ORIENTATION...FOR ART'S SAKE

Art is one of those subjects you can't fully define and yet you can easily recognize when you see. The history of Art starts right at creation when God created Adam, not out of marble or clay, but from dust. No artist or sculptor that ever lived has been able to do so since. Skipping over a considerable period, we arrive at primitive ages when art took the form of cave paintings, mostly of creatures that either were eaten by stone age man or by which stone age man was eaten. Following that period was art most of which comes from the early civilizations of  Rome, Greece, Egypt, India and China.Fast forward to the Renaissance period, a movement that began in Italy between the 14th to 17th century.Art in this period focused on beauty and harmony.Among the notable artists then were Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci who did so many other things like hydraulics, anatomy, military engineering and physical science it is a wonder he ever got round to painting. You may have heard of his famous painting Mona Lisa. He also painted the above art work titled The Last Supper. The forerunners of what came to be the Impressionist period were two artists with nearly similar names, Monet and Manet (FYI: The Manet with an A came before the one with an O.. that's how I remember). The Impressionism era was followed by the Expressionism whose art was influenced by artists like Munch and Vincent Van Gogh who painted in a frenzy and cut off one of his ears in a fit of anger. Art in the 20th Century  is mostly abstract and many artists of this period are called experimentalists. People who have no idea of this art form can be excused to think that the paintings are the result of an artist splashing paint on canvas with the eyes closed. I have to admit that sometimes I catch myself tilting my head just to confirm that the gallery did not accidentally hang the painting upside down! Abstract is sub divided into so many other was forms ranging from cubism which was originated by Pablo Picasso, surrealism by Salvador Dali ( How this artist influenced my love for art is a story for another day), feminist art, dadaism, mamaism (just kidding!), fauvism and many others I am unwilling to get into because I fear I may not get out.  I guess if a painting can speak a thousand words, the one above can speak ten times as much. It is Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper, a  piece derived from the scripture after Jesus had announced to the disciples that one among them would betray him. Observe the way the artist was able to capture the drama and excitement as the disciples questioned who it was. By the way, can you spot Judas?