With the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe from Africa, the concept of image-making came to surface. During the Ice Age, between 40,000 BCE and 10,000 BCE, the cavemen engaged in “cave art”, also known as “parietal art”. In this form of art, people indulged in drawing images on the walls, ceilings, and floors of their caves or rock shelters. Some cave art was done in uninhabited caves, rarely spotted by other humans.
Cave art includes five different types of art – Hand prints and finger marks, abstract signs, figurative painting, rock engraving, and relief sculpture. Out of all these forms of painting, hand prints and symbols are the most common type of art. On the contrary, relief sculpture is the least occurring form of art.
With the passage of time, two styles of painting have taken over – the Western and Eastern style. The Western style of painting includes abstract painting, impressionism, modernism, and some less popular ones - photorealism and surrealism. The subcontinent India is the flag-bearer of different kinds of Eastern forms of paintings. Owing to the diverse culture of the Mughal era, many interesting forms of paintings came to dominate the world including Mughal Miniature painting, Rajput paintings, Tanjore paintings, and Madhubani style.
History’s greatest Western painter is the immensely talented Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian artist, whose artwork comprises of widely-famous Mona Lisa. In addition, the list of all-time favorite painters includes Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, and Raphel. These painters garnered fame because of their vast contribution to the artwork. For instance, Pablo Picasso invented the constructed sculpture and collages. His most outstanding artwork features The Old Guitarist and Guernica. Michelangelo plays a vital role in the development of Western art. His laudable artwork includes the painting of The Creation of Adam, David, and Sistine Chapel ceiling.
The author of this article Amita Vadlamudi is a former Information Technology professional and now spends time reading and researching. Though not well versed in art or painting, Amita Vadlamudi finds history, even art history, to be a fascinating subject.
