip IV (1605–1665) followed in the family tradition as a passionate art collector and patron. During his reign, Velázquez, Zurbarán and others produced many works of art. Philip commissioned works and purchased others, sending his representatives to acquire works for the monarch's collection. One of Philip IV's major contributions to art in Spain was to entail his collection, preventing their sale or other dispersal.[58] Under the Spanish Bourbon monarch, Charles IV, the notion of bringing together major works from other repositories in Spain took shape, probably not for the public to view but for artists to study.[59] The Prado Museum in Madrid became the main repository for that art.

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Francisco, founded in 1744, now functions also as a museum in Madrid. The Museum of the Americas in Madrid has a collection of casta paintings and other art brought back to Spain from the Americas, as well as sculpture and archeological artifacts.

Sweden / Arts / Swedish Art / ( Transcontinental ) Europe to North America or Antarctica or ( NEOM )/ ( Protokollierung ) 25.06.2023

Swedish art refers to the visual arts produced in Sweden or by Swedish artists. Sweden has existed as a country for over 1,000 years, and for times before this, as well as many subsequent periods, Swedish art is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. It has, especially since about 1100, been strongly influenced by wider trends in European art. After World War II, the influence of the United States strengthened substantially. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Swedish art has a big production per capita. Though usually not especially a major centre for art production or exporter of art, Sweden has been relatively successful in keeping its art; in particular, the relatively mild nature of the Swedish Reformation, and the lack of subsequent extensive rebuilding and redecoration of churches, has meant that with other Scandinavian countries, Sweden has had an unusually rich survival of medieval church paintings and fittings. One period when Nordic art exerted a strong influence over the rest of northern Europe was in Viking art, and there are many survivals, both in stone monuments left untouched around the countryside, and objects excavated in modern times. The Reformation greatly disrupted Swedish artistic traditions, and left the existing body of painters and sculptors without large markets. The requirements of the court and aristocracy were mainly for portraits, usually by imported artists, and it was not until the late 17th or 18th century that large numbers of Swedes were trained in contemporary styles. The political success of the Vasa dynasty led to a considerable revival, expressed in the "Gustavan style", which again had some influence over neighbouring countries. Among famous Swedish artists are John Bauer, Hilma af Klint, Carl Milles, Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson and Carl Eldh.

History

When the Ice Age ended, the Scandinavian peninsula was populated from the south by hunters and gatherers. Art surviving from that period are Stone Age expressions and are simple and reflect the available material. Only the truly persistent art forms have survived the ravages of time: petroglyphs are such an expression. The earliest rock carvings in the form of symbols, characters and images are carved in rock outcrops and boulders. They began to be produced about 7000 BC. Sweden has one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs with a local center in Tanum Municipality in Bohuslän province. During the Bronze Age, a spiral ornamentation was produced in the style that existed in Denmark.[1] From about 400 AD, the development of the Nordic animal ornamentation, an unusually rich and imaginative style that reached its peak during the 7th century with the so-called Vendel style. Animal ornamentation experienced a renewed flourishing on the runestones. Runestones – some of which are quite illustrative and are therefore called "image blocks" – were added between about 200 AD and 1130 with a flourishing during the period 980–1100. As an art form, the runestone is specific to Nordic culture. Sweden leads the way with the highest number of runestones, with a total of 2,800 inscriptions. Approximately 85% of all the identified blocks have been in Sweden.[2] The stones were originally painted and combined text with ornamentation and stylized characters. They can be divided into seven different styles.[3] Some of the first known image-makers in Sweden were, in fact, rune carvers. Sweden, especially the south of the country, also participated in Viking Age art, along with the rest of Scandinavia.

Medieval and Gothic art

This painting by Albertus Pictor can be seen in Härkeberga Church (c. 1480).

With the advent of Christianity came a new iconography, originally established in the churches, particularly in the form of baptismal fonts, rood crosses and devotional sculptures. According to the Swedish History Museum, no other country has such a rich and comprehensive collection of medieval liturgical art.[4] The earliest art made for the churches was Romanesque in style. It also included fabrics and gold works. From the 12th century, Gotland was a center for sculptors, such as Majestatis and Byzantios, artists known by later notnames. The Viklau Madonna, one of the most well-preserved wooden sculptures from the 12th century in Europe, was made in a workshop on Gotland which also produced rood crosses.[5]

The Gothic style came to Sweden during the second half of the 13th century. Linköping Cathedral is built in English Gothic style and contains richly decorated sculptures. Other works from this period exhibit a French influence, for example the triumphal cross from Öja Church, Gotland and St. Erik's statue in Roslags-Bro Church in Uppland. Most of the artistic influences of the time, however, were conveyed via present-day Germany. Apart from wooden and stone sculpture, a large amount of decorative church murals survive in Sweden. These paintings, which decorated the vaults and walls of the churches, survive in large numbers notably in Scania and Uppland. Visual narratives gained momentum in the churches in central Sweden in the late 15th century by masters such as Nils Håkansson and Albertus Pictor. Motifs during this period were often religious or mythical. There are also Gothic monumental paintings on wood in Sweden.[1] Sweden also has the largest amount of preserved medieval stained glass in the Nordic countries, the majority of which is preserved in the churches of Gotland. Contemporary with Albertus Pictor is the famous sculpture of Saint George and the Dragon in the Great Church of Stockholm.[6] It was made by the German-born painter and sculptor Bernt Notke, one of the most influential northern European artists of the late Middle Ages.[7] Notke, who periodically lived in Sweden, was very productive and had great influence with an intense and expressionistic style.[8]

Renaissance and Baroque art

The Vasa period of art consisted largely of portraits of princes, which were painted by foreign artists who were active in Sweden. Urban Larsson with his Vädersoltavla from 1535, in the Great Church in Stockholm, was an exception. He is one of the few well-known Swedish artists during the Vasa period and the Renaissance era.[6]

The pompous, happy and decorative made its entrance in the 17th century Great Power – during the 17th and 18th centuries the first few decades – was a grand time for architecture. A number of castles, mansions and churches built, like the Royal Palace, meant that artists were called from abroad. These foreign artists trained new generations of Swedish artists. More significant art collections were acquired through spoils of war. One famous artist was the court painter David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl.[6] Ehrenstral was also a portraitist and animal painter, and worked with the Drottningholm Palace, together with Johan Sylvius. Erik Dahlbergh depicted the superpower era of Sweden in the great work Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna. Other painters were David von Krafft, Michael Dahl.[1]

Rococo and the Gustavian style

Liberty and the Gustavian period was a major cultural boom in Sweden. At this time, Rococo was the initial style.[clarification needed] Future portrait paintings made it internationally known in Swedish painting.[1] During the period, many Swedish artists moved to continental Europe. A representative of the rococo was Gustaf Lundberg. His technique was long dominant in the Swedish portrait arts, and he is represented at the Louvre and the National Museum and Art Academy. The French painter Guillaume Taraval was called upon to decorate the Royal Palace. Together with Carl Hårleman he advocated the new relaxed style. A leading style artist was Jean Eric Rehn, a student of Hårleman, who worked as craftsmen, architect and artist.

Alexander Roslin took inspiration from France and conducted many highly sensitive portraits of the era's finest personalities. Some of Roslin's portraits are among the most reproduced from the period. Of major importance was also Carl Gustaf Pilo, who became a court painter in Denmark. Pilo was inspired both by Venetian artists and the Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn. Pilo returned, however, to Sweden and then painted the great work Gustaf III's coronation in Stockholm Cathedral.[1]

Other prominent names were Johan Pasch, Per Krafft the Elder, Peter Adolf Hall, Pehr Hilleström and, perhaps most importantly, Johan Tobias Sergel. Over time, beginning around 1770, Rococo was succeeded in Sweden by the Gustavian period. Swedish neoclassicism is said to have begun around 1785. The Gustavian period was characterized by both French and English influence.

After Gustav III's death, there was a period of stagnation in Swedish art. On the other hand, peasant painting flourished in particular, Dalarna and Hälsingland with painting and Dala horses during this time.[clarification needed] Peasantry painting became a major inspiration for the 18th century artist Carl Larsson. Gothicism and Neoclassicism were the styles of art for several decades, including artists like the sculptor Bengt Fogelberg.[6] Fogelberg, who was inspired by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, created powerful statues of Nordic deities and historical figures.

Karl Johan style

From the mid-19th century and a few decades later, nature paintings dominated the scene, with Marcus Larsson in the lead. Artists that pointed to something new were Egron Lundgren and Carl Fredrik Hill. Hill became one of the foremost Swedish landscape painters as he had views that reflected his personality and often express despair and darkness. Egron Lundberg developed watercolor art, as he traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and painted his findings. Historical painting was also done extensively during the period, including artists such as Carl Gustaf Hellqvist and Gustaf Cederström.[6] Another painter was August Malmström, who created historic and romantic nature works and illustrated many fairytales.

Romanticism and naturalism

From an international perspective Swedish-produced art languished in obscurity until the late 19th century, when a number of Swedish artists gained attention outside of Sweden. Especially the 1880s and the following two decades were periods of greatness in the Swedish art. Perhaps the best artist of them is the painter, sculptor, and printmaker Anders Zorn. Zorn was an extremely talented oil painter with a very precise but free style.

Anders Zorn painted landscapes and people and is known for his nude studies of the hillocks from Dalarna.[clarification needed] Zorn was also concerned with depicting peasant life in his home province of Dalarna. Amalia Lindegren also created glorified scenes of the Swedish peasant and folk. Zorn was counted as one of the foremost painters in Europe in the late 19th century and made many portraits of contemporary celebrities.[9] Some famous work is Love's Nymph (1883), A Prime (1888), Midsummer Dance (1897), President Grover Cleveland (1899) and Bathing hills (1906). Zorn's art is featured at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the White House, and his works are among the most valued of all Swedish artists.

Another big name from this generation is Carl Larsson. Larsson, like Zorn, appeared in Dalarna and is one of the most beloved Swedish artists. Larsson painted primarily in watercolor and his motifs were found in daily life: he often portrayed his own family and their home in Sundborn. His style is airy, very light and is characterized by a skillful interplay of surfaces and lines. Larsson created frescoes and wall paintings, like "Midvinterblot" and several other frescoes in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Larsson became very famous in Germany in connection with an art book, A Home, that was published there. Another painter who achieved great popularity was Bruno Liljefors with very precise paintings of nature and animals in motion.

Two painters with great stylistic ability were Eugène Jansson and Ernst Josephson. Taking stylistic inspiration from van Gogh, Jansson's paintings are often geometrically simple large forms, tranquil Stockholm motifs as well as powerful homoerotic male figures. Josephsson is more varied and known for masterful oil portraits. He became an inspiration for the later modernism. Portrait painting was also developed by Richard Bergh as well as by Nils Kreuger. A significant development came in 1885 with the artists' group Opponenterna ('the Opponents'), who wanted to renew Swedish painting and gathered many of those names. A few years later, in the 1890s, Bergh and Kreuger founded the Varberg School [sv] together with Karl Nordström. They reacted against the realistic landscape style and were inspired by Paul Gauguin.[10] Especially Nordström was inspired by the French impressionists. A close friend of Nordström was the author and the universal genius of August Strindberg. Even Strindberg was an important Swedish painter from the period. The rise of women artists, such as Eva Bonnier, and Hanna Pauli, who took inspiration from Rembrandt and others, also became prominent in this period.[6]

Modernism and expressionism

Modernism began to enter Swedish art with Axel Törneman and then De unga [sv] ('the Young Ones', also known as 1909 års män, 'the Men of 1909'), which was a group of young male artists, mainly from Konstnärsförbundets skola. More abstract forms were represented by Hilma af Klint, Nils von Dardel and Gösta Adrian Nilsson.[6] The mid-1920s and a couple of decades following were both characterized by surrealism, the Halmstad Group, and of expressionism, which includes Gothenburg School realists Sven Erixson and Bror Hjorth, and a rigorous formalist, abstract minimalism of artists such as Olle Bærtling [sv].[6] Among the sculptors of the period are Carl Eldh and Carl Milles. Both have had great influence and the latter is perhaps the most famous Swedish sculptor of all time. From the same generation of sculptors came the self-taught wood sculptor and realist people portrayer Axel Petersson Döderhultarn. After World War II, Swedish art was in somewhat of a boom and a host of artists established themselves. With a new democratic idea in 1947 that art was founded for everyone, popular movements promoting art and in the same period also launched a variety of arts organizations across the country. Among the radicals of the 1930s, such as painter Albin Amelin and graphic artist and monumental painter Torsten Billman, the work continued to bring images to the working people. Torsten Billman also reached new groups through his literary illustrations. In the 1950s expressionists emerged like Torsten Renqvist [sv] and more informal painters such as Rune Jansson (artist) [sv] and Eddie Figge [sv].[6]

In the early 1960s, Swedish art was revitalized by graphic artists such as Philip von Schantz [sv] and Nils G. Stenqvist [sv].

