Winter 2018

Winter 2018

The winter is filled with cold weather, sometimes snow (as I'm experiencing a great amount of snow right now in the date of January 4, 2018 on Thursday), and it's precisely a time where we have a continued dedication to the proposition that all human begins are created equal. In 2018, a new horizon of history and challenges remain (from environmental matters to foreign policy issues). We witness an extremist, a sexist, and a racist as the resident of the White House whose name is Donald Trump. A new book from Michael Wolff entitled, "Fire and Furty" has exposed the White House dysfunction with even some of his supporters criticizing him. We see more  courageous victims of sexual misconduct come out to tell their stories. We see the Black Lives Matter Movement not weakening, but they have expanding plus strengthening into areas nationwide plus worldwide. So, the forces of good are always opposed to the aims of the forces of reaction. This year is a year of many important anniversaries. It's the 50th year anniversary of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the former Senator Robert F. Kennedy. It is 100 years after the conclusion of World War I. It has been 70 years since the formation of the nation of Israel. It is the 10th anniversary of the election of Barack Obama, who is the first African American President in United States history. 2018 is the 25th anniversary of the European single market in the EU. This is the 150th year anniversary of the Meiji Restoration in Japan. It's also the 150th year anniversary of the Birthday of Brother W.E.B. Du Bois (who was a sociologist, social activist, and a great fighter against imperialism). This is the 50th year anniversaries of the Tet Offensive (from January 30, 1968), the My Lai massacre and the Prague Spring (in August of 1968 in Czechoslovakia). The Prague Spring was about pro-democratic rights activists wanted to end the Stalinist regime in Czechoslovakia.

It is 50 years after the Tommie Smith and John Carlos heroically raising their hands up in a fist to protest racial injustice during the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics. The year 1968 changed the world forever. It is the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (on April 19, 1943) where heroic Jewish people defended themselves against Nazi terrorism. So, we live history everyday. We are inspired by the past, we live in the present, and we desire a better future. This is what we are born to do. We are born to live life to not only grow individually. We desire to help humanity collectively. Also, we are completely committed to human liberation unequivocally. It is certainly important to recognize the continued need to fight for social justice. Beyonce presenting Kaepernick the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy award is certainly a historical moment. Beyonce gave a powerful, eloquent speech to acknowledge the truth about Kaepernick and the right to protest injustice. Beyonce said the following, accurate words in her speech: "...Colin took action with no fear of consequence or repercussion — only hope to change the world for the better, to change perception, to change the way we treated each other, especially people of color. We are still waiting for the world to catch up..." Colin Kaepernick reminds people that compassion is not a weak force. It's a powerful force in dealing with standing by legitimate convictions and going forward to help others out of altruistic motives.

For a long time, black people have always came about to use activism. We were involved in the silent march of the 1910's to combat lynching (including the anti-black pogroms of the early 20th century) and the Selma to Montgomery march back in 1965. Far too often, some people forget that. That is why it is important to recognize Kaepernick's great contributions in this struggle for justice and to honor the unsung heroes doing great work worldwide as well. Kaepernick has sacrificed. He doesn't have a NFL job, because hating NFL owners don't like the fact of a person of color protesting peacefully in a football stadium. Kaepernick isn't just a heroic man speaking out. He invested money to help people to fight police brutality, he has visited Ghana, and he has came out to support many legitimate causes. These owners know fully that the anthem was based upon the words from a slave owning white supremacist Francis Scott Key and whose original lyrics glamorized slavery. Muhammad Ali loved the people and his legacy will always be remembered. Ali stood up against the Vietnam War, promoted social justice, showed compassion to humanity among all walks of life, and spoke out in confidence for peace.

The GOP tax law is a total disgrace. It has nothing to do with helping all Americans. It has to do with benefiting a select group of the super wealthy primarily. Many GOP members have made tax cuts into a fetish and believe in the lie of trickled down economics. The bill definitely doesn't benefit the poor as the GOP leadership doesn't give an inch of care for the poor. That's obvious. Also, the majority of Americans in about 55 percent oppose the tax law. This 1.5 trillion dollar tax bill is filled with tax cuts and tax code revisions. It will eliminate the ACA's individual mandate, has cuts to the following: mortgage interest deduction (which is a long-standing break for state and local taxes) and subsidies for public transportation (which is a key funding method for roads and other public projects). This will harm urban and poor communities nationwide. The tax GOP law is the largest tax overhaul since 1986. Legislation that will transfer trillions of dollars from the working class to the richest 10 percent of the population, disproportionately to the richest 1 percent and 0.1 percent, now is  the law of the land within less than two months of its initial release and without a single congressional hearing. Much of the law has been created in secret without input from the American people outside of Congress. The GOP tax law has token benefits for college students and some child tax credits (which should happen) plus for other matters, but it does nothing to radically improve the economic lives of all Americans. Enactment of the cynically named “Tax Cut and Jobs Act” will slash federal tax revenues by between $1 trillion and $2 trillion over the next decade. The sharply increased budget deficit and national debt will be used to justify a frontal attack on the core social programs remaining from the 1930's and 1960's which are: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

