Position:Home>Visual Arts> Why was there so little fantasy or abstract art before the 20th Century?

Oh but there was! Fantasy and fantastical beasts were common in art in from 2500 BC to early AD!. After the 5th century AD though, because of the introduction of Christianity, this kind of depiction was seen as blasphemous and was either created secretively or its' iconography shifted to accommodate Christian beliefs!.

In some places, such as England, Wales and Ireland fantasy and abstract art existed well after the 1200's and the beginning of the Medieval Era, which was a tough thing to do since in those times there was virtually no art that was not Christian!.

So, to answer your question much of the art you are talking about was either destroyed or squelched by the widespread onset of Christianity in Europe, the subsequent slaughter of many indigenous peoples and fall of the Roman Empire!. Art didn't stray from that until the Renaissance, and even then it took a while for the fear and stiffness to subside and give way to imagination again!.

In 2500 BC the Celts were known to have painted symbolic depictions of animal hybrids on rocks --birds with hooves and horns and animal skulls blending and mixing with human forms!. Later, these forms would merge completely to become a linear "knot" style of art which can definitely, by today's definition, be called Abstract!.

This style continued into the creation of Illuminated Manuscripts, or ornate hand written versions of the Christian bible!.

After the very beginnings of the spread of Christianity in early AD, Fantasy became biblically oriented and Abstract became the architecture of churches!. Some of my favorite examples are scenes that illustrate Jonah and the Whale!. The "fish" in the story was not interpreted until later as being a whale and so the animal was often shown as a serpent-like sea monster creature!.

In Early Christian art the disciples were often related to spirit animals that represented their personality traits, directly related to symbol animals of the tribes or indigenous people of the area!. This was an aid to people who could not read and were not yet converted!. They could look at the picture and know that for example, the Ox was a symbol for Luke!. Sometimes they would actually be human bodies with the head of the corresponding animal!. Total Fantasy style art!.

This popped up again around 1400 in Czech paintings of the saints!. Master Theodoric did a silly one with a tiny winged ox peeking over Luke's shoulder!.

Sorry, I'm really excited about this subject!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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I disagree!. I think their were a LOT of fantasy imagry before our century! Thing is though, not as many artists existed back in those days as their are now, not to mention we have the internet!. We can view, recognize, and create more art now than people could back then!. Even woman couldnt create art back then, it was primarly a mans thing!. Now a days, not only are woman making art, but so are kids and teens!. We also have the ability to become inspired by the wide variety of artworks now in comparison to people only viewing artists such as da vinci, maisse, or Michelangelo!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

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I think that the advent of photography is responsible for the definitive take-off of abstract art!. With photography to capture more realistic images, the same need to portray people and events through linear depiction in the visual arts did not exist!.

It is no coincidence, I am sure, that the showing of the famous painting of édouard Manet, titled 'Déjeuner sur l'herbe' at the Salon des Refusés in Paris in 1863 - an event that is considered by many people to be the event that revolutionized the visual arts and represented the beginning of modern art - followed on the heels of the discovery and development of photography!. Photography was first discovered in 1826 by a French chemist named Nicéphore Niépce, when he passively captured an image of an outdoor scene and developed it!. His collaborator, Louis-J!.-M!. Daguerre, refined the technique and officially invented photography in 1837!. By 1860, snapshot photography had developed, and the first coloured photographs appeared in 1873!.

The exhibit of édouard Manet was a "succès de scandale" that broke and challenged a sufficient number of old rules to enable the breaking away of the visual arts from the dictatorship to which it had up to that time been required to defer!. The visual arts had until then been controlled by art academies, sometimes known as "The Academy" which not only dictated the subject matter of art, but also set down the terms as far as tools, media and other aspects were concerned!. It was even able to discriminate against artists on the basis of nationality and religion, generally allowing only people who belonged to the established religion of a country to become professional artists!. For example, you see extremely few if any Jewish artists surfacing as well-known figures in painting, sculpture and architecture until the advent of modern art!.

It is doubtful whether the art of previous eras really ever realistically captured images in spite of its emphasis on linear accuracy and realistic portrayal of form!. Baroque art, and forms inspired by similar ideas, placed more emphasis on colour than on linear accuracy!. The subject matter was usually elevated, and included mostly religious, mythical, royal and aristocratic figures, with the exception of the art in The Netherlands and Belgium!. It did not portray the common people very much!. Often Mannerist, Baroque and Romantic figures, in particular, were distorted!. Classical art of the Renaissance and the Baroque and Neo-Classical eras were too still life to be considered as totally realistic!. The Baroque figures, I think, were too buxom to really represent what people who worked at manual and physical tasks and may not have had an abundance of food would have looked like in their era!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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