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Pages:
6 pages/≈1650 words
Sources:
4 Sources
Style:
APA
Subject:
Visual & Performing Arts
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
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MS Word
Date:
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Topic:

Formation of Buddha and Bodhisattva Images in Kushan Art

Essay Instructions:

Some key principles which the “Formation of Buddha and Bodhisattva Images in Kushan Art” essay should follow:

1) There is no need to make a full comparison of two (or more) slides on each screen of the powerpoint. According to the theory of information the number of properties that can be shared by any two objects is infinite. You don't want to drown in a lengthy and pointless comparison exercise. 

2) What you need to do is to find one or a few similarities pertinent to the formation of Buddha image in Kushan art. Imagine that you are a detective entering a room where a crime took place. You see a multitude of objects (furniture, dishes, carpets, pictures, clocks, etc). You disregard the vast majority of them and look only for those that were alien to this room, that were moved recently, or that are in some kind of disorder in general. Your first task would be to identify the intruder and you can do it by figuring out to whom the alien objects could belong to. This is what you have to do in this type of art historical research. You are looking for the things that are not known in earlier Indian art: drapery, a non-local manner in which hair is depicted (locks, curls,e tc) and specific hairstyles that do not have a local precedent, facial features which are not know here before. These new (alien) features are likely to be borrowed from somewhere and what you need to do is to go and to identify the artistic tradition of their origin (in this case this would be Greek and Roman traditions).

3) As the next step, you would need to explain how these things could become known to Indian artists. In this particular case you could recall the Indo-Greek period of history with its still missing archaeological record, but with the abundant numismatic evidence showing the local existence of Greek sculpture and consequently of Greek aesthetic ideals. With the collapse of the Indo-Greek power there was another factor -- massive Silk Road trade with Rome which undoubtedly brought to India a huge numbers of Roman objects of art. A large array of such objects has been discovered during the excavations in Begram, but the existence of many other types of Roman pieces of art (among them sculptures) can be postulated on the basis of Roman features appearing in local Indian sculpture. 

4) Further, it would be good if you could explain why Indian artists were compelled to borrow certain elements of foreign artistic tradition. These could be a result of a void in local artistic system.

5) Finally, you would need to look for the meaningful alterations of images (or their elements) that have been borrowed from Greek and Roman art. In other words, you should point out, you should point out what has been deliberately changed in very Hellenistic looking Buddha and Bodhisattvas in comparison with their Greek and Roman prototypes. To make your work perfect, you would need to explain why these changes were made.

That is all you need to do. Just be a detective! Remember the guy called Sherlock Holmes? All you need is to be as  cool and smart as him.

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Formation of Buddha and Bodhisattva Images in Kushan Art Name Institution Formation of Buddha and Bodhisattva Images in Kushan Art Artistic styles vary depending on the traditions of the people where the work originated. The difference in the artistic styles can be seen in the sculptures found at the Kushar Art which shows the images of Buddha and Bodhisattva formations. The sculptures have been made from the borrowed ideas of the Roman artistic styles. Therefore, the assignment will focus on the comparison between the Indians and Romans pieces of arts that have an impact on the new formation of Buddha and Bodhisattva. The facial features of the two images vary in terms of the colors used, the hair curls and the hair locks. The Greek sculptures are more shinning in appearance than the Indian sculptures. The Greek sculptures seem to have been stored safely over the years with little deterioration seen on them. Both the sculptures have curls which are majorly seen in the clothing of the images. The curls used in the Greek sculptures seem to be more smooth, silvery, and light. This technique makes them lovelier than those used by the Indians which appear to be highly heavy and wavy. The clothing of the Indians sculptures appears to be heavy than those of the Greek sculptures. The kind of clothes depicts their quality where the Greeks’ sculptures seem to have better clothes made from expensive and light materials. The Indian sculptures have long elongated earlobes which indicate their tradition of enlarging the ear lobes. The feature is not seen in the Greek sculptures as they appear to have no facial alteration. Greek sculptures appear to be smoother than the Indian sculptures. The smoothness seems to occur because of the kind of materials used in making them. Indian sculptures appear to have been made from low-quality materials which are heavy and difficult to carve. This affects their appearance by making them look less attractive to the audience compared to the Roman sculptures. The kind of hair locks seen in the images also differs. The Greek sculptures have soft, shiny, and loose hair locks which make them different from the Indian images that appear to have tight, heavy, and thick hair locks. The style of hair locks and style differ depending on the traditions of the two groups. The Greek sculptures show men with a short curly hairstyle which is in contrary to those of the Indians. The images of the men depicted by the Greeks include a headband which is a sign of decoration. The men also have full clothing including sandals, capes, and tunics which are a sign of travelling costumes that they used during the time when people frequently moved for various reasons including for commercial purposes. The Indian sculptures on the other hand show images of barefooted persons which is a sign of their religious belief where the Buddhist live in holy places and are always barefooted (Cabezón, 2016). The weight of the materials used in making the sculptures differs. The Indian sculptures appear to have been carved out of a solid crystal rock while those of the Greeks seem to have been made of silver. The difference is evident in the way the Greek sculptures shine while those of Indians have thick and rough appearances. The difference is ...
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