The heart of the law is a massive cut in the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 21 percent. It is estimated that this alone will increase corporate revenues by some $6 trillion over the next decade. The effective US corporate rate, i.e., the rate corporations actually pay after making use of tax loopholes and dodges of various kinds, is presently between 19 and 21 percent, already below that paid by US rivals in Europe and Asia. According to economists at the University of Pennsylvania, under the new law the effective rate across all industries will fall to 9 percent next year. There are provisions that eliminate or reduce current tax deductions used by tens of millions of working Americans, including deductions for mortgage interest and state and local taxes. The bill also pares back deductions on losses from fires and floods, and repeals them for alimony payments and moving expenses. Low income people who currently claim the earned income tax credit will lose an estimated $19 billion over the coming decade because of the chained CPI. The tax law terminates all provisions relating to individual tax rates at the end of 2025, leaving low and middle-income people facing a sudden, large tax increase for 2026 and beyond. The oligarchy controls the majority of the leadership of Democrats and Republicans. This bill is for and by the oligarchy as they control most of the wealth of America. The oligarchy never relinquishes their power without struggle against the agenda of the oligarchy. That is why the abolitionist movement and the slave revolts caused the Confederacy to be defeated by 1865. That is why the 1930's labor movement forced the oligarchy to permit Social Security and many legitimate New Deal laws. That is why the 1960's civil rights movement forced the oligarchy to pass civil rights and voting rights laws. We demand our liberation. Therefore, we must continue to fight for economic justice.

2018 is a year of many anniversaries and it's also a year where more opportunities will come for the youth, young adults, the middle aged people, and the elderly to continue to work, to fight injustice, and to work relentlessly for the Dream that we all so cherish dearly.

Art Part 2

Art is all around us. It inspires our souls. From graffiti to abstract works, it has the qualities of multifaceted interpretations and uniqueness. It focuses our minds in creating or witnessing creative expression. Art is beauty, because art personifies the essence of beauty (which involves diversity, color, contrast, rhythm, tolerance, and a love of truth). Also, it is always important for anyone to acknowledge the unsung artists who constantly sacrifice their time to establish masterpieces. Many of these unsung artists are in the streets painting images, some are in Facebook, and others show their works in museums or art galleries internationally. Not to mention that art history is essential to study. From the beginning of human history (which included the paintings of prehistoric animals and various ancient sculptures) to near 2020, art has been expressed throughout continents. There are a myriad of nationalities who have shown great artistic expression. Human beings of every background represent artists too. The hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt, the statues of Nubia, the architecture found in ancient West Africa, the ancient Shang dynasty artwork of China, and the Renaissance as found in Europe definitely outline the breadth of the long legacy of art history. In our generation, it is important to also respect and acknowledge the classic art displayed by people of color too. The reason is that in Western society, many of us know about European artists and movements, yet it is also important to show the contributions of artists from Africa, Australia, India, China, and other places globally. Diversity is our strength.

Therefore, we appreciate the works of Augusta Savage, Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, and so many other people who used their dreams and made them real. Art isn't just appreciated by Americans. It's loved, expressed, and honored among the whole of the human race globally. Lovers of art are diverse and some travel thousands of miles just to look at their favorite works of art. Photography, digital works, and many other genres deal with art too. Art is never monolithic. So, I like to discover information. I like to research for the sake of advancing my own sense of inquisitive inquiry. During this generation, we all seek justice (as we know that the Dream is not yet fulfilled, but we still believe in the Dream for ourselves, for our families, for our friends, and for our posterity) and art is a sacrosanct reflection of the diverse human creative energy. In any democratic society, art must flourish triumphantly in order for total human freedom to exist. We also desire our glorious imagination to be maintained and one way to do it is the continual investment in art. That is why art is very important and art history makes us aware of past plus present artistic genius. We want future artists to develop in a great level as we love the arts. We believe in justice and honest, innovative human expression concretely.

