Art History

                                    Buddhism was a faith that was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, "The Buddha", more than 2,500 years ago in India. With about 470 million followers, scholars consider it to be one of the major world religions. The practice of Buddhism has historically been more prominent in East and Southwest Asia.                    Followers of Buddhism don't believe in a supreme god or deity. They instead focus on trying to achieve a state of enlightenment - a state of inner peace and wisdom. When followers reach this state of enlightenment they are said to have reached nirvana. The path to enlightenment is attained by utilizing mortality, meditation, and wisdom. Buddhists often meditate because they believe that it helps awaken the truth. The religions founder, Buddha, is considered to be an extraordinary man, but not a God. Buddh...

                When people think of the word Gothic in the modern day they usually think of things that are dark, haunted houses, or people wearing black nail polish, dark clothes, and ripped fishnets. The original Gothic style was actually created to bring sunshine into people's lives. It was mainly used in churches, castles, and other buildings with great meaning.                 To get past the modern definition of Gothic, it's best to go back to the very start of the word. The Goths were a so-called barbaric tribe who held power in different regions of Europe, between the collapse of the Roman empire and the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire. These people were not known for great achievements in architecture though.                 The Gothic style grew out of the Romanesque architectural style. From roughly 1000 to 1400, several significant cathedr...

  The ancient Greeks viewed the nude form very differently than we do today. Male nudes were the ideal form. Women were depicted as clothed in the ancient times. Female nudes were rare at this time in comparison to the countless male nudes.  Most classical artists' goal was to create a convincing illusion for their viewers. Artists who sculpted the images of gods and goddesses tried to make their statues appear like a real life figure.   An example of this is the sculpture Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles, who was one of the most renown sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was also the first to sculpt a nude female form in a life size statue. This sculpture was so lifelike that legends were spread about the statue coming to life and speaking to people.  The "Aphrodite of Knidos" was one of Praxiteles' most famous works, and quite possibly one of the most famous sculptures of Classical Greece. His work inspired artists for centuries to come.  This sculpture was s...

The artwork shown here is a lidded saltcellar from the 15th to 16th century. It is an example of extraordinarily skilled workmanship and shows an important convergence of cultures. It is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of art in New York, New York. It is 11 and 3/4 inches tall or 29.8 cm.   The material used to make it is ivory and it was made by the Sapi-Portuguese. The Sapi sculptors who made it were working on this piece of art in what is now Sierra Leone. In the second half of the 15th century Portuguese explorers and traders were very impressed with the talent of the ivory carvers along the coast of West Africa. Because of this they were inspired to start making works of their own for their patrons. They combined European and African forms to their artworks. Also during this period, salt and pepper were serious commodities and elaborate containers were considered appropriate for the storage of them in homes. Salt was pretty rare though and only wealthy people were able to...

  The Linguist Staff is from the 19th century to the early 20th century. It is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This gold covered staff was created to serve like a badge for an okyeame, which is a high ranking adviser to an Asante ruler. The position of okyeame comes with a set of responsibilities. These responsibilities include meditation, judicial advocacy, political troubleshooting, and the preservation and interpretation of royal history. The okyeame also engages in verbal discussions on behalf of the chief and his visitors.   They repeat the words of visitors to the king and then delivers the kings response back to the visitors.  The imagery on the Linguist Staff is a spider on its web being held up by two figures.  This image represents the proverb, "No one goes to the house of the spider to teach it wisdom."   The spider is meant to be a symbol for respect to a person with great oratorical and diplomatic skills. The rest of the st...

  Qui Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin Dynasty. He ruled over China from 247 to 221 BC. He took the throne at just 13 years old. Qin Shi Huang molded the Chinese empire by dividing the land into 36 different areas, each with a governor, a military leader, and an imperial inspector. He moved multiple families from their homes to the capital of China so that he could keep a close eye on them. He also confiscated all weapons, and the currency changed. Also during his rule there were hundreds of thousands of men who were building border defenses along the Yellow river that stretched over more than 3,000 miles. This was the start of the Great Wall of China.  One of Qin Shi Huang's life goals was to conquer death. He wanted to achieve immortality so he decided to build himself a tomb. He started the construction on his tomb shortly after he took the throne. His reasoning for building the tomb was to have an army to protect him in the after life. His tomb was discovered in 1974 b...