Camelid sacrum in the shape of a canine
Prehistory
Tequixquiac, Mexico
14,000-7,000 BCE
Prehistoric Americas
bone
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico
Anthropomorphic stele
Prehistory
fourth millennium BCE
sandstone
Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Jade cong
Prehistory
Liangzhu, China
3,300-2,200 BCE
jade
Zhejiang Institute of Arc
The Ambum Stone
Prehistory
1500 BCE
greywacke
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
from Papua New Guinea
Tlatilco Female Figures
Prehistory
Tlatilco, Mexico
1200-900 BCE
ceramic
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
Terra-cotta fragment
Prehistory
Lapita
Solomon Islands
1000 BCE
University of Aukland, New Zealand
Apollo 11 stones
(African) Prehistory
Windhoek, Namibia
25,500-25,300 BCE
charcoal on stone
State Museum of Namibia
Lascaux Caves
Prehistory (Paleolithic Europe)
15,000-13,000 BCE
pigment on rock
Dordogne, France
Running Horned Woman
Prehistory
6,000-4,000 BCE
rock painting
Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria
Beaker with ibex motifs
(West Asian) Prehistory
4,200-3,500 BCE
terra-cotta
Louvre, Paris
Stonehenge
(Neolithic Europe) Prehistory
2500-1600 BCE
sandstone
Wiltshire, England
White Temple and its ziggurat
Sumerian
3500-3000 BCE
mud brick
Uruk, Iraq
Statues of votive figures
Sumerian
Square Temple at Eshunna
2700 BCE
gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone
Iraq Museum, Baghdad; University of Chicago, Illinois
Standard of Ur
Sumerian
2600-2400 BCE
wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and limestone
British Museum, London
Stele of Hammurabi
Babylonian
1792-1750 BCE
basalt
Louvre,Paris
Lamassu
Assyrian
from Citadel of Sargon II
720-705 BCE
alabaster
Louvre, Paris
Persepolis
Persian
520-465 BCE
limestone
Iran
Narmer Palette
Egyptian
3000-2920 BCE
slate
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Seated scribe
Egyptian
2620-2500 BCE
painted limestone
Louvre, Paris
Great Pyramids (Including Pyramid of Khufu; Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Sphinx; Pyramid of Menkaura)
Egyptian
2550-2490 BCE (2500 BCE Sphinx)
limestone
Giza, Egypt
Menkaura and His Queen
Egyptian
2490-2472 BCE
greywacke
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall
Egyptian
1550-1250 BCE
sandstone and mud brick
near Luxor, Egypt
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (with Queen Hatshepsut with Offering Jars)
Egyptian
1473-1458 BCE
sandstone (red granite statue, in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
near Luxor, Egypt
Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
Egyptian (Armana Period)
1353-1335 BCE
limestone
Egyptian Museum, Berlin
Innermost Coffin of King Tutankhamun
Egyptian
1323 BCE
gold, enamel, semiprecious stones
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer (from the Book of the Dead)
Egyptian
1275 BCE
painted papyrus scroll
British Museum, London
Anavysos Kouros
Archaic Greek
530 BCE
marble and paint
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Peplos Kore
Archaic Greek
530 BCE
marble and paint
Acropolis Museum, Athens
Spear Bearer (Doryphoros)
Polykleitos
Classical Greek
450-440 BCE
marble copy from a bronze original
National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Acropolis (The Parthenon: Helios, Horses, and Dionysos; Plaque of the Ergastines; Temple of Athena Nike: Victory Adjusting Her Sandal)
Classical Greek
(Parthenon - Iktinos and Kallikrates
447-438 BCE
Athens, Greece)
(Details: 438-432 BCE)
(410 - Victory, from Temple of Athena Nike)
marble
British Museum, London; Louvre, Paris; Acropolis Museum, Athens
Grave Stele of Hegeso
Kallimachos
Classical Greek
410 BCE
painted marble
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Nike of Samothrace
Hellenistic Greek
190 BCE
marble
Lourve Paris
Athena
Hellenistic Greek
from the Pergamon Altar
175 BCE
marble
State Museum, Berlin
Seated Boxer
Hellenistic Greek
100 BCE
bronze
National Roman Museum, Rome
Athenian Agora
Classical Greek
600-150 BCE
Athens, Greece
Temple of Athena Nike
Kallikrates
Classical Greek
425 BCE
Athens, Greece
Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon
Classical Greek
175 BCE
marble
State Museum, Berlin
Niobides Krater
Niobid Painter
Classical Greek
460-450 BCE
clay
Louvre, Paris
Alexander Mosaic
Hellenistic Greek
