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Whether on cave walls or hanging in the Louvre, art has long reflected
the thinking of an age, social attitudes and the musings of creative minds.
Once the domain of a select few, art has slowly become part of everyday
life.
As fresh avenues of expression and communication opened up over time,
art has increasingly acted as a mirror for popular culture while, at the
same time, influencing it.
1000
Every Picture Tells A Story
Native Americans in Central America adopt a method of telling stories
through miniature paintings known as codices.
1050
Holy Tiles!
Byzantine art, which presents Eastern Christian iconography through mosaics,
illustrated manuscripts and panel paintings, begins to spread throughout
Europe. Mosaic specialists travel from Constantinople to Russia and Italy
to share their knowledge.
A distinct Byzantine style, characterized by rigid yet stylized forms
with gold backgrounds, first emerged in sixth century. It was based on
prescribed patterns rather than personal taste.
1067
Wall to Wall
Work begins on the Bayeux Tapestry, an enormous embroidery project that
details William the Conqueror's victory at Hastings in 1066. The 230-foot-long
work becomes a treasure trove of information about 11th century Norman
and Anglo-Saxon culture. It details everything from eating habits to warfare.
Late 1100s
Big Picture
European Gothic church uses narrative imagery in sculpture and stained
glass to tell stories from the Bible.
1200
Yolk Art
Tempera paints -- a mixture of pigment, water and egg yolks -- catches
on with artists in Europe. It serves as the primary painting technique
for the next 300 years.
1350
Delicate Tradition
Buddhist priests introduce ink painting in Japan.
1434
Erroneous Distinction
Flemish painter Jan van Eyck adds oil and varnish glazes to his paintings.
Although other early 15th century artists had used the practice of mixing
oils with tempera paint in various combinations, Van Eyck is mistakenly
credited with inventing oil painting.
1450
Chip Off the Old Block
First developed in China during the late ninth century, the woodcut printmaking
process debuts in Europe. Early woodcuts are used to make playing cards
and crude religious illustrations. Within a century, German artists such
as Albrecht Durer and Hans Holbein the Younger elevate the printing technique
to a high art form.
1452
Movable Type
Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, develops a printing press with movable
type. The first item he publishes? The Bible. Movable type begins a revolution
that eventually replaces the tradition of hand-illustrated religious manuscripts
that goes back well into the first millennium.
1499
Matters of War & Peace
The first political cartoons appear in Europe, providing biting commentary
on war between France and Italy.
Early 1500s
Renaissance Glory
Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci paints one of the greatest
icons in art history: the alluring yet enigmatic Mona Lisa.
Pope Julius II commissions Michaelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling
of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel in 1508. The physically demanding job
takes Michaelangelo four years.
Pop Quiz!
Question: What did Leonardo da Vinci do to keep his model for the Mona Lisa from
becoming bored during the painting sessions?
Answer: Hire musicians and jesters
The Italian master brought in musical entertainers during his long sessions
with his subject, whose identity remains unknown, as a way to amuse her.
Da Vinci began the Mona Lisa in 1503. He spent several years working
on the painting and had it with him when he died in France in 1519. After
his death, the work became the property of King Francis I of France. In
the 19th century, French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte kept the cherished painting
in his bedroom. Today, the Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre. Each year, thousands
of visitors travel to the famed Paris museum to pay homage the legendary
masterpiece.
1724
A Dash of Color
French portrait master Maurice de la Tour develops dry sticks of color
known as "pastels" in Paris.
1793
Free-for-All
The French Revolution does more than overthrow the monarchy. It results
in the world's first free public museum. The Louvre, a former royal palace,
is converted into a showplace for art. The museum in Paris opens to the
public for the first time on Nov. 8, 1793.
1798
Made to Mass Market
Lithography is invented by Aloys Senefelder in Bavaria, Germany. The reproductive
printing process that transfers an image from a flat surface, traditionally
a fine-grain stone, to a sheet of paper makes it possible to mass produce
printed artwork.
1803-06
Visual Links
During their journey across America's vast western frontier, U.S. explorers
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark acquire the earliest documented example
of Native American Plains painting. Presented on a tanned buffalo hide,
the work depicts a battle between two Northern Plains tribes in 1797.
