Scatter Brained

01
 Schoolhouse Rock!:
Art Schools We’re Nuts About
RENAISSANCE
Period:
 14th and 15th centuries in Italy, 16th century 
throughout Europe
Major Artists:
 your basic Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Michelan-
gelo, Donatello, and (to a lesser extent) Raphael
Hallmarks:
 true-to-life dimensions in sculpture; improved 
use of perspective
What It Depicts:
 biblical events or classical Greco-Roman 
scenes. Occasional Mona Lisas. And rich people.
TV  Show  It  Calls  to  Mind:
 smart, pretty, and keenly 
 rational . . . 
CSI
BAROQUE
Period:
 17th century
Major Artists:
 Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens
Hallmarks:
 deep, dramatic color, bright lights, and dark 
 shadows

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192
S C A T T E R B R A I N E D
What It Depicts:
 saints, or the Virgin, or Jesus in moments 
of intense crisis. And rich people.
TV Show It Calls to Mind:
 uber-dramatic . . . 
90210
ROMANTICISM
Period:
 Late 18th–early 19th centuries
Major Artists:
 J.M.W. Turner, Delacroix, and Gericault
Hallmarks:
  sensuous  color,  slightly  disjointed  scenes—pav-
ing the way for Impressionism
What It Depicts:
 landscapes, everyday folks, war, liberty 
leading the people. And sometimes rich people.
TV  Show  It  Calls  to  Mind:
 masterfully made, but almost 
embarrassingly sincere . . . 
ER
IMPRESSIONISM
Period:
 1860ish–1910ish
Major Artists:
 Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas
Hallmarks:
 visible brushstrokes, lighter colors—often said to 
look like something from a distance and nothing up close
What It Depicts:
 hayfi elds, lily pads, everyday people in ev-
eryday life, and naked people (Manet caused a scandal by 
painting nude people in contemporary settings). Fewer rich 
people.
TV  Show  It  Calls  to  Mind:
 visually engaging and provoca-
tive, looks like something from a distance and nothing up 
close . . . 
Twin Peaks
DADA
Period:
 1916–1924 (short, but important!)
Major Artists:
 Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Beatrice Wood

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193
Hallmarks:
 intentional absurdity, absolute meaninglessness, 
rejection of all assumptions about “art” and what constitutes 
it. World War I had messed people up pretty good, see.
What It Depicts:
 most famously, the pipe in Duchamp’s 
painting 
Th
  is is not a pipe
.
TV  Show  It  Calls  to  Mind:
 endlessly ironic, self-conscious 
and vaguely sad despite all its humor . . . 
Th
 e Simpsons
CUBISM
Period:
 1908ish–1920ish
Major Artists:
 Juan Gris and Marie Vassilieff , but Pablo Pi-
casso dwarfed the others.
Hallmarks:
 Objects are taken apart and put back together 
again abstractly, skewing shape and perspective.
What It Depicts:
 women, guitars, violins
TV  Show  It  Calls  to  Mind:
 some cutting-and-pasting seg-
ments on 
Sesame Street