What is your favorite period of art?

This group hasn't seen much action in awhile, so I thought I'd ask a general question and see where people's interest lie.

So, what period of art do you feel most drawn to, and why?

For my thesis (back when..) I focused on French "academic" art theory of roughly 1750-1850, mostly because that was nice poorly charted territory back then and I could pretty much do as I pleased. But because of that I'm still very much into the art surrounding that.

I admit, however, that I have a deeep love for late mannerist art - the kind that was made at the court of emperor Rudolf II for example.

And as a smalltime collector I indulge in the surrealists - obviously not the real big names (I'm not rich), but Leonor Fini, Jan Svankmajer, Félix Labisse...

I've always been most drawn to the Italian baroque, particularly that of Bologna, for the expressive action and vitality. The content of the art and architecture was also influenced by the reformation and counter-reformation, and helped create a dynamism and a rich iconographic language.

I've always been partial to Neo-classicism, mostly the work of David, and and very particular the Oath of Horatti. I think this period helped to evolve artists and the like to a new era of greatness and individualism.

Medieval. I have no idea why...it "chose" me. I originally went into art history thinking that I would focus on meso-american but then I took a Gothic Art class and the rest, as they say, is history! Everything just clicked. My focus in school was on Early English Medieval manuscripts, then when we got a medievalist in the history department I worked on Anglo-Saxon material culture.

It's a big world out there, but my main interest is in the American Renaissance, often dated from 1876 until sometime before the Great Depression. Architectural sculpture (my first love) murals, stained glass and more were used extensivly in architecture. it was just . .... too cool. Einar

I write mostly on the period 1550-1650, mostly northern Europe with a slight dip into Italy (at this moment...). My favorite stuff to look at would be Elizabethan and Jacobean (especially country houses); Rubens, Degas (!), late medieval devotional objects, Saenredam, Tintoretto, Piero della Francesca. I still like Monet, especially the Haystacks.

Ottonian and Romanesque, I guess, but I'm eclectic. Also enjoy a lot of contemporary stuff, Palladianism, postmodern architecture (especially riffs on Ledoux and Boullée), Caravaggio, Parmigianino, Bosch. Though I'm pretty "cool" and a very occasional churchgoer (raised a Baptist preacher's kid), it's often the spiritual to which I'm drawn. In college and grad school, my "major" aimed fairly medieval, especially manuscripts. As a librarian, I've become much more of a generalist without losing my love of manuscripts.

Newbie here.

Hudson River School (American) - for this week. I have many favorites, but they run in phases for me.

Quite new here, too....It's easier to find periods/schools/movements I'm *not* drawn to.

Dute to my bookishness, I grew up loving what I call "fairy tale art" - Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian illustrations to the books I treasured as a little kid. Added to this were large amounts of Italian Renaissance and Ancient Egyptian (pretty much dictated by my Mom's tastes, but I developed my own passion for them!)...For adolescent rebellion I got into Surrealism. Other kids dye and pierce things, or get tattoos, but I left Dali books all over the house.

As years passed, I left that on a lower shelf and returned to my roots. My favorites are largely chronological sandwiches (eg Medieval-Italian Ren.-Baroque, all in one breath!) because I can't bear to leave anything out!

The net has taken my nose out of the past more and more, and I'm now a dedicated Zdislaw Beksinski and Daniel Merriam fan.

This leaves me in neither high- nor low-brow, but rather a complex algebraic equation of brows :)

Oh yes, and hi there everyone - I'm rather new!

Hi there "new". Welcome.

Yeah, I can sort of relate. Part of my problem is that I cant abide reproductions on my walls (I absolutely don't mind if other people do though), and that I'm not wealthy enough to buy many originals.

My walls - as far as they're not filled with bookcases - have surrealists (not the very famous ones - I'm not rich), one abstract expressionist, and some fairly famous 20th century illustrators and cartoonists, plus some engravings from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th ceturies (mostly about another other obsession of mine: depictions of the Temple in Jerusalem, just because there are so many different interpretations). Oh, and some Dutch 19th century "Haagse School" stuf - sort of impressionism, but not really.

Originals, of course, would be preferable, but at this point one may cost more than my apartment! A good print, or at least a *framed* poster is a nice substitute, especially if it's a living artist, with a small-scale production (good advertisement for 'em, and warm fuzzies for me).

Mannerism (as I can see from an earlier comment of yours) is an interesting period, and doubles well as a conversation starter, as opposed to decoration. Art's more fun when it provokes discussion!

Dutch painting of the 17th century. And anything from the Florentine Renaissance.

I'm obsessed with American art from about 1890 to 1940 with a special love within that span for the modernists of the Stieglitz group and also American Scene paintings of the 1930s. Among European schools of art I'm drawn to the Symbolistes and also to German Expressionism.

Two years ago, I started reading about the French academic artists of the 19th century to fill in the gaps left by my Fine Arts majors, which focussed on the 'isms' - Classicism , Romanticism, Realism, etc..... Much of the discussion about the Acadmey and the Salons was shaped by the political and social context, and I realised that my knowledge of general history, outside of the arts world, was a little shaky, so I started reading general 19th century history. Then I realised that events in the 18th century had a profound effect on 19th century developments. . . now I am deep in the Enlightenment with Voltaire, Diderot et al. . . see where a simple interest in a particular period of art history can lead.... :) ?