America's native peoples used pictographs on paintings, drawings and
etchings to convey powerful messages about their heritage. Rather than
constitute a formal language, the images tie the present with the past,
recounting information about hunting exploits, warfare, tribal titles
and religious rituals.
1832
Mightier Than the Pen
Artist Honore Daumier receives a six-month sentence for satirizing French
monarch Louis Phillippe. A master of social commentary, Daumier shared
his often audacious views of French society through the nearly 4,000 lithographs
he produced during his lifetime.
1839
Photo Firsts
French physicist Jacques Louis-Mande-Daguerre receives credit for developing
the first photographic process. It is called the daguerreotype.
By 1850, a photographic printing process that uses a negative image supplants
the daguerreotype. The first negative image is created on a glass plate
and used to print a positive image on light-sensitive paper in a darkened
room. Based on a formula devised by photography pioneer William Fox Talbot,
the negative becomes the standard for producing photographic pictures.
1850
Discreet Road Map
American slaves use coded imagery woven into quilts to help fugitive southern
blacks make their way to freedom. Secret instructions in quilt patterns
hang in plain view to help escapees move along the Underground Railroad.
The clever network guides thousands of slaves to the free north in the
years leading up to the American Civil War.
1864
Woman's Perspective
British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron takes her first picture. Unlike
other male-dominated creative media, women play an influential part in
the new medium's development almost from its beginning.
1880
Hellish Origin
French sculptor Auguste Rodin executes his most famous piece, "The Thinker."
It is originally produced as a small figure -- about half the size of
a real person -- to sit atop Rodin's grand doorway sculpture called "The
Gates of Hell." Over time, "The Thinker" is cast in several different
sizes.
Pop Quiz!
Question: What did Rodin originally want to call "The Thinker"?
Answer: "The Poet"
"The Gates of Hell" was an interpretation of scenes from Dante's
"Inferno." Rodin loved Dante's work and wanted to pay tribute to 14th
century poet with a seated, contemplative figure positioned over the lintel
of the enormous "Gates." But as work on "Gates" progressed, Rodin decided
to have his most famous figure reflect a more universal nature.
1889
Passionate Vision
Acutely aware of his mental instability, artist Vincent Van Gogh commits
himself to an asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France. During his short,
turbulent 10-year career, Van Gogh has churned out paintings at a terrific
rate, more than 800 works in all. But he only manages to sell one piece.
His mental condition and frustrations as an artist build to an explosive
climax on July 27, 1890. While painting in a wheat field outside Auvers,
France, Van Gogh pulls out a revolver and shoots himself in the chest.
He dies two days later at age 37.
Pop Quiz!
Question: Who bought Van Gogh's portrait of "Dr. Gachet" at a 1990 auction?
Answer: Japanese mogul Ryoei Saito
Ryoei Saito, president of the Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company, shocked
the art world when he paid a record $82.5 million for Van Gogh's "Dr.
Gachet."
Not long after acquiring the painting, Saito made news again by suggesting
he would have it cremated with him after he died. But bill collectors
beat the grim reaper to the punch. Saito and his company fell into deep
debt by 1992. His largest creditor, Fuji Bank, seized his assets, including
the Van Gogh.
Although rumors abound about the supposed sale of "Dr. Gachet," its condition
and exact whereabouts have remained a mystery.
1890
Societal Ills
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch begins work on his "The Frieze of Life."
Included in the composition is a haunting figure destined to become an
icon of anxiety: "The Scream."
Immigrant photographer Jacob Riis publishes his "How the Other Half Lives,"
a harrowing account through photographs and words about slum conditions
in New York. The camera proves itself a tool for social commentary for
the first time.
Pop Quiz!
Question: What factor contributed to Munch's creation of "The Scream"?
Answer: A problem with alcohol
During his life, Edvard Munch had a terrible drinking problem. In addition,
he suffered a phobia about open spaces. These two conditions combined
to give Munch a dire fear of losing his identity. The visual manipulation
of the central figure in "The Scream" creates a setting in which the terrified
subject seems to meld with the surrounding environment and surrenders
his individuality.
So many people relate to the anxious image that today you'll find likenesses
of "The Scream" on coffee mugs, on mousepads and even on blow-up
dolls you can punch to release your frustrations.
