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Art History
| Mythology | Sean-nós Singing |
Contemporary
Art | Anthropology of Art |
Teaching References
CELTIC ART
HISTORY
When most people think of Celtic Art,
what comes to mind are the beautiful
illuminated manuscripts of the 7th to 9th
centuries AD and the spectacular
penannular brooches of the same period.
What tends to be forgotten is that the
Celts were recognizable as a civilization
by the 7th century BC. they had almost
one thousand years of design development
before interlacing came into their
repertoire.
Celtic Art history is
intimately tied with history. Early
artists were clearly influenced by the
other cultures with which they came in
contact. Their wine trade with the
Etruscans, their trade in goods with the
Greeks and their eventually fatal contact
with the Roman empire all left a legacy.
The artifacts testify to a flexible yet
individual character which defined the
early Celts.
From these
historical influences, the Celts
developed a 'grammar' of ornament: a
series of patterns which they used to
communicate cultural ideas. Interlacing
is only one of the elements of this
grammar: there are many more.
In this
course I will give an overview of these
early designs beginning with the so
called "proto-Celtic" culture
of Hallstatt (800 to 500 BC) and
continuing to the true Celtic La Tene
culture (500 BC to 400 AD). I use images
of early artifacts to illustrate these
ideas
My hope is
that artists who work with Celtic designs
can expand their 'grammar' and come to a
better understanding of the cultural
context within which Celtic Art
developed.
This
course is flexible as to time: I can
teach an intensive course of four two
hour lectures, or do a quick over view in
an hour.
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