GEC2123 Exercise

Categorizing Works of Art

ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING PERIODS: ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, RENAISSANCE, MODERN,
AND POSTMODERN

Study each image.

1. Using your knowledge of the dominant ideas during each period of Western civilization discussed in class, determine when each work was produced. (Do not do reverse image search. Answer based only on what you know or remember.)

2. Explain your answer (no need to write it down).

• What feature stands out the most?

• To what idea, principle, or view is that feature related or connected?

  © The estate of Sir Jacob Epstein

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​What do you see?

Multiple Choice

To which period do you think the image on the previous slide belongs?

• Ancient

• Medieval

• Renaissance

• Modern

• Postmodern

• From "The Rock Drill" by Sir Jacob Epstein, 1913-15

• The human torso looks robotic or mechanized (dehumanized; scientific-technocentric).

​

Torso in Metal: Modern

• What feature stands out the most?

• To what idea, principle, or view is that feature related or connected?

  © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

​

​What do you see?

Multiple Choice

To which period do you think the image on the previous slide belongs?

• Ancient

• Medieval

• Renaissance

• Modern

• Postmodern

• From Cologne, Germany, 2nd quarter of the 14th century

• This is a reliquary bust, a container for holy relics.

• The Renaissance started late in Germany.

• Proportions aren't important.

​

​Reliquienbüste: Medieval

• What feature stands out the most?

• To what idea, principle, or view is that feature related or connected?

  CC-BY-SA-3.0 by Gabriel Seah

​

​What do you see?

Multiple Choice

To which period do you think the image on the previous slide belongs?

• Ancient

• Medieval

• Renaissance

• Modern

• Postmodern

• 2nd century BCE

• Roman statue of Atlas

• Features a globe (earth) engraved with constellations (cosmos)

• Celebration of the ideal human body (proportional)

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​Farnese Atlas: Ancient

• What feature stands out the most?

• To what idea, principle, or view is that feature related or connected?

  © Lloyd Toone

​

​What do you see?

Multiple Choice

To which period do you think the image on the previous slide belongs?

• Ancient

• Medieval

• Renaissance

• Modern

• Postmodern

• By Lloyd Toone, 1998

• The artwork is composed of different materials, emphasizing the eclectic view (coming from various sources; man is a piece of everything).

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​Styling: Postmodern

• What feature stands out the most?

• To what idea, principle, or view is that feature related or connected?

  CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons

​

​What do you see?

Multiple Choice

To which period do you think the image on the previous slide belongs?

• Ancient

• Medieval

• Renaissance

• Modern

• Postmodern

• By Benvenuto Cellini, 1545-54

• From Greek mythology (revival of Classical ideas)

• Trivia: This piece is part of a series of sculptures celebrating the founding and history of Florence, Italy (the Medicis).

• More detailed than ancient Greek sculptures

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​Perseus with the Head of Medusa: Renaissance