The Ultimate Art History Guide: Regions

Browse over 70 great art history resources divided by geographical region. There are links to special museum collections, online art galleries, university art history projects, and more.

Check out everything from ancient African sculptures to Viking currency to Aborigne paintings that are over hundreds of years old.

African - Americas - Ancient Near East - Chinese - Early Europe - Egyptian - Greek - India - Islamic - Japanese - Pacific Cultures - Roman - Southeast Asia

African

• History of African Art (History World): This site breaks down African art into separate categories, including rival masterpieces, terracotta, tribal art, and wood carvings, including short summaries of each.
• African art pieces are works of great beauty. (All-About-African-Art.com): This is a one-stop shop for all things African art.  There's a blog, a store, history, and much more.
• African Masks History and Meaning (Rebirth Africa): This site gives a history of masks throughout Africa. At the bottom of the page, you will find links to more information about individual types of masks, including Bete, Punu, and Goli.
• Explore the Collection (National Museum of African Art): On this site, you can learn about the National Museum of African Art's collection. You will find an eloquent description of the art as well as other aspects, including imagery, usage, and variety.
• South African Art (SouthAfrica.info): A history of South African art is published here. The history is broken down into phases, including a section for art during the apartheid.
• African People & Culture - Art & Craft (The Africa Guide): This site discusses various facets of African art, including symbolism, jewelry, and masks.

Americas

• Rock Art of the Southwest (Ray Rasmussen's Photography & Haiku Web Site): This is a personal website run by a photographer who takes photos of Anasazi rock art. There are several photos available from all over the Southwest US.
• Aztec Art (Aztec-Indians.com): This site offers brief overviews on Aztec pottery, sculpture, drawings, and art rituals. There are also pages describing other aspects of Aztec life and culture for those who are interested.
• Authentic Maya (Maya Art): This is a fantastic resource for Maya art. Several images are included and topics are covered, such as sculpture, ceramics, painting, and performing arts.
• Native American Art History (Kwintessential): Here you will find a short article touching on different types of Native American art, including dreamcatchers, beadwork, jewelry, and quillwork. There are also over 20 other articles linked to on this page on other subjects relating to Native American art.
• Inca Art (About Peru History): If you can avoid all the advertisements, there is a bit of information regarding art in Peru and the struggle to maintain it after the conquistadors arrived. There is a beautiful image of traditional tapestries, and you can find histories of art in the pre-Incan cultures of Moche, Chavin, and Chimu.
• Pre-Columbian Art (Peru Gateway Travel): This site has an extensive art history of pre-Columbian times, including a map and points about many different civilizations.
• Ancient Central American Ceramic Pottery (PrehispanicPottery.com): This site hosts an impressive collection of high-quality images of Pre-Columbian ceramic pottery throughout Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Ancient Near East

• Ancient Near Eastern Art (The Metropolitan Museum of Art): This is the main page for the museum’s Ancient Near Eastern Art collection. You can read a summary about the time period and art, look at collection highlights, and see a list of related resources.
• Ancient Near Eastern Art (Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery): This is the art gallery's landing page for over 29 pages' worth of photos of their Ancient Near East art collection.
• Mesopotamian Art (Art Lex): This page has a wealth of information on Mesopotamian art, including a timeline, photographs of popular pieces, and a historical background of the art.
• Sumerian Art (Ezine Articles): This article discusses the history of Sumerian art and common aspects found on each piece.
• Assyrian Art and Artist (Bet-Nahrain, Inc.): This is a very interesting article by Ann-Margaret Yonan discussing various aspects of the Assyrian people and their art.
• Art From the Ancient Near East - Neo-Babylonia (Ezine Articles): This brief article serves as a good introduction to Neo-Babylonian art. The writer mentions the Hanging Gardens and adds a bit of general history as well.
• Persian Art Through the Centuries (Iransaga): This site offers all you need to know about art in Iran. The information is divided into four sections, with several links under each. It starts in the Neolithic period and ends at the Zand and Qajar periods.

