Joshua Lin Miss Spear AP Art History (Per. 4) 22 November 2014 Sacred Space Essay In Magalang, Java, Indonesia lies a Buddhist temple called Borobudur possibly built by the architect Gunadharma and symbolizes Mt. Meru, the heart of the Buddhist universe. Construction spanned the 8th and 9th centuries when the Sailendra dynasty reigned maybe under Samaralungga’s rule. They were followers of Buddhism while many rival or past dynasties were more likely to be Hindu. With the mix of religions in the area, the construction coincided with the building of Hindu temples. Nonetheless, the temple (or possibly a stupa) was used for pilgrimages. It takes the form of a large punden berundak step pyramid, similar to the design of older Austronesian ones. …show more content…
For measurements, the builders used tala in a 4 to 6 to 9 ratio; talas were measurements based on the length given by the space between the chin and the forehead. A view from above causes the temple to appear similar to a Buddhist mandala with its square-like structure and circle in the center. The building can be divided into 3 areas: Kamadhatu, Rupadhatu, and Arupadhatu. The Kamadhatu is made of the base and is the place of desires. The Rupadhatu is comprised of the platforms in the middle and represents the place of forms. At the top is the Arupadhatu which is place without forms. Thus, as pilgrims navigate through the area, they are actually going through the journey to nirvana. At the beginning, as they walk around with the temple on the right in the practice of pradaksina, the pilgrims would notice bas reliefs that are possibly continuous narratives. They tell various Buddhist stories such as the birth of Buddha and everyday life. Those that are of notable status are in the tribhanga pose. They are found almost everywhere, and the reliefs helped historians studying various things even architectural history. However, the upper areas …show more content…
Another Buddhist temple, it was constructed in 1053 during Japan’s Heian era. Yorimichi had much wealth and power to build the temple as he was a kampaku, the chief advisor to the emperor. At the time, the true leaders were the emperor’s advisors, and the Fujiwara family had a monopoly on the advisor jobs. Thus, he took a family villa and transformed it into the temple that it still is today. The central hall (called Chudo) is flanked by open wings. Built on a stone base, the Chudo has a mock second story, one gabled roof which features Japanese clay tiles and Chinese influences. The architect designed the flanking wings to have raised eaves and a colonnade in the first floor, and the overall purpose of the wings is unknown. While no horizontal lines go through the building, they do balance the central hall. The architect incorporated the idea of ken, which was the accepted standard of size and proportion. Thus, this affected the spacing of column and the occurrence of partitions. The overall building is considered a shinden zukuri structure, a style which began appearing during the Heian period. Considered a type of landscape architecture, the style was used for aristocratic homes in which the chief space was the shinden. It was oriented toward the south to bring light in, and the general idea was to blend the domestic space with the nature outside. This type of architecture had profound impacts
The Buddha was and is an important figure in several different cultures, and his influence has spread over large areas. Across these different cultures, many forms of art portrayed him in different ways. In Japan, one of the Buddha’s titles stood out as the “Amida Buddha.” The statue that this paper will be detailing portrays “Amida, the Buddha of Infinite Light” (“Amida”). The statue is located in the Dayton Art Institute’s Japanese Art Gallery 105 with the acquisition number 1935.1. Created in the thirteenth century during the Kamakura period, this statue stands out in the Dayton Art Institute as a prominent Buddha figure. It is made of wood with lacquer and gilt, and it was built to be approximately the size of a normal person.
Maximilien Luce created a painting named Rue Ravignan, Paris. This artwork was made in 1893 and was created by using oil on canvas. The piece is representational by the manner in which he has created buildings, people, trees, and streetlamps which are clearly seen. The painting is of a dark street lit only by streetlamps which are created by small dots and the style called pointillism. This painting is very dark with purple, blue and pink hues. The street lamps are lit on casting a shadow from the person walking along the street and the man walking on the side walk hunched over. The person walking along the sidewalk seems to be an older gentleman holding a cane in his left hand and his shadow is seen on the wall beside him. The sky is blue
The principles, elements and structures of Buddhism have been practiced for hundreds of years. Artistic renditions of Buddha have also been portrayed in many different ways. Drawings, sculptures and statues are just a few of the many types of art forms created since the beginning of Buddhism. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has many different stylistic artworks that are exceptionally intriguing. In particular, I have chosen two pieces of artwork I consider to be most interesting. Both depict an image of Buddha from different time periods. This essay will compare and contrast “Seated Buddha” (image 1), a sculpture from the Gupta period, India, and “Seated Buddha” (image 2), a hard stone from the Qing Dynasty, China. By looking at these two images of Asian art, Seated Buddha from India and Seated Buddha from China, they are each associated with Buddhism and originated from one similar form. However, they are representative of two separate, major theologies throughout Asia: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism images exclusive to each time period.
Located in central Java in present day Indonesia, The Great Stupa of Borobudur is the world’s largest Buddhist monument. It was constructed sometime around AD 800 as a way of displaying visual teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. The Great Stupa of Borobudur is essentially a symbolic form of both a stupa, a sacred mound of earth with holy relics of the Buddha buried beneath, and a mandala, a mystic Buddhist symbol of the universe. Or as Catherine Albanese describes it “…the mandala meant a circle which signifies the wholeness of the self.” The architectural design of this stupa was different from anything that had come before it and every part of it had some significance in the world of Buddhism.
The first painting analyzed was North Country Idyll by Arthur Bowen Davis. The focal point was the white naked woman. The white was used to bring her out and focus on the four actual colored males surrounding her. The woman appears to be blowing a kiss. There is use of stumato along with atmospheric perspective. There is excellent use of color for the setting. It is almost a life like painting. This painting has smooth brush strokes. The sailing ship is the focal point because of the bright blue with extravagant large sails. The painting is a dry textured flat paint. The painting is evenly balanced. When I look at this painting, it reminds me of settlers coming to a new world that is be founded by its beauty. It seems as if they swam from the ship.
