French Art History
AWARDS                 Note: Graphic Intensive
Originally prepared for:  http://www.uncg.edu/rom/courses/dafein/507/syllabus.htm
 
Prehistory
TimelineThe prehistoric period is known for paleolithic cave paintings. There are around 130 caves around the Pyrenees, with the most famous of the caves being Lascaux. Stone sculpures made by Cro-Magnon man also exist from this period and are found in Dordogne (South West of France). 

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 		 Horses' Heads in the Chauvet Cave
Horses' Heads in the Chauvet Cave 
Dolmen Prehistoric Sculpture
 Cro-Magnon Sculpture 

Cave Paintings at Lascaux		 Other Sites
Medieval Period
TimelineInternational Gothic
The merging of Italian and Northern European art resulted in the emergence of an International Gothic style by the end of the 14th century. Artists travelled all over Europe spreading and intertwining their ideas, until eventually painters in this International Gothic style could be found in France, Italy, England, Germany, Austria and Bohemia. 

The ancient art of book illumination was still the prevailing form of painting in France at the beginning of the 15th century. Easel painting did not develop in France to any extent until the 14th century. 

Architecture

Aussi: 		January- Books of Hours
Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
The Coronation of the Virgin, detail: the Virgin
The Coronation of the Virgin, detail: the Virgin by Charonton
Notre Dame
Notre Dame		 Painters Sculpture Architecture
Renaissance
TimelineThe term Renaissance describes the radical changes that took place in European culture beginning in the 15th century. These changes contributed to the demise of the Middle Ages, and for the first time the values of the modern world began to emerge in society. Italian scholars and critics of this period proclaimed that their age had progressed beyond the barbarism of the past and had found its inspiration in the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. The French Renaissance was strongly influenced by the works of the Italians. 

Architecture

Aussi: 		Charles VII- by Fouquet
Charles VII of France by Jean Fouquet

Jean Fouquet Self-Portrait
Jean Fouquet, Self-Portrait

Chateau Azay le RideauChâteau Azay le Rideau		 Painters Sculpture Architecture
Baroque
TimelineThe Baroque period spans roughly the 17th and 18th centuries. The work that distinguishes the Baroque period is complex, even contradictory. In general, however, the work can be categorized by the desire to evoke emotional states by appealing to the senses. Some qualities that are frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur, richness, drama, movement, tension and appeal to emotions. 

Architecture

The Visit of Venus to Vulcan
The Visit of Venus to Vulcan by Boucher 
The Silver Goblet- by Chardin
The Silver Goblet by Chardin
The Reader- by Fragonard
The Reader by Fragonard
Versailles
Versailles - an example of Baroque architecture		 Painters Sculpture Architecture
Revolution/Restoration
TimelineClassicism
Classicism and Neoclassicism refer to aesthetic attitudes and principles based on the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, and are characterized by emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion. Classicism refers either to the art produced in antiquity or to later art inspired by that of antiquity; Neoclassicism always refers to the art produced later but inspired by antiquity. Thus, the terms Classicism and Neoclassicism are often used interchangeably. 
Romanticism
An artistic and intellectual movement that originated in the late 18th century and stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions. Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typified Classicism. 
Realism
In the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of a close observation of outward appearances. 

Architecture

The Death of Socrates; David
The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David 

Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Sardanapal
The Death of Sardanapal by Delacroix
Napleon Bonaparte on Arcole Bridge
Napleon Bonaparte on Arcole Bridge by Antoine-Jean Gros
The Wounded Man
The Wounded Man by Gustave Courbet
Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe		 Painters Sculpture Architecture
19th Century
TimelineImpressionism
The impressionist style of painting, developing primarily in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is characterized chiefly by concentration on the general impression produced by a scene or object and the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light. 

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 		 Impression: soleil levant
Impression: soleil levant by Claude Monet 
Monet Painting in His Floating Studio- by Manet
Monet Painting in His Floating Studio by Édouard Manet
Young Women Talking- by Renoir
Young Women Talking by Pierre Auguste Renoir 

Pierre Auguste Renoir
Pierre Auguste Renoir

The Kiss- by Rodin
The Kiss by Auguste Rodin		 Painters Sculpture
20th Century
TimelineFauvism
French Fauvisme is a style of painting that flourished in France from 1898 to 1908. It used pure, brilliant colour, applied straight from the paint tubes in an aggressive manner to create the sense of an explosion on the canvas. The Fauves painted directly from nature as the Impressionists had before them, but their works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects they painted. First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked visitors to the annual Salon d'Automne. One of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles who, because of the violence of their works, dubbed the painters "Les Fauves" (Wild Beasts). 
Cubism
Cubism is a highly influential visual arts style of the 20th century, and was created principally by the painters Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, and Georges Braque in Paris. They particularly admired the Post- Impressionist Suerat, for his careful and intellectual approach. The Cubists also appreciated the primitive work of Paul Gauguin. The Cubist style rejected the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening and modeling, as well as the notion of art as an "imitation of nature." Instead, Cubists portrayed subject matter using geometric forms, cubes and cones -- radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously. 
Surrealism
Surrealism was a movement that grew principally out of the earlier Dada movement, and flourished in Europe between World Wars I and II. With its emphasis on content and free form fantasy, Surrealism provided a major alternative to the contemporary, highly formalistic Cubist movement. 

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Notre-Dame, une fin d'après-midi- by Matisse
Notre-Dame, une fin d'après-midi by Henri Matisse
Big ben- by André Derain
Big Ben by André Derain
Houses at L'Estaque- Braque
Houses at L'Estaque by Braque 
Jeune fille à la mandoline- by Picasso
Jeune fille à la mandoline by Pablo Picasso
Picasso Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso, Self-Portrait 
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2- by Duchamp
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 by Marcel Duchamp
 Painters Architecture