Art history spans the entire
history of humankind, from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century.
Whether you like to observe caveman paintings or Botticelli angels, you can
find visual arts that challenge your creative side and inspire you to find
beauty in manmade forms.
In modern times, art history has emerged as a discipline that specializes in teaching people how to evaluate and interpret works of art based on their own perspective. Art history has frequently been criticized for its subjectivity because the definition of what is beautiful varies from individual to individual. Learning to evaluate what you see by building on the art forms you already know can develop your aesthetic understanding.
Claude Monet once said, “It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.”
In keeping with Monet, consider how to observe as many works of art as possible. You will develop a sense of your favorite styles and time periods, and you will be able to use the vocabulary of art to discuss your appreciation of art with others. If you love Botticelli, you will be able to recognize the theme he chooses for each painting and which symbols and figures he uses most often during the Renaissance.
Combining exposure to art history with the desire to foster art appreciation in others represents a happy medium. The art teacher or art historian can inspire you with a survey of the many time periods in art history. For example, you can become a huge fan of the Renaissance because, like the French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish masters, you share the same desire to reconcile humanism with human religion.
Art history requires you to study and describe what you see in terms of the design elements of line, shape, color, value, and texture. Once you write a response to one work of art, you can compare it to another work of art. An alternative is to make comparisons and contrasts between artists and their artistic works with the mind’s eye. As you explore the fascinating world of art, a beautiful collection of thousands of years of human experience, you will want to travel farther from your home to see works of art in person.
The great thing about the Internet is that the world’s art repositories bring famous works of visual art to you through online exhibitions and virtual tours. However you decide to develop your sense of art history and appreciation, look for every opportunity to enrich your life with paintings, prints, mixed media, sculpture, and drawings.
In modern times, art history has emerged as a discipline that specializes in teaching people how to evaluate and interpret works of art based on their own perspective. Art history has frequently been criticized for its subjectivity because the definition of what is beautiful varies from individual to individual. Learning to evaluate what you see by building on the art forms you already know can develop your aesthetic understanding.
Claude Monet once said, “It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.”
In keeping with Monet, consider how to observe as many works of art as possible. You will develop a sense of your favorite styles and time periods, and you will be able to use the vocabulary of art to discuss your appreciation of art with others. If you love Botticelli, you will be able to recognize the theme he chooses for each painting and which symbols and figures he uses most often during the Renaissance.
Combining exposure to art history with the desire to foster art appreciation in others represents a happy medium. The art teacher or art historian can inspire you with a survey of the many time periods in art history. For example, you can become a huge fan of the Renaissance because, like the French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish masters, you share the same desire to reconcile humanism with human religion.
Art history requires you to study and describe what you see in terms of the design elements of line, shape, color, value, and texture. Once you write a response to one work of art, you can compare it to another work of art. An alternative is to make comparisons and contrasts between artists and their artistic works with the mind’s eye. As you explore the fascinating world of art, a beautiful collection of thousands of years of human experience, you will want to travel farther from your home to see works of art in person.
The great thing about the Internet is that the world’s art repositories bring famous works of visual art to you through online exhibitions and virtual tours. However you decide to develop your sense of art history and appreciation, look for every opportunity to enrich your life with paintings, prints, mixed media, sculpture, and drawings.
Mesopotamian sculpture
Art of the ancient civilizations
that grew up in the area around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, now in Iraq.
Mesopotamian art was largely used to glorify powerful dynasties, and often
reflected the belief that kingship and the divine were closely interlocked.
Sumerian (3500–2300 BC) The first of the powerful Mesopotamian civilizations, Sumer was concentrated in the cities of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerians built temples on top of vast ziggurats (stepped towers) and also vast, elaborately decorated palaces. Sculptures include erect, stylized figures carved in marble and characterized by clasped hands and huge eyes; those found in the Abu Temple, Tell Asmar, date from 2700BC. Earlier sculptures in alabaster, such as the Female Head(3000 BC; Iraq Museum, Baghdad), show a greater naturalism and sensitivity. Inlay work is seen in the Standard of UR, a box decorated with pictures in lapis lazuli, shell, and red sandstone. The Sumerians, who are thought to have invented writing about 3000 BC, produced many small, finely carved cylindrical seals made of marble, alabaster, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and stone. The Sumerians, like the ancient Egyptians who were more or less their contemporaries, believed in an afterlife, and so their tombs were well furnished with art, furniture, and other items to prepare them for the next world.