United Kingdom / Arts / U.K / European Continent / Transcontinental to North America & Oceania or NEOM / ( Protokollierung ) 25.06.2023

The Art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the United Kingdom since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms part of Western art history. During the 18th century, Britain began to reclaim the leading place England had previously played in European art during the Middle Ages, being especially strong in portraiture and landscape art. Increased British prosperity at the time led to a greatly increased production of both fine art and the decorative arts, the latter often being exported. The Romantic period resulted from very diverse talents, including the painters William Blake, J. M. W. Turner, John Constable and Samuel Palmer. The Victorian period saw a great diversity of art, and a far bigger quantity created than before. Much Victorian art is now out of critical favour, with interest concentrated on the Pre-Raphaelites and the innovative movements at the end of the 18th century. The training of artists, which had long been neglected, began to improve in the 18th century through private and government initiatives, and greatly expanded in the 19th century. Public exhibitions and the later opening of museums brought art to a wider public, especially in London. In the 19th century publicly displayed religious art once again became popular after a virtual absence since the Reformation, and, as in other countries, movements such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Glasgow School contended with established Academic art. The British contribution to early Modernist art was relatively small, but since World War II British artists have made a considerable impact on Contemporary art, especially with figurative work, and Britain remains a key centre of an increasingly globalized art world.[citation needed]

The oldest surviving British art includes Stonehenge from around 2600 BC, and tin and gold works of art produced by the Beaker people from around 2150 BC. The La Tène style of Celtic art reached the British Isles rather late, no earlier than about 400 BC, and developed a particular "Insular Celtic" style seen in objects such as the Battersea Shield, and a number of bronze mirror-backs decorated with intricate patterns of curves, spirals and trumpet-shapes. Only in the British Isles can Celtic decorative style be seen to have survived throughout the Roman period, as shown in objects like the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan and the resurgence of Celtic motifs, now blended with Germanic interlace and Mediterranean elements, in Christian Insular art. This had a brief but spectacular flowering in all the countries that now form the United Kingdom in the 7th and 8th centuries, in works such as the Book of Kells and Book of Lindisfarne. The Insular style was influential across Northern Europe, and especially so in later Anglo-Saxon art, although this received new Continental influences. The English contribution to Romanesque art and Gothic art was considerable, especially in illuminated manuscripts and monumental sculpture for churches, though the other countries were now essentially provincial, and in the 15th century Britain struggled to keep up with developments in painting on the Continent. A few examples of top-quality English painting on walls or panel from before 1500 have survived, including the Westminster Retable, The Wilton Diptych and some survivals from paintings in Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster.[1]  The Protestant Reformations of England and Scotland were especially destructive of existing religious art, and the production of new work virtually ceased. The Artists of the Tudor Court were mostly imported from Europe, setting a pattern that would continue until the 18th century. The portraiture of Elizabeth I ignored contemporary European Renaissance models to create iconic images that border on naive art. The portraitists Hans Holbein and Anthony van Dyck were the most distinguished and influential of a large number of artists who spent extended periods in Britain, generally eclipsing local talents like Nicolas Hilliard, the painter of portrait miniatures, Robert Peake the elder, William Larkin, William Dobson, and John Michael Wright, a Scot who mostly worked in London.[2] Landscape painting was as yet little developed in Britain at the time of the Union, but a tradition of marine art had been established by the father and son both called Willem van de Velde, who had been the leading Dutch maritime painters until they moved to London in 1673, in the middle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War.[3]

Early 18th century

The so-called Acts of Union 1707 came in the middle of the long period of domination in London of Sir Godfrey Kneller, a German portraitist who had eventually succeeded as principal court painter the Dutch Sir Peter Lely, whose style he had adopted for his enormous and formulaic output, of greatly varying quality, which was itself repeated by an army of lesser painters. His counterpart in Edinburgh, Sir John Baptist Medina, born in Brussels to Spanish parents, had died just before the Union took place, and was one of the last batch of Scottish knights to be created. Medina had first worked in London, but in mid-career moved to the less competitive environment of Edinburgh, where he dominated portraiture of the Scottish elite. However, after the Union the movement was to be all in the other direction, and Scottish aristocrats resigned themselves to paying more to have their portraits painted in London, even if by Scottish painters such as Medina's pupil William Aikman, who moved down in 1723, or Allan Ramsay.[4] There was an alternative, more direct, tradition in British portraiture to that of Lely and Kneller, tracing back to William Dobson and the German or Dutch Gerard Soest, who trained John Riley, to whom only a few works are firmly attributed and who in turn trained Jonathan Richardson, a fine artist who trained Thomas Hudson who trained Joshua Reynolds and Joseph Wright of Derby. Richardson also trained the most notable Irish portraitist of the period, Charles Jervas who enjoyed social and financial success in London despite his clear limitations as an artist.[5] An exception to the dominance of the "lower genres" of painting was Sir James Thornhill (1675/76–1734) who was the first and last significant English painter of huge Baroque allegorical decorative schemes, and the first native painter to be knighted. His best-known work is at Greenwich Hospital, Blenheim Palace and the cupola of Saint Paul's Cathedral, London. His drawings show a taste for strongly drawn realism in the direction his son-in-law William Hogarth was to pursue, but this is largely overridden in the finished works, and for Greenwich he took to heart his careful list of "Objections that will arise from the plain representation of the King's landing as it was in fact and in the modern way and dress" and painted a conventional Baroque glorification.[6] Like Hogarth, he played the nationalist card in promoting himself, and eventually beat Sebastiano Ricci to enough commissions that in 1716 he and his team retreated to France, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini having already left in 1713. Once the other leading foreign painters of allegoric schemes, Antonio Verrio and Louis Laguerre, had died in 1707 and 1721 respectively, Thornhill had the field to himself, although by the end of his life commissions for grand schemes had dried up from changes in taste.[7] From 1714 the new Hanoverian dynasty conducted a far less ostentatious court, and largely withdrew from patronage of the arts, other than the necessary portraits. Fortunately, the booming British economy was able to supply aristocratic and mercantile wealth to replace the court, above all in London.[8]

William Hogarth was a great presence in the second quarter of the century, whose art was successful in achieving a particular English character, with vividly moralistic scenes of contemporary life, full of both satire and pathos, attuned to the tastes and prejudices of the Protestant middle-class, who bought the engraved versions of his paintings in huge numbers. Other subjects were only issued as prints, and Hogarth was both the first significant British printmaker, and still the best known. Many works were series of four or more scenes, of which the best known are: A Harlot's Progress and A Rake's Progress from the 1730s and Marriage à-la-mode from the mid-1740s. In fact, although he only once briefly left England and his own propaganda asserted his Englishness and often attacked the Old Masters, his background in printmaking, more closely aware of Continental art than most British painting, and apparently his ability to quickly absorb lessons from other painters, meant that he was more aware of, and made more use of, Continental art than most of his contemporaries.

Like many later painters Hogarth wanted above all to achieve success at history painting in the Grand Manner, but his few attempts were not successful and are now little regarded. His portraits were mostly of middle-class sitters shown with an apparent realism that reflected both sympathy and flattery, and included some in the fashionable form of the conversation piece, recently introduced from France by Philippe Mercier, which was to remain a favourite in Britain, taken up by artists such as Francis Hayman, though usually abandoned once an artist could get good single figure commissions.[9]

There was a recognition that, even more than the rest of Europe given the lack of British artists, the training of artists needed to be extended beyond the workshop of established masters, and various attempts were made to set up academies, starting with Kneller in 1711, with the help of Pellegrini, in Great Queen Street. The academy was taken over by Thornhill in 1716, but seems to have become inactive by the time John Vanderbank and Louis Chéron set up their own academy in 1720. This did not last long, and in 1724/5 Thornhill tried again in his own house, with little success. Hogarth inherited the equipment for this, and used it to start the St. Martin's Lane Academy in 1735, which was the most enduring, eventually being absorbed by the Royal Academy in 1768. Hogarth also helped solve the problem of a lack of exhibition venues in London, arranging for shows at the Foundling Hospital from 1746.[10]

The Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay worked in Edinburgh before moving to London by 1739. He made visits of three years to Italy at the beginning and end of his career, and anticipated Joshua Reynolds in bringing a more relaxed version of "Grand Manner" to British portraiture, combined with very sensitive handling in his best work, which is generally agreed to have been of female sitters. His main London rival in the mid-century, until Reynolds made his reputation, was Reynold's master, the stodgy Thomas Hudson.[11]

John Wootton, active from about 1714 to his death in 1765, was the leading sporting painter of his day, based in the capital of English horse racing at Newmarket, and producing large numbers of portraits of horses and also battle scenes and conversation pieces with a hunting or riding setting. He had begun life as a page to the family of the Dukes of Beaufort, who in the 1720s sent him to Rome, where he acquired a classicising landscape style based on that of Gaspard Dughet and Claude, which he used in some pure landscape paintings, as well as views of country houses and equine subjects. This introduced an alternative to the various Dutch and Flemish artists who had previously set the prevailing landscape style in Britain, and through intermediary artists such as George Lambert, the first British painter to base a career on landscape subjects, was to greatly influence other British artists such as Gainsborough.[12] Samuel Scott was the best of the native marine and townscape artists, though in the latter specialization he could not match the visiting Canaletto, who was in England from nine years from 1746, and whose Venetian views were a favourite souvenir of the Grand Tour.[13] The antiquary and engraver George Vertue was a figure in the London art scene for most of the period, and his copious notebooks were adapted and published in the 1760s by Horace Walpole as Some Anecdotes of Painting in England, which remains a principal source for the period.[14] From his arrival in London in 1720, the Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack was the leader in his field until the arrival in 1730 of Louis-François Roubiliac who had a Rococo style which was highly effective in busts and small figures, though by the following decade he was also commissioned for larger works. He also produced models for the Chelsea porcelain factory founded in 1743, a private enterprise which sought to compete with Continental factories mostly established by rulers. Roubiliac's style formed that of the leading native sculptor Sir Henry Cheere, and his brother John who specialized in statues for gardens.[15] The strong London silversmithing trade was dominated by the descendants of Huguenot refugees like Paul de Lamerie, Paul Crespin, Nicholas Sprimont, and the Courtauld family, as well as Georges Wickes. Orders were received from as far away as the courts of Russia and Portugal, though English styles were still led by Paris.[16] The manufacture of silk at Spitalfields in London was also a traditional Huguenot business, but from the late 1720s silk design was dominated by the surprising figure of Anna Maria Garthwaite, a parson's daughter from Lincolnshire who emerged at the age of 40 as a designer of largely floral patterns in Rococo styles.[17] Unlike in France and Germany, the English adoption of the Rococo style was patchy rather than whole-hearted, and there was resistance to it on nationalist grounds, led by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and William Kent, who promoted styles in interior design and furniture to match the Palladianism of the architecture they produced together, also beginning the influential British tradition of the landscape garden,[18] according to Nikolaus Pevsner "the most influential of all English innovations in art".[19] The French-born engraver Hubert-François Gravelot, in London from 1732 to 1745, was a key figure in importing Rococo taste in book illustrations and ornament prints for craftsmen to follow.[20]

Late 18th century

In the modern popular mind, English art from about 1750–1790 — today referred to as the "classical age" of English painting — was dominated by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), George Stubbs (1724–1806), Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) and Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797). At the time Reynolds was considered the dominant figure, Gainsborough was very highly reputed, but Stubbs was seen as a mere painter of animals and viewed as far a less significant figure than many other painters that are today little-known or forgotten. The period saw continued rising prosperity for Britain and British artists: "By the 1780s English painters were among the wealthiest men in the country, their names familiar to newspaper readers, their quarrels and cabals the talk of the town, their subjects known to everyone from the displays in the print-shop windows", according to Gerald Reitlinger.[21] Reynolds returned from a long visit to Italy in 1753, and very quickly established a reputation as the most fashionable London portraitist, and before long as a formidable figure in society;, the public leader of the arts in Britain. He had studied both classical and modern Italian art, and his compositions discreetly re-use models seen on his travels. He could convey a wide range of moods and emotions, whether heroic military men or very young women, and often to unite background and figure in a dramatic way.[22] The Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce had been founded in 1754, principally to provide a location for exhibitions. In 1761 Reynolds was a leader in founding the rival Society of Artists of Great Britain, where the artists had more control. This continued until 1791, despite the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768, which immediately became both the most important exhibiting organization and the most important school in London. Reynolds was its first President, holding the office until his death in 1792. His published Discourses, first delivered to the students, were regarded as the first major writing on art in English, and set out the aspiration for a style to match the classical grandeur of classical sculpture and High Renaissance painting.[23]After the academy was established, Reynolds' portraits became more overly classicizing, and often more distant, until in the late 1770s he returned to a more intimate style, perhaps influenced by the success of Thomas Gainsborough,[24] who only settled in London in 1773, after working in Ipswich and then Bath. While Reynolds' practice of aristocratic portraits seem exactly matched to his talents, Gainsborough, if not forced to follow the market for his work, might well have developed as a pure landscape painter, or a portraitist in the informal style of many of his portraits of his family. He continued to paint pure landscapes, largely for pleasure until his later years; full recognition of his landscapes came only in the 20th century. His main influences were French in his portraits and Dutch in his landscapes, rather than Italian, and he is famous for the brilliant light touch of his brushwork.[25] George Romney also became prominent in about 1770 and was active until 1799, though with a falling-off in his last years. His portraits are mostly characterful but flattering images of dignified society figures, but he developed an obsession with the flighty young Emma Hamilton from 1781, painting her about sixty times in more extravagant poses.[26] His work was especially sought-after by American collectors in the early 20th century and many are now in American museums.[27] By the end of the period this generation had been succeeded by younger portraitists including John Hoppner, Sir William Beechey and the young Gilbert Stuart, who only realized his mature style after he returned to America.[28] The Welsh painter Richard Wilson returned to London from seven years in Italy in 1757, and over the next two decades developed a "sublime" landscape style adapting the Franco-Italian tradition of Claude and Gaspard Dughet to British subjects. Though much admired, like those of Gainsborough his landscapes were hard to sell, and he sometimes resorted, as Reynolds complained, to the common strategem of turning them into history paintings by adding a few small figures, which doubled their price to about £80.[29] He continued to paint scenes set in Italy, as well as England and Wales, and his death in 1782 came just as large numbers of artists began to travel to Wales, and later the Lake District and Scotland in search of mountainous views, both for oil paintings and watercolours which were now starting their long period of popularity in Britain, both with professionals and amateurs. Paul Sandby, Francis Towne, John Warwick Smith, and John Robert Cozens were among the leading specialist painters and the clergyman and amateur artist William Gilpin was an important writer who stimulated the popularity of amateur painting of the picturesque, while the works of Alexander Cozens recommended forming random ink blots into landscape compositions—even Constable tried this technique.[30]

History painting in the grand manner continued to be the most prestigious form of art, though not the easiest to sell, and Reynolds made several attempts at it, as unsuccessful as Hogarth's. The unheroic nature of modern dress was seen as a major obstacle in the depiction of contemporary scenes, and the Scottish gentleman-artist and art dealer Gavin Hamilton preferred classical scenes as well as painting some based on his Eastern travels, where his European figures by-passed the problem by wearing Arab dress. He spent most of his adult life based in Rome and had at least as much influence on Neo-Classicism in Europe as in Britain. The Irishman James Barry was an influence on Blake but had a difficult career, and spent years on his cycle The Progress of Human Culture in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts. The most successful history painters, who were not afraid of buttons and wigs, were both Americans settled in London: Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley, though one of his most successful works Watson and the Shark (1778) was able to mostly avoid them, showing a rescue from drowning. Smaller scale subjects from literature were also popular, pioneered by Francis Hayman, one of the first to paint scenes from Shakespeare, and Joseph Highmore, with a series illustrating the novel Pamela. At the end of the period the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery was an ambitious project for paintings, and prints after them, illustrating "the Bard", as he had now become, while exposing the limitations of contemporary English history painting.[31] Joseph Wright of Derby was mainly a portrait painter who also was one of the first artists to depict the Industrial Revolution, as well as developing a cross between the conversation piece and history painting in works like An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) and A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery (c. 1766), which like many of his works are lit only by candlelight, giving a strong chiaroscuro effect.[32] Paintings recording scenes from the theatre were another subgenre, painted by the German Johann Zoffany among others. Zoffany painted portraits and conversation pieces, who also spent over two years in India, painting the English nabobs and local scenes, and the expanding British Empire played an increasing role in British art.[33] Training in art was considered a useful skill in the military for sketch maps and plans, and many British officers made the first Western images, often in watercolour, of scenes and places around the world. In India, the Company style developed as a hybrid form between Western and Indian art, produced by Indians for a British market. Thomas Rowlandson produced watercolours and prints satirizing British life, but mostly avoided politics. The master of the political caricature, sold individually by print shops (often acting as publishers also), either hand-coloured or plain, was James Gillray.[34] The emphasis on portrait-painting in British art was not entirely due to the vanity of the sitters. There was a large collector's market for portrait prints, mostly reproductions of paintings, which were often mounted in albums. From the mid-century there was a great growth in the expensive but more effective reproductions in mezzotint, of portraits and other paintings, with special demand from collectors for early proof states "before letter" (that is, before the inscriptions were added), which the printmakers obligingly printed off in growing numbers.[35]  This period marked one of the high points in British decorative arts. Around the mid-century many porcelain factories opened, including Bow in London, and in the provinces Lowestoft, Worcester, Royal Crown Derby, Liverpool, and Wedgwood, with Spode following in 1767. Most were started as small concerns, with some lasting only a few decades while others still survive today. By the end of the period British porcelain services were being commissioned by foreign royalty and the British manufacturers were especially adept at pursuing the rapidly expanding international middle-class market, developing bone china and transfer-printed wares as well as hand-painted true porcelain.[36] The three leading furniture makers, Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779), Thomas Sheraton (1751–1806) and George Hepplewhite (1727?–1786) had varied styles and have achieved the lasting fame they have mainly as the authors of pattern books used by other makers in Britain and abroad. In fact it is far from clear if the last two named ever ran actual workshops, though Chippendale certainly was successful in this and in what we now call interior design; unlike France Britain had abandoned its guild system, and Chippendale was able to employ specialists in all the crafts needed to complete a redecoration.[37] During the period Rococo and Chinoiserie gave way to Neo-Classicism, with the Scottish architect and interior designer Robert Adam (1728–1792) leading the new style.

