The Forms Of Art : The Art Of Asian Art

Like the Kushan people. The Kushan mixed Greek and Buddhist art. They also were the first people to have artwork that depicted Buddha in human form, with him resembling the Greek God Apollo. Religious beliefs were also exchanged.

Every religion in this world has their own culture and thereby their own creative forms, like art, dance, architecture, music and craft. Like the tradition varies from each religion to religion so as their Art. I chose to compare Art forms of Islamic Art and Hinduism Art, as Art have always exited me and inspired me in many ideas, and secondly arts have its own history and reasoning.

In this essay I will be discussing about the different art styles between ancient China and the world of Islam. First off, let's go over ancient China. China has been creating pottery way before the invention of the potter's wheel, hence the reason I think they have a great deal of art in pottery and stoneware. China excelled in objects such as bronze, jade, and silk. Architecturally, ancient China had buildings that featured interlocking clusters of wood brackets, rafters, and tile roofing. In ancient China the painted scrolls they often used vivid colors and showed faces or bodies. Lastly China at this time was very into Buddhism, as buddha is seen in a lot of the art dated back to the ancient times. Now to go over the world of Islam. Islam has a lot of art put into their buildings.

The United States is the "land of the free, and the home of the brave" according to the song, but there is a dichotomy that exists between those who have called the United States their home for a long period of time, and those who are immigrating to the US. Asian Americans are a group that very few think of as having difficulties because the stereotype is of a group that is intelligent and is actually doing better than the average American. While this may seem to be true, better grades in a school setting does not mean that people who come from other countries are not experiencing racism (both overt and subtle), stereotyping and alienation in this country. Although there has been some difficulty, many groups are experiencing newfound hope because of the actions that they are taking. The plight, and the hope of the Asian cultures are being documented by artists of different stripes who are eager to depict what has happened to Asians as they try to build their own America, and assimilate into the one that was built before they came. In this paper, the Asian American cultures will be examined through the art that has been produced over the many years that Asian people have striven to make their way as new Americans.

The distance required to convert to Buddhism was greatly decreased and this allowed for more people to join. This greatly appealed to the diverse peoples outside of India. One way that Buddhism spread throughout the world was along the Silk Roads. “In addition to silk traders, monks traveled along Afro-Eurasian trade arteries to spread the word of new religions.2 Buddhism traveled from India to China and central Asia, following the Silk Roads. The transmission of the ideas of Buddhism to China and other eastward areas was aided by translated Buddhist texts and converts. A Buddhist Manuscript of the Great Dagoba (Doc A) exemplifies the way that these ideas were transmitted in the early days of Buddhism. This document suggests that monasteries and stupas, a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing Buddhist relics3, played a major role in the spread of Buddhism in the east Asia because of the creation of texts such as these. Art found from the central area of India is called Mathuran art. This Mathuran art evolved from the carved idols of South Asian folk gods and goddesses. Another example of the importance of temples to Buddhism is shown on an Indian Temple relief. The relief describes the propitious alignment of the heavenly bodies on the day that the temple was founded. This is important because it means that the native peoples

Introduced by a mission from Korea in 552 C.E., Buddhism has long been a central theme in Japanese artwork. Since the king of Paekche, a kingdom in the South East of the Korean peninsula, first gave the Japanese emperor a bronze Buddha statue, the Buddhist art forms that were periodically introduced from China and Korea were tempered in the crucible of local custom and usage, to yield a rich tradition of religious art.

The subject of this piece is a Buddha named Maitreya. He is a strongly built man wearing a robe that drapes fluidly off of his body. The piece is constructed from gild bronze and was crafted using piece mold casting. Maitreya faces onlookers with open arms and a smile. The piece was obviously meant to be placed against a wall, as is obvious from the fact that the back is left open and is not meant for display.

The religions and cultures of Asia have come to be thought of as mystical by western civilizations, yet the ideologies of these religions are prominently stereotyped in western culture. In these Asian religions, there are three main teachings, Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Although all three of these religions are classified as their own, many people that practice one of these religions will also identify with another. When it comes to Asian religions, the western world creates vast images and conceptualizes religion in a satirical way. While most people in western cultures like the United States and United Kingdom will believe that Buddhism is a religion, most do not associate Daoism and Confucianism as a religion.

