insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 03 - May 2015 | Page 25

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

a look at art
through the ages

BY LISAMARIE LAMB

Humankind has been creative since the dawn of time, using whatever was on hand to
make art. From cavemen scratching drawings of animals into rocks to today’s exciting and
innovative modern artists, art has always been there. Sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes it’s
captivating, sometimes it tells a story, and sometimes it provokes change. Whatever its meaning,
and whatever the intention behind the artist’s thoughts, art is something tangible that has an
intangible sense of feeling about it. And that is something very special indeed.

Palaeolithic

Medieval Art

Palaeolithic art (also
known as prehistoric art
or Ice Age art) is the
oldest art to be found in
the world. It dates from
around 40,000 years
ago, but continued until
about 12,000 years
ago, with wonderful
examples having been
found in Africa and
Europe. But it’s not just cave paintings – jewellery, carvings, sculptures
(made from clay, bone, stone, and ivory), and even engravings have been
found and dated back to the same time. Subject matter included the animals
that were hunted, predators to be wary of, and the human form itself –
especially the female form.

The period of medieval art covers
around 1,000 years of history, and
it is difficult even for the experts to
pin down exactly what makes
medieval art. Because of this, it is
often broken down into sub-periods
including Byzantine, insular, gothic,
and Romanesque, as well as many
others.
Medieval art was not all about
paintings and drawings, as its
predecessors had been. Now
different media was being used, and
new, exciting works were being
produced. This is the first time that frescos were painted, the first time that
tapestries were created, the first time that books were illustrated, and the
first time (other than the prehistoric tools that were so necessary) that ivory,
metal, and glass were being used in art.

Ancient Art
Renaissance Art
The Renaissance period began
in Italy in approximately 1400.
This was a time of huge leaps
in science, literature, and art,
and it all came together to create
a bubbling cauldron of mixed
genres, media, and ideologies.
The ‘barbaric’ times of the
medieval period were slowly
being forgotten, and the
Renaissance was a time of enlightenment in which,