Chapter 1. Strange Beginnings
Prehistoric and primitive peoples; Ancient America
“We do not know how art began any more than we know how language started. If we take art to mean such activities as building temples and houses, making pictures and sculptures, or weaving patterns, there is no people in all the world without art.” (page 37)
In this chapter, Gombrich explains the concepts of art and goes into some of the first appearances or manifestations of art. He explains the significance art has had in our lives and how its aim has evolved but maintained that need to transmit something to someone.
“Many of the artists’ works are meant to play a part in these strange rituals, and what matters then is not whether the sculpture or painting is beautiful by our standards, but whether it “works”, that is to say, whether it can perform the required magic.” (page 41)
“…the whole story of art is not a story of progress in technical proficiency, but a story of changing ideas and requirements.” (page 43)
“We know very little about these mysterious origins, but if we want to understand the story of art we do well to remember, once in a while, that pictures and letters are really blood-relations.” (page 47)
In general, what Gombrich is trying to explain in this chapter is the importance in understanding art. This understanding would come from knowing the ideas behind a work of art and what the artist was trying to transmit with it, instead of only judging something with our standards of beauty.
“We do not know how art began any more than we know how language started. If we take art to mean such activities as building temples and houses, making pictures and sculptures, or weaving patterns, there is no people in all the world without art.” (page 37)
In this chapter, Gombrich explains the concepts of art and goes into some of the first appearances or manifestations of art. He explains the significance art has had in our lives and how its aim has evolved but maintained that need to transmit something to someone.
“Many of the artists’ works are meant to play a part in these strange rituals, and what matters then is not whether the sculpture or painting is beautiful by our standards, but whether it “works”, that is to say, whether it can perform the required magic.” (page 41)
“…the whole story of art is not a story of progress in technical proficiency, but a story of changing ideas and requirements.” (page 43)
“We know very little about these mysterious origins, but if we want to understand the story of art we do well to remember, once in a while, that pictures and letters are really blood-relations.” (page 47)
In general, what Gombrich is trying to explain in this chapter is the importance in understanding art. This understanding would come from knowing the ideas behind a work of art and what the artist was trying to transmit with it, instead of only judging something with our standards of beauty.
Chapter 2. Art for Eternity
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete
“Some form of art exists everywhere on the globe, but the story of art as a continuous effort does not begin in the caves of southern France or among the North American Indians. There is on direct tradition which links these strange beginnings with our own days, but there is a direct tradition, handed down from master to pupil, and from pupil to admirer or copyist, which links the art of our own days, any house or any poster, with the art of the Nile Valley of some five thousand years ago. For we shall see that the Greek masters went to school with the Egyptians, and we are all the pupils of the Greeks. Thus the art of Egypt has a tremendous importance to us.” (page 49)
This chapter is about the importance of the Egyptian art in making the foundations of future art. Egyptians were concerned with the essentials and not with the details of the figure itself. Nevertheless, “This combination of geometric regularity and keen observation of nature is characteristic of all Egyptian art.” (page 51). They were focused on completeness and not prettiness.
“Egyptian art is not based on what the artist could see at a given moment, but rather on what he knew belonged to a person or a scene.” (page 53)
The Egyptian art made a style for doing art. It all obeyed one law. “The rules which govern all Egyptian art give every individual work the effect of poise and austere harmony.” (page 55)
“On all the monuments which glorify the warlords of the past, war is no trouble at all. You just appear, and the enemy is scattered like chaff in the wind.” (page 60)
“Some form of art exists everywhere on the globe, but the story of art as a continuous effort does not begin in the caves of southern France or among the North American Indians. There is on direct tradition which links these strange beginnings with our own days, but there is a direct tradition, handed down from master to pupil, and from pupil to admirer or copyist, which links the art of our own days, any house or any poster, with the art of the Nile Valley of some five thousand years ago. For we shall see that the Greek masters went to school with the Egyptians, and we are all the pupils of the Greeks. Thus the art of Egypt has a tremendous importance to us.” (page 49)
This chapter is about the importance of the Egyptian art in making the foundations of future art. Egyptians were concerned with the essentials and not with the details of the figure itself. Nevertheless, “This combination of geometric regularity and keen observation of nature is characteristic of all Egyptian art.” (page 51). They were focused on completeness and not prettiness.
