The Transformation of the Work of Art Through History - Admission/Application Essay Example

Annotated Bibliography Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardners Art Through the Ages: A Concise Global History. Australia: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. This book discusses the history of art and how different works of art have evolved over time. Particularly, the book provides a case of the Sumerian art and the way the people of Mesopotamia used art to communicate about their relationship with gods and environment. This article provides a good basis to discuss the changes in Sumerian art and its relationship with civilization. Hansen, Donald P. "The fantastic world of Sumerian art: seal impressions from Ancient Lagash." Monsters and Demom in the Ancient and Medieval World. Papers presented in honour of Edith Porada. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern (1987): 53-64. The article discusses the Sumerian art and draws its relationship with the civilization era. The article provides detailed information on how the Sumerian used to cylinder seal as marks of identity. I will use this article to support the idea that civilization resulted into development of fine art. Janson, H W, and Anthony F. Janson. History of Art. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 2004. Print. The author discusses the Sumerian art as a manifestation of the mutual relationship between art and civilization. As people become more civilized, they learn how to make finer arts. There, this book forms a basis for backing up my thesis statement. Thomson, Gary Arthur. First Writers-the Sumerians: They Wrote on Clay. IUniverse, 2011. This book discusses the cuneiform writing style as the first forms of civilization. In brief, the Sumerian art allowed them to communicate through stone tablets and wedge-shaped letters. Writing is a symbol of civilization, and the authors refer to Sumer as the inventors of one of the basic writing styles. Therefore, there is a clear relationship between civilization and art. The idea that the civilization process has resulted in the transformation of art is a contentious issue. The notion that prevails is that civilization helped artists to acquire new skills to refine their art. From the work of various authors, it is clear that the Sumerian art styles evolved as the artisans learnt to use different materials, styles and textures to produce more unique works of art. On this note, civilization has had positive impact on the work of art, including paving way for fine art. Sumerian Art The history of the ancient art is long and with notable milestones in its development through ages. Civilization through the ages led to the transformation of the traditional art, as the artists mastered their work better and learnt new methods of crating better art. The Sumerian art is among the oldest works of art that started more than 4000 years ago. Notably, the Sumerian art evolved through the era of civilization from the amorphous structures to finer arts with defined shapes and colors. The idea that civilization led to the development of art has been a contentious issue triggering a controversy among many historians. While some feel that art has been lost through history, it is clear that finer arts have evolved today due to the invention of new approaches of defining art. There is enough evidence to show that civilization has positive effect on art, leading to the development of better works of art. This article uses the Sumerian art to demonstrate how civilization has contributed to the advancement of art skills. The Sumerian art is one of traditional arts in Mesopotamia that started about four millenniums ago. The Sumerian art was a way of the people to express the relation between the people, gods, plants and animals. From the traditional context, the Sumerian people used the work of art as a way to communicate their beliefs and to express their feelings about the world them. The traditional Sumerian people used clay to model the face of their gods. For instance, they made the face of a goddess from Warka from clay. Due to the scanty skills of the people, they could only make round and amorphous shapes with not sharp edges. A good example is a modeling of a warrior with an axe and sickle-sword, which was shapeless and with few details. As civilization crawled in, around 2500BC, the Sumerian people learnt the need for personal identification through artwork. Similar to the signatures we use in the world today, the Sumerian learnt to carve cylinder seals (Gardner and Kleiner 24-29). Cylinder seals were stone carvings or clay arts that were unique to a person, and allowed people to identify themselves. As civilization introduced writing, the Sumerians developed cuneiform, one of the most traditional writing methods that comprised of wedge-like shapes of clay tablet. Later on, the Ur invented a new skill in art when they used wooden sculptures to represent mythological scenes. Later on, in 1000 BC, they learnt to use stones to make fine works of art. Unlike the amorphous work of art they made out of clay, the stone carvings were more accurate, with sharp edges and more details. From this point of view, it is clear that the Sumerian art developed through history with civilization being the drive to finer works of art. From a