Ancient art is filled with fabulous examples of various media and unique depictions of historical and cultural events. Much ancient art is symbolic, and much is literal. Some ancient art serves both a literal and a symbolic function. This is true for much in the Egyptian art canon. It is impossible to generalize about Egyptian art because of the great span of time the various empires straddled. However, there are many similarities in Egyptian style, media, and content. In New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art alone, there are several examples of two works of Egyptian art that are directly comparable. For example, "Yuny and His Wife enenutet" is a 19th Dynasty New Kingdom sculpture. It depicts the titular figures seated together on their throne. It is made of limestone, and the dimensions are about 33 inches high and 21 inches wide. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has a New…...
mlaReferences
"Isis and Wepwawet, god of Asyut," (ca. 1279 -- 1213 B.C.E). Retrieved online: http://www.metmuseum.org /collections/search-the-collections/100001091
"Yuny and His Wife Renenutet," (1294 -- 1279 B.C.E.). Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved online:
Ancient Art / Comparing Two Works
Two ancient works of art were viewed for discussion in this paper. The first is called "Vessel Terminating in the Forepart of a Stag" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The second is an Etruscan engraved mirror, which can be viewed at the Louvre. Although the objects are from different time periods and cultures and depict different images, they have in common the fact that they are both utilitarian objects made beautiful with adornment.
The stag vessel [http://www.metmuseum.org / Collections/search-the-collections/30006086] was discovered in Central Anatolia (a region of Turkey) and is attributed to the Hittite Empire, circa the 14th -- 13th centuries BCE. It is a drinking vessel made of silver with gold inlay. It is a representational piece that stands eighteen centimeters tall. According to the Museum's website, the stag's front legs and torso, which opens into a cup, was hammered from a single piece…...
mlaReferences
Astier, M.B. (n.d.) Greek, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities. Louvre. Retrieved from http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/mirror-0
Etruscan engraved mirror (ca. 4th century BCE). [Cast bronze]. The Louvre, Paris.
According to the Roman historian Pliny, in his Natural History, in 238 BC, at the direction of an oracle in the sibylline books, a temple was built to honor Flora, an ancient goddess of flowers and blossoming plants. (Pliny, XVIII.286) the temple was dedicated on April 28 and the Floralia instituted to solicit her protection for the city.
Although the Floralia originated as a "moving festival," after a period with bad crops when according to Ovid, "the blossoms again that year suffered from winds, hail, and rain" (Ovid, Fasti, V.329ff), the festival Ludi Florales started to be held every year, the first in 173 BCE. "It was later fixed on April 27th. After Caesar's reform of the calendar, it was April 28th. The purpose of the festival was to ensure the crops blossomed well." ("Flora," Roman Religion and Mythology: Lexicon, 1999)
Flora thus is fertile, like a mother, for she is the…...
mlaWorks Cited
Flora," Roman Religion and Mythology: Lexicon. Originally created 1999. Last updated 2005. Retrieved 26 Feb 2005. http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/1080_Flora.html
Flora and Pomona." Ancient Roman Mythology. Retrieved 26 Feb 2005. http://www.crystalinks.com/romemythology.html
Ovid. Fasti. Translated by a.J. Boyle and R.D. Woodard. New York: Penguin Classics, 2000.
Pliny. Natural History. Translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1938.
Roman Sarcophagi sculptures, one sarcophagus of portraying Roman deity as portrayed on the Sarcophagus with the Indian Triumph of Dionysus' triumphal return from India, contrasted with the other the Sarcophagus Depicting a Battle between Soldiers and Amazon made for a military leader.
During the second and 3rd centuries, inhumation became more and more used than cremation, and this created a push for a greater need for sarcophagi, as the departed were placed inside these vessels. "Sarcophagi are of eminent importance for the study of Roman art, for they provide the largest single body of sculptural material in which we may study both the style and subject matter of the art of the tumultuous years of the later Roman empire, when there are few other monuments with pictorial relief to which we can turn… through sarcophagus reliefs we can trace and re-experience the profound shift in pagan religious thought, away from…...
mlaWorks Cited
Awan, H.T.. "Roman Sarcophagi." metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan Museum, n.d.
