Western Art Design Periods and Design Movements

I've decided to blog on some antiques topics.  I'll start with a) the important design movements and b) designers in Antiques, Fine Arts and the Decorative Arts.  If it goes well - in between blogging about news and events - I can expand into other series as well.

Let's start with design movements.

In discussing Western Arts, we classify styles and designs into Design Movements (particular styles and schools, that sprang up and that people then copied), and Design Periods, that is, the era(s) in which such styles were fashionable or prevalent.

Design Periods influence many different fields, from architecture to literature to fine art to interior design.

What these periods are called, and how artworks are classified depends on the field (Fine Art, Decorative Art) and on the country, as the same eras are often known by different names in different nations.

We'll start by discussing some of the best-known art periods.  In subsequent posts I'll talk about The Victorian Era, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.