When I went to Museum of Metropolitan of Art, I saw many interesting works of arts. I was so amazed by all of the art-work. It was a tough decision to choose one work to focus on for my art paper, but there was one sculpture that caught my eye; it was Nataraja of Shiva (11th century) from Ancient Southeastern Art located on the 2nd floor of the museum. The main message of this sculpture is focused on the idea of the boundaries of cosmos and the destruction and rebirth of the world. This paper will employ close visual analysis of this sculpture and describe how the visual elements of the work relate to its main theme. In my opinion, this sculpture is very beautiful and I was so surprised to find it in the museum. As I was growing up in India, I always saw this sculpture in the temples, stores and other peoples home and even in my own home. When I was a young girl, I always use to look at it and wondered “why does Shiva have four arms? Why is he standing the way he is standing?”
Nataraja is a Sanskrit word, which is an oldest language of India. “Nata” means dance and “Raja” means King; king of dance. This sculpture is from Chola Dynasty, circa 11 century. The artist of this work is unknown. The height of the sculpture is 28 7/8in and its diameter is 22 1/4in. I expected the sculpture to be a smaller than it was because I haven’t seen the sculpture as big as this one before. So, it was shocking to find it at that big height.
At that time (Chola Dynasty, circa 860-1279) art and religion were very closely interrelated in India and all art sculptures or objects have some spiritual ideas and religious message in them. In this case, the main message is boundaries of the cosmos; demolition and reincarnation of the world. Shiva is a m...
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...”. My experience in Met was wonderful and enjoy looking at the works of arts and would love to go back their again to see the whole museum.
Works Cited
Holy Book of Hinduism which explain about the religion of Hinduism and have pictures of deities and explain each and every one fully.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish. "Nataraja." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .
Stokstad, Marilyn, Michael Watt. Cothren, and Frederick M. Asher. Art History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2011. Print
"Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja) [Tamil Nadu, India] (1987.80.1) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metmuseum.org. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .
"John William Waterhouse Biography." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
DeWitte, Debra J. et al. Gateways To Art. New York City, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2012. Print.
West 31st Street, NY: Chelsea House, 2009. Print. Fitzpatrick, Virginia. Art history: a contextual inquiry course.
My friends, after traveling through the Asian continent and Japan, I continued on to the Americas. The art in the Americas has three regions, North America, Central America, and South America. Each region has a very distinct aspect to their forms of art. All cultures have some kind of art. Being curious about art, I have collected samples from five different areas. The following works of art are very different from European art, but there are still some similarities. The similarities of the human spirit are evident in the following images.
Nash, Susan. Oxford History of Art: Norther Renaissance Art. 2nd. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 30-65. eBook.
... in different parts of the painting "Girl Before a Mirror", and in the same manner "Shiva as Half Man and Half Woman" also covers the same range and perspective of beliefs and diversities. Therefore, both artworks radiates the same theme generated by the simplicity of the ideas nourished by abstract thinking connecting the human beliefs to the imaginative world of desire and emotions though they are philosophically and ideologically different by the use of different colors for different themes. It also shows the similarities in humane thinking between two cultures that are religiously and culturally different and so apart. (Heller)
The trip to the metropolitan museum was a great trip to learn and to study art. What is art you may ask, well art is an expression you use to show a visual picture. It can be through painting or through sculptures. Some other example of art is music, literature and dancing. For today 's paper we will be talking about art as a sculpture. The two sculptures in this photo are King Sahure and a Nome God and Marble Statue of Dionysos leaning on archaistic female figure (Hope Dionysos). You can find these statues in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. King Sahure and a Nome God is an Egyptian art that was made in 2458-2446 BCE. The artist is unknown. It was during the 5th dynasty and it also belong to the old kingdom. The Marble statue of Dionysos Leaning in the archaistic female figure is a Greco-Roman art. Belonging to the Roman imperial period of the late first century A.D. Augustan or Julio-Claudian period 27 B.C., to 68 AD. It is classified as a stone sculpture and it is made out of marble. The height of the statues is 82 ¾ inches. There is no evidence who was the original artist.
Goldwater, Robert and Marco Treves (eds.). Artists on Art: from the XIV to the XX Century. New York: Pantheon Books, 1945.
Bodhisattva, a sculpture from the region of central Tibet, is now being displayed in the Rubin Museum in New York. It is a large-scale sculpture, standing at approximately 6 7/8 inches, that was made by craftsmen recruited in Tibet, whom were known for their artistic skills. Bodhisattvas are awakened beings who aspire to attain enlightenment and help others to achieve it by postponing nirvana and buddhahood. This sculpture is portrayed in a harmonious and compassionate state. The Bodhisattva is showcased as a mentor figure, seeking to help others achieve Enlightenment, through the presence of its physical elements.
Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. N.p., 2014. Print.
This essay will also compare the work of Thomas Moran, another Hudson River School artist working with the same subject matter, and will attempt to clarify the artist’s similarities and differences in regard to both technique and contributions. The work of Winslow Homer, a contemporary of Church, will be briefly discussed in relation to the impact the Civil War had on subject matter in relationship to nati...
...social values of rich stones resembled their higher standards of living in those days. Also, two different types of art based on Indian culture and society such as “Shiva Nataraja” and “Adios, Mahatma” depicted great religious and social perspective of Hinduism and free spirit of will, respectively. Also, “Heheya Kachina” and “The Light Inside” presented two unique forms of art which is so rare or so common in the modern society that we sometime forget to notice if these types of art exist.
Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective. Vol 2.13th ed. Boston: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning, 2010.
Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-modern. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1992.
Hindu mythology has interesting theories on how the Earth was created and the reincarnation of people, Hinduism is very different to many other mythologies and has some unique key features that make it stand out from the rest. History tells that there are over 330 million gods in Hindu mythology. There are six main gods in Hinduism. Hindu’s have an interesting belief of what happens to them after death, the afterlife Hindus believe in must be met by accomplishing a goal. Hinduism is a unique belief in many gods, the life cycle and reincarnation of its people.