(PART 1) CHAPTER 3: WESTERN ART HISTORY

Summary

The video script provides an in-depth exploration of Western art history, focusing on five significant periods and their contributions to the evolution of art. It begins with a tribute to Salvador Dali's painting, 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory,' before delving into the objectives of understanding the history of art, identifying famous artists, and giving examples of art pieces from each period. The discussion is structured around the broad scope of Western art, which encompasses art from Western Europe and its global influence. The script outlines the five great periods: Prehistoric, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Medieval, and the Renaissance, with a detailed look at the Prehistoric period, including the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. It describes the development of art forms like megalithic structures and the tools used during the Stone Age, such as pebble, bifacial, flake, and blade tools. The summary highlights the importance of these periods in shaping our modern concept of art.

Takeaways

• 🎨 The featured painting for the title slide is 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory' by Salvador Dali, created between 1952-1954.
• 📏 The painting's dimensions are 25.4 by 33 centimeters and it is housed in the Salvador Dali Museum.
• 🎓 The class objectives are to describe the history and evolution of art through five great art periods, give examples of art pieces for each period, and identify famous artists of Western Europe.
• 🌍 'Western art' broadly describes the art of Western Europe and is also a category for art forms with European roots that are now widespread geographically.
• 🖼️ Western art is divided into five great periods: Prehistoric, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance.
• ⚙️ The Prehistoric period includes the Stone Age, which is further divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic sub-periods.
• 🔥 The Paleolithic period is known for the major discovery of fire and the use of stone tools.
• 🌱 The Mesolithic period was a time of transition with cultural and environmental changes, including the end of the ice age and the rise of fishing as a major food source.
• 🌾 The Neolithic period marked a shift from hunting and gathering to farming, leading to the development of monumental stone architecture, or megaliths.
• 🗿 Megalithic art includes menhirs (standing stones), dolmens (chamber tombs), and cromlechs (stone circles), with Stonehenge as a famous example.
• 🛠️ Stone tools from the Paleolithic period include pebble tools (the oldest cutting device), bifacial tools (hand axes), flake tools (multi-purpose), and blade tools (long, narrow flakes used in larger tools).
• ➡️ The development of different types of stone tools reflects the technological advancements and diverse uses during the Prehistoric period.

Q & A

What is the title of the featured painting for the class's title slide?

The featured painting is entitled 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory' by Salvador Dali.

During which years was Salvador Dali's painting 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory' created?

The painting was created between 1952 and 1954.

What are the dimensions of Salvador Dali's 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory'?

The dimensions of the painting are 25.4 by 33 centimeters.

What are the three objectives for the chapter on Western art history?

The three objectives are: 1) to describe the history and evolution of art through the five great art periods, 2) to give concrete examples of art pieces for every period, and 3) to identify the famous artists of Western Europe.

How is 'Western art' generally defined in the context of the discussion?

Western art largely describes the art of Western Europe and is also used as a general category for forms of art that have their roots in Europe but are now geographically widespread.

What are the five great periods into which Western art can be divided?

The five great periods are the prehistoric period, the ancient Egyptian period, the Greek period, the medieval period, and the Renaissance period.

What is the significance of the term 'Paleolithic'?

The term 'Paleolithic' comes from two Greek words, 'palaios' meaning old and 'lithos' meaning stone, roughly translating to 'Old Stone Age'.

What was the primary discovery during the Paleolithic period?

The primary discovery during the Paleolithic period was the usage of fire.

What is the meaning of the term 'Neolithic'?

The term 'Neolithic' comes from two Greek words, 'neos' meaning new and 'lithos' meaning stone, roughly translating to 'New Stone Age'.

What was the revolutionary shift during the Neolithic period?

The revolutionary shift during the Neolithic period was from hunting and gathering towards farming or agriculture.

What are the three different types of megalithic art?

The three different types of megalithic art are menhirs (single upright stones), dolmens (chamber tombs), and cromlechs (circles or semicircles of menhirs).

What is the primary use of a pebble tool during the Stone Age?

The primary use of a pebble tool was as a cutting device, considered the oldest type of tool made by humans and a prototype of modern knives.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Introduction to Western Art History

The video script begins with a welcome and a moment of silence before diving into the topic of Western Art History, specifically focusing on Chapter Three. The featured painting for the title slide is Salvador Dali's 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory,' created between 1952 and 1954, and housed in the Salvador Dali Museum. The chapter's objectives are to describe the history and evolution of art through five significant periods, provide examples of art pieces from each period, and identify famous artists from Western Europe. Western Art is broadly defined, encompassing art from Western Europe and other forms with European roots. The five periods are the Prehistoric, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance periods. Each period's art has influenced the evolution of art and shaped modern perceptions of it.

