Art History Journal

In a time when the only way to make a new book was by transcribing by hand, the invention of the printing press would obviously be a big deal.  This historic machine, invented by Gutenberg, changed history almost instantly.  It also led to the church losing its tight hold it had on society, and goverment. It started with the printing of the fist book by the catholics, the bible.  This was the first book to be produced. 

 The press also allowed for the production of books in shorter amount of time, and a much lower price.  With availability of books, man begin to focus more on themselves, and it started to show in art.  Because of this, knowledge begin to spread, and this started humanism.  Depictions of everyday life become more dominant in paintings, instead of only a religious nature.  The church started losing some of its power This led way to the renaissance. 

The renaissance was when knowledge began to blossom, and sciences, and art expanded. Art began to depict human forms more realistically, and with better depth.   How the body works was also an area of interest.  Again the church saw its power start to fall.

Martin Luther is easily the first propagandist out there, and it was all due to the printing press.  He saw how the catholic church had corrupted, and stood up against it.  He spread his information by using the press to let others know the wrong doings of the church, and the truth of the bible.  This blossomed into the protestant reformation.  Suddenly the church had documents of their wrong doings that were accessible to the general public.  This set the church to put a document out for his death.  

All of these periods of times would not have been possible, or as successful if it were not for guttenberg press.