Web. 1 Apr 2014.
Koortbojian, Michael Myth, Meaning, and Memory on Roman Sarcophagi. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1995.
Ancient Ballgame of Mesoamerica
There are many ancient art forms that are acknowledged today as culturally enriching. The dramatic plays of ancient Greece are revered as great artistic accomplishments. The development of writing and ship building by the Phoenicians is recognized as a ground breaking achievement that changed the course of society. Yet some cultures do not receive this kind of acknowledgment for their customs, inventions, and creations which have nonetheless steered the course of humanity to a great degree. While the Olympics of Greek ancestry have gained high acclaim worldwide for the impact they have had on athletics and culture, other ancient sporting traditions have been glossed over by mainstream history. Games and sports were an integral part of the cultures of Central America and Mexico, including Volador (high pole), patolli (dice), stilts, hunting, and jai alai. One instance of a seriously underrepresented athletic influence is the most important sport…...
LACMA Artifacts
One of the strengths of the collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is collection of works from the ancient Near East. This paper examines two of those artifacts, discussing both their aesthetics properties as well as the historical, political and cultural context in which the two works were created. These works - although they provide only the barest glimpse into the complexities of cultural and religious dynamics of the region - nevertheless help us to understand the intimate and powerful way in which religion and culture are linked even today in the Middle East. (Images of the two works are appended to the end of this paper.)
The first work is two leaves taken from the Koran, the holy book of Islam made during the Abbasid caliphate during the ninth or tenth centuries. Even for a viewer who cannot read Arabic and who knows little about the…...
mlaWorks Cited
Peterson, Andrew. Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. New York: Routledge, 1995.
Wiet, Gaston. Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate. Norman: U. Of Oklahoma, 1971.
Zakiriya, Mohamed. The Calligraphy of Islam: Reflections on the State of the Art. Washington DC: Center for Contemporary Arabic Studies, 1990.
Allan, James. Islamic Ceramics. Oxford: Asmolean, 1995.
Art of classical antiquity, in the ancient cultures of Greece and ome, has been much revered, admired, and imitated. In fact, the arts of ancient Greece and ome can be considered the first self-conscious and cohesive art movements in Europe. Style, form, execution, and media were standardized and honed to the point where aesthetic ideals were created and sustained over time. The art of classical antiquity in Greece and ome reverberated throughout history, impacting the art of subsequent eras in Europe. In fact, there can be no absolute "neoclassical" era in art history because of the way neoclassicism evolved throughout the centuries since the fall of the oman Empire. The arts of the enaissance borrowed heavily from classical antiquity, as can be seen in enaissance icons such as Michelangelo's David. Some suggest that medieval art pays homage to classical antiquity, even if the quotations from classical Greek and ome are…...
mlaReferences
Castelijn, D. (2012). The Influence of Classical Antiquity on the Renaissance. Oxford Department for Continuing Education. Retrieved online: http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/details.php?id=V350-130#pagetop
"Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages," (n.d.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved online:
Art During Renaissance
The Evolution of Art During the Renaissance
The Renaissance period is defined as a cultural movement that spanned approximately from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe (rotton 2006, p. 6). This period in the history of art included the painting, decorative arts and sculpture of the period and for many was considered a reawakening or rebirth of historic and ancient traditions based on the classical antiquity and the inclusion of more recent developments by applications of contemporary scientific knowledge.
The Renaissance was seen as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The period also marked a cognitive shift from religious perspectives to a more intellectual and social focus. Classical texts previously lost to European scholars became readily available and included science, drama, poetry, prose, philosophy, and new considerations regarding Christian theology.…...
mlaBibliography
Acidini, Luchinat Cristina. The Medici, Michelangelo, & the Art of Late Renaissance Florence. New Haven: Yale UP in Association with the Detroit Institute of Arts, 2002. Print.