The Beginnings of Art

Global art started since the beginning of human history. The concept of art history doesn't just deal with the history of art. It deals with the feelings, the expressions, and the living of ancient human beings from the beginnings of human history to the present. It deals with the constant changes over the course of millennia of humans using sculpture, painting, architecture, and other aspects of art creation. Scholars believe that oldest decorative forms we can recognize as art come from Africa and may date back to 100,000 B.C. In contrast, the oldest cave paintings known are about 40,800 years old. The Paleolithic Age (from 25,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.) or the Old Stone Age involved human beings using hunting and gathering. Many humans lived in caves back then. So, cave paintings were developed. There were also statues like the famous Venus of Willendorf statue which was found between 28,000 B.C. and 25,000 B.C. It was found near Willendorf, which is a village in Lower Austria. It is also near the town of Krems. The statue is made up of limestone. There were human made objects in southern Africa, the Western Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe, Siberia, India, and Australia. There were wood and bone tools. Much of art back then used paint in red, iron oxide, clay, and black in manganese oxide. A lot of cave paintings were found in the Franco-Cantabrian region too. Many of the images show ritualized images. Some show animals. There were works like the Man from Brno and the Venus of Brassempouy. There is the Venus of Laussel too, which is an Upper Paleolithic carving. Many art images of that era included reindeer, horses, bison, birds, lions, woolly rhinoceros, etc.  There were African ancient art like African rock art found in the Nile River valley and Mali in about 10,000 years ago. There was the Apollo 11 Cave complex in Namibia with seven stone plaquettes painted with figures of animals have been recovered from a horizon dated to between 22,500 and 27,500 years ago.

The Blombos cave in South Africa yielded hatched patterns incised on pieces of ochre dated to as early as 70,000 years ago, which has been classified as "art" in some publications. In Australia, human beings painted human figures on rocks in Western Australia dating to over 17,000 years ago. Gabarnmung, or Nawarla Gabarnmung, is an Aboriginal archaeological and rock art site in south-western Arnhem Land, in the Top End of Australia's Northern Territory. The rock shelter features prehistoric paintings of fish, including the barramundi, wallabies, crocodiles, people and spiritual figures.  Rock paintings existed in the Americas in central Andes, Ecuador, and northern Chile from ca. 10,000 B.C. There were early art in the rock paintings of the Toquepala Caves from 9,500 B.C. The Mesolithic period was from 8,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C. This is also known as the Middle Stone Age. During this time, cultures were diverse worldwide.  This was the time of when human agriculture developed. During this period, human beings formed cave paintings, engravings, and ceramics. They enacted this art for self-expression, a reflection of their lives, and for other purposes. During this time, people used stone tools or microliths. Cave art and rock art existed on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. There was a Mesolithic pendant found in England too.  The Mesolithic period had a warmer climate than the Paleolithic Age. The Man of Bicorp painting showed a person gathering honey from a beehive and it was found in an 8,000 year old cave near Valencia, Spain. The Dance of the Cogul painting was found in El Cogul, Catalonia, Spain.

Art in the Neolithic Age

The Neolithic Age came about from 6,000 B.C. to 3,000 B.C. Back then, there were more complex societies, religion was expressed, and agriculture started to flourish in a higher level. The rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin—dated between the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras—contained small, schematic paintings of human figures, with notable examples in El Cogul, Valltorta, Alpera and Minateda. This kind of painting was also similar to paintings found in northern Africa (Atlas, Sahara) and in the area of modern Zimbabwe. Such rock paintings of domesticated animals were found in the Sahara and Southern Africa as early as 7,000 B.C. Neolithic painting was schematic, reduced to basic strokes (like men in the form of a cross and women in a triangular shape). There are also cave paintings in Pinturas River in Argentina, especially the Cueva de las Manos. In portable art, a style called Cardium Pottery was produced, decorated with imprints of seashells. New materials were used in art, such as amber, crystals found in rock, quartz and jasper. During this period, the first traces of urbanistic planimetry appeared, such as the remains in Tell as-Sultan (Jericho), Jarmo (Iraq), and Çatalhöyük (Anatolia. That's another word for Turkey).