05:01

🏺 Prehistoric Art and its Subdivisions

The script discusses the Prehistoric period, which lacks a written history and is divided into three main eras: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. The Stone Age is further subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods. The Paleolithic era is known for the discovery of fire and the use of stone tools. The Mesolithic period marks a transition with significant cultural and environmental changes, leading to the rise of fishing as a major food source. The Neolithic period sees a shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture, resulting in the creation of new art forms like monumental stone architecture, or megaliths. Megalithic art includes menhirs, dolmens, and cromlechs, with examples such as the menhirs in Carnac, Brittany, France, and Stonehenge in Wiltshire, UK. Stonehenge is believed to have been used as a sundial and a communal place for rituals.

10:02

🛠️ Tools of the Stone Age

The script outlines the types of stone tools used during the Stone Age. The pebble tool, the oldest known cutting device, is described as a prototype for modern knives. The bifacial tool, a hand axe with two sharp faces, served multiple purposes such as a knife, picker, scraper, or weapon. Flake tools, made by breaking off fragments from a stone, were versatile but prone to chipping. The retouch process was used to sharpen these tools. Blade tools, created by striking a long, narrow flake from a stone core, were integrated into larger tools and had a flat side for attachment. The first weapon, the spear, is mentioned as having been created during this period.

Keywords

💡Western Art

Western Art refers to the artistic creations that originated from Western Europe and have had a significant influence on the development of art globally. It encompasses a wide range of styles and periods. In the video, it is the central theme, with the discussion focusing on the evolution of Western Art through five great art periods, highlighting its historical significance and the impact on modern art perception.

💡The Persistence of Memory

The Persistence of Memory is a famous painting by Salvador Dali, which is mentioned at the beginning of the video. It represents the Surrealist movement and is known for its melting clocks, symbolizing the fluidity of time. The painting is used to introduce the topic of Western Art and set the stage for discussing various art periods and their contributions to the evolution of art.

💡Prehistoric Art

Prehistoric Art refers to the artistic expressions from times before written history, including the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. It is the first of the five great art periods discussed in the video. The script mentions specific types of art from this period, such as megalithic structures like Stonehenge, which were used for various purposes including timekeeping and rituals.

💡Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period characterized by the use of stone tools and weapons. It is divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods. The video explains that during the Paleolithic, the discovery of fire was significant, while the Neolithic period saw a shift towards agriculture and the creation of monumental stone architecture.

💡Megalithic Art

Megalithic Art is a type of prehistoric art that involves large stone structures, such as menhirs, dolmens, and stone circles. These structures were used for various purposes like territory division, burial chambers, and possibly as calendars or ritual sites, as suggested by the example of Stonehenge in the video.

💡Paleolithic

Paleolithic, derived from the Greek words for 'old' and 'stone', refers to the Old Stone Age. It is the first subtype of the Stone Age discussed in the video. The Paleolithic period is marked by significant developments such as the use of fire, which was a major discovery during this time.

💡Mesolithic

Mesolithic, meaning Middle Stone Age, is the second subtype of the Stone Age. The video describes this period as a time of transition, with cultural and environmental changes taking place, such as the end of the ice age and the shift towards a more temperate climate. This period saw the emergence of fishing as a major food source.

💡Neolithic

Neolithic, or the New Stone Age, is the third subtype of the Stone Age. The video highlights the revolutionary shift from hunting and gathering to farming during this period. This shift led to the development of new art forms, including monumental stone architecture, exemplified by megaliths.

💡Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a prehistoric period characterized by the use of bronze, a metal alloy made of copper and tin. It follows the Neolithic period and is part of the prehistoric art discussion in the video. The use of bronze marked a significant technological advancement in tool and weapon making.

💡Iron Age

The Iron Age is the last period of the prehistoric times, known for the use of iron and steel. It is mentioned in the video as part of the progression of prehistoric art, indicating a further advancement in metallurgy and its impact on tool and weapon development.

💡Lithic Reduction

Lithic Reduction is the process of shaping stone tools by striking a long, narrow flake from a stone core. This technique is mentioned in the video in the context of creating blade tools, which were an advancement over bifacial tools, allowing for the integration of blades into larger tools and the creation of the first human-made weapons like spears.