1894
From Outrageous to Rockin'
Aubrey Beardsley creates scandalous illustrated advertisements for controversial
author Oscar Wilde's play "Salome." Beardsley's robust style would become
a key influence for rock music poster designs in the 1960s.
1907
Yo, Picasso!
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso paints his dynamic "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon."
His presentation of multiple perspectives at once through geometric shapes,
angular junctions and curving lines inspires the cubist style. A figure
who constantly redefines artistic style through his work, Picasso remains
a dominant art world figure until his death in 1973.
1914
Distinct Visions
Surrealist artist Marcel Duchamps creates a new artistic vernacular called
"Readymades," in which common objects become art. In 1917, he shocks the
art establishment by submitting a porcelain urinal as an original sculpture
for exhibition.
Baron Adolph de Meyer, a staff photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair,
develops a backlighting and soft-focus technique to help accentuate and
romanticize fashion models. A trailblazer in fashion photography, de Meyer's
work shows how photography can have an impact on public attitudes toward
clothing and personal appearance.
1916
Grand Master, Grand Dame
Photographer and modern art champion Alfred Stieglitz stages an exhibition
of drawings by newcomer Georgia O'Keeffe. The show launches the career
of O'Keeffe, who will become America's leading female artist of the 20th
century.
1919
Looking Ahead
Architect Walter Gropius opens a school in Germany called the Bauhaus.
Radically breaking with the past, the Bauhaus creates sleek new designs
suited for the modern age. Artists such as Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky
and Lyonel Feininger work on the school's staff.
1928
Mural Master
Mexican artist Diego Rivera completes his first murals inside the Ministry
of Education in Mexico City. The vivid murals draw a sharp contrast between
Mexico's rich and impoverished peasants.
Rivera uses mural art as a vehicle to promote social awareness. In 1932-33,
he creates an enormous narrative fresco for the Detroit Institute of Art
that focuses on the evolution of technology. During his lifetime, Rivera
produces more than 120 mural projects.
Pop Quiz!
Question: Which famous artist did Diego Rivera marry twice?
Answer: Frida Khalo
Although Rivera enjoyed the company of many women during his life, his
one true love was artist Frida Khalo. The two married in 1929, divorced
about a decade later, and remarried soon after. Khalo is best known for
the visual autobiography she produced through her series of gripping self-portraits.
Rivera was also close to Mondotti and Marevna. Rivera knew Mondotti when
she lived in Mexico during her relationship with legendary photographer
Edward Weston. Rivera knew Russian artist Marevna when he lived in Paris
during the 1910s. They had a child during their often-stormy relationship.
1932
Proletarian Art
The Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union decrees "Soviet realism" as the
official style for the state. The state-sanctioned style is designed to
trumpet the successes and superiority of the communist system. But in
the end, Soviet realism proves little more than a propaganda tool for
Joseph Stalin and his cronies.
1938
Under Siege
The Nazi regime in Germany carries out a very public campaign to smear
and destroy all art deemed degenerate. Many artists endure Nazi abuse
as social outcasts. During World War II, artists abandon their homes in
Nazi-occupied countries and make their way to the United States. Artists
such as Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and Fernand Leger eventually arrive
in America.
During the Third Reich, Nazis plunder countless museums and private collections
throughout Europe and send stolen art back to Germany. The issue of stolen
art remains a sore point between Germany and rightful heirs long after
the war's end in 1945.
1942
Quiet Angst
It's lonely, stark and remote. It is also a masterpiece. American artist
Edward Hopper paints his seminal masterpiece about urban alienation, "Nighthawks."
1963
Pop Goes the Art World
Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Jackie O and Campbell's soup: Nothing is safe from
Andy Warhol and his vivid silkscreen production line. The grand guru of
pop art employs to commercial art and imagery to reshape the boundaries
of discriminating taste and high art.
In later years, artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and
Roy Lichtenstein take pop art to new heights, creating art that draws
almost exclusively on subjects and materials that have roots in everyday
living.
Pop Quiz!
Question: Which pop art artist is renowned for his enormous public space artworks?