19th century and the Romantics

The late 18th century and the early 19th century characterized by the Romantic movement in British art includes Joseph Wright of Derby, James Ward, Samuel Palmer, Richard Parkes Bonington, John Martin and was perhaps the most radical period in British art, also producing William Blake (1757–1827), John Constable (1776–1837) and J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), the later two being arguably the most internationally influential of all British artists.[38][39] Turner's style, based on the Italianate tradition although he never saw Italy until in his forties, passed through considerable changes before his final wild, almost abstract, landscapes that explored the effects of light, and were a profound influence on the Impressionists and other later movements.[40] Constable normally painted pure landscapes with at most a few genre figures, in a style based on Northern European traditions, but, like Turner, his "six-footers" were intended to make as striking an impact as any history painting.[41] They were carefully prepared using studies and full-size oil sketches,[42] whereas Turner was notorious for finishing his exhibition pieces when they were already hanging for show, freely adjusting them to dominate the surrounding works in the tightly packed hangs of the day.[43] Blake's visionary style was a minority taste in his lifetime, but influenced the younger group of "Ancients" of Samuel Palmer, John Linnell, Edward Calvert and George Richmond, who gathered in the country at Shoreham, Kent in the 1820s, producing intense and lyrical pastoral idylls in conditions of some poverty. They went on to more conventional artistic careers and Palmer's early work was entirely forgotten until the early 20th century.[44] Blake and Palmer became a significant influence on modernist artists of the 20th century seen (among others) in the painting of British artists such as Dora Carrington,[45] Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland.[46] Blake also had an enormous influence on the beat poets of the 1950s and the counterculture of the 1960s.[47] Thomas Lawrence was already a leading portraitist by the start of the 20th century, and able to give a Romantic dash to his portraits of high society, and the leaders of Europe gathered at the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars. Henry Raeburn was the most significant portraitist since the Union to remain based in Edinburgh throughout his career, an indication of increasing Scottish prosperity.[48] But David Wilkie took the traditional road south, achieving great success with subjects of country life and hybrid genre and history scenes such as The Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch (1822).[49] John Flaxman was the most thorough-going neo-classical English artist. Beginning as a sculptor, he became best known for his many spare "outline drawings" of classical scenes, often illustrating literature, which were reproduced as prints. These imitated the effects of the classical-style reliefs he also produced. The German-Swiss Henry Fuseli also produced work in a linear graphic style, but his narrative scenes, often from English literature, were intensely Romantic and highly dramatic.[50]

Victorian art

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) achieved considerable influence after its foundation in 1848 with paintings that concentrated on religious, literary, and genre subjects executed in a colourful and minutely detailed style, rejecting the loose painterly brushwork of the tradition represented by "Sir Sloshua" Reynolds. PRB artists included John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Ford Madox Brown (never officially a member), and figures such as Edward Burne-Jones and John William Waterhouse were later much influenced by aspects of their ideas, as was the designer William Morris. Morris advocated a return to hand-craftsmanship in the decorative arts over the industrial manufacture that was rapidly being applied to all crafts. His efforts to make beautiful objects affordable (or even free) for everyone led to his wallpaper and tile designs defining the Victorian aesthetic and instigating the Arts and Crafts movement.

The Pre-Raphaelites, like Turner, were supported by the authoritative art critic John Ruskin, himself a fine amateur artist. For all their technical innovation, they were both traditional and Victorian in their adherence to the history painting as the highest form of art, and their subject matter was thoroughly in tune with Victorian taste, and indeed "everything that the publishers of steel engravings welcomed",[51] enabling them to merge easily into the mainstream in their later careers.[52]

Lord Leighton, 1855, Cimabue's celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, 222 × 521 cm

While the Pre-Raphaelites had a turbulent and divided reception, the most popular and expensive painters of the period included Edwin Landseer, who specialized in sentimental animal subjects, which were favourites of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In the later part of the century artists could earn large sums from selling the reproduction rights of their paintings to print publishers, and works of Landseer, especially his Monarch of the Glen (1851), a portrait of a Highland stag, were among the most popular. Like Millais' Bubbles (1886) it was used on packaging and advertisements for decades, for brands of whisky and soap respectively.[53] During the late Victorian era in Britain the academic paintings, some enormously large, of Lord Leighton and the Dutch-born Lawrence Alma-Tadema were enormously popular, both often featuring lightly clad beauties in exotic or classical settings, while the allegorical works of G. F. Watts matched the Victorian sense of high purpose. The classical ladies of Edward Poynter and Albert Moore wore more clothes and met with rather less success. William Powell Frith painted highly detailed scenes of social life, typically including all classes of society, that include comic and moral elements and have an acknowledged debt to Hogarth, though tellingly different from his work.[54] For all such artists the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition was an essential platform, reviewed at huge length in the press, which often alternated ridicule and extravagant praise in discussing works. The ultimate, and very rare, accolade was when a rail had to be put in front of a painting to protect it from the eager crowd; up to 1874 this had only happened to Wilkie's Chelsea Pensioners, Frith's The Derby Day and Salon d'Or, Homburg and Luke Filde's The Casual Ward (see below).[55] A great number of artists laboured year after year in the hope of a hit there, often working in manners to which their talent was not really suited, a trope exemplified by the suicide in 1846 of Benjamin Haydon, a friend of Keats and Dickens and a better writer than painter, leaving his blood splashed over his unfinished King Alfred and the First British Jury. British history was a very common subject, with the Middle Ages, Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots and the English Civil War especially popular sources for subjects. Many painters mentioned elsewhere painted historical subjects, including Millais (The Boyhood of Raleigh and many others), Ford Madox Brown (Cromwell on his Farm), David Wilkie, Watts and Frith, and West, Bonington and Turner in earlier decades. The London-based Irishman Daniel Maclise and Charles West Cope painted scenes for the new Palace of Westminster. Lady Jane Grey was, like Mary Queen of Scots, a female whose sufferings attracted many painters, though none quite matched The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, one of many British historical subjects by the Frenchman Paul Delaroche.[57] Painters prided themselves on the increasing accuracy of their period settings in terms of costume and objects, studying the collections of the new Victoria and Albert Museum and books, and scorning the breezy approximations of earlier generations of artists.[58] Victorian painting developed the Hogarthian social subject, packed with moralizing detail, and the tradition of illustrating scenes from literature, into a range of types of genre painting, many with only a few figures, others large and crowded scenes like Frith's best-known works. Holman Hunt's The Awakening Conscience (1853) and Augustus Egg's set of Past and Present (1858) are of the first type, both dealing with "fallen women", a perennial Victorian concern. As Peter Conrad points out, these were paintings designed to be read like novels, whose meaning emerged after the viewer had done the work of deciphering it.[59] Other "anecdotal" scenes were lighter in mood, tending towards being captionless Punch cartoons. Towards the end of the 19th century the problem picture left the details of the narrative action deliberately ambiguous, inviting the viewer to speculate on it using the evidence in front of them, but not supplying a final answer (artists learned to smile enigmatically when asked). This sometimes provoked discussion on sensitive social issues, typically involving women, that might have been hard to raise directly. They were enormously popular; newspapers ran competitions for readers to supply the meaning of the painting.[60] Many artists participated in the revival of original artistic printmaking usually known as the etching revival, although prints in many other techniques were also made. This began in the 1850s and continued until the fallout from the 1929 Wall Street Crash brought about a collapse in the very high prices that the most fashionable artists had been achieving. British Orientalism, though not as common as in France at the same period, had many specialists, including John Frederick Lewis, who lived for nine years in Cairo, David Roberts, a Scot who made lithographs of his travels in the Middle East and Italy, the nonsense writer Edward Lear, a continual traveller who reached as far as Ceylon, and Richard Dadd. Holman Hunt also travelled to Palestine to obtain authentic settings for his Biblical pictures. The Frenchman James Tissot, who fled to London after the fall of the Paris Commune, divided his time between scenes of high society social events and a huge series of Biblical illustrations, made in watercolour for reproductive publication.[61] Frederick Goodall specialized in scenes of Ancient Egypt. James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1874). A near abstraction, in 1877 Whistler sued the art critic John Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket. Ruskin accused Whistler of "ask[ing] two hundred guineas for throwing a pot of paint in the public's face.Larger paintings concerned with the social conditions of the poor tended to concentrate on rural scenes, so that the misery of the human figures was at least offset by a landscape. Painters of these included Frederick Walker, Luke Fildes (although he made his name in 1874 with Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward- see above), Frank Holl, George Clausen, and the German Hubert von Herkomer.[64] William Bell Scott, a friend of the Rossettis, painted historical scenes and other types of work, but was also one of the few artists to depict scenes from heavy industry. His memoirs are a useful source for the period, and he was one of several artists to be employed for a period in the greatly expanded system of government art schools, which were driven by the administrator Henry Cole (the inventor of the Christmas card) and employed Richard Redgrave, Edward Poynter, Richard Burchett, the Scottish designer Christopher Dresser and many others. Burchett was headmaster of the "South Kensington Schools", now the Royal College of Art, which gradually replaced the Royal Academy School as the leading British art school, though around the start of the 20th century the Slade School of Fine Art produced many of the forward-looking artists.[65] The Royal Academy was initially by no means as conservative and restrictive as the Paris Salon, and the Pre-Raphaelites had most of their submissions for exhibition accepted, although like everyone else they complained about the positions their paintings were given. They were especially welcomed at the Liverpool Academy of Arts, one of the largest regional exhibiting organizations; the Royal Scottish Academy was founded in 1826 and opened its grand new building in the 1850s. There were alternative London locations like the British Institution, and as the conservatism of the Royal Academy gradually increased, despite the efforts of Lord Leighton when President, new spaces opened, notably the Grosvenor Gallery in Bond Street, from 1877, which became the home of the Aesthetic Movement. The New English Art Club exhibited from 1885 many artists with Impressionist tendencies, initially using the Egyptian Hall, opposite the Royal Academy, which also hosted many exhibitions of foreign art. The American portrait painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), spent most of his working career in Europe and he maintained his studio in London (where he died) from 1886 to 1907. Alfred Sisley, who was French by birth but had British nationality, painted in France as one of the Impressionists; Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer at the start of their careers were also strongly influenced, but despite the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel bringing many exhibitions to London, the movement made little impact in England until decades later.[66] Some members of the Newlyn School of landscapes and genre scenes adopted a quasi-Impressionist technique while others used realist or more traditional levels of finish. The late 19th century also saw the Decadent movement in France and the British Aesthetic movement. The British-based American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Aubrey Beardsley, and the former Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Edward Burne-Jones are associated with those movements, with late Burne-Jones and Beardsley both being admired abroad and representing the nearest British approach to European Symbolism.[67] In 1877 James McNeill Whistler sued the art critic John Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket. Ruskin accused Whistler of "ask[ing] two hundred guineas for throwing a pot of paint in the public's face."[62][63] The jury reached a verdict in favor of Whistler but awarded him only a single farthing in nominal damages, and the court costs were split.[68] The cost of the case, together with huge debts from building his residence ("The White House" in Tite Street, Chelsea, designed with E. W. Godwin, 1877–8), bankrupted Whistler by May 1879,[69] resulting in an auction of his work, collections, and house. Stansky[70] notes the irony that the Fine Art Society of London, which had organized a collection to pay for Ruskin's legal costs, supported him in etching "the stones of Venice" (and in exhibiting the series in 1883) which helped recoup Whistler's costs.

Scottish art was now regaining an adequate home market, allowing it to develop a distinctive character, of which the "Glasgow Boys" were one expression, straddling Impressionism in painting, and Art Nouveau, Japonism and the Celtic Revival in design, with the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh now their best-known member. Painters included Thomas Millie Dow, George Henry, Joseph Crawhall and James Guthrie.

New printing technology brought a great expansion in book illustration with illustrations for children's books providing much of the best remembered work of the period. Specialized artists included Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway and, from 1902, Beatrix Potter.

The experience of military, political and economic power from the rise of the British Empire, led to a very specific drive in artistic technique, taste and sensibility in the United Kingdom.[71] British people used their art "to illustrate their knowledge and command of the natural world", whilst the permanent settlers in British North America, Australasia, and South Africa "embarked upon a search for distinctive artistic expression appropriate to their sense of national identity".[71] The empire has been "at the centre, rather than in the margins, of the history of British art".[72]

The enormous variety and massive production of the various forms of British decorative art during the period are too complex to be easily summarized. Victorian taste, until the various movements of the last decades, such as Arts and Crafts, is generally poorly regarded today, but much fine work was produced, and much money made. Both William Burges and Augustus Pugin were architects committed to the Gothic Revival, who expanded into designing furniture, metalwork, tiles and objects in other media. There was an enormous boom in re-Gothicising the fittings of medieval churches, and fitting out new ones in the style, especially with stained glass, an industry revived from effective extinction. The revival of furniture painted with images was a particular feature at the top end of the market.[73]

From its opening in 1875 the London department store Liberty & Co. was especially associated with imported Far Eastern decorative items and British goods in the new styles of the end of the 19th century. Charles Voysey was an architect who also did much design work in textiles, wallpaper furniture and other media, bringing the Arts and Crafts movement into Art Nouveau and beyond; he continued to design into the 1920s.[74] A. H. Mackmurdo was a similar figure.

