Art style

Art style describes a style in art , ie the uniform design of works of art and cultural products of an age , an artist or an artist group or an art school . Alternatively, the term art direction is used.

In the fine arts

In the visual arts, style is the general term that traditionally describes the common characteristic features of an epoch ( style epoch ) or the works of an artist. It is an abstracting and idealizing aid derived from individual works of art to classify and systematize the diversity of art and describes characteristic properties that match between works of art. This assignment to a certain style or - as a further differentiation within a style - a style direction is intended to distinguish corresponding works from others and thus establish a differentiation based on suitable scientific criteria.

There are differences between countries and regions within an epoch. Even the work of an individual artist shows, despite all similarities with the style of his time and his nation, peculiarities that make up his personal style (individual style). According to the stage of development, a distinction is made historically in both epochs and individual styles , early , high and late phases that develop certain tendencies. For example, excessive increases are typical for the later phase of an era.

Within the academic subject of art history , art styles are explored by the so-called stylistics . In current art history, the pluralism of styles within an epoch or in the work of an artist is increasingly being examined and related to historical, social and communicative contexts. Styles are analyzed not only as formal, abstract criteria for the classification of a group of works of art, but also as consciously chosen carriers of meaning: For example, representative Gothic buildings were created in the forms of a previous epoch such as the Romanesque , in order to underline the historical importance of the client ( or even to claim). The traditional concept of the uniform epoch style is therefore increasingly being questioned.

"Epoch style" in literature

The philologist Walter Berschin made the concept of the " epoch style " fruitful for literary studies and researched how medieval biographies are shaped by what the respective epochs expect from this literary genre.

literature

Stephan Hoppe : Northern Gothic, Italian Renaissance and beyond. Toward a 'thick' description of style . In: Chatenet, Monique (ed.): Le Gothique de la Renaissance. Actes des quatrième Rencontres d'architecture européenne, Paris, June 12-16, 2007. Paris 2011, pp. 47–64.
Alexander Nagel, Christopher S. Wood: Anachronic renaissance . New York 2010.
Stephan Hoppe, Norbert Nussbaum, Matthias Müller (eds.): Style as a meaning in the north Alpine renaissance. Rediscovery of a methodical neighborhood . Regensburg 2008.
Christopher S. Wood: Forgery, replica, fiction. Temporalities of German Renaissance art . Chicago 2008.
Stephan Hoppe: Architectural style as a bearer of importance . In: Krause, Katharina (Hrsg.): History of the fine arts in Germany. Volume 4 Late Gothic and Renaissance. Munich 2007, pp. 244–249.
Bruno Klein, Bruno Boerner (ed.): Questions of style on the art of the Middle Ages . An introduction. Berlin 2006.
Wolfgang Brückle: Style (art history) . In: Basic aesthetic terms. Historical dictionary in seven volumes. Volume 5. Stuttgart, Weimar 2003, 5, pp. 665-688.
Ulrich Pfisterer: Donatello and the discovery of styles. 1430-1445 . Munich 2002.
Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht : Style. Stories and functions of a cultural-scientific discourse element . Frankfurt am Main 1986.
Jan Białostocki : Style and Iconography. Studies in art history. Dresden 1966.

Web links

Commons : Art by Style - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Stephan Hoppe , Norbert Nussbaum and Matthias Müller (eds.): Style as a meaning in the north Alpine renaissance. Rediscovery of a methodical neighborhood. Regensburg 2008. Cf. in particular (with further references): Stephan Hoppe: Style as thin or density description . A constructivist perspective on art-related style observations taking into account the dimension of meaning, pp. 48–103.
^ Walter Berschin: biography and epoch style in the Latin Middle Ages . 5 volumes. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1986-2004.

[1] Stephan Hoppe , Norbert Nussbaum and Matthias Müller (eds.): Style as a meaning in the north Alpine renaissance. Rediscovery of a methodical neighborhood. Regensburg 2008. Cf. in particular (with further references): Stephan Hoppe: Style as thin or density description . A constructivist perspective on art-related style observations taking into account the dimension of meaning, pp. 48–103.

[2] Walter Berschin: biography and epoch style in the Latin Middle Ages . 5 volumes. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1986-2004.