Answer: Claes Oldenburg
Swedish-born American artist Claes Oldenburg took the concept of public
art in a new direction starting in the 1960s. He transformed ordinary
items, such as clothespins, eating utensils and scissors, into monumental
objects for display in public spaces. Oldenburg's creations built on a
tradition of large-scale public sculpture that has its origins in ancient
times.
1965
Screen Buzz
Korean artist Nam Juin Pak exhibits tapes at New York's Cafe a Go-Go.
Video art is born.
Early 1970s
Creative Thinking
Computer-generated art develops out of the op art (optical art) movement
of the 1960s. Some artists believe that mathematics could be used as a
theoretical basis for visual ideas. The computer, with its ability to
calculate algorithms at a rapid pace, becomes an ideal labor-saving tool
to create art from a non-traditional form.
1991
Viewer Discretion Advised
Homoerotic images by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and a photograph
of a crucifix immersed in urine by artist Andres Serrano ignite a controversy
over public funding of the arts. Social conservatives in the U.S. Congress
launch an effort to impose a ban on public funding for art they consider
tasteless. But they create a backlash among free-speech advocates who
argue that art is protected under the First Amendment.
The controversy flares up again in 1999, when New York Mayor Rudolf Giuliani
denounces a contemporary art exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
The show contains a number of artworks deemed objectionable by some. A
rendition of the Virgin Mary executed in elephant excrement prompts outrage
among Roman Catholics. The mayor threatens to cut all city funding to
the museum.
Future of Art
How will creativity and imagination take shape in the 21st century?
Vast libraries of digital images will offer artists the opportunity to
build more diversity into their work. Computer-generated art or cyberart
will take on a highly photorealistic 3-D character, almost holographic
in nature.
But despite technological developments, few people expect interest in
traditional media, such as painting, printmaking and drawing, to fade
or disappear completely.
Whether produced on a computer or on an easel, most new artwork created
in the 21st century will not be shown in the traditional gallery setting
but over the Internet. People will no longer have to worry about missing
a big show or standing in long lines for a popular exhibition.
Some experts believe that virtual art exhibits will become commonplace
in 20 years. Newly developed software will grant access to Web sites that
feature virtual walking tours of museum galleries and special exhibitions.
Related Links
Editor's note: These links will take you to Web sites with content
we do not control or endorse.
Artist A to Z
http://artcyclopedia.com/
Locate art by the great masters, from Artcyclopedia
Art Riches
http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm
Take an interactive tour of the world's most famous museum, from Louvre
Pop Master
http://www.clpgh.org/warhol/
Spend 15 minutes with Andy Warhol's art, from The Andy Warhol Museum
Munch Musing
http://www.museumsnett.no/nasjonalgalleriet/munch/eng/index.html
Life and work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, from Museumnet Norway
First Photos
http://www.daguerre.org/
History, science and art of the daguerreotype, from The Daguerreian Society
Star Struck
http://www.moma.org/docs/collection/paintsculpt/c58,.htm
"The Starry Night" (1889), a Van Gogh classic, from Museum of Modern Art
Spotlight on Georgia
http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/
Life, times and a museum devoted to Georgia O'Keeffe, from Georgia O'Keeffe
Museum
Top in Tiles
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec97/byzantium_7-2.html
Revisit Byzantine glory, from PBS Online
Sources
"Art History," by Marilyn Stokstad; "History of Modern Art," by H.H. Arnason
and Marla Prather; "Art Past, Art Present," by David G. Wilkins, Bernard
Schultz and Katheryn M. Linduff; "On the Art of Fixing a Shadow," by Sarah
Greenough, Joel Snyder, David Travis and Colin Westerbeck; "Art of the
American Indian Frontier," by David W. Penney; "Rodin," by Ludwig
Goldscheider; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; "Art Terms & Techniques,"
by Ralph Mayer; World Book; Smithsonian Magazine; The New York Times;
Chicago Tribune/KRT; Life; Popular Science; Associated Press; The Times
(London)
Credits
Producer: Chuck Myers/KRT
Designer: Adam Mark/KRT
Copyright
Limitations on use of material in this Web package: This content is owned
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services and contains material that is
derived in whole or in part from material supplied by KRT or its
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KRT is a joint venture of Knight Ridder and the Tribune Co.
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