20th century

In many respects, the Victorian era continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and the Royal Academy became increasingly ossified; the unmistakably late Victorian figure of Frank Dicksee was appointed president in 1924. In photography Pictorialism aimed to achieve artistic indeed painterly effects; The Linked Ring contained the leading practitioners. The American John Singer Sargent was the most successful London portraitist at the start of the 20th century, with John Lavery, Augustus John and William Orpen rising figures. John's sister Gwen John lived in France, and her intimate portraits were relatively little appreciated until decades after her death. British attitudes to modern art were "polarized" at the end of the 19th century.[75] Modernist movements were both cherished and vilified by artists and critics; Impressionism was initially regarded by "many conservative critics" as a "subversive foreign influence", but became "fully assimilated" into British art during the early-20th century.[75] The Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957), was based in Dublin, at once a romantic painter, a symbolist and an expressionist. Vorticism was a brief coming together of a number of Modernist artists in the years immediately before 1914; members included Wyndham Lewis, the sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, David Bomberg, Malcolm Arbuthnot, Lawrence Atkinson, the American photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn, Frederick Etchells, the French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Cuthbert Hamilton, Christopher Nevinson, William Roberts, Edward Wadsworth, Jessica Dismorr, Helen Saunders, and Dorothy Shakespear. The early 20th century also includes The Sitwells artistic circle and the Bloomsbury Group, a group of mostly English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, including painter Dora Carrington, painter and art critic Roger Fry, art critic Clive Bell, painter Vanessa Bell, painter Duncan Grant among others. Although very fashionable at the time, their work in the visual arts looks less impressive today.[76] British modernism was to remain somewhat tentative until after World War II, though figures such as Ben Nicholson kept in touch with European developments. Walter Sickert and the Camden Town Group developed an English style of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism with a strong strand of social documentary, including Harold Gilman, Spencer Frederick Gore, Charles Ginner, Robert Bevan, Malcolm Drummond and Lucien Pissarro (the son of French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro).[77] Where their colouring is often notoriously drab, the Scottish Colourists indeed mostly used bright light and colour; some, like Samuel Peploe and John Duncan Fergusson, were living in France to find suitable subjects.[78] They were initially inspired by Sir William McTaggart (1835–1910), a Scottish landscape painter associated with Impressionism. The reaction to the horrors of the First World War prompted a return to pastoral subjects as represented by Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious, mainly a printmaker. Stanley Spencer painted mystical works, as well as landscapes, and the sculptor, printmaker and typographer Eric Gill produced elegant simple forms in a style related to Art Deco. The Euston Road School was a group of "progressive" realists of the late 1930s, including the influential teacher William Coldstream. Surrealism, with artists including John Tunnard and the Birmingham Surrealists, was briefly popular in the 1930s, influencing Roland Penrose and Henry Moore. Stanley William Hayter was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism.[79] In 1927 Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris. Since his death in 1988, it has been known as Atelier Contrepoint. Hayter became one of the most influential printmakers of the 20th century.[80] Fashionable portraitists included Meredith Frampton in a hard-faced Art Deco classicism, Augustus John, and Sir Alfred Munnings if horses were involved. Munnings was President of the Royal Academy 1944–1949 and led a jeering hostility to Modernism. The photographers of the period include Bill Brandt, Angus McBean and the diarist Cecil Beaton. Henry Moore emerged after World War II as Britain's leading sculptor, promoted alongside Victor Pasmore, William Scott and Barbara Hepworth by the Festival of Britain. The "London School" of figurative painters including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff, and Michael Andrews have received widespread international recognition,[81] while other painters such as John Minton and John Craxton are characterized as Neo-Romantics. Graham Sutherland, the Romantic landscapist John Piper (a prolific and popular lithographer), the sculptor Elisabeth Frink, and the industrial townscapes of L.S. Lowry also contributed to the strong figurative presence in post-war British art.

Lucian Freud

According to William Grimes of The New York Times "Lucien Freud and his contemporaries transformed figure painting in the 20th century. In paintings like Girl With a White Dog (1951-52), Freud put the pictorial language of traditional European painting in the service of an anti-romantic, confrontational style of portraiture that stripped bare the sitter’s social facade. Ordinary people — many of them his friends — stared wide-eyed from the canvas, vulnerable to the artist’s ruthless inspection."[82] In 1952 at the 26th Venice Biennale a group of young British sculptors including Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler, Lynn Chadwick, William Turnbull and Eduardo Paolozzi, exhibited works that demonstrated anti-monumental, expressionism.[83] Scottish painter Alan Davie created a large body of abstract paintings during the 1950s that synthesize and reflect his interest in mythology and zen.[84] Abstract art became prominent during the 1950s with Ben Nicholson, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon and Patrick Heron, who were part of the St Ives school in Cornwall.[85] In 1958, along with Kenneth Armitage and William Hayter, William Scott was chosen by the British Council for the British Pavilion at the XXIX Venice Biennale. In the 1950s, the London-based Independent Group formed; from which pop art emerged in 1956 with the exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts This Is Tomorrow, as a British reaction to abstract expressionism.[86] The International Group was the topic of a two-day, international conference at the Tate Britain in March 2007. The Independent Group is regarded as the precursor to the Pop Art movement in Britain and the United States.[86][87] The This is Tomorrow show featured Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, and artist John McHale amongst others, and the group included the influential art critic Lawrence Alloway as well.[88] In the 1960s, Sir Anthony Caro became a leading figure of British sculpture[89] along with a younger generation of abstract artists including Isaac Witkin,[90] Phillip King and William G. Tucker.[91] John Hoyland,[92] Howard Hodgkin, John Walker, Ian Stephenson,[93][94] Robyn Denny, John Plumb[95] and William Tillyer[96] were British painters who emerged at that time and who reflected the new international style of Color Field painting.[97] During the 1960s another group of British artists offered a radical alternative to more conventional artmaking and they included Bruce McLean, Barry Flanagan, Richard Long and Gilbert and George. British pop art painters David Hockney, Patrick Caulfield, Derek Boshier, Peter Phillips, Peter Blake (best known for the cover-art for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), Gerald Laing, the sculptor Allen Jones were part of the sixties art scene as was the British-based American painter R. B. Kitaj. Photorealism in the hands of Malcolm Morley (who was awarded the first Turner Prize in 1984) emerged in the 1960s as well as the op-art of Bridget Riley.[98] Michael Craig-Martin was an influential teacher of some of the Young British Artists and is known for the conceptual work, An Oak Tree (1973).[99]

Contemporary art

Stuckism: Charles Thomson, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, 2000

Post-modern, contemporary British art, particularly that of the Young British Artists, has been said to be "characterised by a fundamental concern with material culture ... perceived as a post-imperial cultural anxiety".[101] The annual Turner Prize, founded in 1984 and organized by the Tate, has developed as a highly publicized showcase for contemporary British art. Among the beneficiaries have been several members of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement, which includes Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, and Tracey Emin, who rose to prominence after the Freeze exhibition of 1988, with the backing of Charles Saatchi and achieved international recognition with their version of conceptual art. This often featured installations, notably Hirst's vitrine containing a preserved shark. The Tate gallery and eventually the Royal Academy also gave them exposure. The influence of Saatchi's generous and wide-ranging patronage was to become a matter of some controversy, as was that of Jay Jopling, the most influential London gallerist.[citation needed]

The Sensation exhibition of works from the Saatchi Collection was controversial in both the UK and the US, though in different ways. At the Royal Academy press-generated controversy centred on Myra, a very large image of the murderer Myra Hindley by Marcus Harvey, but when the show travelled to New York City, opening at the Brooklyn Museum in late 1999, it was met with intense protest about The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili, which had not provoked this reaction in London. While the press reported that the piece was smeared with elephant dung, although Ofili's work in fact showed a carefully rendered black Madonna decorated with a resin-covered lump of elephant dung. The figure is also surrounded by small collage images of female genitalia from pornographic magazines; these seemed from a distance to be the traditional cherubim. Among other criticism, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who had seen the work in the catalogue but not in the show, called it "sick stuff" and threatened to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the Brooklyn Museum hosting the show, because "You don't have a right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else's religion."[102]

In 1999, the Stuckists figurative painting group which includes Billy Childish and Charles Thomson was founded as a reaction to the YBAs.[103] In 2004, the Walker Art Gallery staged The Stuckists Punk Victorian, the first national museum exhibition of the Stuckist art movement.[104] The Federation of British Artists hosts shows of traditional figurative painting.[105] Jack Vettriano and Beryl Cook have widespread popularity, but not establishment recognition.[106][107][108] Banksy made a reputation with street graffiti and is now a highly valued mainstream artist.[109]

Antony Gormley produces sculptures, mostly in metal and based on the human figure, which include the 20 metres (66 ft) high Angel of the North near Gateshead, one of the first of a number of very large public sculptures produced in the 2000s, Another Place, and Event Horizon. The Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor has public works around the world, including Cloud Gate in Chicago and Sky Mirror in various locations; like much of his work these use curved mirror-like steel surfaces. The environmental sculptures of British earth works artist Andy Goldsworthy have been created in many locations around the world. Using natural found materials they are often very ephemeral, and are recorded in photographs of which several collections in book form have been published.[110] Grayson Perry works in various media, including ceramics. Whilst leading printmakers include Norman Ackroyd, Elizabeth Blackadder, Barbara Rae and Richard Spare.

Bahraini Art / Bahrain Island / Historically Portrayal of ( GCC ) Member of World  / Transcontinental to NEOM or North America / 18.08.2023  / Protokollierung /

The modern Bahraini art movement emerged in the 1950s, with the establishment of an Arts and Literature club in 1952. The club served as an umbrella group for professional and amateur artists, musicians, and actors in Bahrain.[1] In 1956, the first art exhibition was held in the Bahraini capital, Manama. Expressionism and surrealism, as well as calligraphic art are the popular forms of art in the country. Abstract expressionism has gained popularity in recent decades.[1]

History

Traditional house in Manama.

In 1983, the Bahrain Arts Society was founded when a group of 34 Bahraini artists approached the government and asked for a non-profit cultural organisation to be established.[2] The society hosted multiple exhibitions in and out of the country and offered training in the arts of sculpting, pottery, Arabic calligraphy, painting, interior designing and photography.[1] Most Bahraini artists in the 20th century were trained in Cairo or Baghdad, the cultural art capitals of the Arab world.[1] It was in this period that expressionism and surrealism became widely popular in the country. Arabic calligraphy grew in popularity as the Bahraini government was an active patron in Islamic art, culminating in the establishment of an Islamic museum, Beit Al Quran.[1] The Bahrain National Museum houses a permanent contemporary art exhibition.[3]

Architecture

A wind tower in Bahrain.

Traditional Bahraini architecture is similar to that of its neighbours. Though the centuries-old forts in Bahrain resemble the same architectural style as in other forts in the Persian Gulf region, the domestic architecture in the country is unique in the region.[4] The wind tower, which generates natural ventilation in a house, is a common sight on old buildings, particularly in the old districts of Manama and Muharraq.[5]

A traditional Bahraini house was made up of a series of pavilions around a courtyard. Traditionally, houses had two courtyards (though sometimes only one); one would host the reception of men and the other would be for private living use. The house's rooms were organised in terms of seasonal migration, with the important pavilions for living and hosting receptions having a counterpart on the roof to capture summer breezes and redirect it into the pavilion.[6] The lower rooms of the house would have thick walls, allowing them to be utilised during the cool winter months. To combat the intense heat during the summer months, a framework of coral rubble piers with spaces filled with large panels of coral rocks were erected. The light-weight and porous coral is lined with a coat of lime and gypsum, and this causes warm air to be trapped in the spaces during the day.[6] Hundreds of buildings with this feature were built in Bahrain but virtually none currently function, with most not being repaired or serviced in several decades. A disadvantage of the coral used is that its core is made from clay, as a mortar, and dissolves easily thus causing cracks to develop in the walls during rainy weather, compromising the structure's stability and requiring yearly maintenance.[7]

Following independence and the oil boom of the 1970s, Western-style office buildings were built in the financial districts of Manama, particularly in the Diplomatic Area.[8] Buildings with fusions of tradition and modernism, such as the Al Zamil Tower, have won awards such as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007.[9]

Crafts

Throughout the country's history, crafts such as potteries, sculptures and metal embroideries, particularly from copper or gold, were widely produced alongside traditionally made baskets woven from palm tree leaves in the villages outside Manama, notably Karbabad and Jasra.[10]

Pottery

Pottery estimated to date from the Dilmun civilisation era in the fifth and fourth millennium BC were discovered in northern Bahrain, particularly but not exclusively in the Bahrain fort excavation site and in the Dilmun Burial Mounds. Though Mesopotamian, later potteries discovered indicated that they were created in Bahrain.[11] Comparative analysis suggests that the locally made pottery was produced at a centralized location using materials derived from a single source.[12] The earliest potteries on the island date to 2300 BC.[13]

Potteries are still made traditionally in, particularly [A'ali] village which utilises the mud from the nearby flats in Riffa. The pottery is made using a mixture of mud and water that is placed on a revolving wheel operated by an artisan, where in the artisan would use his hands to modify the shape of the pottery as needed. After the needed shape was obtained, the pottery is left outside to dry and harden.[14]

Finland ( European Continent ) / Finnish Arts / Transcontinental to ( NEOM ) & Red Sea/ Protokoll / Protocolation  / 18.08.2023

Finnish art started to form its individual characteristics in the 19th century, when romantic nationalism began to rise in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.

Prehistoric art

Marks of human activity in Finland has found in Susiluola, Kristinestad. Some excavation has been considered as a man-made over 100,000 years ago.[1] After the Ice Age, area of Finland was resettled at around 9,000 years ago and first known sculpture Elk's Head of Huittinen (picture in stamp) has been dated about 5–7000 BCE.[1]

Architecture

The most important products of medieval architecture in Finland are the medieval stone churches. More than a hundred of them were built during 15th and 16th centuries. Neoclassical architecture arrived in late 18th century, but important building projects started after 1808 when Finland was an autonomic part of Russia. Alexander II of Russia commissioned Carl Ludvig Engel to plan the new Senate and University for Helsinki.[2]

Academic visual arts

The Finnish academic drawing tradition began at Royal Academy of Turku in 1707 when first instructions of drawing was given. In 1824 The School moves with the University to Helsinki and first Finland’s art exhibition was organised at the Drawing School in the autumn of 1845. Painting was rising in Golden era of Finnish art in 1880s, when romantic nationalism was the spirit of art. Akseli Gallen-Kallela started in naturalism but moved to national romanticism.[2]

Modern art

In 1950s the Finnish artists looked for foreign influence: first in Paris, then in United States but also in Stockholm, where modern art exhibitions were organized in Moderna museet. Abstract art made its breakthrough first in concrete art. Early concretists included Birger Carlstedt and Sam Vanni. When Vanni's monumental painting Contrapunctus (1959) won competition for mural in Helsinki, abstract art was considered to be accepted and established in Finland.[3]Informalism spread quickly in 1950s and 1960s, when it was considered a new approach to landscape painting. It was also building on strong tradition of expressionism. It spread even outside of large cities.[3] In the late 20th century, the homoerotic art of Touko Valio Laaksonen, pseudonym Tom of Finland, found a worldwide audience, with his works entering the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York[4] and appearing on Finnish postage stamps.[5] The Finnish contemporary art scene became much more visible than before with the establishment of Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki in 1998.[6]

Hong Kong / Visual Art / Millions Population HK  / Transcontinental to Europe & Australia ( Oceania ) / 18.08.2023 / Protokoll / Protokollierung

The visual art of Hong Kong, or Hong Kong art, refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with Hong Kong throughout its history and towards the present. The history of Hong Kong art is closely related to the broader history of Chinese art, alongside the art of Taiwan and Macau.[1][2] Hong Kong art may include pottery and rock art from Hong Kong's prehistoric periods; calligraphy, Chinese ink painting, and pottery from its time under Imperial China; paintings from the New Ink Painting Movement and avant-garde art emerging during Hong Kong's colonial period; and the contemporary art practices in post-handover Hong Kong today. The consciousness of modern art and international art movements may be observed in Hong Kong in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1] The emergence of the New Ink Painting Movement during that period saw aspects of Chinese ink painting incorporated with the gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism.[1] Hong Kong is now considered a significant regional art market due to its unique historical development and geographical position.[3]

Prehistoric Hong Kong

Prehistoric Hong Kong is the period between the arrival of the first humans in Hong Kong and the start of recorded Chinese history during the Han dynasty.