“Egyptian art is not based on what the artist could see at a given moment, but rather on what he knew belonged to a person or a scene.” (page 53)
The Egyptian art made a style for doing art. It all obeyed one law. “The rules which govern all Egyptian art give every individual work the effect of poise and austere harmony.” (page 55)
“On all the monuments which glorify the warlords of the past, war is no trouble at all. You just appear, and the enemy is scattered like chaff in the wind.” (page 60)
Chapter 3. The Great Awakening
Greece, seventh to fifth century BC
“It was in the great oasis lands, where the sun burns mercilessly, and where only the land watered by the rivers provides food, that the earliest styles of art had been created under Oriental despots, and these styles remained almost unchanged for thousands of years. Conditions were very different in the milder climes of the sea which bordered these empires, on the many islands, large and small, of the eastern Mediterranean and the many-creeked coasts of the peninsulas of Greece and Asia Minor…The main centre of these areas was originally the island of Crete, whose kings were at times sufficiently rich and powerful to send embassies to Egypt, and whose art created an impression even there.” (page 63)
“It was no longer a question of learning a ready-made formula for representing the human body. Every Greek sculptor wanted to know how he was to represent a particular body.” (page 66)
“He no longer thought that everything he knew to be there must also be shown. Once this ancient rule was broken, once the artist began to rely on what he saw, a veritable landslide started. Painters made the greatest discovery of all, the discovery of foreshortening.” (page 67)
We will see in this chapter the importance of the change in mindset that the Greeks had with respect to the Egyptians. They started to observe more on how things look instead of trying to represent only the essential parts of them. In this process, the Greeks also found a way to transmit feelings in their works and managed to represent particular expressions.
“Greek artists had indeed mastered the means of conveying something of the unspoken feelings set up between people.
It is this capacity to make us see the “workings of the soul” in the poise of the body that turns a simple tombstone into a great work of art.” (page 77)
“The Egyptian work, too, is wonderfully clear in its outline, but despite the fact that it dates from an exceptional period of Egyptian art it is rather stiff and unnatural. The Greek relief has shed all these awkward limitations, but it has retained the lucidity and beauty of the arrangement, which is no longer geometrical and angular but free and relaxed.” (page 78)
“It was in the great oasis lands, where the sun burns mercilessly, and where only the land watered by the rivers provides food, that the earliest styles of art had been created under Oriental despots, and these styles remained almost unchanged for thousands of years. Conditions were very different in the milder climes of the sea which bordered these empires, on the many islands, large and small, of the eastern Mediterranean and the many-creeked coasts of the peninsulas of Greece and Asia Minor…The main centre of these areas was originally the island of Crete, whose kings were at times sufficiently rich and powerful to send embassies to Egypt, and whose art created an impression even there.” (page 63)
“It was no longer a question of learning a ready-made formula for representing the human body. Every Greek sculptor wanted to know how he was to represent a particular body.” (page 66)
“He no longer thought that everything he knew to be there must also be shown. Once this ancient rule was broken, once the artist began to rely on what he saw, a veritable landslide started. Painters made the greatest discovery of all, the discovery of foreshortening.” (page 67)
We will see in this chapter the importance of the change in mindset that the Greeks had with respect to the Egyptians. They started to observe more on how things look instead of trying to represent only the essential parts of them. In this process, the Greeks also found a way to transmit feelings in their works and managed to represent particular expressions.
“Greek artists had indeed mastered the means of conveying something of the unspoken feelings set up between people.
It is this capacity to make us see the “workings of the soul” in the poise of the body that turns a simple tombstone into a great work of art.” (page 77)
“The Egyptian work, too, is wonderfully clear in its outline, but despite the fact that it dates from an exceptional period of Egyptian art it is rather stiff and unnatural. The Greek relief has shed all these awkward limitations, but it has retained the lucidity and beauty of the arrangement, which is no longer geometrical and angular but free and relaxed.” (page 78)