Art History and the Natural and Human Threats to Artworks

Understanding the History of Arts work
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Understanding History of Artwork
Part A
Art History as an Academic Field
Art history is a study concerned with the evolution and application of art throughout human history. Art historians strive to convert visual data from the arts into textual criticisms and interpretations. According to Trevelyan (2016), art history is concerned with the identification, categorization, description, assessment, interpretation, comprehension of artistic creations, and the historical evolution of critical areas of the arts. If you like looking at and studying art or want to impress others when you visit a museum, this may be the topic of study for you.
Art historians, in general, concentrate on the visual arts, which are characterized by their visual features and perception. This area includes painting, sculpture, architecture, pottery, and textiles. Art historians, on the whole, do not research performing arts such as music and theater or literary arts such as poetry. However, as the notion of art evolves, so makes art history. Originally researched exclusively by anthropologists, tattoos have become a subject of curiosity for a growing number of art historians.
Natural and Human Threats to Artworks
Recently, various natural changes in the environment have posed a severe threat to ancient artifacts. This issue is quite concerning because if we lose our historical arts, where would our aspiring artists turn for guidance on bettering their craft?
Apart from natural hazards, human acts provide a similar danger. Over time, our population has increased exponentially while our area has remained constant in size. This results in an imbalance between the human population and the natural resources we rely on for survival. As a consequence, mankind will colonize the areas designated for artistic endeavors. They will eventually damage the artwork. The following section will discuss the natural and human threats to artworks.
* Natural threats
The first natural threat to artwork is the rise in global temperatures. Most of the ancient artworks are found in places such as caves. These artworks are mostly cut from rocks, making them susceptible to temperature changes. Due to the steady rise in global temperature levels, cave paintings are getting damaged. In some cases, a rise in temperatures causes expansion and contraction of rocks, resulting in landslides that damage rock arts inside and outside caves.
The second natural threat to artwork is heavy winds. High-speed winds can hit the walls of the monument, causing their collapse. Other times, the wind may present its harmful effects together with sea salts and sand on the surface of the monuments. This results in severe weathering of the surfaces.
* Man-made Threats
The first outstanding natural threat artwork is the increased levels of pollution. This occurs both in the form of air and water pollution. Pollution poses the greatest threat to monuments. The emission of obnoxious gasses from industries poses a significant threat to the artwork. Effects of air pollution are well depicted on the Taj Mahal in India, where a once eye-catc...