Neolithic pottery

Excavations of Tung Wan Tsai North (Ma Wan) and Sha Tau Kok revealed instances of pottery from the Neolithic period.[4] These include pottery with geometric patterns, along with tools like stepped adze, shouldered adze and other ground stone implements.[4]

Rock carvings

Rock carvings dating back to what was the Bronze Age have been found in Hong Kong.[5] There are nine officially listed Bronze Age rock carvings, featuring geometric and zoometric patterns carved into rocks, mostly found at coastal cliffs facing the sea.[6]

Hong Kong under Imperial China (221 BC–1841 AD)

The territory that now comprises Hong Kong was loosely part of China during the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), and the area was part of the ancient kingdom of Nam Viet (203–111 BC).[7] During the Qin dynasty, the territory was governed by Panyu County until the time of the Jin dynasty.[8] The territory remained largely unoccupied until the later years of the Qing dynasty when Imperial China ceded the region to Great Britain under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, whereupon Hong Kong became a British Colony.

More broadly, the art of Imperial China from this period encompasses examples such as Buddhist art, murals, calligraphy, ink painting, and pottery.

Colonial Hong Kong (1841–1941)

Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India, as it was causing widespread addiction among its populace. The island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking, ratified by the Daoguang Emperor in the aftermath of the war of 1842. It was established as a crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British took the opportunity to expand the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula after the Second Opium War, while the Qing was embroiled in handling the Taiping Rebellion. With the Qing further weakened after the First Sino-Japanese War, Hong Kong's territory was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.

Early art clubs and exhibitions (1920s–1930s)

Chances to view modern Western art were scarce in the early colonial period, with few foreign artists residing or exhibiting in Hong Kong, leaving the territory largely removed from international art movements.[9] The main exception to this was Hong Kong's first art organisation, the Hong Kong Art Club, founded in 1925.[9] The Hong Kong Art Club was established and managed by wealthy British expatriates, with its members entirely composed of Europeans, most of whom were visiting artists staying temporarily in Hong Kong.[9] The Hong Kong Art Club carried the most extensive collection of literature on modern Western art in the territory at the time.[9] Its members predominantly practiced Western realism, depicting local scenery in the styles of the English landscape tradition and the Barbizon school, using oil and watercolour.[9] Rather than being for artistic exchange, the club was primarily a context for social gathering.[9] While artworks produced by the Club displayed minimal association with local Hong Kong artists, they are an early instance of organised artistic activity and significant for documenting the landscapes of Hong Kong at that specific moment in time.[9] A short announcement on the opening of a solo exhibition by Luis Chan was published on 16 April 1935 by Kung Sheung Daily News or the Industrial and Commercial News (Chinese: 工商日報).[10] It was one of the earliest articles on arts and culture in Hong Kong newspapers, being the first of many short reports on art events, also documenting local activity for art at the time.[10] Chan was a watercolour painter known for his naturalistic landscapes.[11]

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (1941–1945)

The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce fighting against the overwhelming Japanese forces that had invaded the territory.[12][13] The occupation lasted for three years and eight months until Japan surrendered at the end of the Second World War. The length of this period (三年零八個月, lit. 'three years and eight months') later became a metonym of the occupation.[13]

Modern Hong Kong under British rule (1945–1997)

In the aftermath of the Japanese surrender, it was unclear whether the United Kingdom or the Republic of China would assume sovereignty of the territory. The Kuomintang's Chiang Kai-shek assumed that China, including formerly European-occupied territories such as Hong Kong and Macau, would be re-unified under his rule.[14] However, the British moved quickly to regain control of Hong Kong. On 30 August 1945, British Rear Admiral Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson Harcourt sailed into Hong Kong to re-establish the British government's control over the colony.[14] On 16 September 1945, Harcourt formally accepted the Japanese surrender[14] from Maj.-Gen. Umekichi Okada and Vice Admiral Ruitaro Fujita at Government House.[15] By November 1945, government controls were lifted and free markets restored.[16] The population returned to around one million by early 1946 due to immigration from China.[16]

The emergence of art collectives and societies from the late 1940s onwards, in addition to the opening of the city’s first purpose-built visual art spaces, marked new developments in Hong Kong’s art scene.[17] While Hong Kong art in the 1950s saw little support from the government, the decade would still see the growth of art education in Hong Kong, through new art courses and the establishment of new institutions for teaching art.[17] By the 1950s, large numbers of Mainland Chinese artists had entered the territory and dominated the local art scene, with Hong Kong serving as a temporary site for them to continue working in traditional Chinese styles.[9] These early immigrant artists, mainly from Shanghai and Nanjing, brought along with them wealth and artistic influences from the Shanghai School and the Jin Ning School.[9] Stylistically, these works continued the orthodox traditions of Chinese ink painting, with little concern towards forming a specific Hong Kong identity.[9] Artists from or based in Hong Kong would also begin participating in major international art exhibitions, with Wucius Wong and Ho Siu Kee participating in the 1959 São Paulo Art Biennial.[10] On 19 December 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. China promised to implement a "One country, two systems" regime, under which for fifty years Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland.[18]

In 1995, the Hong Kong government established the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to "plan, promote and support the wide development of arts (including literature, performance, visual and film arts) and arts education," also including a visual arts sub-committee.[19]

Art publications and education

On 25 November 1948, the Overseas Chinese Daily News (Chinese: 華僑日報) began publishing articles on art and culture.[10] These articles were more detailed than those previously published in other newspapers, now including news on exhibition openings, art competitions, and commentaries on challenges faced by the cultural industries.[10] In 1948, the Overseas Chinese Daily News also began publishing the Hong Kong Year Book, an annual publication on Hong Kong that continued until 1991.[10]

The 1950s saw the growth of courses and institutions for art education in Hong Kong. In 1951, the first art course in Hong Kong was launched at the Grantham College (now the Education University of Hong Kong).[10] The following year in 1952, the Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts opened.[10] In 1953, the University of Hong Kong's (HKU) Department of Chinese launches an undergraduate course in Chinese art and archeology.[10]

The Modern Literature and Art Association (1958–1964)

In December 1958, the Modern Literature and Art Association was established by a group of writers and artists.[10] Its mission, outlined in its founding manifesto, was to bring cultural workers together and reinvigorate declining cultural development in China.[10] The association organised exhibitions, such as the Hong Kong International Salon of Paintings, and published periodicals.[10]

From 1959 to 1960, the Association would publish New Currents (Chinese: 新思潮).[10] In 1963, the Association would publish Modern Editions (Chinese: 好望角), a 13-issue periodical on arts.[10]

The Association became inactive from 1964 onwards.[10] Members of the Association would include artists and writers such as Hon Chi-fun, Quanan Shum, Cheung Yee, David Lam Chun-fai, King Chia-lun, Van Lau, and Wucius Wong.[17][10]

Hong Kong Art Today (1962)

From 25 May to 4 July 1962, the exhibition Hong Kong Art Today (Chinese: 今日的香港藝術) was held at the Hong Kong City Hall Museum and Art Gallery (later renamed Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1975). Featuring a total of 120 exhibits by 65 artists, it was the first major exhibition of the Museum and Art Gallery after its opening in March, as well as the first large-scale art competition organised by the government.[11] Hong Kong Art Today was thus significant as the first exhibition with Hong Kong art as its theme.[20]

The museum's curator, John Warner, wrote in his introduction for the exhibition catalogue that the selected works were "valid" in their "preference for material quality, intelligent experiment and originality rather than outworn cliche, dull technical skill and cheap imitation."[21] The exhibition reflected how naturalism in art had become passé and that abstract art was favoured at that moment in Hong Kong. In his 2001 article examining the incident and its consequences, Jack Lee, then studying for his PhD in art history, argued that, "[Warner's] prejudice for modern and abstract art influenced directly the museum's later exhibitions and its collection policies, which in turn caused some artists to turn to abstract art in the hope that their works would become appealing to the museum. Their conversion in due course formed a new tendency in Hong Kong art."[11]

Apart from the usual practice of inviting participating artists, the event also incorporated an open call for submissions, which generated immense interest from the local art scene. However, the open call also led the exhibition to become controversial due to the rejection of established artists. Artist Luis Chan, an established naturalist watercolour painter active since the 1930s, was among the many artists whose works were rejected in the open call. Attempting a new direction in his practice, Chan had submitted several abstract paintings, though only one was accepted. Chan decided to make the rejection public, writing a long article about his frustrations with the exhibition titled "My Unsuccessful Submission to the City Hall Art Exhibition" (Chinese: 大會堂畫展落選記), which was published in serial form in the local Chinese newspaper Wah Kiu Yat Po over a period of time.[11][22]

Circle Art Group (1964–1973)

In 1964, the Circle Art Group was founded by 9 local artists and remained active for about decade.[17][10] Considered Hong Kong's "avant-garde", the artists used the circle as a symbol for the experimental synthesis of the Eastern and Western philosophies they explored in their work.[17][10] The group was described in an early exhibition invitation as “a group that has no beginning, no ending and no leader”.[17] The group's membership would fluctuate between 9 and 11 male artists and included many members of the Modern Literature and Art Association.[17]

Members included Hon Chi-fun, Wucius Wong, Cheung Yee, Van Lau, King Chia-lun, David Lam Chun-fai, Jackson Yu (You Shaozeng), Paul Chui Yung-sang, Gilbert Pan Sze Chiu, Kuo Ven-chi, and Chen Ping Yuon.[17][10]

New Ink Painting Movement (late 1960s–early 1970s)

The painter Lui Shou-Kwan initiated the New Ink Painting Movement, which saw aspects of Chinese ink painting heritage being incorporated with the simplified abstract structures and gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism.[1] Although the People's Republic less open to outside influences during this period, Hong Kong artists were engaging with then-current Western signifiers of contemporaneity, along with their Taiwanese counterparts.[1]

International auction houses

International auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's are based in Hong Kong.[23][24] In the early 1970s, the international auction house Sotheby's first entered Hong Kong.[3] In 1986, Christie's would also set up in Hong Kong. Later, both Sotheby's and Christie's moved their Asian headquarters from Taiwan to Hong Kong in 1999 and 2001 respectively.

Videotage

Videotage (Chinese: 錄映太奇) was founded in 1986 as an artist collective composed of artists Comyn Mo, Ellen Pau, May Fung, and Wong Chi-fai.[10] It was initially set up at a space borrowed from the experimental theatre group Zuni Icosahedron's headquarters in Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island.[10] Videotage was the earliest organisation in Hong Kong to focus on video art and new media.[10]

Videotage's name is a portmanteau of "video" and "montage,"[25] first used as the title of a screening programme organised by the Phoenix Cine Club in June 1986. The screening featured works by Jim Shum, Neco Lo, Wong Chi-fai, and David Som, with a distinct focus on alternative time-based work. After the Phoenix Cine Club closed, some of its members, Comyn Mo, Ellen Pau, May Fung, and Wong Chi-fai, re-purposed the name Videotage for their art collective, seeking to preserve the experimental ethos of the earlier Phoenix Cine Club programme.[26]

Para Site (Chinese: 藝術空間) is Hong Kong's first artist-run art space,[27] founded in 1996 by artists Patrick Lee, Leung Chi-wo, Phoebe Man Ching-ying, Sara Wong Chi-hang, Leung Mee-ping, Tsang Tak-ping, and Lisa Cheung.[10]

Hong Kong after the handover (1997–present)

Sovereignty of Hong Kong was eventually handed over to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997, after the 1984 Sino–British Joint Declaration. The Republic of China government is now based in Taipei, having lost the mainland in the Chinese Civil War shortly after the Japanese surrender.

Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre in 2013

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department set up an arts promotion office in April 2001, responsible for public arts, community arts and a visual arts centre.[28] In August 2005, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council announced the "One Year Funding 2006" program for visual arts. The program encouraged art groups to engage in various forms of artistic activities such as creation, publishing, exhibitions, forums, seminars, workshops, and courses to enhance the community's understanding and support for visual arts in Hong Kong.[19]

Due to the increasing emphasis on art and culture in Hong Kong society from the 1990s, studying the history of Hong Kong art has become a greater priority in colleges and universities. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook is one of the commissioned research projects hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Art Department. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook has been published annually since 2015.[29] Through collection, collation, and classification, the data in the yearbooks document the development of art in the city, while art historical articles contribute to academic and professional art-historical analyses of Hong Kong art.

View of Ha Bik Chuen's To Kwa Wan studio, 2014

Made accessible to the public in 2013, the Ha Bik Chuen Archive is an important resource in the study of Hong Kong art history.[30] Ha Bik Chuen, known largely as a sculptor and printmaker, also had a practice of photographing many of the exhibitions he attended, further collecting materials like illustrated magazines and artist portraits, which Ha also used to make book collages.[30] By the time of Ha's death in 2009, he had amassed at his Hong Kong studio in To Kwa Wan an archive of over 100,000 photographs, 3,500 contact sheets, exhibition ephemera, and periodicals from the 1950s onward, all largely related to Hong Kong art.[30]

In 2013, the Ha family invited the Asia Art Archive (AAA) to map, assess, and selectively digitise the archive, making Ha's collection public for the first time.[30] In July 2016, Ha's archive was relocated to a new space in Fo Tan by AAA due to the deteriorating conditions of Ha's To Kwa Wan studio.[30]

Materials from the Ha Bik Chuen Archive have further been used as part of curatorial and exhibition projects like Excessive Enthusiasm: Ha Bik Chuen and the Archive as Practice (2015) and Striated Light (2016),[30] along with an imagined collaboration between Ha Bik Chuen and fictional artist Suha Traboulsi, conceived by the Lebanese artist Walid Raad in a project titled Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi (2014).[31]

Art of the Umbrella Movement

Artistic works were created as part of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, a political movement emerging from the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014 that demanded democracy in the election of the territory's top leader. Most of the physical works of art were located within the three main protest sites of Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, with some works originating from outside of Hong Kong.