Highlights

The class begins with a minute of silence for personal prayers before diving into the discussion of Western art history.

The featured painting for the title slide is Salvador Dali's 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory', created between 1952-1954.

The painting 'The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory' measures 25.4 by 33 centimeters and is housed in the Salvador Dali Museum.

The class objectives include describing the history and evolution of art through five great art periods, providing examples of art pieces for each period, and identifying famous Western European artists.

Western art is broadly defined, encompassing thousands of art pieces and is often used as a general category for art forms with European roots.

The art piece's origin in Western Europe, rather than its current location, determines if it is labeled as Western art.

Western art is divided into five great periods: Prehistoric, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Medieval, and the Renaissance.

Prehistoric art pertains to a time with no writing system, and it is further divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods.

The Paleolithic period is marked by the discovery of fire and the use of stone tools and weapons.

The Mesolithic period is a transitional era known for cultural and environmental changes, including the end of the ice age and the rise of fishing as a major food source.

The Neolithic period signifies a revolutionary shift from hunting and gathering to farming, leading to the development of monumental stone architecture, or megaliths.

Megalithic art includes menhirs, dolmens, and cromlechs, with examples like Stonehenge used for various purposes such as timekeeping and rituals.

Stone tools from the Paleolithic period include pebble tools, bifacial tools, flake tools, and blade tools, each with specific uses and advantages.

The pebble tool is considered the oldest type of tool made by humans, serving as a prototype for modern knives.

Bifacial tools, such as hand axes, could be used as knives, pickers, scrapers for meat, or weapons.

Flake tools, despite being prone to chipping, are versatile and can be likened to a Swiss knife with multiple uses.

Blade tools, created by striking a long narrow flake from a stone core, are integrated into larger tools and represent an advancement in tool-making.

The development of agriculture in the Neolithic period contributed to the creation of new art forms and the establishment of settled agricultural communities.

