Celtic Art Introduction

Celtic art is very vast as it covers vast cultures and time and so it has different periods. Celtic is referred to the European Iron Age which starts from around 1000 BC, on the other hand Celtic art starts from the period called La Tene. Another term for Celtic Art is Early Celtic Art which is mostly based in Ireland and Britain. Much of the surviving material is found in precious metal with geometric forms used for this decoration, most of which are circular forms, triskeles and of course spirals. Also decorations where found in wood and stone, some of which had figures, crosses or even used as a monumental structure. Also included in Celtic art is the art of Celtic Revival, this period started in the 18th century and continued to the modern era. This era begun in the British Isles by people called the Modern Celts who because of nationalism wanted to express themselves, of course Celtic art once again became popular thanks to the Modern Celts, Celtic than started to spread to different countries where  things such as tattoos, monuments and crosses, the inspiration for these pieces came from earlier Celtic periods for instance the La Tene or the iron age period. Celtic art normally is a simple design formed by a number of different styles some of which are lettering, plant forms, key patterns, spirals and even human figures. Most of Celtic art work has a deep symbolic meaning behind the art, also positive and negative spaces are important in design as gives the art a sense of balance.

This is a side of a reverse mirror made in bronze it is form the iron age era which dated back to 50 BC - 50 AD

Silver torc that was found at chao de Lamas in Spain, from the La Tere era.

This is a High Cross Celtic Revival monument to Dr.George M. McCormick which is found in the Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

Bibliography.

Celtic art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Celtic art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_art. [Accessed 09 May 2013].

Celtic Revival Crosses. 2013. Celtic Revival Crosses. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.celtarts.com/revival_crosses.htm. [Accessed 09 May 2013].

La Tene Art from the Early Celtic's. 2013. La Tene Art from the Early Celtic's. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/magic2/celtic_art/celts.html. [Accessed 09 May 2013].