In a short section of chapter 18 “Non-Western Perspectives” of Understanding Art, Lois Fichner-Rathus explains the architectural detail in the pyramid temple of Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan. By adding that the high-relief heads surrounding the structure are images of the God Quetzalcoatl—who was believed to be a feathered serpent (425). Additionally, points out the bas-reliefs details of abstract serpent scales and feathers that follow the paths of the panels (425). And lastly, briefly mentions that the Aztec population believed in the God Quetzalcoatl.

Moreover, with origins in Pakistan, it is no wonder that their regional depiction of Maitreya is much different than the Chinese Buddhist images I’m used to.

The final important difference in the arts were the religious art both cultures had. As I mentioned earlier, early Islamic art didn’t have pictures of Allah or humans so there wouldn’t be an icon created to worship instead of Allah himself. The ancient Chinese religion had to do with ancestors and was eased out by Daoism and

Portrait of an Arhat (Rakan) was created in Edo period of the Japanese art culture. This period started in 1615-1868 when culture expression started to really blossom for the Japanese culture (Singer). From statues, lavish paintings, and religion the art speaks vibrant vibrations. This culturally diverse period gets its name from the city of Edo, known as Tokyo modern day. Which became the headquarters of the government when Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542 – 1616) unified the country (Department of Asian Art). The Tokugawa regime was started in 1603, when the emperor, in “recognition of Ieyasu’s supremacy on the battlefield”, appointed him shogun. Shogun is the highest military position you can carry in Japan (Singer). After this Japan had strict laws on not using motor vehicles were put into place. Going into the 1630s, contact with the outside world was stopped through “official prohibition of foreigners” (Department of Asian Art). Around 1720 Edo had a population of “more than one million residents having more population than London or Paris at the time” (Singer). According to Art of Edo Japan Kyoto, was city of temples and shrines. It was the leading center of arts and crafts production with a population of close to 400,000 (Singer).

Hindu and Buddhist cultures are both rich in religion and expressing their faith through art. The Buddhist culture was formed by Buddha who went out to discover the causes of pain and suffering. Once Buddha realized what the cause was, he provided a set of four guiding principles know as the “Four Noble Truths” that are exercised in Buddhism (Kleiner, p. 13). The Four Noble truths are “Life is suffering, the cause of suffering is desire, one can overcome and extinguish desire, the way to conquer desire and end suffering is to follow Buddha’s Eightfold Path…” (p. 13). These truths are expressed in the following of Buddhism and commonly carried out through art. Buddhism is practiced throughout Southeast Asia and southern India where

To start with, lets us go through the simple definitions of these concepts, Orientalism, Panopticism and Ornamentalism. According to Edward Saied, orientalisim simply refers to the way of depicting the Orient or East, in contrast to the Occident or West and also enables the political, economic, cultural and social domination of the West not just during colonial times, but also in the present. As indicated by Mechal Focault, panopticism is a social hypothesis or theory named after the word ‘Panopticon’. Focault mentioned that it is the relationship between power and knowledge and that power creates knowledge. He mentioned in his book ‘Discipline and punish’ that the "panopticon" refers to an experimental laboratory of power in which behaviour of the people could be seen. He also viewed the panopticon as a sign of the

When one comes into contact with a Chinese painting, the style is almost instantly recognizable. The attention to detail, craftsmanship, and vast depictions of elaborate landscapes appear to pay homage to mother earth in an attempt to reach a state of eternal balance with nature and life. Before this equilibrium could be achieved, one must attain internal discipline. This was required before one began mastering their brushwork in Chinese culture. In Mai Mai Sze’s “The Way of Chinese Painting,” 1959, New York: Vintage Books, Random House, Sze discusses the philosophy known as Daoism/Tao, or “the way.” Before one became a skilled painter, one trained in the personal disciplines of poetry, art, calligraphy, and internal