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The history of art is a discipline of social sciences which studies the evolution of art throughout time.
Defined as any activity or product made by humans for aesthetical or communicative purposes, through expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview, art uses various resources, such as plastics, linguistics, sound or mixed. Art history as an academic discipline and institutional environment (museums, art auction, university department, editorial publishing) is often restricted to visual or plastic arts (essentially painting, sculpture and architecture), while other arts are a more specific subject of study like history of literature or history of music, all of which receive attention by the history of culture or cultural history, together with sectors of history focused on other manifestations of thought, like history of science, history of philosophy and history of religion. Fields of knowledge closely related to history of art is aesthetics and art theory.
Over time art has been classified in diverse ways, from the medieval distinction between liberal arts and mechanical arts, to the modern distinction between fine arts and applied arts, or to the many contemporary definitions, which define art as a manifestation of human creativity. The subsequent expansion of the list of principal arts in the 20th century was widened to nine: architecture, dance, sculpture, music, painting, poetry — described broadly as a form of literature with aesthetic purpose or function, which also includes the distinct genres of theatre and narrative —, film, photography and comics. At the conceptual overlap of terms between plastic arts and visual arts were added design and graphic arts. In addition to the old forms of artistic expression such as fashion and gastronomy, new modes of expression are being considered as arts such as advertising, animation, television and videogames.
History of art is a multidisciplinary science, seeking an objective examination of art throughout time, classifying cultures, establishing periodizations and observing distinctive and influential characteristics of art. The study of history of art was initially developed in Rennaissance, with its limited scope in the artistic production of the western civilization. However, as time has passed, it has imposed a broader view of artistic history, seeking a comprehensive overview of all the civilizations and analysis of their artistic production in terms of their own cultural values (cultural relativism), and not just the western art history.
These days, art enjoys a wide network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic legacy produced by mankind throughout history. The 20th century has seen the proliferation of institutions, foundations, museums and galleries, encompassing both public and private sectors, dedicated to the analysis and cataloging of works of art as well as exhibitions aimed at mainstream audience. The rise of media has been crucial in improving the study and dissemination of art. International events and exhibitions like the biennales of Venice and São Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the development of new styles and trends. Prizes such as Turner of the Tate Gallery, the Wolf Prize in Arts, the Pritzker Prize of architecture, the Nobel Prize in Literature, the UNESCO Mozart Medal of classical music, the Pulitzer of photography and the Oscar of cinema also promote the best creative work in an international level. Institutions like UNESCO, with the establishment of the World Heritage Site, also help the conservation of the major monuments of the planet.[1]
Prehistory[edit]
Prehistoric art was developed by primitive humans from the Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) to the Metal Age, periods where the first demonstrations that can be considered art by humans, appear. During the Paleolithic (25.000-8000 BC), man practiced huntingand lived in caves, where cave painting was developed. After a transitional period (Mesolithic, 8000-6000 BC), in the Neolithic period (6000-3000 BC), when man became sedentary and engaged in agriculture, with societies becoming increasingly complex and religion gaining importance, the production of crafts commenced. Finally, in the Metal Age (3000-1000 BC), the first protohistoric civilizations arise.
Paleolithic[edit]
The Paleolithic had its first artistic manifestation on 25.000 BC, reaching its peak in the Magdalenian period (±15.000-8000 BC). The first traces of man-made objects appear in southern Africa, Western Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe (Adriatic Sea, Siberia (Baikal Lake), India and Australia. These first traces are generally worked stone (flint, obsidian), wood or bone tools. To paint red, iron oxide was used, black, manganese oxide and for ochre, clay. Their main means of expression was cave painting, developed in the Franco-Cantabrian region: there are pictures with magical-religious character and also pictures with a naturalistic sense, which depict animals, highlighting the caves of Altamira, Trois Frères, Chauvet and Lascaux. As for sculpture, it is represented by the so-called Venus figurines, feminine figures which certainly served as a cult of fertility, highlighted by Venus of Willendorf. Other representative works of this period are the Man from Brno and the Venus of Brassempouy.[2]
In the prehistoric times arose the first rudimentary forms of music and dance: diverse natural phenomena and the modulation of the human voice convinced primitive humans that there existed voices which could be harmonious and melodious, which could affect the emotions and mood of the people. At that time, dance, the rhythmic movement, was a form of body language used to express feelings, ritualize important events (births, deaths and weddings). In principle, music and dance had a ritual component, held in fertility ceremonies, hunting or war or of religious nature. Soon people learned to make use of rudimentary objects (bones, reeds, trunks, seashells) to produce sounds, while respiration and heartbeats served to provide the first cadence of dance.[3]
Neolithic[edit]
This period –began circa 8000 BC in the Near East– was a profound change for the ancient man, who became sedentary and engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, new forms of social coexistence and religion developed. The Levantine art –dated between Mesolithic and Neolithic– contained small, schematic human and figures, with notable examples in El Cogul, Valltorta, Alpera and Minateda. This kind of painting was also similar in northern Africa(Atlas, Sahara) and in the actual area of Zimbabwe. The Neolithic painting was schematic, reduced to basic strokes (man in the form of a cross and woman in a triangular shape). There are equally noteworthy cave paintings in Pinturas River in Argentina, especially the Cueva de las Manos. In portable art the Cardium Pottery was produced, decorated with imprints of seashells. New materials were produced like amber, crystal of rock, quartz, jasper, etc. In this period there appear the first traces of urbanistic planimetry, noting the remains in Tell as-Sultan (Jericho), Jarmo (Iraq) and Çatalhöyük (Anatolia).[4]
The last prehistoric phase is the Metal Age, as the use of elements such as copper, bronze and iron proved to be a great material transformation for these ancient societies. In the Chalcolithic (also called Copper Age) emerged the Megalith, funerary monuments of stone, i.e the dolmen and menhir or the English cromlech, as in the magnificent complex of Stonehenge. In Spain the Los Millares culture was formed, characterized by the Beaker culture and pictured human figures with big eyes. In Malta, noteworthy are the temple complexes of Mudajdra, Tarxien and Ggantija. In the Balearic Islands were developed notable megalithic cultures, with different types of monuments: the naveta, a tomb shaped like a truncated pyramide, with an elongated burial chamber; the taula, two large stones, one put vertically and the other horizontally above each other; and the talaiot, a tower with a covered chamber and a false dome.[5]