from the House of Faun
320 BCE
Roman copy of 100 BCE
mosaic
National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Temple of Minerva
Etruscan
510-500 BCE
mud brick or tufa and wood
Veii, Italy
Tomb of the Triclinium
Etruscan
480-470 BCE
tufa and fresco
Tarquinia, Italy
Sarcophagus of the Spouses
Etruscan
Cerveteri
520 BCE
terra-cotta
Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome
Apollo from Veii
Etruscan
510 BCE
terra-cotta
Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome
House of the Vettii
Roman
second century BCE-first century CE, rebuilt 67-79 CE
stone and fresco
Pompeii, Italy
The Colosseum
Imperial Roman
72-80 CE
stone and concrete
Rome
Treasury, Monastery and Great Temple of Petra
Roman
400 BCE-100 CE
cut rock
Jordan
Forum of Trajan (Basilica of Ulpia, Market of Trajan)
Apollodorus of Damascus
Roman
106-112 CE (Basilica - 112)
Rome, Italy
Pantheon
Roman
118-125 CE
concrete with stone facing
Rome
Pentheus Room
Roman
62-79 CE
fresco
Pompeii, Italy
Head of a Roman Patrician
Republican Roman
75-50 BCE
marble
Museo Torlonia, Rome
Augustus of Prima Porta
Imperial Roman
20 CE
copy of a bronze original
Vatican Museums, Rome
Column of Trajan
Roman
112 CE
marble
Rome
Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
Roman
250-260 CE
marble
National Roman Museum, Rome
Catacomb of Priscilla
Early Christian
200-400
tufa and fresco
Rome, Italy
Santa Sabina
Early Christian
422-432
brick, stone, and wooden roof
Rome, Italy
Hagia Sophia (including Theotokos and Deësis mosaics)
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus
Byzantine
532-537
brick, ceramic, stone, mosaic
Istanbul
San Vitale (including Justinian and Attendants; Theodora and Attendants)
Byzantine
mosaics - 547
brick, marble, stone
Ravenna, Italy
Vienna Genesis (including Jacob Wrestling an Angel; Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well
Byzantine
early sixth century
illuminated manuscript
pigment on vellum
Austrian National Library, Vienna
Theotokos and Child between Saints Theodore and George
Byzantine
sixth-early seventh centuries
encaustic on wood
Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt
Pyxis of al-Mughira
Islamic
968
ivory
Louvre, Paris
Folio from the Qur'an
Islamic
eighth-ninth century
ink and gold on parchment
Basin (Baptistere de St. Louis)
Muhammad ibn al-Zain
Islamic
1320-1340
brass inlaid with gold and silver
Louvre, Paris
The Ardabil Carpet
Maqsud of Kashan
Islamic
1539-1540
silk on wool
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Bahram Gur Fights the Karg
Islamic (Persian)
1310-1340
ink and watercolor, gold, silver on paper
Harvard University Art Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Court of Gayumars
Sultan Muhammad
Islamic (Persian)
folio from the Shah Tashmasp
1522-1525
ink, opaque watercolor, gold on paper
Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
The Kaaba
Islamic
631-632
granite masonry, covered with silk curtain, gold and silver thread
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Dome of the Rock
Islamic
691-692
stone masonry and wood roof decorated with glazed ceramic tile, mosaics, and gilt aluminum and bronze dome
Jerusalem
Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh)
Islamic
700 and following, mostly eleventh-seventeenth centuries
brick, wood, plaster, ceramic tile
Isfahan, Iran
Great Mosque at Córdoba
Islamic
eighth-tenth centuries
stone
Córdoba, Spain
Alhambra (including Court of the Lions; Hall of the Sisters)
Islamic
1354-1391
whitewashed adobe stucco, wood, tile, paint, and gilding
Granada, Spain
Mosque of Selim II
Sinan
Islamic
1568-1575
brick and stone
Edirne, Turkey
Taj Mahal
Islamic
1632-1648
stone, marble, precious and semi-precious stones
Agra, India
Looped Fibulae
Merovingian (Medieval)
mid-sixth century
silver gilt with semiprecious stones, inlays of garnets and other stones
Cabinet des Médailles, Paris
Lindisfarne Gospels (cross-carpet page of St. Matthew)
Hiberno-Saxon (Medieval)
700
illuminated manuscript, ink, pigments, and gold on vellum
British Library, London
Church of Sainte-Foy (including reliquary; Last Judgment)
Romanesque
1050-1130
(Last Judgment - 1107-1125
painted stone)
(Reliquary - ninth century
gold, silver, gemstones, and enamel over wood)
stone
Conques, France
Bayeux Tapestry
Romanesque
1066-1080
embroidery on linen
