Technological Advances that Changed Art
The notion of art proper did not emerge in Europe until the Renaissance (Getlein and Gilbert, 361). Before that time, art and artists were not recognized as distinct notions or institutions in society. However, despite the fact that the notion of art only gradually evolved, art and artistic expression has always played an important role in all societies throughout the centuries. Moreover, art appears to be a uniquely human invention and one that is as old as mankind. Significantly, "artists" have always appropriated technological or scientific discoveries and advances and incorporated them into their artworks (Miller 12) In some cases the advancement or invention itself has fundamentally change of how we perceive of art. In other cases, technological advances have opened up new possibilities and created new media that were readily accepted and used by artists. Accordingly, the history of technology is also always closely intertwined with the history of art.
From today's perspective, technological advances appear to have accelerated in the last three centuries. This view however, ignores the fact that although technological advances in previous centuries were fewer and farther apart, they were just as important as the technological "breakthroughs" of the last three centuries. One such example is the invention of melting furnaces in the Bronze Age, which enabled humans for the first time not just to make long-lasting metallic tools but which also inspired them to make art objects. This technological advancement, the ability to melt and shape various metals, has revolutionized human existence but also art. Apart from materials that can naturally be found, such as stones, metals are one of the earliest materials that humans used to produce art and representation of objects in their daily life.
Another revolutionizing invention is the printing press, which was invented...