Chinese

• About New Chinese Art (New Chinese Art): This fun site features several contemporary Chinese artists. You can view their portfolios including paintings and photographers, and there's an A-Z list to browse.
• Chinese History - Western Xia Dynasty (Xixia) (1038-1227) arts (China Knowledge): This page offers a modest history of art in the Xia dynasty, as well as some notes on symbology.
• Chinese Tang Dynasty Art: An Overview of the Camel (Associated Content): This piece was written regarding a sculpture called the "Camel," shown at the Birmingham Museum of Art. However, the author provides a historical context for the piece, sharing with the reader many aspects of art in the Tang dynasty.
• Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China's Liao Empire (907-1125) (Asia Society): This site was created to showcase the above-named exhibition that was held in three international locations in two years. There is a succinct history of the Liao provided, as well as several beautiful images and even a virtual tour of their tombs.
• Yuan Dynasty Landscape Painting (Art Realization): This page describes Yuan art in a historical context. It presents differing points of view regarding the changes that occurred in painting during this time, as well as names the great masters of the Yuan: Huang Gongwang, Ni Zan, Wu Zhen and Wang Meng.
• Ming Dynasty (Art-Virtue.com): This site focuses on brushwork during the Ming Dynasty, especially by the artist Shen Zhou. Numerous beautiful pieces created with the brushwork method are shown here.
• Classic Chinese Paintings (China the Beautiful): This basic site lists several artists and their art work according to the dynasty they lived in. The name of the piece is hyperlinked, taking you to the image itself.

Early Europe

• Early European Art (Spencer Museum of Art): This is the Spencer Museum of Art's collection page for early European art. You can read a short description and browse photos of the museum's pieces.
• Celtic Art (Freeceltic): This site discusses different types of Celtic art, including knot and cross art. You can also find information about the history of Celtic tattoo designs that are still common today.
• Celtic Art Forms (Joelle's Sacred Grove): This site seeks to explain the significance of different symbols in Celtic Art. Topics included are cross, tree of life, animal, spiral, and knotwork designs.
• Art of the Scythians (University of Texas): This site offers a brief history of Scythian art, including a map of the empire during its peak period. There are several links to images of artwork produced by the Scythians as well.
• Viking Art (Norse Arts from Norway): This is a one-stop shop for information regarding Viking Art. Here you can read about the history of Viking art, how religion affected the art, different styles utilized, and a few images as well.
• Hurstwic (Styles of Art in the Norse Era): This site depicts some intricate images of Norse art done in silver. Also discussed here is different styles of art used, including the styles' peak times of popularity.

Egyptian

• Egyptian Art (Aldokkan): This site describes the characteristics found in Egyptian art and includes information by the art form, including architecture, sculpture, paintings, literature, and music. There's also a well organized timeline, sorted by dynastic period that covers the major evolution during each period.
• Ancient Egypt (HuntFor.com): This site offers a history of Egyptian art, from the pre-dynastic era to the late period. Included are several links to images of the more famous pieces, as well as links to other resources.
• Ancient Egyptian Art (Minnesota State University): This page is the gateway to various links to learn more about pottery, ceramics, statues, paintings, glass, furniture, and papyrus.
• Ancient Egyptian Art: An Introduction (All About Middle Eastern Dance): This site is interesting as it adds images of Egyptian art, along with a discussion of the symbology and significance behind each one.
• Egypt Art (The Egyptian Galleries): This site is maintained by artist Richard Deurer whose art is based on ancient Egypt. Along with his paintings, he also has several photographs of Egypt and its edifices. This site clearly demonstrates his devotion to maintaining and sharing Egyptian art with others.
• Egypt: Art and Architecture (St. Petersburg Times): On this branch of the St. Petersburg Times, you will find a short overview of architecture in Egypt, including the Pyramids and their art in general.
• The Art of Ancient Egypt (Brisas Museum of Art History): This essay was published by Nesima, who writes on topics such as what inspired the Egyptians in their art, the different types of art, and hieroglyphics.
• Guardian's Egypt (Guardian's Egypt): This site provides virtual tours of Egyptian monuments, including Giza and the Sphinx. There are also interviews with experts and links to other interesting sites.

Greek

• Greek Art (Ancient-Greece.org): On this site, there are short summaries of Acropolis art, the Charioteer of Delphi, Kore, Kouros, and Minoan art, each topic hyperlinked to a page with more in-depth information.
• Minoan Art (Stanford University): Here you will find a general overview of Minoan art, as well as several images with detailed descriptions of each.
• Minoan Painting (Ancient Greek Thesaurus): This site provides an aggregation of collections from different Greek museums. On the side bar, you will find links to photo galleries of Minoan pottery, figurines, and jewelry, Cycladic frescoes, and Mycenaean paintings.
• Permanent Collections (Museum of Cycladic Art): The museum's collection page contains over 500 images of ancient Greek art. The images are organized by the following categories: Cycladic culture, Ancient Greek art, Cypriot culture, daily life and object of the month. You can also search the collection by type, material, artist, period, and more.
• Classical and Hellenistic Sculpture of Ancient Greece (Alamo Colleges): This site provides a collection of images of famous sculptures, including busts, full body, and headless. Each figure comes with the size, artist, and location, and some include commentaries as well.