Bayeux Tapestry Museum, Bayeux, France
Chartres Cathedral (including Royal Portals; Notre Dame la Belle Verriere, Our Lady of the Beautiful Window)
Gothic
1145-1155
(stained glass - 1170)
later additions, limestone and stained glass
Chartres, France
Röttgen Pietá
Gothic
1300-1325
painted wood
Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany
Blanche of Castile and Louis IX (dedication page and Scenes from the Apocalypse)
Gothic
1226-1234
illuminated manuscript, ink, tempera and gold leaf on vellum
(Apocalypse - Catheral, Toledo)
Morgan Library, New York
Golden Haggadah (The Plagues of Egypt, Scenes of Liberation and Preparation for Passover)
(Jewish) Gothic
1320
illuminated manuscript, pigment on vellum
British Library, London
Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (including Last Judgment; Lamentation)
(Italian) Gothic
1303 (frescoes - 1305-1306)
brick and fresco
Padua, Italy
The Annunciation Triptych (The Merode Altarpiece)
Robert Campin (? or workshop)
Northern European Renaissance
1425-1428
oil on wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck
Northern European Renaissance
1434
oil on wood
National Gallery, London
Adam and Eve
Albrecht Dürer
Northern European Renaissance
1504
engraving
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Isenheim Altarpiece
Matthias Grünewald
Northern European Renaissance
1512-1516
oil on panel
Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar
Allegory of Law and Grace
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Northern European Renaissance
1530
woodcut
Return of the Hunters
Pieter Bruegel
Northern European Renaissance
1565
oil on wood panel
Art History Museum, Vienna
Pazzi Chapel
Filippo Brunelleschi
Early Renaissance
designed 1423, built 1429-1461
masonry
Florence, Italy
Palazzo Rucellai
Leon Battista Alberti
Early Renaissance
1450
stone, masonry
Florence, Italy
Madonna and Child with Two Angels
Fra Filippo Lippi
Italian Renaissance
1465
tempera on wood
Uffizi, Florence
Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli
Italian Renaissance
1484-1486
tempera on canvas
Uffizi, Florence
David
Donatello
Italian Renaissance
1440-1460
bronze
National Museum, Bargello, Florence
The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian High Renaissance
1494-1498
tempera and oil
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Sistine Chapel Ceiling (Delphic Sybil, The Flood, Last Judgment)
Michelangelo
Italian High Renaissance
1508-1512
fresco
Vatican City, Italy
School of Athens
Raphael
Italian High Renaissance
1509-1511
fresco
Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, Italy
Venus of Urbino
Titian
Italian High Renaissance
1538
oil on canvas
Uffizi, Florence
Entombment of Christ
Jacopo da Pontormo
Italian High Renaissance
1525-1528
oil on wood
Santa Felicitá, Florence
Il Gesú (including façade; Triumph of the Name of Jesus)
Giacomo della Porta
Italian High Renaissance
1575-1584
brick and marble
(Triumph - Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Italian Baroque
1676-1679)
Rome
Saint Charles of the Four Fountains (San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane)
Francesco Borromini
Baroque
1638-1646
stone and stucco
Rome
The Palace at Versailles
Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart
Baroque
1669
masonry, stone, wood, iron, and gold leaf
gardens, Versailles, France
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Italian Baroque
1647-1652
marble, stucco and gilt bronze
Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome (by Carlo Maderno in 1605-1620)
Calling of Saint Matthew
Caravaggio
Italian Baroque
1597-1601
oil on canvas
San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
Las Meninas
Diego Valázquez
Spanish Baroque
1656
oil on canvas
Prado, Madrid
Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de'Medici (from the Marie de' Medici Cycle)
Peter Paul Rubens
Flemish Baroque
1621-1625
oil on canvas
Louvre, Paris
Self-Portrait with Saskia
Rembrandt
Dutch Baroque
1636
etching
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Woman Holding a Balance
Johannes Vermeer
Dutch Baroque
1664
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Fruits and Insects
Rachel Ruysch
Dutch Baroque
1711
oil on wood
Uffizi, Florence
Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza
New Spain