The Neolithic Art also focused on agriculture and complex architecture too. There were more cultivation of wild and domestic crops and the use of domesticated animals. Neolithic is also known as the New Stone Age. The Neolithic cultures existed worldwide not just in the Near East. Pottery is part of art too and that was found during this age. Gobeki Tepe has the oldest human made place of worship in the world. It is found in 10,000 B.C. It has reliefs of animals decorated on the pillars. Fertility figures and terra cotta pottery has been found at Tell-Halaf (in northern Syria) and Tell al-Ubaid (on the coast of the Persian Gulf). Halafian pottery had complex geometric and animal motif on them too. Stonehenge in England is known as a megalithic henge. Its meaning has been debated. It aligned during the sunrise of summer solstice and the sunset of the winter solstice. Some believe that it was used as a large calendar to astronomically determine the growing season and harvest. Megaliths existed worldwide form Malta to Easter Island.

Art during the Bronze and Iron Ages

Art during the Bronze Age was beautiful and diverse. This era of ancient history was characterized by complex civilizations, art, the growth of urban communities, advanced writing, and international trade. Art was found worldwide in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, Oceania, etc. Cooper and bronze was used to create artistic masterpieces. There were mass migrations in Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean region. The usage of metallurgy was established to form various objects, tools, etc. Scholars denote the Bronze Age from 3,000 B.C. to ca. 600 B.C. The Sahara dries up just before 3,000 B.C. By that time, farming communities leave the Sahara and more civilizations grew throughout the African continent. The unification of the Egyptian Kingdom into one existed by ca. 3,100 B.C. and the earliest of the Nubian kingdoms was centered at Kerma in present-day Sudan and dominated trade networks linking central Africa to Egypt for almost one thousand years beginning around the time of the early Bronze Age. The Nile river was a large river that carried resources from south to the northern Nile Delta next to the Mediterranean Sea. By July, rains and melting snow would cause water to travel from east Africa to the Nile River. The river by October receded and it caused fertile black mud called silt, which was used for farming. Wheat and barley fields existed in ancient Egypt. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (from the 5th century B.C.), Egypt was the "gift of the Nile."

Upper Egypt is in Southern Egypt and Lower Egypt is located in Northern Egypt. The Early Dynastic age in ancient Egypt lasted from 3,150 B.C. to 2,686 B.C. This was when the Upper and Lower Egyptian areas were unified into one. Scholars believe that a king named Narmer was the first king of the unified Kingdom. He had the double crown and white and red representing this union. Pharaohs to ancient Egyptians were seen as gods from the heavens. The ancient Egyptian culture was heavily polytheistic and theocratic. Many ancient Egyptians worshiped the pharaohs constantly. That is why pharaohs were buried in pyramids as tombs to prepare them for the afterlife. The class structure in ancient Egyptian society had pharaohs in the top (along with the Queen and the royal family). The upper class had wealthy landowners, government officials, priests, and army commanders. Below that was the middle class including merchants and artisans. The base of the pyramid were the poor, working class. They included farmers and laborers. Most ancient Egyptian people were in the poor, working class status. The Old Kingdom lasted from 2,686 to 2,181 B.C.  It was a time of great technological development, art, and language flourishing. During this time, the Great Pyramids were constructed.

The ancient Egyptian pyramids and paintings back then were crafted with great precision. The Great Pyramids of Giza were finished during the Bronze Age. One of the greatest structures was the image of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. His mother was Queen Anhkenseamun. King Tut wanted to oppose Pharaoh Akhenaten's monotheist movement of the worship of the sun (or Aten). Ancient Egyptian civilization had many complex arrays of architecture, art, and religious infrastructure. One fact of ancient Egypt was that it wanted tradition to be maintained including on how its art was expressed. The First Intermediate Period (2181–1991 B.C.) revolved around a transition. The city of Thebes grew in power. Memphis was always a strong city in ancient Egypt if not the first great metropolis in world history being Memphis. The Middle Kingdom (2134–1690 BC) was highly prosperous too. It had irrigation production programs. Mentuhotep II and his Eleventh Dynasty successors ruled from Thebes, but the vizier Amenemhat I, upon assuming kingship at the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty around 1985 BC, shifted the nation's capital to the city of Itjtawy, located in Faiyum. The last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom, Amenemhat III, allowed Semitic-speaking Canaanite settlers from the Near East into the delta region to provide a sufficient labour force for his especially active mining and building campaigns.