close observation, there has been a considerable change in the work, in terms of color, texture, material used and the details engraved within these works. In the traditional context, artists used their work to communicate and to describe their life behavior. For instance, the Sumerians and Babylonians used the work of art to represent their gods, warriors and animals. However, there is adequate evidence that the traditional works of art was rudimentary and lack the flavor that exists in modern art. Notably, there has been a considerable improvement in the work of art, in terms of details, use of color, shape and even in its application. Unlike the shapeless objects that traditional artists formed using clay, today artists can develop an art that closely resembles the original object (Thomson 12). Additionally, the use of color is extensive today, which adds taste to modern architecture. Sumerian architecture followed the same route, as people shifted from use of clay to form soft and rounded shapes to the use of stones to form sharp objects. Additionally, the Sumerian acquired the skill of using color, gold and other substances to beautify their objects. These changes show the progressive development of art and its gradual growth. Numerous authors have featured the role of civilization in refining art and its impact on the history of the traditional forms of art. Janson and Anthony (56-65) focus on the civilization process of the Sumerian people and how it affected their conceptions of art. The Sumerian cylinder seal is one of the craftsmanship that resulted from civilization. It was a new of way of using to art to secure stores and identify one another. As the artists learnt to use stones for carvings, they learnt to make finer carving on the stone tablets as cylinder seals. On the other hand, Thomson (8) refers to Sumerian as the inventors of writing, citing the cuneiform as the “tablets of civilizations”. From this angle, there may arise as question on whether art was the source of civilization or civilization resulted to finer art. However, it is clear that Cuneiform writing art came after the world became more aware about the need to express themselves in a new way. Therefore, civilization process allowed the people to rethink their art styles and come up with finer arts that they could use to communicate efficiently. Therefore, they faced out the use of clay, as it was impossible to make permanent writings on clay. Apart from the Sumerian art, it is clear that civilization process has resulted to imminent change in different historical places. For instance, in Egypt, the civilization process changed their art styles from the use stones and art materials to the use of colour as an ingredient. Various works of art in Egypt show that civilization has resulted in the development of art in this region (Hansen 53-64). While the pyramids and the tombs represent the traditional era of art, the statues and wall paintings in Egypt reflect the change that emerged due to civilization. Today, the existence of more sophisticated approaches of refining art has resulted in to the modern forms of art. The development of drawing and design software has paved way for human beings to create finer arts, with precise details. New technologies such as camera have allowed human beings to reproduce exact images of human beings. However, it is clear that the imaginary perspective of art has been lost through the civilization process. Therefore, it is clear that civilization process has led to a great transformation in the work of art through its history, allowing the craftsmen to produce finer works. In conclusion, civilization has contributed to the transformation of the work of art through history. Civilization brings about new skills that impact on the way artists conduct their work. From a close observation of the Sumerian arts, there is evidence that the change in civilization resulted to the improvement of their artwork. Civilization allowed them to shift from redundant methods of art and adopt new approaches. For instance, they started by making amorphous clay works and advanced to more accurate, sharp objects carved out of stones. The development of cylinder seals and the cuneiform writings on tablets is a manifestation of the impact of civilization on art. In other parts of the world such as Egypt, the craftsmen learnt to use colour and refine texture as a result of civilization. While it is clear that some features of art have disappeared as a result of civilization, the expertise in art today is acceptable change in the history of art. Therefore, the history of civilization, to a great extent defines the history of art today. Works Cited Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardners Art Through the Ages: A Concise Global History. Australia: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Hansen, Donald P. "The fantastic world of Sumerian art: seal impressions from Ancient Lagash." Monsters and Demom in the Ancient and Medieval World. Papers presented in honour of Edith Porada. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern (1987): 53-64. Janson, H W, and Anthony F. Janson. History of Art. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 2004. Print. Thomson, Gary Arthur. First Writers-the Sumerians: They Wrote on Clay. iUniverse, 2011. Read More