|
DECORATIVE ARTS
IRELAND
For Irish creative practitioners,
see: Visual
Artists Ireland.
For the leading Irish decorative
arts body, please see:
Crafts
Council of Ireland.
For an active artist group, see:
West
Cork Craft Design Guild.
|
History of Applied Art
Architecture
The first applied art to be practised in
a major way was architecture.
From the Egyptian Pyramids, the Ziggurats of Sumer and the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World, to the precisely organized proportions of Greek
temples and the enduring engineering quality of Roman viaducts and bridges,
architects combine aesthetics with mathematics to design a functional
but pleasing structure. Since then, the demands of the modern world have
included housing and commercial projects, notably high-rise buildings
and skyscrapers.
During this evolution, architectural styles
have been influenced by numerous schools and movements, including: Romanesque
(c.775-1050), Gothic (c.1150-1280), International Gothic (c.1300-1500),
Renaissance (c.1400-1530), Mannerism (c.1530-1600), Baroque (c.1600-1700),
Rococo (c.1700-50), Neoclassicism (c.1750-1815), Greek and Gothic Revival
(c.1800-1900), Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Romanesque Revival (1849-1880),
the Second Empire style (1850-80), Art
Nouveau (c.1895-1915), Early Modernism (1900-25), Continental Avant-Garde
(1900-25), Bauhaus
Design School (1919-33), Art
Deco (1925-40), Totalitarian Architecture (Germany, USSR, 1928-1940),
Late Modernism (1945-1970), High Tech Corporate Design (1945-2000), Deconstructivism
(1980-2000), and Blobitecture (1990-2000).
Commercial Design
Aside from architecture, applied art received
its biggest boost from the growth in commerce during the 19th century,
following the Industrial Revolution. Suddenly, competitive manufacturers
and service providers needed to ensure that their products and services
"looked good" as well as functioned properly. This demand for
improved aesthetics led to the establishment
of numerous design schools and courses, from which a new generation of
industrial designers emerged. Later, as the range of products multiplied,
and new printing techniques appeared, they were joined by fashion designers,
graphic designers and most recently computer graphics designers.
Decorative Arts
In addition to architecture and design,
applied art also includes decorative arts, whose origins date from the
earliest examples of Jomon style Japanese pottery (c.14,500 BCE), and
include early Chinese and Greek Pottery. Enamelwork is exemplified by
Celtic Metalwork art
such as the silver "Gundestrup Cauldron" (c.100 BCE), the bronze
"Petrie Crown" (100 BCE - 200 CE), and the gold "Broighter
Collar/Torc" (1st century BCE), as well as later religious metalwork
like the Ardagh Chalice (8th/9th century CE), and the Derrynaflan Chalice.
Tapestry and stained glass were first developed during the Gothic period,
while interior design, fine-furniture, textiles, glassware and other objets
d'art reached new heights during the Rococo
period (18th century) at the French court of Louis XV.
During the last decade of the 19th century
the decorative strain of applied art was re-invigorated by William
Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Celtic
Art Revival Movement, the international Art Nouveau Style (c.1895-1915),
the Bauhaus Design School in Germany (1919-33) and Art Deco (c.1925-40).
|