1542
pigment on paper
Bodleian Library, Oxford University
Angel with Arquebus (Asiel Timor Dei)
Master of Calamarca
New Spain
1680
oil on canvas
National Art Museum, La Paz, Bolivia
Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scenes
Circle of the Gonzales Family
New Spain
1697-1701
tempera and resin on wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Virgin of Guadelupe
Miguel Gonzáles
New Spain
1698
oil on canvas on wood with mother-of-pearl
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo
Attributed to Juan Rodriguez
New Spain
1715
oil on canvas
Private Collection, London
Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Miguel Cabrera
New Spain
1750
oil on canvas
The Swing
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Rococo
1767
oil on canvas
Wallace Collection, London
Self-Portrait (of Le Brun)
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Rococo
1790
oil on canvas
Uffizi, Florence
The Tête á Tête from Marriage á la Mode
William Hogarth
Eighteenth-Century English
1743
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London
A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery
Joseph Wright of Derby
Eighteenth-Century English
1763-1765
oil on canvas
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, U.K.
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson
Neoclassical
1768-1806
brick, glass, stone, and wood
Charlottesville, Virginia
The Oath of the Horatii
Jacques-Louis David
Neoclassical
1784
oil on canvas
Louvre, Paris
George Washington
Jean-Antoine Houdon
Neoclassical
1788-1792
marble
State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia
Westminster (Palace: The Houses of Parliament; Hall; Central Lobb)
Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin
Romantic
1840-1870
limestone, masonry, and glass
(Halls - Gothic
1097-1099, ceiling 1390s
stone and wood
London, England)
London
And There's Nothing to Be Done (Y no hai remedio) from the Disasters of War
Francisco de Goya
Romantic
1810-1823
drypoint etching
La Grand Odalisque (The Grand Odalisque)
Jean-Auguste Ingres
Romantic
1814
oil on canvas
Louvre, Paris
Liberty Leading the People
Eugéne Delacroix
Romantic
1830
oil on canvas
Louvre, Paris
Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On)
Joseph Turner
Romantic
1840
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Oxbow
Thomas Cole
Romantic
1836
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Still Life in Studio
Louis Daguerre
Romantic
1837
daguerreotype
French Photographic Society, Paris
The Stone Breakers
Gustave Courbet
Realism
1849
oil on canvas
formerly in Gemäldgalerie, Dresden, destroyed in World War II
Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art
Honoré Daumier
Realism
1862
lithograph
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Olympia
Édouard Manet
Realism
1863
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel
José Maria Velasco
Realism
1882
oil on canvas
National Art Museum
The Horse in Motion
Eadweard Muybridge
Realism
1878
photograph
The Saint-Lazare Station
Claude Monet
Impressionism
1877
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
The Coiffure
Mary Cassatt
Impressionism
1890-1891
drypoint and aquatint
National Gallery of Art, Washington
The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh
Post-Impressionism
1889
oil on canvas
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Paul Gaugin
Post-Realism
1897-1898
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Mont Saint-Victoire
Paul Cézanne
Post-Impressionism
1902-1904
oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
The Scream
Edvard Munch
Symbolism
1893
tempera and pastel on cardboard
National Gallery, Osio
The Kiss
Gustav Klimt
Art Nouveau
1907-1908
oil on canvas
Austrian Gallery, Vienna
Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building
Louis Sullivan
Late Nineteenth-Century
1899-1904
iron, steel, glass, terra-cotta
Chicago
The Burghers of Calais
Auguste Rodin
Late Nineteenth-Century
1884-1895
bronze
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Goldfish
Fauvism
Henri Matisse
1912
oil on canvas
Hermitage, Saint Pertersburg, Russia
Improvisation 28 (second version)
Expressionism
Vassily Kandinsky
1912
oil on canvas
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Self-Portrait as a Soldier
Expressionism
