The human form is idealized

							FROM ARTLEX.COM
Context = The varied circumstances in which a work of art is (or was) produced and interpreted.
There are three arenas to these circumstances, each of them highly complex. The first pertains
to the artist: attitudes, beliefs, interests, values, intentions and purposes, education and training,
and biography (including psychology). The second is the setting in which the work was
produced: the apparent function of the work (to adorn, beautify, express, illustrate, mediate,
persuade, record, redefine reality, or redefine art), religious and philosophical convictions,
sociopolitical and economic structures, and even climate and geography. Third is the field of the
work's reception and interpretation: the traditions it is intended to serve, the mind-set it adheres
to (ritualistic, perceptual, rational, and emotive), and, perhaps most importantly, the color of the
lenses through which the work is being scrutinized — i.e., the interpretive mode (artistic
biography, psychological approaches, political criticism, feminism, cultural history, intellectual
history, formalism, structuralism, semiotics, hermeneutics, post-structuralism and deconstruction,
reception theory, concepts of periodicity [stylistic pendulum swinging], and other chronological
and contextual considerations. Context is much more than the matter of the artist's
circumstances alone.

When you look at a painting in the nave of a church, with stained glass windows and prayer candles and
parishioners kneeling in the pews, it's quite unlike viewing that painting in a museum, where it is
surrounded by informative wall texts, strolling visitors, a café and a gift shop. Go a step further, and
imagine the same painting on a postcard that you take away, removing it to yet another container. When
you see this painting reproduced on a T-shirt or mouse-pad, and think about how far it has traveled from
its original context. Bertolt Brecht said of art that has been reproduced and transformed into a commodity:
"...it will no longer stir any memory of the thing it once designated." Also see art history and art criticism.

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EXAMPLES
The human form is idealized.
C=Man is the measure of all things for the Greeks.

The design of Greek temples is based on mathematical principles and ratios.
C=The mathematical principles and ratios found in Greek temples reflect Humanism and man's ability to
create beauty.

The Romans built magnificent buildings and emulated Greek sculptures.
C=The Romans used building techniques and art to further the aims of a vast
administrative and political empire. Roman art is about power.

Early Christian art is very symbolic.
C=The emergence of Christianity as the established religion on the European continent resulted in a
change in the art based on the needs of these believers.

Byzantine artists used a lot of mosaics and favored central-plan church design.
C=After the death of Constantine the Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western Empires. The center
of power shifted to the east and this eastern influence is reflected in its art forms.

Early Medieval art (manuscript illumination) is full of geometric designs and patterns and animal motifs.
C=Early Medieval art is portable because this was a period of turmoil, change, and unrest.

Gothic churches are extremely tall and emphasize verticality. They also use a lot of stained glass
windows and flying buttresses.
C=Gothic churches are built to glorify God. They point upward toward the Kingdom of God while creating
an interior atmosphere that creates sacred space, a Heaven on earth--a New Jerusalem
Art of the Renaissance is primarily about the use of linear perspective. It's balanced and rational.
C= Renaissance art is a rebirth of Humanism inherent in ancient Greek and Roman art.

Late Gothic art (of the North) is symbolic yet highly detailed and realistic.
C= Late Gothic art is a result of northern isolation and having International Gothic as its frame of
reference--not Classicism as in the South.

Baroque art is grandiose, theatrical, and full of energy.
C=Baroque art began in Rome under the patronage of the Catholic Church as it embarked on a campaign
to glorify and beautify Rome.

The Baroque art of Holland centered around new subject matter such as landscapes, cityscapes, country
scenes, still lifes, and portraits.
C=The Baroque art of Holland was fueled by a shift in Protestant public taste. Patronage shifted from the
Church and nobility to middle-class patrons who placed art in homes--not churches.

Rococo art is full of gaiety, charm, and wit. It's whimsical.
C=The 18th century is an age of change in Europe and Rococo emerges as the dominant style

Neoclassic art is a balanced, no-nonsense art that uses clean, crisp contours and line.
C=Neoclassic art reflects a renewal of interest in Classical ideals and design. It is also a rejection of
Rococo.

Romantic art is very expressive and lively, it captures an adventurous spirit.
C=Romantic art is accompanied by revived interest in medieval adventure stories. It's a reaction to the
confines of Neoclassicism.

Realism art deals with everyday life and real subjects.
C=Realism art reflects the affects of the Industrial Revolution on mankind. Subject matter for these artists
must be seen and experienced.

Impressionism uses a patchwork of brushstrokes and color patches to capture the effects of light.
C=Impressionism rescued painting from competition with the camera which had demonstrated the
objective truth of Renaissance perspective

Art of the twentieth century is very abstract.
C=Art of the 20th century reflects the angst that accompanies the death and destruction of world war.

Cubism is very abstract. Forms are simplified.
C=Cubism is a rejection of the Renaissance notion of the illusion of three-dimensional space.

Architecture of the early 20th century used straight lines, right angles, geometric planes, and were
constructed of steel and glass.
C= Architecture of the early 20th century reflects an aversion to decoration and historical references.

Islamic design is complex, geometric, and abstract.
C= Islamic art is rich in design because it is created as service to Allah.