The image to the left shows the images of Temple of Ramesses II at the Abu Simbel Temple complex. The image to the right shows Queen Ankhesenamun

The Second Intermediate Period (1674–1549 BC) saw Semitic invaders called the Hyksos conquering ancient Egypt and ruling it with their leaders for years. The Hyksos used chariots to conquer Egyptian territory. Queen Ahhotep helped to drive out the Hyksos. The cousins to the Hyksos are the ancient Hebrews, who are another Semitic people. Later, Kamose won a victory over the Hyksos too. The New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC) saw ancient Egypt reached its peak of civilization and culture in that civilization. The ancient Egyptians used bronze weapons and chariots to conquer more territory. Queen Hatshepsut was a pharaoh too during the New Kingdom. She ordered the trading expedition in Punt near Somalia. She sent 5 ships to Punt to get myrrh, frankincense, and fragrant ointments for cosmetics and religious purposes. Thutmose III won victories in Syria and Palestine. Ramses II fought the Hittites and made a historic peace treaty with them after their clash at Kadesh in ca. 1285 B.C. Massive buildings like the Great Temple at Abu Simbel with 4 statues of Ramses II existed during this time. The Third Intermediate Period (1069–653 BC) saw a slow decline of the Egyptian empire. Invaders from Libya and the Sea Peoples (from the Mediterranean Sea) attacked ancient Egypt too.

Ancient Nubia had great art too. The Nubians were known rivals to the ancient Egyptians. Many ancient Nubians or Kushites allied with the Hyksos (or the enemy of the Egyptians). The Nubians and Egyptians fought each other in various battles and conflicts. They developed their own civilizations. The Nubians were also influenced by ancient Egyptian culture in their pyramids and religious belief systems. Kush's capital was in Napata. The Kushite king Piye left his Nubian capital of Napata and invaded Egypt around 727 BC. Piye easily seized control of Thebes and eventually the Nile Delta. He recorded the episode on his stela of victory. Piye set the stage for subsequent Twenty-fifth dynasty pharaohs, such as Taharqa, to reunite the "Two lands" of Northern and Southern Egypt. The Nile valley empire was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. The Twenty-fifth dynasty ushered in a renaissance period for ancient Egypt. Religion, the arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New Kingdom forms. Pharaohs, such as Taharqa (who was a black Nubian man), built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, Jebel Barkal, etc.It was during the Twenty-fifth dynasty that there was the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) in the Nile Valley since the Middle Kingdom. Piye made various unsuccessful attempts to extend Egyptian influence in the Near East, then controlled by Assyria. In 720 BC, he sent an army in support of a rebellion against Assyria, which was taking place in Philistia and Gaza. However, Piye was defeated by Sargon II and the rebellion failed. In 711 BC, Piye again supported a revolt against Assyria by the Israelites of Ashdod and was once again defeated by the Assyrian king Sargon II. Subsequently, Piye was forced from the Near East.

As mentioned by the article of "The Land of Nubia" by Janice Kamrin, Associate Curator, Department of Egyptian Art; and Adela Oppenheim, Curator, Department of Egyptian Art:

"...Key to our understanding of the region is the work of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia, which began in September 1907. Also adding immeasurably to our knowledge of Nubia was the Nubian Salvage Project carried out at the behest of the Egyptian government between 1960 and 1964, when plans to build the High Dam at Aswan threatened to submerge the monuments of Lower Nubia, including the Temple of Dendur. This UNESCO-sponsored initiative involved more than 70 separate archaeological missions from 25 different countries. Ancient Nubia had a complex series of political interactions and cultural exchanges with Egypt, largely based on its position as an intermediary between the Mediterranean world and sub-Saharan Africa, which made it a key transit point for luxury goods such as ivory and exotic objects (fig. 2). Of great importance was gold, a commodity found in the Nubian deserts and greatly prized by the Egyptians. Relations of trade and warfare are known as early as the beginning of the Dynastic Period in Egypt (ca. 3100 B.C.) and continued throughout the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649–2100 B.C.)..."

By 671 B.C., the Assyrians conquered ancient Egypt. Tantamani (Assyrian UR-daname), Tanutamun or Tanwetamani (Egyptian) or Tementhes (Greek) (d. 653 BC) was a Pharaoh of Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush located in Northern Sudan and a member of the Nubian or Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt. He was a black Nubian man. His prenomen or royal name was Bakare which means "Glorious is the Soul of Re." He was the son of King Shabaka and the nephew of his predecessor Taharqa.  Tantamani died in 653 BC and was succeeded by Atlanersa, a son of Taharqa. He was the last ruler of the 25th Nubian dynasty in Egypt. Later, the Kushite royal family moved into Meroe, which was near to the Red Sea. It had great trade among Africa, Arabia, and India. Nubia had a long history of trade, religion, and culture. The kingdom based in Meroe had black women leaders called Candaces from the days of B.C. to the times of the Roman Empire. Amanirenas (also spelled Amanirena) was a queen of the Meroitic Kingdom of Kush. She was one of the most famous kandakes, because of her role leading Kushite armies against the Romans in a war that lasted five years, from 27 BC. to 22 BC. Nubian art still inspires us with its beauty and power.