Akkadian (2300–2150 BC) The Akkadian invaders quickly assimilated Sumerian styles. The stele (decorated upright slab) Victory of Naram-Sin (2200 BC; Louvre, Paris), carved in relief, depicts a military campaign of the warlike Akkadians’. The technical and artistic sophistication of bronze sculpture is illustrated by the Head of an Akkadian King (2200 BC; Iraq Museum, Baghdad).
Assyrian (1400–600 BC) The characteristic Assyrian art form was narrative relief sculpture. Unlike the other southern Mesopotamian peoples, the Assyrians had access to large quantities of stone, and their many carved reliefs have consequently survived well. These shallow carvings were used to decorate palaces, for example, the Palace of Ashurbanipal (7th century BC). Its finely carved reliefs include dramatic scenes of a lion hunt, now in the British Museum, London. Winged bulls with human faces, carved partially in the round, stood as sentinels at the royal gateways (Louvre, Paris).
Babylonian (625–538 BC) Babylon came to artistic prominence in the 6th century BC, when it flourished under King Nebuchadnezzar II. He built the Hanging gardens of Babylon a series of terraced gardens. The Babylonians practiced all the Mesopotamian arts and excelled in brightly colored glazed tiles, used to create relief sculptures. An example is the Ishtar Gate (about 575 BC) from the Temple of Bel, the biblical Tower of Babel (Pergamon Museum, Berlin, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Sumerian (3500–2300 BC) The first of the powerful Mesopotamian civilizations, Sumer was concentrated in the cities of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerians built temples on top of vast ziggurats (stepped towers) and also vast, elaborately decorated palaces. Sculptures include erect, stylized figures carved in marble and characterized by clasped hands and huge eyes; those found in the Abu Temple, Tell Asmar, date from 2700BC. Earlier sculptures in alabaster, such as the Female Head(3000 BC; Iraq Museum, Baghdad), show a greater naturalism and sensitivity. Inlay work is seen in the Standard of UR, a box decorated with pictures in lapis lazuli, shell, and red sandstone. The Sumerians, who are thought to have invented writing about 3000 BC, produced many small, finely carved cylindrical seals made of marble, alabaster, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and stone. The Sumerians, like the ancient Egyptians who were more or less their contemporaries, believed in an afterlife, and so their tombs were well furnished with art, furniture, and other items to prepare them for the next world.
Akkadian (2300–2150 BC) The Akkadian invaders quickly assimilated Sumerian styles. The stele (decorated upright slab) Victory of Naram-Sin (2200 BC; Louvre, Paris), carved in relief, depicts a military campaign of the warlike Akkadians’. The technical and artistic sophistication of bronze sculpture is illustrated by the Head of an Akkadian King (2200 BC; Iraq Museum, Baghdad).
Assyrian (1400–600 BC) The characteristic Assyrian art form was narrative relief sculpture. Unlike the other southern Mesopotamian peoples, the Assyrians had access to large quantities of stone, and their many carved reliefs have consequently survived well. These shallow carvings were used to decorate palaces, for example, the Palace of Ashurbanipal (7th century BC). Its finely carved reliefs include dramatic scenes of a lion hunt, now in the British Museum, London. Winged bulls with human faces, carved partially in the round, stood as sentinels at the royal gateways (Louvre, Paris).
Babylonian (625–538 BC) Babylon came to artistic prominence in the 6th century BC, when it flourished under King Nebuchadnezzar II. He built the Hanging gardens of Babylon a series of terraced gardens. The Babylonians practiced all the Mesopotamian arts and excelled in brightly colored glazed tiles, used to create relief sculptures. An example is the Ishtar Gate (about 575 BC) from the Temple of Bel, the biblical Tower of Babel (Pergamon Museum, Berlin, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Latika Parmar
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