Ernst Kirchner
1915
oil on canvas
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht
Expressionism
Käthe Kollwitz
1919-1920
woodcut
Private Collection
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Cubism
Pablo Picasso
1907
oil on canvas
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Portuguese
Cubism
Georges Braque
1911
oil on canvas
Art Museum, Basel, Switzerland
The Kiss
Cubism
Cónstantin Brancusi
1907-1908
limestone
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
The Steerage
Photo-Secession
Alfred Stieglitz
1907
photograph
Private Collection
Fountain
Dada
Marcel Duchamp
original 1917, this version 1950
china with black paint
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Object
Surrealism
Meret Oppenheim
1936
fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Two Fridas
Surrealism
Frida Kahlo
1939
oil on canvas
Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City
The Jungle
Surrealism
Wifredo Lam
1943
gouache on paper mounted on canvas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
(Illustration from) The Results of the First Five-Year Plan
Constructivism
Varvara Stepanova
1932
photomontage
Museum of the Revolution, Moscow, Russia
Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow
DeStijl
Piet Mondrian
1930
oil on canvas
Private Collection
Kaufmann House "Fallingwater"
Prairie Style Architecture
Frank Lloyd Wright
1936-1939
reinforced concrete, sandstone, steel, and glass
Bear Run, Pennsylvania
Villa Savoye
International Style Architecture
Le Corbusier
1929
steel and reinforced concrete
Poissy-sur-Seine, France
Seagram Building
International Style Architecture
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson
1954-1958
steel frame with glass curtain wall and bronze
New York
The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49
Harlem Renaissance
Jacob Lawrence
1940-1941
tempera on hardboard
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park
Mexican Muralists
Diego Rivera
1947-1948
fresco
Museo Mural Diego Rivera, Mexico City
Woman, I
Abstract Expressionism
Willen de Kooning
1950-1952
oil on canvas
Museum of Modern Art
The Bay
Color Field Painting
Helen Frankenthaler
1963
acrylic on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Marilyn Diptych
Pop Art
Andy Warhol
1962
oil, acrylic, silkscreen enamel on canvas
Tate Gallery, London
Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks
Pop Art
Claes Oldenburg
1969-1974
cor-ten steel, aluminum, and cast resin, painted with polyurethane enamel
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Narcissus Garden
Happenings
Yayoi Kusama
first seen in 1966
installation of mirrored balls
Venice
Spiral Jetty
Site Art
Robert Smithson
1970
mud, salt crystals, rocks, water coil
Great Salt Lake, Utah
House in New Castle County
Postmodern Architecture
Robert Venturi, John Rauch, and Denise Scott Brown
1978-1983
wood frame and stucco
Delaware
Buddha from Bamiyan
Buddhist
400-800, destroyed 2001
cut rock with plaster and polychrome paint
Afghanistan
Jowo Rinpoche from the Jokhang Temple
Buddhist
641
gilt metal with semiprecious stones and paint
Lhasa, Tibet
Great Stupa at Sanchi
Buddhist
third century BCE - first century CE
stone masonry, sandstone on dome
Sanchi, Madhya Preadesh, India
Borobudur
Buddhist
750-842
volcanic stone masonry
Java, Indonesia
Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja) with a nimbus
Hindu
eleventh century CE
cast bronze
Musée Guimet
Paris
Lakshmana Temple
Hindu
930-950
sandstone
Khajuraho, India
Angkor, Angkor Wat, and the city of Angkor Thom
Hindu
800-1400
stone masonry, sandstone
Cambodia
Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings
Hindu
Bichitr
1620
watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Forbidden City
Chinese
fifteenth century, Ming Dynasty
stone masonry, marble, brick, wood, ceramic tile
Beijing, China
Funeral Banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui)
Chinese
180 BCE
painted silk
Human Provincial Museum, Changsha
Travelers among Mountains and Streams
Chinese
Fan Kuan
1000
ink on silk
National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Portrait of Sin Sukju
Korean
1417-1475
ink and color on silk
Chairman Mao En Route to Anyuan
Chinese
1969
color lithograph based on an oil painting by Liu Chunhua
Private Collection
Army of Emperor Shi Huangdi
