Visual arts
Vincent van Gogh painted The Church at Auvers in 1890, creating an oil painting that stands as a prime example of visual art. This work joins a broad category including drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts also involve aspects of the visual arts. Current usage of the term includes fine art as well as applied or decorative arts and crafts. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain at the turn of the 20th century, the term artist had often been restricted to people working in fine arts like painting or sculpture. Art schools made a distinction between fine arts and crafts, maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of the arts. The increasing tendency to privilege painting above other arts has been a feature of Western art as well as East Asian art. In both regions, painting has been seen as relying to the highest degree on the imagination of the artist.
The earliest known cave paintings date to between 32,000-30,000 years ago and are found in the Chauvet cave in southern France. These polychrome murals depict bison, cattle, horses, and deer in shades of red, brown, yellow, and black. Non-figurative cave paintings consisting of hand stencils and simple geometric shapes are even older than the figurative works. Paleolithic cave representations of animals appear in areas such as Lascaux, France, Altamira, Spain, Maros, Sulawesi in Asia, and Gabarnmung, Australia. Paintings of human figures can be found in the tombs of ancient Egypt where Nefertari is depicted being led by Isis in the great temple of Ramesses II. Art of the Upper Paleolithic includes figurative art beginning at least 40,000 years ago. Drawings on Greek vases initially geometric later developed into the human form with black-figure pottery during the 6th century BC. Ink drawings on papyrus often depicting people were used as models for painting or sculpture in ancient Egypt.
Giotto worked in Italy during the 13th century before Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael appeared at the beginning of the 16th century. This period saw chiaroscuro techniques used to create the illusion of three-dimensional space. Jan van Eyck from Belgium, Pieter Bruegel the Elder from the Netherlands, and Hans Holbein the Younger from Germany became successful painters influenced by the Italian school. They used glazing technique with oils to achieve depth and luminosity. The 17th century witnessed the emergence of Rembrandt who was especially remembered for his portraits and Bible scenes like The Night Watch painted in 1642. Vermeer specialized in interior scenes of Dutch life while Caravaggio made heavy use of tenebrism during the Baroque movement. Impressionism began in France in the 19th century with Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Paul Cézanne bringing a new freely brushed style. Vincent van Gogh moved to France where he drew on the strong sunlight of the south to create vivid paintings of night life in Montmartre.
The Chinese Diamond Sutra represents the world's oldest printed book dating to 868 CE and illustrates how printmaking developed some 1,100 years ago as illustrations alongside text cut in woodblocks. In China artists began cutting landscapes during the Song dynasty before the Ming and Qing dynasties perfected the technique for both religious and artistic engravings. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries long before movable type but only widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1867. Japanese moku hanga differs greatly from Western woodcut because water-based inks are used allowing for a wide range of vivid color and transparency. Hokusai created Red Fuji from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji between 1830 and 1832 using these traditional methods. Michael Wolgemut improved German woodcut from about 1475 while Albrecht Dürer brought the Western woodcut to a stage that has never been surpassed by increasing the status of the single-leaf woodcut. Erhard Reuwich was the first Dutchman to use cross-hatching in European prints produced before 1830.
Computers have been used in the visual arts since the 1960s with uses including capturing or creating images and forms and editing those images. Desmond Paul Henry created Picture by Drawing Machine 1 around 1960 as an early example of computer art. Many traditional disciplines now integrate digital technologies so lines between traditional works of art and new media works have been blurred. Photographers may become digital artists while illustrators may become animators. Handicraft may be computer-aided or use computer-generated imagery as a template. Sophisticated rendering and editing software has led to multi-skilled image developers who combine traditional painting with algorithmic art. Computer clip art usage has made the distinction between visual arts and page layout less obvious due to easy access and editing capabilities. This type of art appears in museum exhibits but can be seen more as a tool rather than a form like painting. The lines between illustrators, photographers, photo editors, 3-D modelers, and handicraft artists have been blurred by these technological advances.
The earliest undisputed examples of sculpture belong to the Aurignacian culture active at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe and southwest Asia. People of this culture developed finely crafted stone tools manufacturing pendants, bracelets, ivory beads, and bone-flutes alongside three-dimensional figurines. Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping hard materials such as stone clay metal glass or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by finding or carving while others are assembled built together fired welded molded or cast. The Litlington White Horse hill figure in East Sussex England serves as a notable example of land art from the 20th century. This geoglyph was created by removing turf to reveal underlying white chalk requiring regular maintenance to preserve its visual contrast against green downland. With increasing technology in the 20th century more sculptors turned to art fabricators to produce larger works out of cement metal and plastic. Sculptures can also be made with 3-d printing technology today.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When did Vincent van Gogh paint The Church at Auvers?
Vincent van Gogh painted The Church at Auvers in 1890. This oil painting stands as a prime example of visual art.
Where are the earliest known cave paintings located and how old are they?
The earliest known cave paintings date to between 32,000-30,000 years ago and are found in the Chauvet cave in southern France. These polychrome murals depict bison, cattle, horses, and deer in shades of red, brown, yellow, and black.
Who created Red Fuji from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and when was it made?
Hokusai created Red Fuji from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji between 1830 and 1832 using traditional Japanese moku hanga methods. Water-based inks allow for a wide range of vivid color and transparency in these prints.
What is the oldest printed book in the world and when does it date to?
The Chinese Diamond Sutra represents the world's oldest printed book dating to 868 CE. It illustrates how printmaking developed some 1,100 years ago as illustrations alongside text cut in woodblocks.
When did computers begin to be used in the visual arts?
Computers have been used in the visual arts since the 1960s with uses including capturing or creating images and forms and editing those images. Desmond Paul Henry created Picture by Drawing Machine 1 around 1960 as an early example of computer art.