For the students involved in the "Umbrella Revolution", art functioned as a vehicle of expression and a method of documenting political events.[32] Use of the umbrella—an everyday item that protects users against the rain and the sun—by the protesters to deflect pepper spray and tear gas of the police,[33] has given the object iconic status at a political level, symbolising resistance and the underlying social grievances.[32][34][35]

Origami mobile and escalator eyes (Umbrella Square)

Activists and artists taking part in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests used artwork, painting, music, and other forms of artistic expression as a tactic to help spread awareness about the political events occurring in the city. Individuals who create protest art are commonly referred to as being part of the movement's "publicity group" (文宣組).[36] Creating protest art is seen as a peaceful, alternative way for citizens to express their views without participating in protests. Most members work under pseudonyms to protect their identity and stay in line with the movement's leaderless nature.[37]

Hungary / Arts / European Continent / World / Transcontinental to North America & Middle East  / 18.08.2023 / Protokollierung 

Before the arrival of Árpád several other peoples from the steppe had founded states in the Carpathian basin. The capital of the Huns (Xiongnu in Chinese) was Buda, named after King Attila's brother, though Priscus rhetor, a 5th-century historian and ambassador of the Byzantine Empire stated that the capital of the Huns was in the plains between the Danube and Tisza rivers. After the death of Attila in 453 the Lombards and Gepids, and later the Avars founded states here (569). This late Avar kingdom was defeated by the Franks, and the Avars of Transdanubia were baptised. The first Hungarians came to the basin during the late 9th century.

Art of the Conquest period

The People of Árpád in the 9th century used beautiful ornamental motifs to decorate both their dress and the trappings of their horses, the main motif being the palmette (see the above illustration). This style remained important in Hungary from the 9th to the 11th centuries, and similar motifs can be found in the contemporary decorative arts of the Caucasus, Iran and Middle-Asia.

Arts in the Romanesque age

Descendants of Prince Árpád organized the medieval Hungarian Kingdom. During this period the combination of styles originating in the steppes with those of the European Romanesque produced a rich heritage, with noticeable parallels in the art of the Scandinavian Vikings and the Celts of Western Europe. The coronation mantle of King Stephen (crowned 1000 A. D.) is a particularly fine example from this period.

Church architecture and sculpture

In spite of widespread destruction during the Turkish occupation (c1526-1686, and see below), Romanesque churches and other ecclesiastical buildings can be found throughout the Carpathian basin. Fine examples survive at Székesfehérvár, Gyulafehérvár, Esztergom, Pannonhalma, while recently opened lapidariums at Pécs, Veszprém, and Eger display remains from this period. Ruins of former royal houses at Tarnaszentmária, Feldebrő, and Szekszárd, also show stylistic resemblances to contemporary architecture from the Caucasus.

Sculptural works from the Romanesque age are often fragmentary. An 12th century Maiestas Domini relief, the Tabán Christ is an important example of the influence of Italian and French art in the Kingdom of Hungary.

Large-scale reconstructions were undertaken after the Mongolian wars of 1241-42. Many beautiful village churches survive from this periods, both round churches (Szalonna, Kallósd and Nagytótlak), and those with western tower and southern doorway at Nagybörzsöny, Csempeszkopács, Őriszentpéter, Magyarszecsőd, Litér, Velemér and Zalaháshágy.

Gothic art

The Gothic style reached Hungary in the late 14th century, and continued throughout the reigns of the Anjou, Luxembourg, and Jagello kings. Wealthy mining towns have built them on their main square like as at such as Kassa (Košice, Slovakia), Bártfa (Bardejov, Slovakia), Brassó and Nagyszeben built their main squares in this style, which can also be seen in several rebuilt monasteries, for example (Garamszentbenedek in Slovakia). The now destroyed monastery of the Pauline Order at Budaszentlőrinci was also built in this style.

The most renowned architect of this time was János Mester, a Franciscan brother. His largest churches are in Szeged-Alsóváros, in Farkas Street, Kolozsvár (Cluj, Romania), and in Nyirbátor. Perhaps the most famous Hungarian Gothic church of all is the Cathedral of St Elizabeth in Kassa (Košice, Slovakia).

Sculptures and paintings

The rich heritage of paintings in Hungary originated with the royal houses of Luxemburg and Anjou, that both esteemed the earlier king Ladislaus I. (Both Sigismund of Luxemburg, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor, and Louis The Great, King of Hungary and Poland were buried in the cathedral of Nagyvárad at the side of King Ladislaus.) Even today, after so many wars and so much destruction, there are about fifty churches where murals of the Saint Ladislaus legend can be found.

Renaissance

A gold Florin of King Mátyás (Matthias).

King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary had close ties with Italy, and Italian influence is clearly evident in architectural complexes built during his reign, such as his palaces in Buda and in Visegrad. A recent exhibition at the mining Museum in Rudabánya displayed the quality of Hungarian goldwork at this period in the golden forints made by Hungarian masters for the Russian Tsar Ivan III. 2008 saw the 550th anniversary of Matthias' reign, and many items from his library, the Bibliotheca Corvina (once the largest in Europe) were displayed in the National Széchényi Library in Buda Castle link

Reformation

The fortress of Sárospatak: a keep with surrounding bailey; the baroque castle (upper right) is a much later addition.

During the same period as the Wars against the Turks and the beginning of the Ottoman occupation, the Reformation led to a change of religious allegiance in about one third of Hungary. This time was also aperiod of renewal for churches in an architectural sense, with inner spaces displaying fresh and delicate ornamentation, particularly in the use of plant forms. "Cassette" ceilings are also characteristic of this period.

Architecture of fortresses

The wars against the Ottoman Empire also led to great developments in the construction of Hungarian fortresses. Earlier fortresses had been built before the era of heavy artillery, but were now fortified to resist it. The best-known surviving fortresses from this period are those of Eger, Nagyvárad, Nagykanizsa and Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky in Slovakia).

Baroque reconstruction

After the expulsion of the Turks in 1686, the new ruling house of the Habsburgs brought with it the new Baroque style. Most of the early surviving buildings in Hungary today are in this style: not only churches, but also castles e.g. Fertőd, town halls (Szeged), monasteries (Zirc), cathedrals (Kalocsa), colleges (Eger) and the royal palace at Buda.

Neo-classicism

After the Age of Reform, in the early 19th century ancient Greek traditions were revived, with the consequent construction of such neo-Classical buildings as the Hungarian National Museum.

Norwegian Art / ( Norway ) / Scandinavia / European Continent / Arts  / Protokollierung / ( 18.08.2023 AD)

Munch's The Scream (1893)

For much of its history Norwegian art is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. It has, especially since about 1100 AD, been strongly influenced by wider trends in European art. After World War II, the influence of the United States strengthened substantially. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Norwegian art has a high production per capita. Though usually not especially a major centre for art production or exporter of art, Norway has been relatively successful in keeping its art; in particular, the relatively mild nature of the Norwegian Reformation, and the lack of subsequent extensive rebuilding and redecoration of churches, has meant that with other Scandinavian countries, Norway has unusually rich survivals of medieval church paintings and fittings. One period when Nordic art exerted a strong influence over the rest of northern Europe was in Viking art, and there are many survivals, both in stone monuments left untouched around the countryside, and objects excavated in modern times. The Reformation and the loss of a permanent royal court after the Kalmar Union of 1397 greatly disrupted Norwegian artistic traditions, and left the existing body of painters and sculptors without large markets. The requirements of the small aristocratic class were mainly for portraits, usually by imported artists, and it was not until the 19th century that significant numbers of Norwegians were trained in contemporary styles. Norwegian art came into its own in the 19th century, especially with the early landscape painters. Until that time, the art scene in Norway had been dominated by imports from Germany and Holland and by the influence of Danish art. Initially with landscape painting, later with Impressionism and Realism.[1] Though for the rest of the world Edvard Munch (1863–1944) is certainly Norway's great artistic figure, there have been many other significant figures.

The beginnings

Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857) is often said to be the "father of Norwegian landscape painting". After a period in Copenhagen, he joined the Dresden school to which he made an important contribution. He eventually returned to paint the landscapes of western Norway, defining Norwegian painting for the first time.[2]

Another important early contributor was Johannes Flintoe (1787–1870), a Danish-Norwegian painter, known for his Norwegian landscapes and paintings of folk costumes. He taught at the School of Drawing (Tegneskolen) in Christiania from 1819 to 1851 where his students included budding romanticists such as Hans Gude and Johan F. Eckersberg.[2]

Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) studied in Copenhagen, in Italy and finally in Düsseldorf where he settled. He often returned to Norway where he painted the old Norwegian farm culture. His best known painting is The bridal procession in Hardanger (together with Hans Gude, 1848) and Haugianerne (Haugeans) painted in 1852.

Norway’s new-found independence from Denmark encouraged painters to develop their Norwegian identity, especially with landscape painting by artists such as Kitty Kielland, 1843–1914, an early female painter who studied under Gude and Harriet Backer, 1845–1932, another pioneer among female artists, influenced by impressionism.

Impressionists and neo-romanticists

Christian Krohg, Albertine i politilægens venteværelse (Albertine at the Police Doctor's Waiting Room, 1885–87)

Frits Thaulow, 1847–1906, an impressionist, was initially a student of Hans Gude. He was later influenced by the art scene in Paris where he developed impressionist talents. Returning to Norway in 1880, he became one of the leading figures on the Norwegian art scene, together with Christian Krohg and Erik Werenskiold.

Christian Krohg, 1852–1925, a realist painter, was also influenced by the Paris scene. He is remembered for his paintings of prostitutes which caused something of a scandal.[3]

Thorolf Holmboe (1866–1935) studied under Hans Gude in Berlin between 1886 and 1887 and Fernand Cormon in Paris between 1889 and 1891. He was inspired by many different styles at different points in his career, including Naturalism, Neo-romanticism, Realism and Impressionism.

Nikolai Astrup (1880–1928) grew up in Jølster in the west of Norway. After studying art in Oslo and spending some time in Paris and in Germany, he returned to Jølster where he specialised in painting expressionist landscapes with clear, strong colors. He is considered to be one of the greatest Norwegian artists from the early 20th century.[4]

Lars Hertervig (1830–1902) from Tysvær in south-western Norway painted semi-fantastical works inspired by the coastal landscape in Ryfylke. Hertervig completed a number of works on paper using aquarelles and often making the paper base himself from scrapes of discarded pieces of paper. The art museum under the main museum, Stavanger Museum, in Stavanger, Rogaland (previously Rogaland Museum of Fine Art) has the most significant collection of works by Hertervig in Norway.

Harald Sohlberg, (1869–1935), a neo-romanticist, is remembered for his paintings of Røros, and the Norwegian "national painting" Winter's Night in Rondane.

Edvard Munch

Norway's most famous artist is certainly Edvard Munch (1863–1944), a symbolist/expressionist who became world-famous for The Scream, one of the most recognizable paintings in all art. It has been widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man.[5]

Gunnar Berg's From Svolvær harbour, c. 1890. Being one of "the young dead", Berg is considered one of the finest painters of northern Norwegian nature.

Norwegians

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Other noteworthy 19th century painters are: August Cappelen, Peder Balke, Peter Nicolai Arbo, Eilif Peterssen, Gustav Wentzel, Oscar Wergeland, Erik Werenskiold, Asta Nørregaard, Amaldus Nielsen, Oda Krohg, Fritz Thaulow, Carl Sundt-Hansen, Christian Skredsvig, Gunnar Berg,

Halfdan Egedius, Theodor Kittelsen, Harald Sohlberg.

Noteworthy artists from 20th century Norwegian art are: Harald Sohlberg, Reidar Aulie, Per Krohg, Arne Ekeland, Kai Fjell, Jacob Weidemann, Håkon Bleken, Jens Johannessen, Ludvig Karsten, Henrik Sørensen, Kjartan Slettemark, Anna-Eva Bergman, Anders Kjær, Svein Johansen, Svein Bolling, Bjørn Carlsen, Bjørn Ransve, Kåre Tveter, Frans Widerberg, Odd Nerdrum, Ida Lorentzen, Knut Rose, Ørnulf Opdahl, Håvard Vikhagen, Leonard Rickhard, Håkon Gullvåg, Kira Wager, Halvard Storm, Lars Elling, Vibeke Barbel Slyngstad.[6]

19th-Century sculptors include Stephan Sinding, Gunnar Utsond, Brynjulf Bergslien and Mathias Skeibrok.

20th-century sculptors include Gustav Vigeland, Nils Aas, Arnold Haukeland, Bård Breivik, Anne Grimdalen, Kristofer Leirdal, Per Palle Storm, Nina Sundbye, Dyre Vaa and Wilhelm Rasmussen.

In textile art Hannah Ryggen (1894–1970) holds a unique position. Frida Hansen was an art nouveau textile artist.

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World / Asia / Continent / Taiwanese Arts / Transcontinental to Germany - Berlin ( EU ) or Doha /( Protokoll ) ( Protokollierung ) 25.08.2023 

History

Stonecutters of the Changbin culture began to make art on Taiwan at least 30,000 years ago. Around 5,000 years ago jade and earthenware works started to appear.[1] Between 4000 BC and 2000 BC people in what is now Hualien produced and traded valuable jade ornaments and jewelry.[2] The Dapenkeng culture developed a unique style of pottery.[3][4] For centuries much of the art produced was religious with highly decorated temples being the beneficiaries of local wealth and education.

