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Celebrate World Art Day by Learning about its History
April 15th marks World Art Day, an international celebration of the fine arts to promote awareness of creativity worldwide. First celebrated in 2012, the date was selected by the International Association of Art in commemoration of the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, not only to celebrate world peace and freedom of expression but, most notably, to highlight art’s importance in other fields. Every industry in the world relies on the innovation that comes from creativity, and the history of art has shaped the human experience and evolution as we know it. The following are inspiring examples of the importance of art in the world’s history.
Art as a Window into Evolution
Some of the earliest decorative artifacts ever found were from Middle Stone Age Africa, including 100,000-year-old containers that held paint. Other Prehistoric artworks include Paleolithic cave paintings found across Europe from 38,000-12,000BCE as well as sculptures, reliefs, carvings, tools and paintings from various ancient civilizations in countries like India and Mesopotamia to Egypt and Columbia. World Art Day exhibitions of pieces from eras like these are a reminder that art can be a window to Pre- and Ancient Histories to understand the evolution of man.
Art in Anthropology
Anthropologists study the development of societies and cultures. Exploring the history of art from different civilizations over time gives modern researchers a way to understand their cultures and what events or experiences shaped their ways of life. For example, art as a cultural expression is seen in the evolution of textiles: Early Scots used different plaids for different clans. In contrast, early Aztecs weaved symbolic patterns into textiles to designate wealth, status, and award warriors. While early nomadic communities used textiles as currency with traders, merchants, and urban dwellers along the Han dynasty’s Silk Road initiated in 114BCE.
Art in Fashion
Art as fashion developed as soon as humans started to wear clothing and evolved from animal skins, plants and bone to textiles, bespoke, luxury and “ready-to-wear” clothing; modern fashion branding as we know it, established in 18th century France. The history of the art of fashion also includes accessories, like necklaces created as early as 40,000 years ago and brooches and pins originally crafted to secure pieces of clothing like a loincloth, and decorative elements like the carved bone used by African and Indigenous American tribes as symbolic embellishments.
Art as Expression
Since the first cave paintings, visual art has been a means of recording experience, exploration and expression. Still, it was limited to what could be captured by hand, brush, pen, or chisel until the invention of the camera in the early 1800s. Since then, technological advances have helped shape visual art, including photography, film, graphic and digital design and even virtual experiences. Visual art reflects the time in which we live and is a fundamental component of our experiences.
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