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The relationship between art and history
Art before history
Art history
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Art Stands Tall for Human Values
In 2008 a group of archaeologist unearthed what could now be the world’s oldest statue. This larger than life statuette stands at whopping 2 ½ inches tall with an estimated carving date from 35,000 to 40,000 years ago from a mammoth tusk. The form of the statuette is that of female figure missing her head and feet with a primary focus on reproductive organs. Due to the pornographic nature of the statue archaeologist believe that the statue’s purpose and function is to represent longevity and fertility. No matter if you believe man crawled from primordial ooze or if a being of higher authority created man, humans have continued to express emotion, experiences and values through the artistic expression of statues. Over the millennia statues have continued to progress and reflect those human characteristics and values that are reflective of the era they were created. At times they are used to share stories that express victories to tragedies, life and death, religious beliefs, gods and goddesses. One other aspect that humans use statues is to convey values that are important to that society’s social structure. For some statues those human values are shared in a rather large way by reaching new heights and overcoming natural limitations. One might also state that with such a rich history of mankind’s creative appetite for statues it can be difficult to decide which ones to review. That being the case one cannot begin to discuss statues and the human values they represent without starting off with one close to the shores of the United States who expresses liberty for all the huddled masses yearning to be free.
Did you know that the Statue of Liberty was originally designed as a lighthouse for...
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...tue damaged. Stone used to repair the statue was collected from the original quarry. Recently again in January of 2014 the statue was damaged from electrical storm and is in process of restoration today. This time instead of scaffolding being placed around the monument workers use rappelling ropes suspended from the statue so not to impeded visitors to the site.
I hope through this article the reader has gained a better understanding how the human race has used sculpting and statues to share the values, experiences and emotions from our rich history. From the shores of liberty, to the museums of strength, to the cities of courage and the beach towns of peace the reader can find a rich history of human values. Everyone should be encouraged to conduct their own research into other statues created and review the values that they are built to reflect and share.
In this paper I am exploring “Portrait of Augustus as general” and “Khafre enthroned”. From exploring and getting to know the Statues in my Art History Book I have compared these statues (Kleiner, 2013). The first and most obvious similarity between the two is in the artists’ idealization and immortalization of their subjects. Both Khafre and Augustus are portrayed in an idealized manner, designed to give the impression of nobility, timelessness, and divinity. The two statues were the political advertisements of their times that showed the public images of reliable leaders who one
Around the time 530 bce a statue was carved out of marble and given the name Anavyos Kouros. It represents a male figure completely nude. It is a sculpture in the round and stands a height of six foot four inches. Starting from the top we see the man's head. His hair looks odd to that of a normal human, it does not look like it belongs on his head. Looking at his facial structure his eyes are large similar to art of ancient Egypt. His nose, lips, cheeks, and ears are well defined and proportional. His body is muscular and he looks to be in great shape. The sculptor who made this paid close
The human form transcends throughout time persistently present in art. Dating all the way back to Paleolithic human beings our renderings of idealized forms have served many purposes. Though the Neolithic and Paleolithic purpose of these renderings is widely speculative the range of reason for these depictions ranges from idolization and worship to assertion of aristocratic and economic status even to simply serving as statements of self-expression. Amongst ruins and artifacts, sculptures of ancient cultures demonstrate the ways in which humans perceptions of what is aesthetically desirable have progressed. Two idealized sculptures the Woman from Willendorf and the Khafre statue with approximately 21,500 years separating their individual gestations this demonstrate the stylistic progression of idealized imagery through time.
The small, crudely carved statuette of an obese woman contrasts heavily with the graceful classical forms of sculpture such as Aphrodite of Cnidos, Praxiteles, 350 BCE. Although it would be difficult to associate the word beautiful with this statuette, there can be no doubt that it reflects the female form. The statuette has also been known as “la poire” or “the pear” due to its size and shape and more recently was donned the Woman from Willendorf. The removal of the title Venus served to take away the figurine’s status as a goddess and lower it to the human level, therefore allowing more consideration of the figurine’s purpose (Witcombe, sec. 3. The adage of the adage.
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
Statues and shrines of Our Lady of Consolation can be found in thousands of cities around the world. Constructed of marble, wood, or other stone, these replicas hold a special aura about them. One such sculpture of Our Lady of Consolation, located in Leopold, Indiana, has a fascinating history entirely its own. July 4, 2002 marked the 135th year since the statue had reached the shores of America (Hackmann 1). As the result of a promise, the replica of Our Lady found its new home in southern Indiana. Following their capture and shipment to the horrid Civil War prison at Andersonville, four young men—Isidore Naviaux, Henry Devillez, Lambert Rogier, and Xavier Rogier—endured appalling conditions and made an oath to pay tribute to Our Lady of Consolation if one survived.
