You have chosen to go to Italy for your vacation this year, to find that ancient Rome which is said to assert, even these days, its influence in all areas of our cultural, intellectual, and technical life. In a sense, you are delving into your individual roots, even in the event you also plan to check out the contemporary scene, the shops, the restaurants, the bustling cities. You are individual experiences at home have prepared you for an appreciation of the modern, but are you prepared to appreciate the historic civilization of Rome, the artifacts which are left of the empire and that stand out as visible reminders of bygone times? In the event you wish to fully appreciate that past, prior to you go, take a little time out of your hectic schedule to study Roman art history, Roman painting, Roman sculpture, Roman architecture, in order that once you stand just before it, its speaks to you as it spoke to individuals Romans long ago at the dawn of Western man.
As soon as you open a book on Roman art history, you will find that the Romans have been lovers of Greek art. Outstanding in literature, poetry, history, philosophy, the Romans seemed to let their fascination with Greek art dominate their entire outlook on art, so significantly to ensure that numerous art historians fail to see something that clearly sets Roman art off from Greek art. To some extent, this is true. The Romans imported Greek art from every age of Greek art, from the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. Not only did they import these styles, but they also imported Greek artists to produce new operates for Rome. Roman writers on art in individuals times hardly wrote something on Roman art, but they wrote copiously on Greek art, lauding it as the height of artistic endeavor. So fascinated have been they by the Greeks, the Romans did not even record the names of their individual artists, yet the art criticism from people times lavish praises on the Greeks: Phidias, Praxiteles, Polyclitus and other famous Greek artists. Entranced by the Greeks?who would not be?the Romans had been without question, artistic imitators of the Greeks.
You may well do well when preparing for your vacation to Italy to give some consideration to Greek art history, seeing how influential the art of Greece was in Roman art history. Perhaps, if you’re going primarily to witness the artistic tradition of the West, you may do just too to very first visit Greece, Athens, in order to obtain a full sense of the origins of Western art.
In the event you have time only for Rome, you will still be exposed to the Greeks styles expressed through the vision of historical Rome. Your reading in Roman art history will also help you distinguish individuals contributions that happen to be distinctively Roman?yes, they did expand on Greek art, creating a specifically Roman expression. The Romans had been not able to totally eliminate their personal unique history from their operates. The influence of their Etruscan forefathers emerges in a lot of the sculpture and architecture of the later Roman period. Read a history on Roman art and learn far more on what distinguishes Roman art from Greek art. Once you stand previous to the temple of Sibyl in Tivoli, outside the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, inside the Colosseum, inside Pantheon of Rome, you will see much more than architecture; you will see historical Rome.
Beautifully designed objects can help transform our interior surroundings into a venue for living and entertaining that expresses our personal taste and forms our own distinctive haven to share with family and friends. Interior decor and wall art help create a setting to engage conversation and a certain mood with ambience, which brings to life this wonderful space that is our home to share with those closest to us and like-minded friends. Wall accessories can complement the style of your home as well as providing an interesting piece of art that can be abstract, contemporary or traditional. Metal wall art has been used to convey artistic styles from different art periods and art movements in a way that can be attractive to appeal to the mood of popular culture within contemporary modern environments.
We have long adorned art on our walls to bring interior spaces to life. Traditionally in art history we were interested in art that gave a true representative picture of a subject or object. This type of art corresponded accurately to real objects such as animals, landscapes, architecture, dwellings and people. Steadily throughout the impressionist and modernist art eras with influences such as art nouveau, arts and crafts and more abstract art movements. We have of course seen the introduction of more conceptual and non figurative art as brought to us in the 20th Century. Abstract art allows free use of colour and shapes to entice our imaginations and emotions.
Art movements have influenced styles throughout different periods in history. Amongst other interior design accessories metal wall art can deliver different styles in designs to appeal to modern tastes. Contemporary styles depicts art of the present day with Modernist and Post Modern influences that overlap with these and other artistic movements. The boundaries today are challenged more readily and unapologetically. Abstract art could be seen as almost contradictory to more traditional designs, yet its value is now established and given recognition. As these designs and sculptures portrait what cannot be seen in an object, rather interpreted such as an emotions. The interior design and decor of a setting can adopt different styles such as traditional, Victorian, art deco or something that’s much more modern and contemporary in its styling. Whether abstract or traditional in design, interior decor can be used to bring a piece of art history to the decor of a home or work place with a measure of contemporary elegance.
