Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The influence of the printing press on: Humanism, the Renaissance, and the Reformation

Johann Gutenberg probably had no idea how his invention would change the world. His invention of the printing press meant the church could no longer have mass control over information and common knowledge. Information was let loose and the printing press allowed knowledge to be spread easily and quickly. 


The printing press lead to humanism. People began taking all their thoughts off of the church and onto themselves. Artists began reflecting everyday life in their art.. before this movement most of the art was for church purposes but once humanism came to be art reflected the artist.  Everyone felt a little more freedom and the artwork proves that feeling.  This rise of creative thought led to the next movement which was the Renaissance. 


The Renaissance movement exploded with creativity. Any artistic ties to the church were finally gone and complete and total artistic freedom prevailed. Artists began to     create whatever they desired and it was a time of rebirth. They could look forward with hope but also look behind them and past empires were a theme that came about. The human form was shown as imperfect in art. No longer were bodies sculpted perfectly or painted perfectly.. everything related to how life actually was. 


The reformation came next. A man by the name of Martin Luther played a giant role in pointing out the corruption of the catholic church and the mass production of the Bible. Before the printing press, the Bible was completely hand written and not translated into different languages. Martin Luther helped change that when he translated the Bible into German so the mass public would be able to read it. He helped the spread of Christianity and the knowledge of what the Bible said. 


All of these movements can be linked back to the invention of the printing press. I can't imagine what the world would be like today without the written word. All the movements that occured after the printing press helped lead the way to future art movements and influenced everything about how we live our life now. 

1 comment:

Stephanie Lewis said...

It would be hard to put these things in order. They are interdependent to be sure.