America’s history-both good and bad-has much to teach us. Taking down, destroying these monuments is erasing, rewriting the physical symbols of the nation. This type of cultural whitewashing is inglorious. We can treat these monuments as a cautionary tool to remind ourselves what we are and what we are not. The cost forebears paid for the freedom of the nation should be remembered; therefore, people should retain these statues to remind of themselves what these monuments represent.
The statue of King Menkaure and his Queen exhibits with clarity the Egyptian devotion of art to a cannon of proportions. Its strictly frontal view point, the rigid poses of the figures, and a faithful accordance to rules and established customs can be interpreted as manifesting the nature of the Pharaoh’s authority over his subjects while at the same time exemplifying the highly regulated, hierarchical structure of ancient Egyptian society. The measured grid of verticals and counterbalancing horizontals, the stiff artificial postures and the overall idealized anatomical shapes of the bodies combined with naturalism is indicative of Egyptian taste for art and a representation of the character of Egyptian culture.
In my examination of the works, I came across a particular sculpture that portrayed both beauty and craftsmanship. A 15th century sculpture (1490), made in Venice, Italy by Tullio Lombardo, shows a life-size figure of Adam. Titled Adam, the work is the most prominent in the gallery mostly because of its 6-foot standing. It immediately caught my attention and gave me a very realistic impression. One beige color and made of marble, Adam is depicted simply, yet the statue has intense emotions. His meaningful glance is seen in the upward and tilted head position. Adam has almost lifeless looking eyes and seems to be staring into the distance. With these sagging eyes, parted lips, and lacking posture I feel Adam’s guilt is displayed in this figure.
If you look closely, you can see the scrapings of lines made from the tool used to sculpt the stone. In addition, if you look close, you can see that at one time this sculpture was completely covered vibrant colors. At first, I was not aware of what polychrome or gilding was, but apparently, it is in reference to the color or painting of a piece and the technique used. I only realized this while looking under the soldier's clothing. This tells me that the soldiers were dressed in blue uniforms. The reason for the loss of color of the sculpture is unknown to me, but I could figure that since it was created in the thirteenth century, that time has taken its toll, or maybe at one point someone had stripped it of its color.
The metropolitan museum is the largest art museum in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. Upon going to the museum I found myself wondering how I can choose three artifacts out of nearly a million different relics. After spending countless hours roaming the three story museum and looking at the vast amount of artifacts I found myself overwhelmed with inspiration to write this analysis. The only dilemma was how one can narrow down the selection to three relics out of hundreds of thousands. After sometime I picked the three relics that I found interesting, spiritual, and showed a significance in modern and ancient history. The three relicts I will discuss in this essay are the following; Family Tree, Emperor’s Twelve-Symbol Robe, and lastly Mans Shirt, these three artifacts show in my opinion how god, the spirit and the universe all reflect upon the individual wearing the clothing/stories painted upon the person.
a shift can be seen from idealized and nearly perfect sculptures to sculptures that had a natural and real feel to them. These newer statues were sculpted with the notion of Realism weighing more than the concept of Idealism. The subjects’ body was not in a state of military attention, they were placed in a more natural, yet still graceful position. Realistic sculptures also did not embellish the muscular physique of the subject; the muscle definition was displayed more subtly and naturally. The weight of Realistic statues is not distributed in a balanced, geometric fashion like the Ideal statues. The Realistic statues balance their weight just as a real person would in motion which gives the sculpture a more graceful and natural
Across cultures, continents, and worlds, the majority of things within the scope of our very own humanity can be boiled down to two things: those who are dominant, and those who get dominated. Within these statuses lie stories of power struggles, rebellion, the rising and falling of those with influence, and the interconnection between a being with power and the people under his ruling. Through the visual works catered to this subject, we will discuss themes such as the power of immortalization, divinity amongst humans, what it really means to be a ruler, and many other details making up the ever-present, multifaceted relationship between rulers and their subject. With the assistance of the Blanton Museum of Art, I will be able to showcase
At the beginning of this whole ordeal, I was right beside those who protested the removal of the monument. I thought about the First Amendment right: Freedom of Religion. Chief Justice Moore and his anonymous helpers took it upon themselves to put the monument there. But after I found out how the monument was placed there without consent of the court. This gave me one good reason why the monument should be moved.
People of Je-ju have developed and kept their traditions for a long period. This island represents a home to thousands of local legends. “Stone grandfather,” originally named Dol Hareungbang, was constructed and carved from a block of basalt. Tall, short, and cylinder-shaped wooden and rock structures painted with only black and grey color and sometimes those are hard to notice along the highway. Every moment I see this statue, it freaks me out because when I see it from far away, it looks like a tall person standing still, but moving closer and closer you might realize it is just a rock shaped into human form. I was so curious I stepped more closer and glanced through the details of the statue. When I touched it, the texture was rough, hard,