Timeline of Art History

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm?HomePageLink=toah_l

Provider: Metropolitan Museum of Art

About this resource

Appropriate grades

6–12

Subjects

arts (art history), social studies (world history)

Provider

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Special requirements

Flash and Quicktime.

Legal

This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.

The Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world. This timeline is an invaluable reference and research tool for anyone interested in the study of art history and related subjects.

Use the Site Map for a complete overview of available art history resources by date and by location. There is even an alphabetical subject index. In addition to the timeline or map navigation choices, a Special Topics index provides thematic access to the art history resources.

Educator's guide

The Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be a great resource for any middle or high school teacher of world history. If you're considering a specific region and how the cultures of that area developed over time, it provides a clear picture of the influences and trends by profiling the art of the people who inhabited the region. You can compare religious art over time or follow patterns of ornamentation across the globe as cultures expanded their influence into new territories.

The timeline begins in 20,000 B.C. with the first artifacts left behind by early humans, including rock paintings from southern Africa and central India, Paleolithic mural art from Europe, antler carvings from Asia, and projectile points from the Americas. Each item page includes extensive descriptions, links to outside sites, and in some cases links to lessons and full-text images of print resources from the Met's Explore and Learn site for educators.

For each time period, the timeline provides a world map that lets you compare the accomplishments of contemporary artists in various parts of the world. Later periods include regional and sub-regional maps to accommodate the rich variety of artwork produced by the peoples of these times. The art presented includes works remarkable for both form and function: mosaic and tapestry, cloth and wood, architectural and decorative.

Within the regions you can use timeline arrows to navigate backward or forward. Text on the timeline indicates dynastic changes, aligning the ebb and flow of neighboring states and nations in the region. Artifacts relevant to the time period and region are presented as thumbnails; each has its own page with various views of the work and details about the context in which it was made. Dropdown menus alert the student to related timeline content and many entries also link to special resources or exhibitions on the Web.