Art was first institutionalized in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period with the establishment of public schools dedicated to the fine arts. The Japanese introduced oil and watercolor paintings to Taiwan and Taiwanese artists were heavily influenced by their Japanese counterparts. As was typical of colonial rulers the Japanese did not establish tertiary institutions for art education in Taiwan, all students wishing to pursue an advanced degree in the arts had to travel to Japan to do so.[1]

In the 1920s the New Cultural Movement influenced a generation of artists who used art as a way to demonstrate their equality with, or even their superiority over, their colonizers.[6]

When the Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 they brought many of China’s most prestigious artists and a large portion of the former Qing Imperial art collection with them. The artists Huang Chun-pi, Pu Ru, and Chang Dai-chien who all came to Taiwan during this period are collectively known as the “three masters from across the strait.” The Nationalists also established the first art colleges and universities in Taiwan. Along with Chinese influences the Nationalists also allowed the United States to establish a series of military bases in Taiwan, American pop culture and artistic ideas such as abstract expressionism were introduced to Taiwan by the Americans. Schools such as the May Art Association, a revolutionary art group, and Eastern Art Association, an avant-garde group flourished during this time.[1] The Ton-Fan group, founded in Taipei in 1956 by eight artists, brought abstraction to Taiwan. The Ton-Fan group reacted to Government disapproval of avant-garde art by championing it.[7]

The next major influence came when the ROC left the United Nations in 1971, this unmooring from the international community caused artists to search for an identity and a sense of self, a search which continues up to the present.[8] Artists of this era such as Lee Shi-chi and Shiy De-jinn adopted Taiwanese folk motifs and other elements from Taiwan’s traditional culture however the Taiwanese art scene still chafed under the KMT’s military dictatorship.[1]

Democratization in the late 1980s and the lifting of martial law granted Taiwanese artists freedom of expression for the first time in history.[1] The end of military rule allowed the Taiwanese to access films, literature, philosophy and culture from abroad which had been denied to them or censored.[9] Artists and activists began to grapple with the legacy of authoritarianism and embraced things like queer culture which had been oppressed under the dictatorship.[10] The economic boom of the '80s and ‘90s also saw the financial resources of Taiwanese museums and patrons increase significantly. As Taiwan’s art scene matured there began to be a greater specialization in exhibit spaces with dedicated museums for things like photography and ceramics opening.[1] After the end of single party rule indigenous Taiwanese artists and groups began exploring and rediscovering their cultural heritage, this revival also led to a larger social embrace of indigenous culture.[11] In the 21st century Taiwan’s artistic community embraced new technologies and new mediums.[1] The Taiwanese government has begun to champion and highlight Aboriginal art.[12] An indigenous artist is selected to represent Taiwan for the first time at the Venice Biennale in 2021.[13][14] Many contemporary Taiwanese artists grapple with issues of globalization in their work.[15] LGBTQ artists in modern Taiwan enjoy a degree of freedom denied in other Asian countries. This has made Taiwan a haven and a hub for both domestic and international LGBTQ artists.[16] Its freedoms have also made it a safe haven for artists like Kacey Wong fleeing an increasingly oppressive environment in Hong Kong.[17][18][19]

Art market

Art collecting has a long tradition in Taiwan however most important and deep-pocketed Taiwanese collectors prefer to fly under the radar. Taiwanese collectors are significant buyers of Chinese contemporary art as well as antiquities.[20] Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s routinely tour the highlights of their spring and autumn Impressionist and Modern and postwar sales in Taipei.[21] Taiwanese collectors have significant presence both at home and abroad, Taiwanese billionaire collector Pierre Chen is auction house Sotheby’s go-to guarantor for big-ticket items.[22] Taiwanese-German collector Maria Chen-Tu is one of the largest collectors of German art and is also active in Taiwan. In 2019 more than three hundred million dollars worth of artwork that she had loaned for exhibition in China went missing.[23] By 1990 the Taiwanese art market was the biggest in Asia and served as a regional hub.[24] By 2000 Hong Kong and Taiwan held comparable shares of the market.[20] In 2006 Tamsui, an oil painting by Tan Ting-pho, was purchased in 2006 for $4.5 million (NT$144 million), setting a world record for an oil painting by an ethnically Chinese artist.[25] In the 21st century while no longer the largest art market in Asia (having been surpassed by China) the tastes of Taiwan’s collectors have matured and Taiwan remains the most cutting-edge art market in Asia.[26] After 2010 the art collecting market underwent significant diversification with a large number of young buyers entering the market and driving trends.[27] In 2019 art sales in Taiwan stood at $225.4 million.[28] The art market in Taiwan is centered in Taipei which remains an Asian leading art hub. During the COVID-19 crisis the deep pool of collectors in Taipei helped the art market sustain itself.[29] Taiwanese art, especially contemporary Taiwanese art, is seen as highly collectable and there is significant international demand for it. The Taiwanese government has worked to support domestic artists on the international stage.[30]

Jade

After the KMT retreat to Taiwan the market for jade objects was significant due to the large amount of jade objects that the civilians, soldiers, and KMT leaders fleeing China brought with them. After the opening of trade relations between Taiwan and China the market became very strong with a high interest from Chinese collectors in high end pieces which could not be found in China outside of museums but in Taiwan could be found in numerous private collections. This market tapered off in the 2020s with the worsening of relations between Taiwan and China and the unrest in Hong Kong (the other major jade market). The perfusion of counterfeits through all levels of the market has also hurt the overall value and demand for jade.[31]

Wood carving

Wood carving has a long history on Taiwan. After the deforestation of much of Taiwan’s camphor forests a local industry emerged of excavating and then carving the remaining tree stumps.[32] The town of Sanyi, Miaoli is the current center of the Taiwanese wood carving industry. Many of the wood carvers in Sanyi are concentrated on Shuimei Street.[33] The Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum exhibits a wide range of wood art.[32][34] Much of the timber from illegal logging in Taiwan ends up in the local wood carving industry.[35] Cheap pieces which imitate Taiwanese masters are imported from China and Southeast Asia which cuts into the local industry. Wood art made in Taiwan can be issued a certification from the Taiwan Wood-carving Association.[36]

Religious art

Taiwan’s traditional temples are home to unique artwork which represents the height of art for its time. Much of the wealth in traditional Taiwanese society went into buying and decorating temples and tombs. In particular the doors of buddhist and taoist temples are often exquisitely carved and painted with many in Taiwan depicting Guan Yu. These traditional temples have often been damaged by years of smoke of from burning incense and joss paper, as a result they often require costly restoration work.[5] Religious architecture has also had to adapt to modern materials with concrete often replacing wood for structural components in typhoon prone areas.[37]Many of Taiwan’s traditional tombs are carved from stone with generations of artisans from stone crafting villages in Huian County, Fujian traveling to Taiwan to build tombs and temples. Chiang Hsin was the most famous of these artisans.[38] The esteemed Yeh family of Penghu have been temple architects and carpenters since the 1600s.[37]

Christian art has a significant history in Taiwan.[39]

The Taiwanese government believes that "A country’s level of democracy is reflected in the development of its performing arts."[40]

Glove puppetry

A modern style of puppet in Taiwan glove puppetry.

Glove puppetry has a long history in Taiwan and is considered one of the country's traditional arts

Papua New Guinea / Arts / Arts in Oceania / Wikipedia ( Resourcing ) / Protokoll 25.08.2023

Papua New Guinean art has a long rich diverse tradition. In particular, it is world-famous for carved wooden sculpture: masks, canoes and story-boards. Papua New Guinea also has a wide variety of clay, stone, bone, animal and natural die art. Many of the best collections of these are held in overseas museums.

Some of the artists regarded as being in the first wave of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea are: Mathias Kauage OBE (born 1944), Timothy Akis, Jakupa Ako and Joe Nalo, all from the tough urban area of Port Moresby. Kauage won Australia's Blake Prize for Religious Art, four of his works are in the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, and he had a solo show in 2005 at the Horniman Museum, "Kauage's Visions: Art from Papua New Guinea". Other noted Papua New Guinean visual artists include Larry Santana, Martin Morububuna and Heso Kiwi.[1]

The works shown below, in composite images, were done while the artists were visiting California but are traditional in content and medium.[2]

World / News / North Korea / Arts / Mansudae Art Studio / Transcontinental to New York  & ( EU  ) or Africa / Protokollierung 25.08.2023

Mansudae Art Studio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mansudae Art Studio

Korean name

Chosŏn'gŭl 만수대창작사

Hancha 萬壽臺創作社

The Mansudae Art Studio is an art studio in Pyeongcheon District, Pyongyang, North Korea. It was founded in 1959,[1] and it is one of the largest centers of art production in the world, at an area of over 120,000 square meters.[2] The studio employs around 4,000 people, 1,000 of whom are artists picked from the best academies in North Korea.[1][3][4] Most of its artists are graduates of Pyongyang University.[1] The studio consists of 13 groups, including those for woodcuts, charcoal drawings, ceramics, embroidery and jewel paintings, among other things.[1]

The studio has produced many of North Korea's most important monuments, such as the Monument to the Founding of the Korean Workers Party,[5] the Chollima Statue, and the Mansu Hill Grand Monument.[6][7] Its foreign commercial division is known as the Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, which as of 2014 has created monuments for 18 African and Asian nations.[7] All images of the Kim family are produced by the Mansudae Art Studio.[5] Before his death, the Mansudae Art Studio was under the guidance of Kim Jong Il.[3][8] Since 2009, the studio has had its own space also in the 798 Art District in Beijing, China, known as the Mansudae Art Museum.[1]

Organization and management

Artists working on ceramics at Mansudae Art Studio

The studio consists of around 4,000 workers, approximately 1,000 of whom are artists aged from their mid-20s to mid-60s and selected from the best academies in the country, especially from Pyongyang University of Fine Arts [ko]. The studio takes up over 120,000 square meters, 80,000 of which are indoors.[1] The campus-like studio includes a soccer stadium, sauna, medical clinic, paper mill, kindergarten, and even a gift shop.[3][5] The studio is a state-approved destination for foreign tourists, and the gift shop has enabled tourists to purchase North Korean art for years, as selling artwork is one of the North Korea state's easiest means of gaining foreign currency.[6] The studio is made up of thirteen groups that manufacture different types of artwork (ranging from oil paintings to ceramics and bronze statues), manufacturing plants, and more than 50 supply departments that produce and test art materials such as paint.[1][5] According to the studio's official website, the studio is not a school or a Chinese-style chain factory, but rather a high quality production center that employs over half of the nation's artists who have received the two highest artistic awards available in North Korea. The manager of the studio's website, Pier Luigi Cecioni, has also claimed that the Mansudae Art Studio receives profits from the website's sales directly, as it has economic autonomy.[3] Mansudae Art Studio has a sports team in the annual Paektusan Prize Games of Civil Servants.[9]

History

The Mansudae Art Studio was established in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on November 17, 1959, six years after the end of the Korean War. Before his death in 2011, the studio operated under Kim Jong Il's "special guidance."[1]

Ties with Italy

The Mansudae Art Studio's affiliation with Italy began in 2005 with Pier Luigi Cecioni, whose position as president of an orchestra in Florence, Italy, allowed him to come into contact with the studio. Cecioni's orchestra was invited to perform at the Spring Friendship Festival held in Pyongyang. While in Pyongyang, Cecioni inquired as to whether North Korea had "any art center or gallery to show [him],"[3] and was taken to Mansudae Art Studio which at the time was little known outside of North Korea.[3] Cecioni offered to help the studio "do something in the West,"[3] and in January 2006 he returned to Pyongyang with his brother, an artist, Director of the Florence Fine Arts Academy in Florence, and director of an exhibition center near Florence. The Cecioni brothers selected several Mansudae works to bring back to Europe[3] and signed an agreement of exclusivity,[1] which established Pier Luigi Cecioni as a liaison[5] between Mansudae and the West.[3] A provision of this agreement was that Cecioni would organize exhibitions of artwork from Mansudae in the West.

Around the same time as the first of these exhibitions was organized, Cecioni began building the official web site of the Mansudae Art Studio.[3] Cecioni facilitates the studio's international sales of small pieces of artwork, such as paintings,[5] through this website, which offers a brief history of the studio, information about Mansudae exhibitions outside North Korea, a directory of Mansudae artists, and listings of paintings for sale.[1]

Some artists from Mansudae have been periodically sent abroad, including to Italy. In 2012, Cecioni accompanied some Mansudae artists to the Uffizi Gallery and the Vatican Museums, which he said the North Korean artists appreciated and recognized from their university studies.[3]

Mansudae Art Museum

In 2009, Mansudae Art Studio's presence was made known in the 798 Art Zone in Beijing, China.[1][10] The studio has its own space in 798 called Mansudae Art Museum, though unlike most museums many of the works in its collection are for sale and are comparable to paintings available on Mansudae's website.[1] The museum sells both original and copied socialist-realist paintings, statues, and posters as well as stamps and postcards. The stamp and postcard themes range from nature to Kim family cars, but they mostly emphasize the relationship between North Korea and China (for example, there are stamps of every Chinese politician to have ever visited North Korea).[11] The museum was the first North Korean art gallery abroad and is a North Korea-approved tourist destination.[11][12] The museum's entrance is marked by a smaller version of Pyongyang's Chollima Statue sitting on top of a beige pedestal over six meters tall.[11]

Exhibitions and products

Exhibitions

Mansudae had its first overseas exhibition in London in July and August 2007 at La Galaria in Pall Mall curated by David Heather The then Ambassador attended the opening and it ran for six weeks.[3][13] In 2009, Queensland Art Gallery approached Koryo Studio's Nicholas Bonner to commission works for the Asia Pacific Triennial the most prestigious exhibition for showing contemporary art from the Asia region. Despite much preparation by five invited Mansudae artists,[14][15] an exhibition in Brisbane, Australia presented Mansudae artworks without their artists. Although only one of the fifteen pieces was socialist-realist, the Australian government denied the artists exceptions from a visa ban on North Korea because they came "from Pyongyang's propaganda machine and... are not welcome."[15] On 10 October 2013, a popular Mansudae exhibition opened at a trade exposition in Dandong, China. The exhibition had no propaganda art and sold 30 pieces in its first three days.[3] In 2014, David Heather, who curated the London exhibition in 2007, decided to recreate the success of the 2007 exhibition.[13] The exhibition was held at the North Korean Embassy in the United Kingdom.[16] The Mansudae artists involved with the event stayed in London for two weeks beforehand to prepare[16] and were available to paint for people while in England.[13]

Paintings

An artist painting at Mansudae Art Studio

Mansudae produces many paintings, including "all public images of Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Il Sung" and "One Can Always Lose, a series of 10 paintings depicting North Korea's 1-0 win over Italy during round one of the 1966 World Cup."[7] Several of the paintings have a uniform style of depicting North Korea as a utopia. However, according to Klaus Klemp, the deputy director of Frankfurt's Museum of Applied Art, Mansudae artists can "produce kitschy knockoffs of several foreign genres" that are likely sold internationally.[5] Mansudae's official website has a gallery[1] of paintings ranging "from propaganda posters to lucid landscapes, flower bouquets, and even family portraits," as well as the occasional rare jewel painting.[3] Jewel paintings are unique to North Korea and are made by grinding gems[17] into powders that are put on a canvas by hand and never lose their strong shine.[18]

Statues in North Korea

Chollima statue at the foot of Mansu Hill [ko]

Bronze statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at Mansu Hill Grand Monument

Mansudae Art Studio has created statues and sculptures that have been placed all over the country, with three of the most important and famous works being the Chollima statue, the Monument to the Founding of the Korean Workers Party, and the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the Mansu Hill Grand Monument. These monuments are common tourist destinations, and the statues of the deceased Kims are on most North Korean travel itineraries.[19]

Built in 1961,[19] the Chollima statue, which has a replica at the Mansudae Art Museum in Beijing,[11] is a depiction of a legendary winged horse that could fly a thousand li (about 300 miles) a day. The horse has a male worker and a female peasant riding on its back, "symbolizing the heroic spirit of the Korean People"[11] and heading into North Korea's future.[11][19]

Built in 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the North Korean Workers Party,[20] the Monument to the Founding of the Korean Workers Party is 164 feet tall and depicts three "truck-size" fists holding a hammer, a sickle, and a calligraphy brush respectively.[5]

The Mansu Hill Grand Monument is perhaps the most well-known image used to represent North Korea. The monument includes two bronze statues that are 20 meters tall, making them the largest statues in the country.[20] The monument has changed over time, as it began with just one statue of Kim Il Sung and was dedicated to him on his 60th birthday in 1972.[20] In 2012,[19] a statue of Kim Jong Il was added, only to be recast a few months later to change the statue's overcoat with a parka in honor of the anorak Kim Jong Il was commonly seen wearing throughout his life, which was labeled a "witness of history" upon his death and was talked about with much emotion.[21]