India

• Indiaart.com (Indiaart): This site displays a massive collection of Indian art and information, including exhibition information, artists, and even videos of Indian artists demonstrating their work.
• Ancient Indian Sculpture (Indianetzone): This site specializes in the history of Indian sculpture and architecture. There are recent articles written regarding different sculptures in India, as well as links to art in specific time periods, including the Gupta period, Vedic sculpture, and Indus Valley art.
• Story of Indian Art: An Overview (Indian Art Circle): This is the main page on art information for the Indian Art Circle website. It's a collection of links that lead to other pages on the website, all offering descriptions of arts in over 30 styles, periods, and phases of art in India.
• Jain Art from India (Victoria & Albert Museum): John Guy wrote a history of Jain Art for a major exhibition that passed through the museum in the 90s. In it, he talks about the Jain philosophy, the images depicted in the art, and diagrams.
• Chola Bronzes (Asia Society): This is the exhibition details page of Chola Bronzes at the Asia Society Museum in New York.  Here you will find a background of Chola art as it relates to religion, with links to several sections within the exhibition, complete with several images of the art.
• Kushan Period [130B.C. - A.D. 185] - Ancient Indian Costume (4to40.com): This site offers an extensive collection of information regarding art during the Kushan period in India. Topics touched on include hairstyles, costumes, textiles, and art style, with several drawings illustrating the same.
• Hoysala Art & Architecture (Kamat's Potpourri): This page describes the architectural styles of temples during the Hoysala period. On the main page, there are links to images of Hoysala sculptures and carvings.

Islamic

• Islamic Art (Colorado State University): This well-written essay by Elisabeth Siddiqui describes in-depth the relation between religion and Islamic art.  She also writes about the art forms of calligraphy and craftsmanship.
• Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean (Museum With No Frontiers): This museum's site has an amazing array of images from their collection, along with succinct backgrounds for each piece/set. Their artworks include figurative art, nature in Islamic art, women, water, and pilgrimage, to name a few.
• Fatimid Art, Precursor or Culmination (The Institute of Ismaili Studies): This lengthy academic essay on the nature of Fatimid art was written by Professor Oleg Grabar. It includes an excellent bibliography section for those who wish to read more offline.
• Style in Islamic Art (Victoria and Albert Museum): On this page, you will find links four icons labeled with separate dates, ranging from 750 to 1900. Clicking on each icon will take you to more information and photos of styles from the denoted period.
• Art & The Culture (TheOttomans.org): This site has a ton of information on art created in the Ottoman empire. You can read about architecture, calligraphy, marbling, embroidery, ceramics, gravures, miniatures, rugs and carpets, and costumes.
• Introduction (Salaam): This site publishes an extensive article on the history of Islamic art. It includes well-known examples of architecture, art in different periods, and types of art styles.

Japanese

• Japanese Art (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art): This site offers a virtual tour of the museum's collection. Each image is accompanied by a description, measurements, era, and even how it was purchased.
• Japan Exposures: This is a fascinating blog maintained by Dirk Rosler and Kurt Eastwood, expats living in Japan. There are photo galleries, equipment reviews, and posts added regularly. The writers are clearly "in the know" in their field of Japanese photography.
• A to Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Sculpture & Art (Onmark Productions): This is an extremely extensive resource for shrines, temples, and other figurines relating to Buddhism and Shintoism in Japan. In the left sidebar, you will find an extremely long list of links to different topics with photos and detailed descriptions.
• The Art of Bonsai Project: This is an interesting site devoted to promoting and studying the art of bonsai. There is a forum, interviews, critiques, galleries, feature articles, and even tutorials.
• The Japanese Art and Architecture (Iranian Underground Art Media): This article provides a broad synopsis of Japanese art in general, with a focus on art during the Muromachi period.
• Is it right to call Meiji Art Derivative? (Euronet): This is an interesting piece written by Tanya Grassley, in which she debates the characterization of art during the Meiji political period. She proves a political background as well as the changes coinciding in art during this era.
• Abstract Art in Japan (serdar-hizli-art.com): Though riddled with advertisements, this is a thoughtful piece on the influences of abstract art in Japan.