Adams, Laurie. Italian Renaissance Art. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001. Print.
Barter, James. Artists of the Renaissance. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print.
Bartlett, Kenneth. The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Toronto D.C.
Art Culture: Public Space Art
Public art like that of Koon's Train (2011), Serra's Tilted Arc (1981), Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1981), and James' Sea Flower (1978), ignite discussion to the point of its modification, re-arrangement, or removal. The reason for this controversial treatment of public art is its ability to embrace a variety of aesthetic practices. The adoption of different aesthetic values like poster art, outdoor sculpture, earthworks, multimedia projections, and community-based projects among others, breaks the public's traditional understanding of art (Glahn, 2000). This critique finds that the public's totalizing classification of public sphere brings about controversy and dialogue over public art displays. By reviewing the famous public art "Tilted Arc" (1981) by Richard Serra, this analysis will show that there are distinct differences between public understanding and professional understanding of public art.
The government with the intention of exhibiting, protecting, and edifying art, commissions public art in America to…...
mlaWorks Cited
"REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Editorial, b) -- Asides: Tilting with the Arc." Wall Street Journal: 1. Sep 04, 1987. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
Doss, Erika. "Public Art Controversy: Cultural Expression and Civic Debate," Americans for the Arts, October 2006. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
Drescher, Timothy. "The Harsh Reality: Billboard Subversion and Graffiti," Wall Power, Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 2000.
Fleming, Ronald Lee. "Public Art for the Public." Public Interest.159 (2005): 55-76. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
Admittedly, these two teams were faced with a daunting challenge in acquiring and interpreting those works of art that were most appropriate for their exhibition goals, and interpretive efforts must use some framework in which to present the resources in a fashion that can be understood and appreciated by the targeted audiences.
Nevertheless, there is little or no discussion concerning the fusion of artistic styles in the two catalogs, with a preference for a neat and orderly, date by date, presentation of representative works that typify the points being made by the exhibition. Despite these shortcomings, both catalogs were shown to be authoritative references that were supported by relevant citations and imagery. Likewise, both catalogs provide useful overviews of the materials that are being presented preparatory to their interpretation, helping place the information in its historical context.
Conclusion
The research showed that interest and appreciation in colonial Latin American art has experienced…...
mlaWorks Cited
Bailey, Gauvin Alexander. Introduction in Art of Colonial Latin America. New York: Phaidon
Press, 2005.
Paz, Octavio. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries. Los Angeles: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pierce, Donna, Gomar, Rogelio R. And Bargellini, Clara. Painting a New World: Mexican Art
Art can come in many shapes, sizes, and mediums, yet one thing that all art has in common is its ability to connect to individuals and enable them to experience catharsis, that is illicit an emotional response. Some of the most awe-inspiring works of art are architectural such as the Lincoln Memorial, which bookmarks the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Lincoln Memorial is impressive and its sheer magnitude and size was unexpected. Walking up to the memorial, I realized that it was much larger than I had anticipated and that much like a temple, the actual memorial is located at the top of a series of steps. It was nothing like looking at the back of a penny or a five-dollar bill. The Lincoln Memorial successfully combining the concepts of form and function through its structure (Pearson Publication, Inc., 2009, p. 164). The memorial itself was designed by Henry acon,…...
mlaBibliography
National Parks Service. (2012). Lincoln Memorial design individuals. Accessed 21 August 2012,
from http://www.nps.gov/linc/historyculture/lincoln-memorial-design-individuals.htm .
Pearson Publications Inc. (2009). Chapter 5: Art. The Art of Being Human: The Humanities As A
Technique For Living, pp. 114-169.
Violence of some sort was often depicted. Sculptures of the Roman period, not surprisingly, were very similar. Again, it is difficult to tell the difference between Greek Hellenistic sculptures and Roman originals. And what better influence of classic Greek sculpture and its ideal art form on Roman artists than Michelangelo's David. The Baroque period is exemplified by Bernini's work at the Vatican. However, in his fine work, one cannot mistake the influence of Greco-Roman myth such as his own version of "Apollo and Daphne."
