Historical Decorative Art, where did it come from?

In the simplest of terms we can say that Decorative Art is the earliest form of art. If we return to the prehistoric times, the cavemen decorated their caves with motifs that can still be found in certain parts of the world. The key word in describing this art form is ‘decorative’. As the dictionary suggests, the word decorate means to beautify, adorn, embellish or enhance. Today we decorate our homes; we adorn our selves with fancy clothing and jewelry, hats and scarfs.  We beautify our parks and public spaces, we embellish our paintings and we enhance our beauty!

From the beginnings of time, man seems to have had an innate desire to change things and to make his surroundings and possessions more attractive. Throughout history we have seen evidence of this, man has decorated the tools and everyday objects he has lived with in order to personalize his surroundings and claim them as his own.

This text is not an attempt to follow any exacting chronological order for the development of Decorative Painting; rather it is written to make a few simple connections that may help as we set out to learn more about Historical Decorative Art. The earliest ‘books’ or writings, or what is known as ‘papyri’ (this is ancient paper like material made from the papyrus plant) were decorated with simple paintings. These can be found in most ancient cultures, the Greeks, Egyptians and Muslims among others all used this as a way for communication and recording events. This evolved into what is known as the ‘illuminated manuscripts’ of the Middle Ages. These were mostly written for religious purposes and meticulously and painstakingly decorated by the monks and religious orders. These first ‘books’ or ‘papyrus scrolls’ were hand written using styles of calligraphy, which began as simple writing. Eventually these became quite ornate and were soon turned into works of art. The lettering ornately embellished with beautiful miniature paintings and elaborately designed borders. The point is that a surface which initially served a practical function was soon ‘decorated’ to make it more appealing to the user.

Time passed, and as the end of the Middle Ages approached, these illuminated manuscripts were created not only for the Church, but for the secular world and became so ornate and beautiful they were seen and collected as a symbol of status. The monks and the nuns of the religious orders not only painted these manuscripts, they decorated the chalices and other religious objects used in worship. Again, ‘functional’ items were made more beautiful through artistic decorations.

As the Renaissance period began and ‘art’ matured, it played a much more important role in society. Not only was it used as a way to decorate Churches and communicate with the masses, ‘art’ began its climb to the top of the social order. Art then became a measure of status among the aristocracy and Royalty. Over time, the demand soon filtered down to the newly created middle classes.  Art was then used to decorate stained glass windows, ceramics, and of course the more popular ‘easel’ art was used to decorate the walls of interiors. Furniture also became a work of art in itself and several ornate styles evolved, embellished with beautiful artwork, inlaid woodwork and gold leafing. These were the Decorative Arts of the wealthy and well to do upper classes.

The more average citizen, not the wealthy, nor the aristocracy, but the average folk as well as the ‘peasantry’ had the same desire to own beautiful things. Man’s desire to decorate his environment soon became an important cultural statement so within most communities, naive and beautiful art forms emerged and were developed.  These art forms were always used for ‘practical purposes’, as a way to record events, tell stories and express artistic and creative ideas. They were used to decorate furniture, ceramics, walls, tiles and fabrics and just about anything else which didn’t stand still.

The greatest difference between the art which was collected by the upper middle classes and aristocracy is that it was painted by a trained ‘academic artist’ or perhaps one who might have learned his trade after several years at the side of a Master. The simpler forms of Decorative Art that were born from the local communities were seen as painted by ‘untrained armatures’.

Examples of Historical Decorative Art
Vesterheim Norwegian - American Museum		Peter Hunt
Image used with permission		Decorative Arts Collection Museum, Atlanta, GA, USA

Each culture, especially those of the old European Countries has not one but several unique styles of Decorative Art or what we sometimes refer to as ‘folk art’. Each style represents a particular region of a country. Still very popular in many communities, the art forms are passed on from generation to generation of artisans, as a reliable way of perpetuating the traditions and preserving their cultural heritage.
Today these naive art forms have also evolved and matured. The ‘artisans’ who have perfected their technical beauty are considered specialist and highly respected ‘artists’ as well. So many of us have our family roots in the European cultures, be they Dutch, Norwegian, French, German and English or else, somewhere there may be a family member who knew of these charming and beautiful art forms.

What is also interesting to learn are the social and cultural influences on both art forms and how the creative connections were first made and developed? On our journey we will continue to make the connections and find the similarities which parallel these two worlds.