There is the Neo-Sumerian period that had the famous three dimensional Statue of Gudea. Bronze pottery dominated ancient China. Ancient Chinese civilizations back then was based in the Yellow River valley and other villages plus cities developed throughout ancient China too. There were many bronze images from the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

There was the priest king images of the Indus Valley civilization of Mohenjo-Daro. Petroglyphs existed in the Nordic Bronze Age (from ca. 1700-500 B.C.). The Americas had large structures and urban communities too during this era of ancient world history. People know about the large heads from the Olmecs from ca. 1400 B.C. during the Preclassic era. The Olmec civilization had advanced roadways, large temples, and other forms of complex infrastructure. The Iron Age of art had more visible images. The Iron Age lasted from ca. 1200 B.C. to 600 B.C. depending on the region. There were creative paintings in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. Greek pottery flourished. Etruscan art existed. The ancient Greeks wanted to use reason to decipher what the natural world consisted of. This is why they have shown naturalistic images of human beings. During the Iron Age, the ancient Greeks talked about the issues of  philosophy, mathematics, theater, science, and democracy. Egyptian and Persian art flourished during the Iron Age too.

There was the growth of human civilizations in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, etc. By 400 B.C., there were Central Mexican and Mayan peoples thriving. The city of Teotihuacan was a city that had great art including Xochicalco and El Tajin. These sites boasted grand sculpture and architecture. Other Central Mexican peoples included the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs, and people in the Valley of Oaxaca. Maya art was at its height during the “Classic” period. In ca. 500 B.C, the Nok civilization (found in Nigeria) had many  terracotta artwork. In general, the Nok culture lasted from 1,000 B.C. to 500 A.D. Sculptures of people and animals are found in the Nok culture. Ancient African art, like all art in general, was created because of a diversity of reasons and motivations. Some African art was purely abstract. Some was created to outline religious or spiritual beliefs. Some were formed to express human creativity.

Art Afterwards

After the age of the Iron Age, the Roman Empire reached its peak. Ancient Rome had architecture dealing with columns and the arch. There were also mosaic images throughout Italy and the rest of Europe. Dome structures existed. The ancient Romans were heavily influenced by the art and cultural components from ancient Greece and ancient Egypt. Many ancient Romans were engineers. The Medieval art period (and before that era too) saw early Christian art.  Paleochristian art lasted from 260 and 525 A.D. There has been Christian art found from the 2nd century onward too. Back before 100, Christians were small in number and heavily persecuted by the Roman Empire. Later, Christians used fresco, mosaics, sculptures, and manuscript illuminations. Much of it was found in Catacombs of ancient Rome and other locations throughout the Roman Empire. They used the image of the peacock, grapevines, and the “Good Shepherd” to signify Jesus Christ. In the Dura-Europos church (in Syria), of about 230–256, which is in the best condition of the surviving very early churches, there are frescos of biblical scenes including a figure of Jesus, as well as Christ as the Good Shepherd. The building was a normal house apparently converted to use as a church. Other symbols like the fish were used to denote Christianity too. The Ante-Nicene Period of 325 A.D. and afterwards saw a further expansion of Christianity in Europe and throughout the world.

The Axum Kingdom (of modern day Ethiopia) was one of the earliest Christian kingdoms on Earth. It is known for its intricate, large buildings. It has stone palaces and enormous granite funerary monoliths. The Middle Ages started by ca. 500 A.D. It has been a time where many nations in Asia and Africa were stable including the Americas. Yet, Europe experienced political upheaval and many conflicts. The Roman Empire ended and the Eastern Roman Empire had its capital in Constantinople in Turkey. There was Byzantine art, Anglo-Saxon art, Viking art, etc. Islamic art and Gothic art dominated the world. After Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. the Islamic empire grew across continents in Africa, Europe, and Asia at its peak. By 1500 A.D., art has continued to inspire human inquiry and certainly deal with a journey throughout the visual experience. It is important to also honor art made by people of diverse backgrounds. Art, which has been made by people of color and women too, is very important to respect and analyze succinctly too.


By Timothy