A Greek funerary plaque, these often decorated the walls of ancient tombs, created in a beautiful terracotta medium. These are dated in the late sixth century BC. Often these plaques would show different funeral customs, myths associated with death, or events within the culture. The plaque shown is a light umber in color, with a funeral scene etched out in black and white engravings into the smooth surface. The figures are very geometric in style and simplified. Even so, each figure seems to still have somewhat differentiating features from one another. How they are places in relation to each other creates a sense of rhythm within the piece. Helping guide the viewer, and lends itself to the illusion of the element of time. The scene is a
“In this national cemetery, the marble headstones are so close together, they almost touch. The markers appear to be one long headstone, as if one grave grew out of the other" (Roberts xi).... ... middle of paper ... ...
I saw that soldier’s faces were lit eerily in the dim light. The sculptures apparel seemed fitting due to the light rain that was falling at the memorial site. I noticed the wall glimmering as the raindrops slid down the glassy surface and fall into the wilting flowers while the images illuminated from the glare of rain and light. I felt this morbid and realistic presence of the soldiers and for a mere second felt the gloom and menace of the war they were in. I walked around the site to gather more information on what the memorial was dedicated to. I walked past the mural wall and as I did I paid particular attention to the various images of people and equipment on the wall. All of the facial expressions of the people on the wall gave the memorial a very real presence to it. I continued walking down the granite walk and I read it was the Korean War Veterans Memorial and immediately got the message the artists were trying to convey. It was very clear that they were showing the public that freedom is not free. The memorial symbolizes the soldiers that have fought for the freedom of others and it recognizes the importance of these actions and
Archaeology and the Trojan War “. he [Heinrich Schliemann] found layers of ruins. and two bore unmistakable signs of violent destruction. One of these layers, the seventh according to more recent excavators, was no doubt the city of Priam and Hector. The historicity of the Homeric tale has been demonstrated archaeologically.”
Without writing, those sculpture will be inconspicuous, as time goes by this period of history will be faded away, fortunately, word on the stone have magic power which can make sculptures become meaningful. Second, the function of writing, words are a good media to let us leave traces, writing comes into being to retain information across time and across space, people in paleolithic age paint images in clay and on the cave wall. As we mentioned in class, writing has five forms. Pictographic, writing the picture with enough details. Ideographic, writing with general ideas, no detail exists. Logographic, writing the word, one symbol equal one word, take fish as an example, the word fish combine several triangles in different directions with two straight lines. Photographic, a writing linked with the syllable, and alphabetic, one symbol for one phoneme. These five forms reflect the progress of writing's development, the new civilization arising brought the alphabet to a high degree of perfection, and divergent routes led alphabets spread almost all over the world, expect Greece which doesn't need the alphabet to create literature. Third, the writing was entangled with speaking, sometimes the mixing of the visual and the auditory will create puzzles, to some extent, writing is a good way to stain human
Marble statue of a kouros (youth), Greek, Attic, ca. 590-580 B.C. Fletcher Fund, 1932. Accession number: 32.11.1
Throughout the history of Ancient Greece thousands of great works of art were produced. Works were created in many different media, ranging from life-size statues to larger than life architectural structures. One type of art that can sometimes be overlooked, though, is pottery. There are many examples of great Greek pottery, but the two that will be used as a sample are Artemis Slaying Actaeon and Woman and Maid. By considering the backgrounds of these works, and comparing them directly we are able get a taste not only of the artistic styles of the time, but also a taste of ancient Greek culture.
The medium is Granodiorite and the technique used was sunken relief, which is a technique were the sculptor chisels deep outlines below the stone’s surface. The sculpture does not seem to be originally painted. The Egyptians created coloristic effects through contrasting shadows and highlights. They used natural pigments to color some sculptures, however this was not the case. There are deeply cut areas in the back of the statue that create deep shadows and the use of natural light helps to bring up the highlights. The granodiorite has natural colors that helped the sculptor show more of those shadows and highlights. The statue is mostly in a warm hue and it may be caused because of the lighting inside the museum. These warm colors make the details stand out more. At a closer look of the structure there are different colors that can be easily identified, such as white, yellow, brown, black, gray and small spots of orange. The statues seems to be carved in one piece. There are no signs indicating it
Nothing is promised in life except for one thing and that is death! Everyone has to eventually die but in African cultures they believe that there is life after death and this where ancestors reside. Art works are there to help serve as a point of contact between the living and the dead. In the country of Gabon in central Africa the Kota people have a guardian figure made to hold, honor and protect the bones on their ancestors. “The traditional religion of Kota centered around ancestors who are believed to wield power in the afterlife as they had as living leaders of the community.” Ancestors are respected elders who have passed away and who continues to serve as an extension of a family and community. In the image below I will explain some of the parts found on the figure. If you have noticed there is no mouth on the figure and that is because the ancestors no longer communicate with words. Below the neck there is a diamond shaped part of the figure which happens to be the arms, these are used to tightly hold onto the remains of the ancestor’s bones. “Wooden sculptures covered with sheets of copper and brass, known as reliquary or guardian figures, were attached to the baskets containing bones. Some believe that the figures were an abstract portrait of the deceased individual, while others argue that they were merely to protect the spirt of the deceased from evil.”