The history of the United States is a wild and crazy one. From the early fifteenth century onward people have been colonizing the continent of North America. People wanted to preserve the history that was being laid out before them. Some of them wrote books, and many others did great art history paintings to remember the past.
The subjects of many of the first paintings done were the colonists themselves. Before most Europeans even arrived, the Spanish had already begun settling Mexico, the southwest, and Florida. Many of the Spaniards had valiant portraits of themselves done, reflecting the conquistadors of their age.
The Spanish also painted many pictures of the natives in Mexico. Many paintings of the Mayans and Aztecs were done before the Spaniards started their conquest of Mexico. These paintings give us an idea about Aztec and Mayan life.
The French were the next to come into the Americas and they mainly started settling in the St. Lawrence River area of Canada. These people took up a lucrative fur trade with the native population. Pictures of trading posts and friendly relations with Indians were done frequently here.
When the British arrived in the Americas, there was not an influx of art like during the Spanish and French arrivals. The British were mainly concerned about setting up a dependent colony in the Americas. This was successfully done at Jamestown in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Painting did not start to pick up again in the Americas until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Once again, the subjects of most of these paintings were the native peoples that gathered and hunted on the land. Many of these paintings sold for high prices.
When the Indian population of the Americas started to deteriorate, famous painter Catlin went to capture pictures of Indians untouched by civilization. He wanted to show people what was happening to civilized Indians. Catlin traveled up the Missouri River and painted over one thousand paintings.
There are many criticisms to the paintings that Catlin did. Most of his critics were people that had been up the Missouri River. They claimed that nothing Catlin painted was even close to how it actually was. As a painter, Catlin painted what he wanted people to see. He would embellish scenes to make his paintings easier to sell.
Catlin tried to sell his enormous collection to the United States government. This goal was never achieved before he died. Catlin gave us paintings that offer a glimpse, however not a very accurate one, of the native populations before mass settling of the west started.
Many paintings of the era were focused on the new idea of Manifest Destiny, which is the idea that settlers had a right given to them by God to settle the west and displace the natives. Many of these paintings used stark color changes. Some of them made the east look bright and holy, while the west was being consumed by the light as settlers moved west. The art history paintings can give us a glimpse into the not so distant past.
Robert J. Loescher was the director for art history, theory and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was the most stimulating and illuminating professor of Art History that I have ever known.
As a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I majored in Drawing & Painting I took a number of Art History courses under professor Loescher. His classes were always sought after and you had to get in line early in hopes to get in.
As a senior editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica it went without saying that you knew that you were dealing with a first rank scholar. However, what one never knows is how good is the professor at delivery and instruction? You can be the greatest authority on a topic but if you fumble around and grope over papers you are of little value to your students. This was certainly not the case with professor Loescher!
If there is one word that I could use to describe professor Loescher (and there are many) I would say that he was inspiring! He possessed the uncanny ability to take his vast knowledge and delivery it to you in such a way that it all made sense. Further, professor Loescher had a gift for keep his students spell-bound. He was always up beat and jovial, it was common for him to make witty side commentaries such at turning the Pantheon into a disco when teaching on that subject, or his famous “more is more” in his Baroque Art History classes.
In my last year at the school I was one credit short for graduation and he gladly made arrangements for me to take his East Asian Art course for 4 credits and in turn I did a special project for him and on the last day of class gave my presentation to the class, which was on Japanese Art. I had lived in Japan for two years and had much to offer the class with my drawings and slides. Being a man of vision professor Loescher grasped this when I approached him and was pleased to be of assistance in helping me and at the same time offer something more to his students. He always put the students first and for that I am grateful and will always remember him. Because of professor Robert J. Loescher I was able to graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago!
Stephen F. Condren – Artist