A Journey Through Art History
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Art history places works in time and culture. It is not a list of dates but a story about how people have seen and shown their world. For a general survey, see Gombrich (1950), Stokstad and Cothren (2018), and Honour and Fleming (2009).
Western Art in Outline
| Period | Approximate dates | Features | Examples |
| Prehistoric | Before 3000 BCE | Cave painting, carved figures | Lascaux and Altamira caves |
| Ancient Egypt | About 3000 to 30 BCE | Formal, symbolic, eternal | Tomb paintings, pyramids |
| Ancient Greece and Rome | About 800 BCE to 400 CE | Idealized human form; engineering | Parthenon; Roman portraiture |
| Medieval | About 500 to 1400 | Religious focus; icons, illuminated manuscripts, cathedrals | Byzantine mosaics; Gothic cathedrals |
| Renaissance | 14th to 16th century | Linear perspective; humanism; realism | Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael |
| Baroque | 17th century | Drama, movement, light | Caravaggio, Rembrandt |
| Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism | 18th to 19th century | Order, emotion, everyday life | David, Delacroix, Courbet |
| Impressionism and Post-Impressionism | Late 19th century | Light, color, personal vision | Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne |
| Modernism | Early to mid 20th century | Experimentation; abstraction | Picasso (Cubism), Dali (Surrealism), Pollock |
| Contemporary | Since about 1960s | Pluralism: conceptual, installation, digital, performance | Many |
Beyond the West
The arts of Asia, Africa, the Islamic world, the Americas, and Oceania have developed their own long histories, which should not be treated as footnotes. A few highlights:
India: the cave paintings of Ajanta (about 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE), the sculpture of temples, Pala and Mughal painting, and the Chola bronzes of South India, famed for their images of dancing Shiva (Nataraja).
China and Japan: ink painting, calligraphy, ceramics, and woodblock prints.
Islamic art: calligraphy, geometric pattern, tilework, and architecture.
Africa: masks, sculpture, textiles, and beadwork with ritual and social meaning.
Art in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's art stretches back more than two thousand years.
| Period or form | Notes |
| Anuradhapura (about 3rd century BCE to 11th century CE) | Stupas, Buddha statues, moonstones, and guardstones; the Sri Maha Bodhi tree |
| Sigiriya (5th century CE) | A rock fortress and palace with famous wall paintings of women figures, and the "Mirror Wall" with visitors' verses (Bandaranayake, 1974) |
| Polonnaruwa (11th to 13th centuries) | Gal Vihara rock-cut Buddha figures; Hindu and Buddhist architecture |
| Kandyan period (16th to 19th centuries) | Temple murals and painting, wood carving, ivory and metalwork, and the Temple of the Tooth |
| Colonial period | Portuguese, Dutch, and British influences; forts, churches, and a new portrait and landscape tradition |
| Twentieth century | The 43 Group (founded in 1943), whose members included Harry Pieris, George Keyt, Lionel Wendt, Ivan Peries, and Justin Daraniyagala, blended local themes with modernist styles |
| Architecture | Geoffrey Bawa and "tropical modernism" (Robson, 2002) |
| Crafts | Mask carving in Ambalangoda, lacquerware, batik, handloom textiles, pottery, brass work, and the temple traditions and bronzes of the Tamil regions |
Coomaraswamy (1956) provides the classic study of traditional Sinhalese art, and Bandaranayake (1974) examines the architecture of Buddhist monasteries. Sri Lankan UNESCO World Heritage Sites with important artistic content include Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, the Sacred City of Kandy, the Golden Temple of Dambulla, and the Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications (UNESCO, n.d.).
Reading a Work in Its Context
Ask: Who made it, for whom, and why? What materials and techniques were used? What did it mean at the time? How was it used, in a temple, a palace, or a home? How has its meaning changed? These are the questions of the NIE's "historical and cultural context" concept (NIE, n.d.).
CHAPTER 5