Chinese
221-209 BCE, Qin Dynasty
painted terra-cotta
Lintong, China
Longmen Caves
Chinese
493-1127, Tang Dynasty
limestone
Luoyang, China
Gold and jade crown
Korean
fifth-sixth century
metalwork
National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
The David Vases
Chinese
1351
white porcelain with cobalt blue underglaze
British Museum, London
Todai-ji (and its Great Buddha, Nio Guardian Figures, and Great South Gate
Japanese
743, rebuilt 1700
wood with ceramic tile roofing
(Buddha - base eighth century, upper portion including head twelveth century, copper)
(Nio Guardian Figures - Unkei, Tankei, and Jokahu; 1203, wood)
(Gate - 1181-1203, wood with ceramic tile roofing)
Nara, Japan
Ryoan-ji
Japanese
1480, current design eigthteenth century
rock garden
Kyoto, Japan
Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace
Japanese
1250-1300
Handscroll (ink and color on paper)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
White and Red Plum Blossoms
Japanese
Ogata Korin
1710-1716
watercolor on paper
MOA Museum of Art
Atami, Japan
Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), called "The Great Wave," from "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji"
Japanese
Hokusai
1830-1833
polychrome woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Chavín de Huántar (Plan, Lanzón Stone, Relief Sculpture, Nose Ornament)
Chavín
900-200 BCE
granite (stone and sculpture), gold alloy (ornament)
Peru
Yaxchilán (Structure 40, Lintel 25 of Structure 23, Structure 33)
Mayan
725
limestone
Chiapas, Mexico
Mesa Verde cliff dwellings
Anasazi
450-1300
sandstone
Montezuma County, Colorado
Great Serpent Mound
Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands)
1070
earthwork
Adams County, southern Ohio
Templo Mayor (Main Temple) (including Coyolxauhqui "She of the Golden Bells" and Calendar Stone and Olmec-style mask)
Aztec
1375-1520
volcanic stone from 1469 (Coyolxauhqui)
stone (Calendar Stone is basalt, Mask is jadeite)
Tenochtitlán
Mexico City, Mexico
Ruler's feather headdress (probably of Motecuhzoma II)
Aztec
1428-1520
feathers (quetzal and blue cotinga) and gold
Museum of Ethnology, Vienna
Maize cobs
Inkan
1400-1533
sheet metal/repoussé, gold and silver alloys
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
City of Cusco plan (including Qorikancha: main temple, church, and convent of Santo Comingo and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman))
Inkan
1440
sandstone
Peru
City of Machu Picchu (including Obervatory and Intihuatana Stone)
Inkan
1450-1540
granite
Peru
All-T'oqapu tunic
Inkan
1450-1540
camelid fiber and cotton
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.
Bandolier bag
North American Indian Art
Lenape (eastern Delaware) tribe
1850
beadwork on leather
Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana
Transformation Mask
North American Indian Art
Kwakiutl, Northwest coast of Canada
late nineteenth century
wood, paint, and string
Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana
Hide Painting of a Sun Dance
North American Indian Art
Attributed to Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody)
1890-1900
painted elk hide
found at Easter Shoshone, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Cowan's Auctions, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
black-on-black ceramic vessel
North American Indian Art
Maria Martínez and Julian Martínez
mid-twentieth century
Tewa, Puebloa, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery
Great Zimbabwe
African
1000-1400
granite
Zimbabwe
Great Mosque of Djenné
African
1200, rebuilt 1906-1907
adobe
Djenné, Mali
Wall plaque from Oba's palace
(Benin) African
sixteenth century
brass
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Golden Stool (Skia dwa kofi)
(Ashanti) African
1700
gold over wood
location unknown
Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul
(Kuba) African
1760-1780
wood
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Power figure (Nkisi n'kondi)
(Kongo) African
late nineteenth century
wood and metal
Portrait mask (Mblo)
(Baule) African
late nineteenth to early twentieth century
wood and pigment
Female (Pwo) mask
(Chokwe) African
late nineteenth to early twentieth century
wood, fiber, pigment, and metal
National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C.
