Art thrives on trust

An artist lives and breathes art. The clothes, the home decoration, the hairstyle, even the words that artists speak are their own creation, deliberate and intentional.

A true artist is a living work of art.

We all come to art history from some perspective. From this perspective, we are likely to build our mental map of how individual artists and styles of art fit together. When we want to place an artist on the art timeline, we should keep in mind that generalisations are useful only up to a point.

After placing the art you are viewing on a timeline, the next step is to build up a sense of time and place that is specific to the artwork and artist.

• Did the artists have friends or contemporaries that may have influenced the style of the work?
• Did the artist have a teache...