‘Prehistoric’ term is used to refer the time when history was not written. The writing was invented in West before 3000 B.C.E in early Mesopotamia. So the prehistoric time involves the visual culture i.e. sculpture, painting, and architecture. The oldest form of decorative art is from the Africa which dates back to 100,000 B.C.E. contrary to it; the oldest cave images are 40,800 years old which are considered as made by the Homo sapiens but according to anthropologists these some of the early images are made by the Neanderthals. The profound development in the human history is the Neolithic Revolution which happened during the Prehistoric time. In this revolution, the ancient people gave up their nomadic lives and built civilizations and cities. They learned to domesticate the animals and farming.
Currently, the first artists known are the Cro-Magnon people of 30, 000 B.C.E. They lived in the caves in the cold and used to hunt animals for food, tools, clothing and shelter purposes. Cave painting containing wall paintings of Stone Age are found mostly in northern Spain and western France. Red ochre and charcoal were used for the rock paintings. Negative images were also found which were drawn by painting the area of the rock around any object like a human hand. Paleolithic artists made paints using natural substances like yellow and red earth, black charcoal, and minerals of different colors. They grind all these substances and mix with the water to make paint. The reasons why artists mad these paintings is different according to different theorists like this might be because of hunting ‘magic,’ ceremonial, spiritual beliefs, to memorize and to pass on the memories.
Baroque is not only a period, but a style in the field of arts that used clear and exaggerated motion interpreted easily the details to create drama, exuberance, tension, grandeur in paintings, dance, sculpture, music, and literature. The Baroque style was started in Rome, Italy around1600 and spread in almost all parts of the Europe. It was developed by the Gianlorenzo, Annibale, Caravaggio, and Carracci Bernini, among others. A series of painting by Peter Paul Rubens signifies the Baroque’s defining statement at the Luxembourg Palace for Marie de Medici. In this painting series, Catholic patron was satisfied such as Baroque-era conceptions of iconography, monarchy, compositions, handling of paint, and depiction of movement and space. Baroque art is not much complicated and is more realistic and affective than the Mannerist art.
Rococo art style replaced the Baroque art style in the 18th century (1715-1774) in Europe. Rococo art was popular mostly in France. The Rococo art style is decorative, elaborate, and light. Typical Rococo artists are Jean-Antoine Watteau, Jean-Honore Fragonard, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and François Boucher. This art style was later replaced by Neoclassicism. It was a signature visual style of the American Revolution and Napoleon in the France. Neoclassical Art is an unemotional and severe art form harks back to the ancient Rome and Greece. The rigidity of Neoclassical Art is the reaction to the emotional charge of Baroque and overbred Rococo art style.
The part of general revival interest in the classical beliefs is the rise of the neoclassical art which had some importance in the French and the American revolutions. Architects Robert Adam and Robert Smirke, the sculptors, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen, and painters, J.A.D. Ingres,and Jacques-Louis David. Romanticism emerged around 1800 which was a reaction against the Neoclassicism. The replace was not too much as many artists used both styles to some extent. The academic art of 19th century was influenced primarily by the neoclassical art. Realism was reinvented in the 20th century. Ashcan school in New York City was a group of artists who documented everyday life. The paintings captured were unglamorized and realistic, and etches were the scenes of urban streets. This school consisted of Robert Henri and his group. Ashcan school’s painting spirit continued during 1920’s-1930 in the American scene.
In the 20th century, there was a great propaganda because of dictatorship in the Europe. As the paintings are not understandable often in society and the painters in early the twentieth century were anti-society. Whether it was Baroque era or twentieth century, painters of both eras had an effect on the society. Various advancements were witnessed from human inquiries of the Baroque period in the visual arts in the centuries preceded by the modern era. But the dominant characteristic was the idealization of the subject matter in all the early modern eras, whether it was natural, human or situational. The paintings were not subjective eyes of the artist’s perception but the epitome of the artist’s subject he envisioned.
Theatre in the Baroque period was evolved, and it was a multimedia experience which started with the real architectural space. The technology used in the present plays (commercial or Broadway) was established and developed during the era of Baroque. Like it was a matter of second when the romantic garden stage could change into the interior of the palace. The whole space turn into the frame selected area through which viewers only see a specific act of the play. This hides the technology and machinery like pulleys and ropes.
Initially, the expressionism was the meaning of the entire modern art discovery. The various colors and shapes, brushstrokes, texture, and thickness of paint used in the painting by the expressionist painters represent their feelings and attitude through that scene or the object on the canvas. According to historians, the expressionism was introduced in 1911, in Germany by the Willhelm Worringer and some say that it was the Paul Cassirer an editor and art dealer who introduced the expressionism in the circle of artists. Heart and intellect are the two main elements of the painters when he paints. Artists in the 20th century were less interested in genres’ classical hierarchy and were conscious about the representation of the reality in the age of moral uncertainty and world war. The formal art of portrait was anachronistic to some extent by the advancement in video and photography.
Aesthetic is the branch of philosophy in which nature of art and life experiences are examined. In the 18th century, it was emerged in the Europe and was developed by the grouped by the philosophers of different fields such as music, poetry, dance, and sculpture in the England. These philosophers categorized all the art fields into one and named it fine arts or Les beaux arts. They were unable to explain the reason behind it. Symmetry, order, and proportion are the rational properties of the beauty, but in reality, it is an experience, which can be understood through the instinct and the experience with the human emotions and feelings.
Incorporation of humanities and daily life is now much more than before. Vehicles we drive, our appearance, and food are given high importance. There are varieties of choices which are made by the magazine images, television commercials or the objects possessed by someone aspires us to get ourselves that object. Appearance matters more while purchasing any object. This was noticed by the industries, and now they are fully aware of the importance of the packaged item because mostly the thing that attracts the consumers is the package appearance or the attraction in the object and not the quality.
Now-a-days the item with better quality and with less attractive appearance sells slower and is less profitable than the item with visual attraction. The reason is that the people use eyes when they mostly shop and not the senses. And they rarely apply decision making while purchasing a product. Industries are gaining profit from this mistake for years; as a result, the commercial quality is preceded by the commercial design.
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