History of the Development of Western Art
In the long ancient history of the West, because religion occupies the core position of the social whole and is the basic cohesion of the whole, art not only relies on religion to gain It has achieved glorious development throughout history, and the existence (form and content) of art itself is also unified with religion - it is a basic tool and method of religious activities. In the study of the history of Western art development, without a deep understanding of the Western religious spirit and without considering this spirit as the intrinsic motivation of art, it is impossible to truly grasp the essence of Western art from ancient Greece to the pre-Romantic era. For example, the development of body art is a basic tradition of Western art. The establishment of this tradition is based on the deep-rooted religious sentiments of the Western world. Traditional artists regard making statues of people as a sacred undertaking to make statues of gods. Here we see the inherent unity of art and religion, and therefore art is an absolute necessity for traditional Western society.
The Renaissance movement from the 14th to the 16th century marked the beginning of modern Western art history. It set the pace of the entire art history to a great extent, and its influence was profound, far-reaching, and wide-ranging. In the long river of art development, there are waves rolling up high, shining dazzlingly. The occurrence of anything is not an independent entity. It neither appears suddenly nor disappears instantly. The driving force behind the entire Renaissance was the emergence of the budding capitalist economy within European feudal society, the prosperity of urban industry and commerce, and their relative political independence or autonomy. The economic base determines the superstructure. After meeting material needs, people will inevitably pursue a higher level - spiritual needs. Many famous artists emerged during the Renaissance, representative figures include Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Angelite, Netherlands, etc. Their artistic techniques deeply influenced the art of later generations. Enthusiasts.
Although the twentieth century is not as sophisticated as the Renaissance, it is still an active era in the entire history of art. In just a hundred years, many art schools have emerged, starting with Fauvism and going through Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Abstractionism, Dadaism, De Stijl, Metaphysical School, Bauhaus, Surrealism, School of Paris, Abstract Expressionism, New Realism, Pop Art, Op Art, Situation art, conceptual art, performance art, photorealism, Fluxus, minimalism, feminism, graffiti, installation art, video art, new media art, global era, symbolism, Russian avant-garde art, compositional art , School of Eight, modern sculpture, postmodern terminology explanation, until the world's modern design.
From the initial Brutalism to the final world modern design, we can regard it as a history of social development, but using another language in form.
Things will inevitably undergo qualitative changes when they develop to a certain stage. The emergence of Fauvism was a betrayal of the academic school. They held a rebellious attitude towards the Impressionist style of painting that had weak motivation and insufficient depth of expression. Continuing the exploration of post-impressionism by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and others, pursuing more intense artistic expression. After the outbreak of World War I, society was in turmoil. A group of people influenced by Kant's philosophy, Bergson's intuitionism and Freud's psychoanalysis emphasized anti-tradition, were dissatisfied with the current social status quo, and demanded reform and " Expressionism was formed by "revolutionary" artists. They emphasized the expression of subjective emotions and self-feelings in art, which resulted in the exaggeration, deformation and even grotesque treatment of objective forms to vent their inner depression and believed that subjectivity is the only reality. , which denies the objectivity of the real world and opposes the purpose of art. It is an art trend especially popular in the Nordic countries in the field of painting in the early 20th century. It is a reflection of social and cultural crisis and mental chaos, and is particularly prominent in times of social turmoil. and intense.
With the advent of industrial civilization and the machine age in the early 20th century, young artists are generally concerned about how to innovate forms to express people's inner emotions and psychology in the rapidly changing industrial society.
The rise of this art movement in the United States was influenced by New York's desire to replace Paris as the world's art center. It is also the first important movement of Western art after World War II and enjoys an unparalleled status. It was the beginning of a long period of stylistic experimentation after the war and marked the arrival of a new era. In the period since then, the center of Western modern art has shifted from Paris to New York. Studying the history of Chinese art will also reveal that art centers often represent economic centers. This also reflects from the side that with the transfer of art centers, the economic center of the world has also changed.
Just like Pop Art, although it originated in the United Kingdom, it truly developed to its peak in the United States. Putting aside cultural inheritance, the economy is invisibly controlled by a big hand. American Pop artists claim that the popular art they engage in is similar to the primitive art and Indian art of the Americas, and is the continuation and development of American cultural traditions. Pop Art is also an art movement that explores the relationship between popular culture and art. It attempts to overthrow abstract art and turn to concrete popular culture themes such as symbols, trademarks, etc. Simply put, Pop Art is the predecessor of today’s lower-level art market. In the 1960s, the influence of Pop Art began to spread in the United Kingdom and the United States, creating many contemporary artists. Late pop art almost always explores American popular culture. The special thing about Pop Art is that it has a very special and long-lasting influence on fashion. Many fashion designers and graphic designers have directly or indirectly obtained or plagiarized inspiration from Pop Art. It can be said that although Pop did not further his studies in artistic spirit, he developed other artistic paths. The representative figure is Andy Warhol, who has become synonymous with spoof, avant-garde, crazy, popular and classic.
Along with social stability, the birth of high technology has also had a significant impact on art, of which photographic realism is the best embodiment. Various ideological trends emerging in society have also affected the development of art. Feminism, Fluxus, Minimalism, Situational Art, and Graffitiism are the results of various social trends of thought.
The arrival of influential art means that mankind has entered the era of science and technology. The greatest progress of mankind in the field of science and technology is not the explosion of atomic bombs and the launch of space shuttles, but the development of information technology; mankind The most important breakthrough in the field of art is not the invention and development of film and television technology, but the birth of digital imaging technology. Digital imaging is a true perfection of science, technology, culture and art. What follows is new media art, which transforms art into a method that is no longer simply a flat space, but uses dynamics to change the static nature of art.
Art is constantly developing with the flow of history. No matter what period of art, artists use their own way to convey information, which can be personal or social. The development of art is also experiencing large and small divisions and mergers, as well as convergence and innovation. Art history is another language of human history. It writes the changes of the entire history in the form of beauty and charts the steps of human progress one by one!