Pacific Cultures

• Australian Aboriginal Art (Aboriginal Art Online): This online art gallery hosts a wide collection of unique aboriginal paintings. There is also information on how they create their paintings as well as a history of the aboriginal people by region.
• The Revival of Polynesian Lost Art (Tahiti Tatou): This is an interesting site which tracks the tattooing tradition in Polynesian cultures.
• Maori Art - meaning and symbolism (Maori of New Zealand): This site discusses the significance behind Maori carvings on their meeting houses, as well as some common shapes used including the lizard and the spiral.
• Welcome to the Melanesian Arts Centre (Melanesian Arts Centre): Here you will find an online art gallery of several different pieces coming from Papa New Guinea. Art styles include baskets, bowls, hooks, instruments, masks, pottery, and much more.
• Antiques; Micronesian Art to Dazzle the Eye (The New York Times): This is an interesting article written for an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art published in the New York Times. It describes the art pieces and adds a history of the Micronesian culture.
• Fijian Art (Just Pacific): This three-page PDF file was written for a presentation made for the Oceanic Art Society by Rod Edwins. In it, Edwins talks about how Fijian art is influenced by both Melanesian and Polynesian culture. The third page is a bibliography citing several sources, including articles written by Edwins himself.
• An Independent Guide to Contemporary New Zealand Art (nz-artists): This is a great listing of contemporary artists practicing in New Zealand. On each artist's page, you will find a biography, several images of artwork they've created, as well as galleries where their art can be found.

Roman

• Roman Architecture (20-20 Site): This site has a wealth of information on Roman architecture, including basilicas, arches, columns, temples, theaters, and great architects of Rome.
• Roman Art (Ancient Rome): This site talks about many facets of Roman art, such as Etruscan art, handicrafts, paintings, architecture, portraits, and outside influences.
• Etruscan Art (Mysterious Etruscans): This site is dedicated to the exploration of Etruscan art. There are several images available, as well as separate sections for pottery, bronzes, jewelry, frescoes, and mirrors.
• Etruscan Art (The University of Oklahoma): This fun, yet a bit difficult to navigate site has a collection of Etruscan art images. Stone and terracotta sculptures, urns, tombs, architecture, and pottery are all featured here.
• Roman Architecture and Engineering (History.com): This is a fascinating collection of 12 impressive photographs of the best of Roman architecture.
• Art in Ancient Rome (Mariamilani.com): This site includes several short pieces on various aspects of Roman art, like foreign influence, drawings, painting styles, pottery, mosaics, and more.

Southeast Asia

• Balinese Art (in Touch Realty): Though this is one page from a realty site, it has a surprisingly good background covering art in Bali. There are tidbits regarding paintings, carvings, textiles, and various styles.
• Collection (Khmer Art Gallery): This is the Khmer Art Gallery's collection page, with various stunning images of Khmer art. Stone and wood sculptures, copper, pottery, textiles, paintings, and jewelry are all part of the collection.
• Indonesian Art of Textile (Discover Indonesia): This entire site is dedicated to the art of textiles in Indonesia.  There are pages written on origins, techniques, and influences.
• Lao Art: Overview Part #1 (Laoconnection.com): Here you will find a bit of information regarding Buddhist sculptures and textile usage in Laos.
• Singapore Public Art (PublicArt.sg): This interesting site is set up in an open-access format to encourage the residents of Singapore to record the art additions happening in the city. There are images and links to artists' profiles included.
• Thai Artists (Thavibu Gallery): This site is a base for contemporary art in Thailand with several links to popular Thai artist biographies. There's a link to a small collection of articles as well.
• Thailand Thai Art and Architecture (Thailand's World): Here you will find a short overview of periods and themes found in Thai art over the past 2000 years. The main page has a photo of a beautiful gold Buddha from a temple in Bangkok.
• Viet Nam Art (viettouch.com): This site has various descriptions of a varied list of art types, including pre-historic, ceramics, contemporary, wood, and costumes.
• Welcome to VietnamArtist.com (VietnamArtist.com): This is an excellent resource for Vietnamese art. There are several articles and background information on various types of art, including oil and silk painting, fine art, and Saigon-based art.  There are also several practicing artists who have biographies and several pieces featured on the site.