Bundu mask
(Mende) African
Sande Society
nineteenth to early twentieth century
wood, cloth, and fiber
Private Collection
Ikenga (shrine figure)
(Igbo) African
nineteenth to twentieth century
wood
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New Yotk
Memory Board (Lukasa)
(Luba) African
Mbudye Society
nineteenth to twentieth century
wood, beads, and metal
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Aka elephant mask
(Bamileke) African
nineteenth to twentieth century
wood, woven raffia, cloth, and beads
Reliquary guardian figure (nlo bieri)
(Fang) African
19th to 20th century
wood
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Vernanda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)
(Yoruba) African
Olowe of Ise
1910-1914
wood and pigment
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Nan Madol
Micronesia
700-1600
basalt boulders and prismatic columns
Pohnpei, Micronesia
Female deity
Micronesia
eighteenth to nineteenth century
wood
Nukuoro, Micronesia
Navigation chart
Micronesia
nineteenth to early twentieth century
wood and fiber
Marshall Islands
'Ahu'ula (feather cape)
Hawaii
late eighteenth century
feathers and fiber
Museum of the Americas, Madrid
Staff god
Cook Islands (Rarotonga)
late eighteenth to early nineteenth century
wood, tapa, fiber, and feathers
British Museum, London
Hiapo (tapa) from Niue
Polynesia
1850-1900
tapa or bark cloth
freehand painting
Aukland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand
Tamati Waka Nene
New Zealand
Gottfried Lindauer
1890
oil on canvas
Aukland Art Gallery, Aukland, New Zealand
Malagan mask
Papua New Guinea
twentieth century
wood, pigment, fiber, and shell
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Buk (mask)
Papua New Guinea
Torres Strait
mid-to-late nineteenth century
turtle shell, wood, fiber, feathers, and shell
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II during the 1953-1954 royal tour
Fiji
1953
multimedia performance
photographic documentation
Moai on platform (ahu)
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
1100-1600
volcanic tuff figures on basalt base
Guggenheim Bilboa Museo
Frank Gehry
Modern Architecture
1997
titanium, glass, and limestone
Bilboa, Spain
MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts
Zaha Hadid
Modern Architecture
2009
glass, steel, and cement
Rome, Italy
The Gates
Christo and Jean-Claude
Modern Art
1979-2005
mixed media installation
New York City
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Maya Lin
Modern Art
1982
black granite
Washinton, D.C.
Horn Players
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Modern Art
1983
acrylic and oil paintstick on canvas panels
Broad Art Foundations, Santa Monica, California
Summer Trees
Song Su-nam
Modern Art
1983
ink on paper
British Museum, London
Androgyn III
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Modern Art
1985
burlap, resin, wood, nails, and string
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
A Book from the Sky
Xu Bing
Modern Art
1987-1991
100 boxed sets of 4-volume woodblock printed books, variable numbers of scrolls hanging from the ceiling, and variable number of wall panels
installation
Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
Pink Panther
Jeff Koons
Modern Art
1988
glazed porcelain
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Untitled #228 (from the History Portraits series)
Cindy Sherman
Modern Art
1990
photograph
Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, California
Dancing at the Louvre (from the series The French Collection, Part I; #1)
Faith Ringgold
Modern Art
1991
acrylic on canvas, with fabric borders
Private Collection
Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People)
Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith
Modern Art
1992
oil and mixed media
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
Earth's Creation
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Modern Art
1994
synthetic polymer, paint on canvas
Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, Australia
Rebellious Silence (from the Women of Allah series)
Shirin Neshat, photo by Cynthia Preston
Modern Art
1994
ink on photograph
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
En la Barberia no se Llora (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop)
Pepón Osorio
Modern Art
1994
mixed media installation
Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000)
Michel Tuffery
Modern Art
1994
mixed media
Collection of the Artist
Electronic Superhighway
Naum June Paik
Modern Art
1995
mixed media (49-channel closed-circuit video installation, neon, steel, and electronic components)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Crossing
Bill Viola
Modern Art
1996
video and sound installation, room dimensions: 16 x 27.5 x 57 ft, performer: Phil Esposito, photo: Kira Perov
Pure Land
Mariko Mori
Modern Art
1998
color photograph on glass
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Lying with the Wolf
Kiki Smith
Modern Art
2001
ink and pencil on paper
Darkytown Rebellion
Kara Walker
Modern Art
2001
cut paper and projection on wall
Collection Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
The Swing (after Fragonard)
Yinka Shonibare
Modern Art
2001
mixed media installation
Tate, London
Old Man's Cloth
El Anatsui
Modern Art
2003
aluminum liquor bottle caps and copper wire
Stadia II
Julie Mehretu
Modern Art
2004
ink and acrylic on canvas
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Preying Mantra
Wangechi Mutu
Modern Art
2006
mixed media on mylar
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Shibboleth
Doris Salcedo
Modern Art
2007-2008
installation
Tate Modern, London
Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds)
Ai Weiwei
Modern Art
2010-2011
sculpted and painted porcelain
Tate Modern, London