Albanian art
It has preserved its original elements and traditions despite its long and eventful history around the time when Albania was populated to Illyrians and Ancient Greeks and subsequently conquered by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans.
At different times, Illyrian, Ancient Greek and Roman art developed in Albania and survived in a number of media inclusive of architecture, sculpture, pottery, and mosaic.
The rock inscriptions in Grama Bay and mosaic in Durrës can be traced back to the 4th century BC and there are nonetheless ancient remains of extraordinary quality available at Apollonia, Byllis, Shkodër, Butrint and elsewhere across the country.
Among them, the medieval painters Marco Basaiti and Viktor Karpaçi, sculptor and architect Andrea Nikollë Aleksi and art collector Alessandro Albani.
[4] The Albanian Renaissance, in the field of arts, developed for the first time since the Middle Ages in rather different directions especially toward the occident and was initially dominated by the central figure of Kolë Idromeno.
[5][6][7] During the Bronze Age, a number of Illyrian and Ancient Greek tribes started to emerge itself on the territory of Albania and established several artistic centers at the same time.
[15] Onufri was distinguished for its rich use of colors and decorative shades with certain ethnographic national elements that are more visible with his successors David Selenica, Kostandin Shpataraku and the Zografi Brothers.
[19] This style of art was usually portrayed by the highest degree of motifs, arabesques and ornamentation of interlacing geometrical patterns of polygons, circles and interlocked lines and curves.
The great liberation acts starting with League of Prizren in 1878, that led to the Independence in 1912, established the climate for a new artistic movement, which would reflect life and history more realistically and Impressionism and Realism came into dominance.
[22] Some artists captured the historical past and identity of Albanians in landscapes of vast forests, wide rivers, pristine lakes as well as portraits.
The year 1883 is dominated and celebrated for the creation of the most crucial and finest paintings The Portrait of Skanderbeg by Jorgji Panariti and Motra Tone by Kolë Idromeno.
Although Albania left communism for democracy in 1991, scholars currently label Albanian artwork under the category of "socialist realism", for its emphasis on portraying real people and situations.
Among the most famous Albanian contemporary artists are Anri Sala, Sislej Xhafa, Adrian Paci, Helidon Gjergji, Alban Hajdinaj, and Armando Lulaj and .
Founded in 2001 by Edi Muka, Gezim Qëndro, and Giancarlo Politi, it has enjoyed over the years the contribution of many international curators, like Francesco Bonami, Adela Demetja, Massimiliano Gioni, Jens Hoffmann, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Harald Szeemann.
In 1585, the Italian Renaissance painter, Paolo Veronese dedicated a painting illustrating the Siege of Shkodër from the Middle Ages to the Shkodrans, which is housed on the ceiling of the Doge's Palace in Venice, Italy.
[27] Between 1827 and 1828, the French painter, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps made a visit to Albania that resulted a great series of paintings illustrating the Albanians with their costumes.
Another passionate British painter and poet include Edward Lear who travelled to Albania in 1848 where he was impressively inspired by Albanian landscapes.