Transcripts

hey hello

everyone and welcome back to our online

class for today's discussion

we will be tackling chapter three

western art

history but before we begin with our

class let's have a minute of silence for

our personal

prayers

okay now we can start with our

class now before we begin with the basic

objectives of this chapter

i will be explaining first the featured

painting for our title slide

the featured painting is entitled the

disintegration of the persistence of

memory

by salvador dali

the featured painting was created

between 1952-1954

it has a dimension of 25.4 by 33

centimeters and it is currently housed

in the salvador dali

we have three objectives for this

chapter number one

for us to be able to describe the

history and evolution of art

through the five great art periods

second for us to be able to give

concrete examples of art pieces for

every period

and our last objective to be able to

identify

the famous artists of western europe

now before we discuss the different art

pieces

belonging to the five great art periods

let us start first by defining the term

western art now when we say western art

it has a very broad scope there are

thousands of art pieces

which you can label under the wing of

western art

even the term west and east or west

versus east is still debatable how can

we say

these specific countries or locations

belong to west

and these particular locations belong to

the east because it would depend on

where you stand but how you

differentiate the different directions

but for the sake of this discussion when

we say

western art it largely describes

the art of western europe but

is also used as a general category for

forms of art

that are now geographically widespread

but

have their roots in europe now for

example there is

a specific art piece being housed in a

museum

in singapore which we can label

under the east side

even though the artist is currently

housed in singapore but if the painting

or the art piece

was made back in western europe

then it can still be labeled under the

umbrella

of western art it doesn't matter where

the

art piece is currently located as long

as it was

made back in western europe it can still

be labeled

as western part

western art can be divided into five

great periods

the first one we have the prehistoric

period

the second one we have the ancient

egyptian period

the third one we have the greek period

fourth

you have medieval period and the last

period which is considered as the golden

age of western european art

we have the renaissance period now to

make our discussion much

easier for every period i will be giving

concrete examples of art pieces

so that you would have an idea on what

are the types of style artistic styles

that was present during that period

each of the great art period have their

own impact

or contribution to the evolution of art

in general

and each of this period have helped or

shaped on how we visualize

the concept of art in the modern time

and for that let us start with the very

first great art period

and that is the prehistoric art

now when we say prehistoric it pertains

to a time

in our history where there is still no

writing system

to document our history so the

prehistoric period can be divided

into three the first one we have the

stone

age okay the designation of these

periods as stone age

derives from the use of stone tools and

weapons

during that time now the stone age

period can still be

further subdivided into three periods

the first one we have paleolithic now

the word

paleolithic comes from two greek words

we have

malayas which means old and

lithos which means stone so it can

roughly translate

as old stone age during the paleolithic

period the major discovery

was fire the usage of fire now the

second subtype

we have the mesolithic the word

mesolithic comes from two greek words

again

we have mesos which means middle

and lithos which means stone so it can

roughly translate

as middle stone age now

mesolithic period was an era in western

europe

wherein it became a period of transition

more noteworthy for its cultural and

environmental changes

rather than for its art because it

followed the

end of the ice age and the development

of a more

temperate climate in about 11 000 bc

now with the retreat of the glaciers the

glaciers were slowly melting

and because of that forests have

expanded

animals that had been hunted in on the

paleolithic

area they have either died or they have

migrated

to other places and people began to

congregate

around bodies of water so because of

these

changes another source of food

subsistence

was created by the people aside from

hunting and gathering

fishing became a major source of food

now by the end of the mesolithic period

many nomadic

hunter-gatherer societies were becoming

settled agricultural communities

now the last sub type you have

neolithic period now the concept of

neolithic comes

from two greek words again we have neos

which means new and lithos which means

so it can roughly translate as the new

stone

age during the new stone age it was the

revolutionary shift

from hunting and gathering towards

farming or agriculture so it was in the

neolithic

period where in a new source of food

production or food subsistence again

was discovered and that is agriculture

or farming

it contributed to the development of a

new

art form and that is monumental stone

architecture

or what we call as megaliths

now the second we have the bronze age

which is characterized by the use of

bronze and the last period in the

prehistoric period

you have the iron age which is

characterized by the use

of iron and steel

as what i have shared to you in the

previous slide during the neolithic

period there was a new form of art that

was created

and that is megalith or megalithic art

now there are three

different types of megadeth art

the first type of megalithic art is what

you call

men here now the term men here came from

two celtic words men meaning stone

and here meaning law so these are on

human or slightly shaped single stones

or

monolith usually standing upright in the

ground now please look at the left side

of the slide you can see an example of

amen here

which is located in carnac brittany in

france now what was the purpose of men

here for prehistoric people

men here were used by the people as

a territory divider between

communities

the second type of megalithic art or

meaning stone so these are chambers or

enclosures

consisting of two or more vertical

stones

supporting a large single stone much as

legs

support a table now please look again on

the left side

that is another example of a dull men

from the same place

in karna brittany in france now what was

the purpose of dolmen

for prehistoric people the men were used

as

burial chambers or a collection of these

were used as underground tunnels

the last type of megalithic art are

chromelecs

chromelec came from the celtic word

which means

circular place in english these are

megalithic structures in which groups of

men here

form circles or semicircles now

according to archaeologists

the stonehenge was used as a sundial to

determine

time for it is strategically located on

top of a hill

another theory was it was used as a

communal place

where prehistoric people can conduct

rituals and the famous example of a

chrome leg

is stonehenge which is located in

wiltshire united

kingdom

now let us continue with the tools used

during the sewing age period

the first type of stone tool is what we

call a pebble tool

a pebble tool contains a curved edge on

the other side

and a sharp edge on the other the pebble

tool is the very first cutting device

created by humans and considered as the

oldest type of

tool made by humans if you would look

closely at the picture on your right

your pebble tool is actually a prototype

of

our modern knives because the handle

is located on the other side and the

blade

is located on the opposite side

the second type is by facial tool a

bifacial tool is a hand axe

it is a prehistoric stone tool flake

with two

faces or two sides the bi-facial tool

can be used as a knife it can also be

used as a picker

a scraper for meat or weapon

the third type you have your flake tool

this hand tool are usually formed by

crushing off a small

or large fragment then used as the tool

one disadvantage of a flake tool is it

easily gets

blood or madeline but a flake tool

is also advantageous because it can be

likened to a swiss knife

it has multiple purposes every side of a

flake tool

has different levels of sharpness

therefore

it can be used in many ways

new flakes were very sharp but it

quickly becomes

blunt during the use and had to be

sharpened again

by further flaking and this process

is called the retouch process

the last type of stone tool or what you

call a blade tool

blade tools our stone tools created by

striking

a long narrow flake from a stone core

this procedure of cutting the stone

and creating the blades is called lithic

reduction now if you would compare

this kind of tool versus a bifacial tool

they may look slightly the same but if

you would look at the

ends closely the blade tool is

sharp on the opposite end while the

other side is

flat bifacial tool both of its ends

are sharp now why is the other end of a

blade tool

flat because after shipping the blades

they are being integrated

into larger tools the very first weapon

that was created by humans and that is

a spear