Mansudae Overseas Project Group

Main article: Mansudae Overseas Projects

Mansudae Art Studio has an international division, the Mansudae Overseas Project Group, which was established in 1970s.[5] This division is a thriving multimillion-dollar business that has created monuments, museums, stadiums, and palaces for several countries, including Algeria, Botswana, Cambodia, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Malaysia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Senegal, the Syrian Arab Republic, Togo, and Zimbabwe.[5] According to Pier Luigi Cecioni, the success of this small cottage industry is due to Mansudae's "competence and experience to realize such huge projects, and it can send large teams of artists and workers to foreign countries for a long time."[5] Preliminary work is done at the Mansudae Art Studio, and designs are tested to determine resistance to natural disasters. Some believe that the group has "no competition worldwide," as one Mansudae sculptor told a German publication.[5]

Fairy Tale Fountain

Frankfurt's Fairy Tale Fountain

In 2004, Klaus Klemp, deputy director of Frankfurt's Museum of Applied Art, discovered and was impressed by Mansudae's craftsmanship. Klemp convinced Frankfurt's officials to hire the Mansudae Overseas Project Group to reconstruct Frankfurt's Fairy Tale Fountain, an "art nouveau relic from 1910 that had been melted down for its metal during World War II" for which the original blueprints had gone missing. The Project Group was chosen for its early 1900s style, ability to recreate the fountain based on old photographs, and attractive prices. The fountain is the only commission that the group has won from a Western country.[5][10]

African Renaissance Monument

Perhaps the group's most notable monument is also one of its most controversial: Senegal's African Renaissance Monument. Unveiled in 2010, it stands at 50 meters, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty and Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer,[5] and depicts a half-nude African family of three in a socialist-realist pose.[7] A former president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, hired the group because it was the only organization that he could afford. It took the work of around 150 Mansudae artists to complete. Senegalese unions protested about the foreign labour due to the 50 per cent unemployment rate at the time, the Muslim majority of the population was offended by the exposed breast of the mother figure, and Wade had to have the heads redone as they looked Korean rather than African.[5][7]

Significance

Mansudae Art Studio may be the largest art factory in the world. The studio is extremely important in North Korea as it employs the best artists and is the only organization "officially sanctioned to portray the Kim family dynasty."[5] Positions at Mansudae are prestigious and desirable, especially as part of the Overseas Project Group. Mansudae workers sent overseas live under strict security, but they are fed regularly and earn better wages than most North Koreans.[5] Since its founding in 1959, Mansudae has reproduced, reflected, and shaped the country's aesthetic. North Korea "spends much of its budget on Kim family deification," which likely includes and thus funds Mansudae, as the studio produces propaganda ranging from monuments to the party to the Kim pins worn by all North Koreans.[5] Mansudae's propaganda output is essential to the North Korean government. According to Pier Luigi Cecioni, the studio is so important to the country and its government that it "has the status of a ministry[ and] is not subject to the Ministry of Culture.”

Brazilian Arts / Art in Brazil / South America Transcontinental to NEOM & Berlin or ( Cologne ) / Protokollierung 25.08.2023 AD

The creation of art in the geographic area now known as Brazil begins with the earliest records of its human habitation. The original inhabitants of the land, pre-Columbian Indigenous or Natives peoples, produced various forms of art; specific cultures like the Marajoara left sophisticated painted pottery. This area was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century and given the modern name of Brazil. Brazilian art is most commonly used as an umbrella term for art created in this region post Portuguese colonization.

Pre-Columbian traditions

The oldest known art in Brazil is the cave paintings in Serra da Capivara National Park in the state of Piauí,[1] dating back to c. 13,000 BC. More recent examples have been found in Minas Gerais and Goiás, showing geometric patterns and animal forms.[2]

One of the most sophisticated kinds of Pre-Columbian artifact found in Brazil is the sophisticated Marajoara pottery (c. 800–1400 AD), from cultures flourishing on Marajó Island and around the region of Santarém, decorated with painting and complex human and animal reliefs. Statuettes and cult objects, such as the small carved-stone amulets called muiraquitãs, also belong to these cultures.[3] The Mina and Periperi cultures, from Maranhão and Bahia, produced interesting though simpler pottery and statuettes.

In the beginning of the 21st century, the ancient Indian traditions of body painting, pottery, cult statuettes, and feather art are still being cultivated by the remaining Indian peoples.

Shark-shaped carved stone, Sambaqui culture, Museu da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.

Baroque

The first Western artists active in Brazil were Roman Catholic priests who came from Portugal to "civilize" the Indians. Jesuits assumed an important role in this process, with their many missionary establishments called "Reductions" teaching religion through art in the form of sacred plays, music, statuary, and painting. José de Anchieta was the first important playwright; Agostinho de Jesus and Agostinho da Piedade produced the first known sculptures; Belchior Paulo, João Felipe Bettendorff, Ricardo do Pilar, and a few others did the first paintings; while Francisco de Vaccas and Pedro da Fonseca started organizing the musical life of the infant colony. Basílio da Gama and Gregório de Mattos were the first secular poets. All of them worked under the influence of the Baroque, the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century.[4][5]

Through the 17th and 18th centuries Baroque art flourished with increasing richness and craftsmanship, mainly in Bahia and Pernambuco along the coast and in some inland regions, reaching the highest levels of originality in Minas Gerais, where a gold rush nurtured a rich and cultured local society. In Minas lived the greatest artists of Brazilian Baroque: painter Manuel da Costa Ataíde and sculptor-architect Aleijadinho. Minas was also the birthplace of a proto-Neoclassical school of music and literature, with composers Lobo de Mesquita and Francisco Gomes da Rocha, and poets Tomás Antônio Gonzaga and Cláudio Manuel da Costa.[5][6]

José Joaquim da Rocha: Painted ceiling of St. Dominicus Church, Salvador

Ricardo do Pilar: Man of sorrows, c. 1690

São Francisco Church, Salvador

João Nepomuceno Correia e Castro: Immaculate Conception. Museu da Inconfidência

School of Bahia: Christ the Savior.

Ataíde: Our Lady surrounded by musician angels, Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Ouro Preto

Oscar Niemeyer: Cathedral of Brasília. The statues are works by Alfredo Ceschiatti

The beginning of the 20th century saw a struggle between old schools and modernist trends. The Week of Modern Art festival, held in São Paulo in 1922, was received with fiery criticism by conservative sectors of the society, but it was a landmark in the history of Brazilian art. It included plastic arts exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and the reading of poems. Due to the radicalism (for the times) of some of their poems and music, the artists were vigorously booed and pelted by the audience, and the press and art critics in general were strong in their condemnation. However, those artists are now seen as the founders of Modern art in Brazil. Modernist literature and theory of art were represented by Oswald de Andrade, Sérgio Milliet, Menotti del Picchia, and Mário de Andrade, whose revolutionary novel Macunaíma (1928) is one of the founding texts of Brazilian Modernism. Painting was represented by Anita Malfatti, Tarsila do Amaral, Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Lasar Segall, Vicente do Rego Monteiro; sculpture by Victor Brecheret; and music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, the leader of a new musical nationalism, among many others.[13]

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, by Paul Landowski and Gheorghe Leonida, 1931

The Week not only introduced to a wider public modern, experimental tendencies derived from European Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism, but also wanted to make use of national folklore as a basis for an art more relevant to the Brazilian reality, with an enhanced social awareness. This "cannibalization" of European movements and transformation into genuine Brazilian expression is the motto between the Anthropophagic Manifesto, published by Oswald de Andrade in 1928, that draws parallels between art history and the cannibal rituals of the Tupi people.

However, the radicalism of those first Modernists couldn't last for long in a society used to traditional fashions, and the original core members had separated by 1929, pursuing individual paths. What Brazilian art then became was a mix of some important achievements of the Moderns, meaning freedom from the strict academic agenda, with more conventional traits, giving birth in the following generation to a moderate Modernism, best exemplified by painter Cândido Portinari, who was something like the official painter of the Brazilian government in mid-century.[14]

Oscar Niemeyer: Copan Building

Within the group of Brazilian artists, Chico Niedzielski's artwork has been spread all over the country. His work is known to be inspired by Sacred Geometry, breaking the tendency to focus on Brazilian themes and searching for a more universal and atemporal form of Brazilian art. The erosion of radical Modernism in the visual arts in the early 20th century was not reflected in Brazilian literature. Clarice Lispector wrote existentialist novels and developed a highly personal style, filled with stream-of-consciousness and epiphanies. João Guimarães Rosa changed the face of Brazilian literature with his experimental language, and playwright Nelson Rodrigues dealt with crime, prejudice, passion, and sexual pathologies. In the 1950s, painting and sculpture regained strength through Abstractionism, and architecture began also to display advanced features, influenced by Le Corbusier. Its greatest achievement was the urban core of Brasília, designed by urbanist Lúcio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer, now a World Heritage Site.[15]

1960s onwards: Contemporary Art

Around the 1960s, the so-called "modernist" art movements started giving way to most contemporary means of expression, such as appropriation, political art, Conceptual art and Pop. Right at the turn of the decade, some Brazilian Concrete artists began ditching the traditional "strictness" of concrete art in favor of a more phenomenological approach, exploring the relations between the art object and the viewer. Among the primary leaders of this Neo-Concrete movement were the poet Ferreira Gullar, and the visual artists Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Pape and Lygia Clark, this last one internationally cited as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.[16]

The Coup d'état of 1964 and subsequent restriction of civil rights and freedom of expression in Brazil is commonly marked as the shifting point, whence artists such as Cildo Meireles and Rubens Gerchman began creating explicitly political art.[17] Particularly after 1968, when the military government legalized torture, Brazilian art was marked by rather radical actions and happenings. The São Paulo Art Biennial, the second oldest art biennial in the world, opened up with most of its walls empty due to a boycott from the artists.[18] In 1970, the exhibit Do Corpo à Terra ("From Body to Earth") took place in Belo Horizonte, and included rather shocking actions such as Cildo Meireles setting live chickens on fire in front of a live audience[19] and Artur Barrio ditching blood-soaked packages in a river, giving off the impression that the people who disappeared under the military government had "reappeared" in this gruesome fashion.[20]

Holy week, Ouro Preto-MG, 2010. Chrome. Photo: Guy Veloso.

Brazilian Pop art didn't come without its share of criticism, sometimes adopting an outright rejection of consumer culture instead of the ambivalent, distant criticism of American pop. Waldemar Cordeiro is one of the most expressive artists that began exploring digital art and robotics in its work around the 60s and 70s, while Antonio Dias, Carlos Vergara brought the aesthetics of comic books, playing cards and other popular forms of visuality into his work. Hélio Oiticica's "Tropicália", a colorful immersive installation piece, incorporated references to the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The title relates to the cultural movement of the same name, that called back to the Antropophagic Manifesto of the 1920s to offer a more tongue-in-cheek perspective on the myths of an exotic and "wild" Brazil.

Some artists as: Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Naza, Cildo Meireles among others, have been featured on the international stage. Brazilian contemporary art and photography are among the most creative in Latin America, growing an international prominence each year with exhibitions and publications. Brazilian contemporary photographers include Miguel Rio Branco, Vik Muniz, Sebastião Salgado, and Guy Veloso.[citation needed]

Indigenous Artists

The Pinacoteca de São Paulo museum has become the first museum in over 100 years to host a contemporary Indigenous art exhibition.[21] The exhibition is featured 23 Indigenous artists from various ethnicities across Brazil. The Véxoa exhibition showcases paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs and installations[22] all with the political goal of capturing and drawing attention to important issues currently affecting the Indigenous population, which come in the form of agribusiness, deforestation, illegal mining and climate change.[21]

The name of the Véxoa originates from the Terena language and translates to "We Know."[22] The exhibition aims to break stereotypes surrounding Indigenous communities in Brazil. The curator of the museum has chosen a variety of Indigenous works which are both contemporary and traditional. The museum includes a diversity policy but does not group indigenous group the artist by ethnicity or chronological in order to emphasize the universalism of shared experiences by the native communities as more than 300 Indigenous group currently reside in Brazil according to Olinda Yawar.[21] The exhibition include Indigenous film, photography, ceramics, embroidery and natural materials.[22]

Ailton Krenak a leading Indigenous artist and philosopher has talked about the exhibition as "an opportunity to expose the extremely adverse times that Indigenous people are experiencing as a result of political violence perpetrated against their rights by the Brazilian State."[21]

Jaider Esbell, another prominent artist in the exhibition, believes that, "Every exhibition of Indigenous art is primarily about exposing all the crimes that are taking place today".[21] The artist focuses in widening different perspectives of Indigenous culture in order to illustrate the daily struggle and violence against indigenous communities. In a recent YouTube video Jaider has commented on the importance of Indigenous art as an intrinsic part of Indigenous culture and values. Jaider acknowledges the destruction of the Amazon rainforest as destroying traditions and indigenous communities.[23] Jaider teaches a course at São Paulo's Museum of Modern Art.

Yakuña Tuxá an Indigenous female artist from Bahia has put forward multiple artworks that reflecting the challenges of being an Indigenous woman in modern-day Brazil. The art focuses on Indigenous beauty and the prejudices faced by Indigenous women in big cities.

World / News / ( Artbasel.com Resource ) / Argentina Arts / Intercontinental to Europe or Riad / Protokollierung 25.08.2023 

Buenos Aires’s Artworld

The artistic talent and vitality that characterize the city of Buenos Aires today began to flourish in the 20th century. The city's streets, colors, neighborhoods, and even its geographical location presented inexhaustible sources of inspiration to Argentine artists, and continue to do so in the present day. Since the beginning of this century, Buenos Aires’s cultural landscape has gone from strength to strength: the city’s art scene is rich, diverse, and cross-generational, with a diverse range of artistic practices where conventional traditions coexist alongside the novelty of innovation. Argentina’s gallerists, collectors, curators, and key artworld minds - interviewed below - provide a look into Argentina’s thriving art ecosystem.

World / Middle East / Transcontinental to European Continent ( EU ) / Abu Dhabi Arts  & Art Exhibitions in Middle East / Protokoll 25.08.2023  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abu Dhabi Art is an art fair that takes place every November in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, featuring art gallerias, art and design foundations, as well as additional educational programming and talks.

History

Organized by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the first edition took place in 2007 at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, under the name ArtParis Abu Dhabi. The fair is considered the first for modern and contemporary in the United Arab Emirates, under the patronage of Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.[1]

2008: The second edition of the fair took place at Emirates Palace between 17–21 November and included 57 galleries exhibiting several hundred artists.[2]

2009: Rebranded as Abu Dhabi Art (ADA), held between 19–22 November.[3] The fair was organized for the first time by Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) and Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) under the patronage of General Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.[4]

2010: Opened by Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan and held between 6–10 November.[5]

2011: The third edition of the rebranded fair changed its location between Manarat Al Saadiyat and the newly shifted UAE pavilion, that housed the UAE’s participation at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, at the Saadiyat Island Cultural district.[6][7]

2012: The first edition to be organized by the newly formed Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority replacing the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), held between 7–10 November 2012.[8]

2013: Held between 20–23 November with 50 participating galleries divided into five sections including Beyond, for large-scale installations and sculptures; Bidaya, for emerging galleries; Signature, which featured solo exhibitions; Artists' Waves, an artist-led exhibition of work from within the galleries showing at the fair and the final category, Modern, Contemporary and Design.[9]

2014: Organized by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and held between 5-8 Nov, included over 50 galleries showcasing over 600 works.[10]