drawing history

DRAWING a history

ORIGINS OF DRAWING

• Drawing is as old as art. The first drawings go back to the Superior Paleolithic Age, 35,000 years ago, when the Homo sapiens represented animals they hunted on cave surfaces. Examples can be found in caves throughout Europe.

Draw Like an Egyptian!• Thousands of years later, the Egyptians

decorated the pyramids. By then, drawing had evolved substantially from the single-colored and static composition of prehistory, to the balanced, thorough and brightly colored art of the gods in the temples.

When In Rome…

• In Rome, solid constructions were necessary to hold up from the continuous attacks of the invaders. Drawings were made to illustrate these buildings. The first maps arose and with them the architecture was born. The technical drawing required a newer technique and more mathematical knowledge.

“Paper, Paper, Get Your Paper Here!”

• Not until the late 14th century does drawing begin to stand on it’s own, with the introduction of paper. Unlike the parchment of an illuminated manuscript, a sheet of paper is cheap enough to be used for a sketch. Unlike the slow and important task of painting a wall or a panel, drawing on paper is a process suitable for experimenting.

“Weltchronik”: 14th-century

carriage

Let There Be Light!

• Starting in the 15th century, the female nude begins to show up often and artists return to the study of the human figure. Close observation of light and shades, together with perspective, help drawings show more realistic volume. A manifestation of artists demonstrates this new development, including El Greco, Sandro Boticelli and Leonardo da Vinci.

Modern Drawing

• From the 19th century onwards, the uniformity that had followed the history of drawing was broken. Drawing forked in a multitude of styles….

Surrealism

Romanticism

Expressionism

Cubism

Futurism