Abstract
The birth of art had served humanity in a variety of purposes. And this purpose has changed throughout the course of human history. Humans use art to showcase their religious belief, to express emotions, to depict the beauty of an individual or a particular landscape, to record a significant event and for propaganda. Moreover, the way humans perceive art are constantly changing. Cultural art arises from the need to express emotions and the different aspects of cultures. On the other hand, modern-day contemporary art is inclined to make use of various objects and to combine genres which make the art more abstract in nature. Art flourished at various points in the human history. These are often characterized by a dramatic transition in the lives of the people. By the same light, artists are born in different time periods and have contributed greatly to the development of art. Some of these spearheaded a new movement while aim to raise awareness and convey unique messages through paintings, sculptures, drawings, and many more. Indeed, art has played a great role in humanity's course to greatness. While humans are subject to change, art is eternal.
Introduction
Art is one of the human activities that has a very old history. The art is the way of expressing the creativity of human being. It was practiced in the ancient time as well as it is widely popular in this modern era. The culture is considered as the characteristics of certain group of people who are living in the same place, sharing values, language, habits etc. The cultural art is the way of expressing the feeling of people who are living in a culture. It includes different aspects of this culture. This type of art can play powerful tole to influence a culture as well as bringing changes in it. The cultural art took place in the history thousands of years ago (Svcc.edu). The era of cave art or any other era can be considered as the quite old time to describe this type art. However, there is no exact sources that can identify the age of cultural arts.
There had many purpose of using the cultural art. The cultural art can represent a distinct culture shared by a number of people. It speaks on their behalf and portrays different aspects of that culture. It can be very helpful to developed the cultural value among the people sharing this culture. The cultural art can be another way of protesting the crime that are happening inside a culture. As well as, it can spot the bring side of that culture too (Cornell.edu). The art can play important role as mind changer. There are different topics that can’t be explained to the audience using other forms of communication. However, art can play as the visual form of these messages. It can bring changes among the audiences.
Development of Art and How Art Change Through Time
The development of art was a long process that took place over the years. The process started from the time while human being is being able to create something by using the mind. In other word, while the human being found some movements of expressing their feelings through visual representations. The history indicates that there had numerous great architecture was developed in the ancient time. There had also creative visual art that took the attention of people. The art is developed on the mind of people because of the great productions and creativity showed by people in this field. The cultural art also developed on the same way. The development started once people started to live in a culture (Stupples 115-130). They used the culture as a platform of expressing the creativity of mind. They looked at different aspects of a culture and used it to produce some arts that will be admired by the people.
Art developed as a means for human beings to convey their emotions and their deepest thoughts. Throughout the history, artists had created masterpieces that showcase their unique way of perceiving things in the world. Actually, one of the earliest purposes of the creation of art is to represent the religious beliefs of the people. A proof to that is the Chauvet cave painting in France which was dated to be 32,000-36,000 years old making it one of the oldest paintings in the world. The Chauvet Painting depicted images of various animals such as the ibex, mammoth, giant stags, horses, lions, bears, rhinos and an owl (Experienceardeche) .Aside from the Chauvet cave, early humans also left their work of art to other caves around the world such as the caves of Altamira, Trois Frères, Chauvet and Lascaux. Another artwork that has religious significance is the painting at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel done by Michaelangelo in the direction of Pope Julius II. The paintings depicted The Creation of the Heavens and the Earth followed by the Creation of Adam and Eve and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden until finally is the story of Noah and the Great Flood.
Throughout time, art has developed in line with the changes that occurred to humanity. The goals that drive humans to create and art also changed. This is because there is also a change in the way the man sees the world around him. From depiction of religious articles, humans use art to commemorate events. One of these is the coronation of Josephine by Napoleon which was painted by David. Battles between empires were also made into masterpieces. Bloodshed, death, and massacre were turned into beautiful entities by skilled artists. Some of these are the Battle of San Romano by Paulo Ucello, the Battle of Cascina by Michaelangelo, and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci, The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David, and The Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Bryullov (BBC). Significant events were also depicted such as the Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch by Sir David Wilkie and The Second of May 1808 by Francisco de Goya. The painting of series of paintings in the frescoes of The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi by Giotto tells the story of the lives of saints. Style of art had also emerged to portray extreme human emotions. The Baroque painting began in the 16th century and existed up to the 17th century. This particular style portrays intense drama had darker shadows and rich colors. An example of this is the Night Watch by Remembrandt and the Ceiling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio (Essential Humanities).