Both of these pieces of art have much in common. Their functions are almost identical. Both were used to mark burial sites and to honor the deceased buried there. The body language of both the pieces’ figures are similar, with one seated and several others standing around them. Neither has color, but unlike the grave stele, the funerary banquet does show some degree of emotion. The figures in the banquet scene have slight smiles. These pieces played an important role in their times, honoring those who had passed on to the afterlife. For both of these people, it was important to memorialize them very similar to our practices today.
The Mummy Portrait of a Woman from Faiyum, Egypt (ca. 100-110 A.D.) and the Bust of a Roman Matron from Alexandria, Egypt (ca. 140-150 A.D.) both commemorate a female individual by realistically depicting them, and endowing them with a sense of nobility and virtue. However, each work conveys this sense of individuality through the employment of different mediums and techniques. The Mummy Portrait follows the Egyptian tradition of mummification that has been in place for over 3,000 years, while also adapting to Roman artistic practices of encaustic individualized portrait painting. The Bust of a Roman Matron, on the other hand, follows the Italian Roman tradition of stone working that has been in place for more than 100 years, which indicates
Stelae are slabs of wood or stone “usually bearing inscriptions, reliefs or paintings,” and they came in various shapes and sizes. Throughout history, they were used for many different purposes. Jimmy Dunn mentioned that “in ancient Egypt, stelae were erected most frequently as tombstones and as boundary markers, but also as Votive and commemorative monuments.” Stelae being used as tombstones is why modern headstones, which are tall, and round at the top, bear an uncanny resemblance to stelae from the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom.
The other objects in the paintings are subordinate to the skull. Both paintings use common objects that allude to wealth, beauty, and knowledge, such as jewelry, coins, flowers, and books. The passage of time is portrayed by an hourglass, a clock, and a burning candle. Each object has a unique symbolic meaning that contributes to the overall message the artists wanted to convey. Both of these paintings exhibit asymmetrical balance and not symmetrical balance. The scale and proportion of the objects depicted are
The plaque under consideration, is of a forward facing man, with an aquiline nose, thin lips, neatly trimmed beard, wearing a sun hat with flaps and looking intently at the viewer. He is dressed in a typical 16th century Portuguese style, wearing a decorated tunic with padded shoulders and tight breeches with short boots. He has a business like manner, carrying in his right hand a brass manilla, the main item of exchange with Benin, and a walking cane in the other. It is significant that he is not armed, clearly indicating he is safe in foreign surroundings. The background is pleasingly stylised with clusters of petals set against a stippled ground imbuing a secure feeling.
The primary focus of ancient Greek sculptures was that of the human body. Almost all Greek sculptures are of nude subjects. As the first society to focus on nude subjects, Greek sculptors attempted to "depict man in what they believed was the image of the gods and so would come to celebrate the body by striving for verisimilitude or true – likeness (realism and naturalism!)."(Riffert) Not only did the Greeks celebrate the human form in their art but also in everyday life. (Riffert) One of the favorite topics for sculptors was that of the athlete. In Greek culture athletes were described as "hero–athletes". (Riffert) This shows that athletes were revered and looked upon as heroes. The influence of athleticism is evident in many famous sculptures. I will attempt to show how the human form influenced Greek art. It is important to note that many of the Greek sculptures discussed do not exist in their original form but rather in Roman copies of the original bronze sculptures. (Riffert)
...By adding these hieroglyphs the meaning of the space changes. The monumentality of the grand scale of the columns still remains, giving the space its importance and power. Again there is still no defined point in time, which the photo is set in on observation.