The Origins of Western Art (Art Ebook).pdf

The Origins of Western Art
Thames and Hudson | 1973 | ISBN: 0500620075 | English | 228 pages | PDF | 27.3 MB

Dr. Powell begins her survey about 30,000 BC and goes on to discuss the ancient Near East and its contribution to the art of Greece in the eighth and seventh centuries BC. Although this influence continued into the Hellenistic and Late Antique period, classical Greek art exhibited an individual style inherited by the Romans and transmitted throughout their empire. The Bronze and Iron Age cultures of the north had an independent art of their own which rejected classical rules, and the abstract patterns of the Celts became an important element in medieval art. The division of the Roman empire by Diocletian and the eventual triumph of Christianity led to a reorganization of the ancient world; yet, as Dr Powell explains in her epilogue, classical art survived into the middle ages until the Renaissance. Architecture is emphasized throughout, but all the other main art forms are discussed with numerous illustrations, and a glossary of technical terms is included.