In a more recent time, during the World War II, art had been a useful tool to aid in the propaganda of countries. One of those is the recruitment poster of Lord Kitchener saying “Your country needs you” (Sooke). All throughout the course of history, art developed based on the needs and purpose of humanity.
Contemporary Art
Contemporary Art refers to art that is made by artists that are living in this day. It started from the 1960’s or 1970’s up to the present time. However, it is different from the Modern Art because the latter refers to art from the Impressionists up the commencement of Contemporary Art. Contemporary art is more diverse than any other previous type of art. There are a wide-range of visual characteristics, cultural concerns and artistic themes. It also employs the use of modern-day technology such as the internet, scientific innovations and motion pictures and is a combination of different genres. In fact, there are art exhibits that feature video-arts (Khanacademy.org). Contemporary Art has a unique characteristic in such a way that common objects are put together to form a masterpiece. There are several contemporary art movements which are the following: (a) Pop Art; (b) Word Art; (c) Conceptual Art (d) Performance Art (e) Fluxus (f) Installation Art (g) Minimalist (Visual-arts-cork.com).
Major Art Period
There are several time periods in human history where are flourish. These are the following:
Renaissance period- During this period, artists seek to capture the experience of humans and the mystery that envelops the world. Art blossoms from the new discoveries in astronomy and explorations around the world and as well as the construction of the printing press. Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and Raphael are the masters of this era. It is also the time when Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa.
Romanticism- It is characterized by artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. The tenets of this period includes the goodness of humanity, promotion of justice and the belief in senses and emotions rather than intellect. Examples of masterpieces are The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse and the Nightmare by Henri Fusseli.
Modern Art- This period refers to works of art that are made between 1870-1970. The origins of the modern art can be attributed to the age of industrialization wherein a vast change in the transportation, machineries and technology had happened. The birth of the modern art begun when Edouard Manet painted the Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe in the Salon des Refuses in Paris (Visual-arts-cork.com).
Contemporary Art- It started after the modern art in the years between 1960 and 1970. It encompasses a wide-range of genre and media. There are several contemporary art movements including pop art, mixed media, minimalism, video-art, and many more.
People Who Changed Art
There various people that significantly left their mark in the field of art. They are the following:
Michaelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio- is an artist of Baroque art. He defined the art of chiaroscuro (artistic play of light and shadows) and thru this he created realistic art that conveys extreme emotion to his audience.
Peter Paul Rubens- He had a way of portraying strong human emotions with minimal detail and had a flair for drawing curves of female body giving birth to the term “rubenesque”. (Allthatisinteresting.com)
Remembrandt- He was the main rival of Rubens. His paintings mostly consisted of biblical scenes and portraits. He was an expert in manipulating glowing light against a dark background. He painted the Holy Family and the Bridal Couple.
Leonardo da Vinci- was an Italian Renaissance Artist who painted Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. He combined art and science when he drew the Vitruvian Man, which depicted a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart inside both a square and a circle.
Pablo Picasso- He revolutionized the art by developing the Cubist movement. His paintings gave more importance in expressing impressions rather than reality. One of his paintings was the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
Conclusion
Cultural and contemporary art differ to some degree. The former had more straightforward approach and the latter is more abstracted and scattered. Moreover, contemporary art utilizes a wider-range of genre and sometimes uses a combination of genre. By the same light, the purpose of every cultural art masterpiece can be easily extracted by its audience while contemporary arts will oftentimes leave its spectators puzzled.
Humanity’s inconsistencies in their lives have brought change in the way we perceive art. It is because our perception is continually evolving and devolving. Moreover, people’s taste for art are also changing from prevailing trends. Throughout the history, human’s purpose to create art varied dramatically. From worshipping gods, to keeping track of significant milestones in a people’s lives, sure art is a vital part of human’s lives. What is trash before is considered now to be worth millions in contemporary art museums.
Works Cited
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Stupples, P. "Creative Contributions: The Role Of The Arts And The Cultural Sector In Development". Progress in Development Studies 14.2 (2014): 115-130. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
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