In his book Art for God’s Sake, Philip Ryken breaks away from “… a negative view of the arts” (11) which he perceives in the church and argues for the evangelistic and philosophical value of art. He attempts to defend the arts and outline how they ought to be used within the church, but his vision falls short. Art for God’s Sake contains important ideas, but it is poorly researched and fails to develop a complete vision of what it looks like for art to glorify God.
Buddhist steles are typically large, stone carvings meant to act as markers in prominent locations, such as temples, crossroads, or other Buddhist sites, in order to promote Buddhism. This stele in particular, entitled Shakyamuni and Prabhutaratna, is carved stone, standing 19.7” high. The work was created in China during the Eastern Wei period, sometime around 500 CE, and features indications of the late 5th-early 6th century such as the two seated buddhas and the dense robes worn by the buddhas. For it’s age, the stele is in respectable condition. All of the figures can be discerned from one another and the only obvious wear is around the edges of the stele, predominately on the left hand side. This wear could be from the object being transported from one place to another throughout its history, or from followers touching the piece while admiring it.
On the November 26th I went to London to view Ana Mendieta’s art exhibition: Traces at the Hayward gallery. Here I observed her work which focused on topics such as, what it is to belong in a modern society; the role of the body in art; the affect death has on people; feminism and the female body which was all reflected at the gallery. But, what really stood out to me when I was looking at her work was her use of nature, primitive-styled ritual and the utilization of her body which was displayed in works such as Imagen de Yagul along with, Earth Body where she blended herself into the environment. This particular subject interested me due to it being a recurring theme in many of her works; the intrigue that arises when seeing her being involved with the landscape and the point she is trying to put across to the viewer. In an interview, when asked what it is she did, she replied, “I work with earth, with nature and I make sculptures in the landscape and environments”1.
This year we have been studying natural forms, this has involved using many new and different materials and techniques.
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
While Still life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses by Paul Cézanne and Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill by Pieter Claesz vary in time period, and therefore style and composition, the message they portray is similar. Cezanne and Claesz differ greatly in technique, more specifically in perspective, brush stroke, composition and realism. Their separation in time does account for the discrepancies in technique but surprisingly does not affect the subject and message.
In Chapter 3 of her book Langa looks at 1930s prints of labor-related images as part of her larger project of offering a more nuanced reading of 1930s prints as active social documents on which the multiple and contradictory forces shaping America at the time found a visual outlet. She thus places these images within a larger socio-historical context to expand our understanding of what she prefers to call “social viewpoint, ” as opposed to “social realist,” prints by looking at them as multidimensional cultural artifacts. Her analysis is, therefore, informed by extensive research into the lives and/or politics of the artists who created the images included in the chapter, the social, political, and art historical milieu in which they were producing their works, and, ultimately, the reception(s) or potential reception(s) of the works by the different social groups and ideologies shaping the nation during the Depression years. After all, Langa argues, it was the particularity of this moment in American history that brought a working-class consciousness to many of the artists and, therefore, an interest in leftist politics and in labor-related themes previously ignored in mainstream American art.
The smell of burning incense seeped inside the temple walls, the ocean breeze always drafted though the house frequently giving me chills whenever we chanted, however, sitting next to my grandmother and seeing her smile always made me feel cozy and comforted. The shades of orange saffrons varied between each monk and always contrasted against the white walls of the temple. Shrines filled every corner of the temple but the shrine upstairs astonished me every time I visited. The complex layout and detailing of the vivid hues of food, candles, flowers, and crystals in the shrines was impeccable and necessary to express reverence and gratitude for Buddha. The strong scent of lemongrass meat, fresh rice, and seasonal fruit flowed from the kitchen to the living room. Which always used to distract me. On the contrary, ever since my grandmother passed away I am now unable to attend temples. My grandpa would always tease me and bug me if I were to ever visit the temple again and thus, would be one of the conflicts I experienced. My mom would state that I didn’t believe in God nor Jesus because I didn't go to sermons. In like manner, my peers would always argue that I can only believe in one religion, not two. The fading conflict of attending temples was a relief but food was another opponent on the rise to introduce another conflict
Buddhism has affected many people. From the Buddha’s first followers to my next door neighbor, people everywhere have followed the teachings of Buddhism. Buddhism was started by a Prince; a prince who wanted more. Many different ways of showing appreciation to Buddha are present in today’s society as well as when Buddhism was first started. There are paintings, carvings, statues and buildings dedicated to Buddha, but one of the most prevalent of these ways of appreciation is the Byodoin Temple in Uji, Japan. This temple is a beautiful example of Japanese Buddhist architecture, including painting and carvings inside. To understand the full impact of this temple and its contents, we must first understand Buddhist thought. By starting with Buddha and going through Buddhist thought, art and the period in which the Byodoin was constructed, we will learn the true impact of this building on the Buddhist culture.
...re that was most unique to the Early Dynastic period was the oval enclosure with a centralized platform to lend stability to the shrine. Storage were found near the enclosure. The Temple Oval at Khafaje best exemplifies the unique formation of the oval enclosure in the temples. This enclosure had a double perimeter wall present which was highly unusual for enclosures. Another oval temple was found that Tell al Ubaid, which had a rectangular platform in the center. In the front of this platform there were elaborate decorations, which were belived to have fallen from the façade of the temple which had stood on the platform. Besides these oval temples there were also plans of temples with a number of single or double roomed shrines, one noteworthy temple is from Tell Chuera in North Syria. This design plan yields a closer resemblance to the west and megaron buildings.