Representational. Figurative. Abstract. Developing imagery

Representational artwork the work depicts something easily recognized by most people (objects, places, people, or elements of nature) began many millennia ago with Late Paleolithic figurines, carvings, and cave paintings throughout our history as art- creating humans, most art has been representational usually “viewer-friendly” Still Life with Brown Jug, David Abed

Lascaux Cave Paintings France 17,000 years old  Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse Albrecht Dürer 1498

Nighthawks Edward Hopper, 1942 The Storm on the Sea of Galilee Rembrandt van Rijn,1633

Figurative artwork usually of, or relating to, the human form the subjects are recognizable but perhaps not “conventionally” depicted since antiquity, most art was figurative in one way or another Importance is given to shape, volume and perspective which are defined through the use of color, tone, light and shade (though not necessarily used at the same time) Girl With A Pearl Earing Johannes Vermeer, mid 17th century

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Pablo Picasso, 1907 The Midday Nap Paul Gauguin, 1894 La Musique  Henri Matisse,1939

Abstract art does not depict a person, place or thing that exists in the natural world seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, textures, size, scale, and in some cases, the process (ex. action painting) began in 1911 with such works as Picture with a Circle (1911) by the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (image right)

Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow Piet Mondrian,1930 Number 8, 1949  Jackson Pollack,1949 Untitled Robert Rauschenberg, 1954

Video on Pollack's Process