Examples of some of the differences between Roman art and Greek art would be Roman art tends to be more naturalistic then Greek art. Greeks were more interested in idealism. For example it's when a painter would manage to create an ideal beauty even more perfect than any of the flawed original models he was using. Romans were more interested in realism....
Art Museum Visit
This particular piece of art is a limestone statue, which in all likelihood, originally was a painted piece. Limestone was a precious mineral, and would have most likely been honed and by prepared by a servant or slave for the artisan to work with. This statue is considered to be sculpture in the round as there are no additional supports required (Barnet 113). A great deal of detail is carved into the headdress, and because of the realism qualities, the statue is of a woman. A number of these statues were designed in small decorative forms; however, many were crafted in life size and even larger forms. The proportions seem to be to scale. The Egyptian use of proportions is a method that depicts the human figure in a consistent way, using measurements derived from the observation of real bodies and related to Egyptian metrology (Baines 9). Every…...
mlaReferences
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Art, 9th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008), 113-114.
Baines, C. Egyptian Figures, Personification, and the Iconology of a Genre. Warminster. 1985.
Baines, J. "Theories and Universals of Representation: Heinrick Schafer and Egyptian Art, Art History 8, 1 (1985): 1-25.
Davies, W. Egyptian Hieroglyphics. 1988.
Art Compare
The Narrative Tradition in Art: Evidence and Examples from the Neolithic and the Hellenistic Periods
Artists have existed since long before the dawn of civilization and the beginnings of recorded history, and the subject matter chosen for depiction in paintings has at once been highly varied and remarkably similar as civilization progressed and societies same and went. Wildly disparate styles have led some to emphasize color and the abstract while others attempted to paint exactly what was seen, and buildings dominate some paintings while landscapes dominate others; at the same time, there have been similarities in that paintings always represent the world as seen by the civilization producing the art, and thus people and certain other elements are almost always well represented. Art is a way of mirroring life, and of displaying features of importance to a given people, and representations of men and women and the objects and creatures…...
mlaReferences
Cartldge, P. & Millett, P. (1998). Kosmos: Essays in Order, Conflict and Community in Classical Athens. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hamblin, W. (2006). Warfare in the ancient near east. New York: Routledge.
Kleiner, F. (2010). Gardner's art through the ages. Mason, OH: Cengage.
Snodgrass, A. (2000). The dark ages of Greece. New York: Routledge.
It would have been as ridiculous for a working class man or woman to make art as it would have for that same person to become an accountant. Still, artists throughout time have snuck in their personal values in their paintings. Hieronymous Bosch is one of the artists I believe to have inserted personal values into Church-commissioned art.
Even in the modern era, art is still entwined with money. The artist needs to live, sure. But that is not the only connection between art and money. Art galleries exist because art has become big money. Art symbolizes wealth. No ordinary person can afford "real" art. Ordinary people purchase prints and reproductions, not original pieces by known or up-and-coming artists.
Art is like any other commodity now, for better or for worse. Artists have a greater chance than ever of making a viable living, given the plethora of opportunities in graphic art…...
1. The Influence of Gandharan Art and Culture on the Silk Road
2. Exploring the Buddhist Heritage of Gandhara: How Ancient Gandhara Shaped Buddhist Art and Philosophy
3. The Role of Gandhara in the Spread of Greco-Buddhist Art and Architecture
4. Gandhara: The Crossroads of Cultures and Religions
5. The Preservation and Restoration of Gandharan Artifacts: Challenges and Successes
6. The Significance of Gandharan Sculpture in Understanding the History of South Asia
7. Gandhara: A Cultural Fusion of Greek, Indian, and Central Asian Influences
8. Gandhara in Modern Context: The Legacy of Gandharan Art in Contemporary South Asian Art and Architecture
9. Gandhara: A Window into the Ancient....
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