Title: Teaching Buddha

Date: 500
Culture: India, Buddhism
Period: Gupta
Scale: 5 feet high

Subject: Buddha sits in a cross-legged yoga position (lotus). His hands are in a teaching gesture
(mudra). His eyes are closed in meditation. A sun-disk is behind him and below him are his
disciples. On each side of him are lions.
Content: Buddha (Enlightened One) was born as prince Siddhartha in 6th century BCE India
and gave up everything to teach that freedom from desire through meditation was the source of
enlightenment. The lotus is a symbol of perfection. The sun disk is to honor him. The lions
represent an early king, Ashoka, who spread Buddhism in India. The long ears represent his
giving up material wealth. The top of his head represents the crown chakra (energy center on the
spine). The mudra (Buddhist gesture) and his disciples represent that he was a teacher and not a
god. His body is almost tubular to show that he is filled with the breath of meditation (prana).
His perfect balance represents his enlightenment.
Context: In some ways Buddhism went against the strict caste system of Hinduism and was
popular in India from the 3rd century BCE. By the 13th century Buddhism was replaced by
Hinduism in India. But Buddhism had already spread to the rest of Asia, including China and
Japan.
Style: Images of the Buddha became the standard in Buddhist temples by this time and
replaced earlier shrines where Buddha was only represented symbolically. The style of this
Buddha spread to the rest of Asia. It is known for its abstraction and idealization of form.
Medium: This is carved sandstone. This is a subtractive process.
Formal Analysis: The Gupta Buddha has perfect symmetry. The forms are abstracted into
perfect volumes that are representational but not realistic. His proportions are realistic but

idealized (note the waist that is small because of his chest filled with breath). The scale is
hieraticas seen in the smaller disciples and lions. The main composition form is the triangle of
the Buddhas body.

Title: Temple at Khajuraho

Date: 1000
Culture: India, Hinduism
Period: Medieval
Scale: 102 feet high

Subject: The Hindu temple is shaped like a mountain range with smaller peaks rising to the
tallest. On top each spire is a fruit-like form. Each form in the temple is striated with curved
edges. There are many carvings on the outside of the temple. This temple is dedicated to the
god Shiva. The inside of the temple is dark and plain and called the womb chamber.

Content: The temple is the home of the gods on earth and where the gods make themselves
visible to worshippers. The mountains represented are the Himalayas, Shivas home. The fruit
on top is healing. The outside sculptures of couples having sex are symbols of creating life and
protectors. The outside of the temple is male energy (Shiva, the destroyer) and the inside is
female energy (Devi, the great goddess); together they represent the dualism of the universe
that results in creation. (Dualism is a belief system where opposites balance each other
positively.) Inside the womb chamber would be the statue of Shiva. The floor-plan is a
mandala (diagram of the universe and visual prayer) that the worshipper walks through.

Context: The medieval period is when kings competed in building temples to the various
Hindu gods. Buddhism was on the decline in India.

Style: This is a northern type of Hindu temple. Southern type temples have a flat roofed area
with shorter towered shrines behind them. The effect of the elaborate carving on the outside
makes the building look organic. Only a few worshippers at a time would enter with offerings
so the interior space is small. These are like earlier Indian cave temples carved into mountain
rock.
Medium: The immense amount of carving on the outside of the temple was made easier by the
type of stone used. Schist is a soft stone when taken from the ground and hardens over time.
Formal Analysis: The temple is basically a solid volume with a very small interior space.
Though the temple looks like organic volume, it is formed using geometric proportions.

Title: Shiva as Lord of the Dance

Date: 1000
Culture: India, Hinduism
Period: Medieval
Scale: 32 inches high

Subject: The male god Shiva stands in a ring of fire and on a small figure. He has multiple
moving arms and raises one leg. He wears an elaborate crown and as he spins his hair comes
from his head. His body is very rounded and is not realistic in terms of anatomy.
Content: The fire represents Shiva as the destroyer of evil. Hindus believe in reincarnation (the
soul is reborn until it reaches perfection) and before there is new life, there is death. In Indian

funerals the body is cremated. The dance of life is also a symbol of reincarnation. In Hindu art
the body is often depicted as moving to represent traveling through time. The multiple arms
would also represent moving through space and time and the power of Shiva. The small figure
represents ignorance.
Context: Reincarnation also relates to the caste (spiritual level) system. In Hinduism it is
believed you are born into a particular caste due to your past lives. This created a class system
that de-emphasizes social mobility. This sculpture was a portable shrine that would be carried
and decorated when honored.
Style: In Indian sculpture body flexibility is more valued than muscular strength. Dualism also
means that body is a combination of male and female so sometimes even the most masculine of
Indian gods looks androgynous. This means the body is idealized and abstracted. Nudity in
Hindu art is often adorned with jewelry.
Medium: This is cast bronze from a mold characteristic of the medieval period.
Formal Analysis: The asymmetry of the body gives it motion and tension as do the
directional diagonals in the raised leg and the arms. The sculptor has then balanced this
asymmetry by containing the figure in the symmetrical and geometric shape of the circle.
The composition is dominated by this circle. Although the figure is 3-D, it is mainly meant to be
seen from the front (frontal). Hieratic scale is seen in the small figure.

Title: Army of the First Emperor of Qin

Date: 200 BCE
Culture: China
Period: Qin Dynasty
Scale: figures are 6 feet high

Subject: In 1974 around the tomb of the first emperor of China were found more than 6000
painted figures representing an army. They include cavalry, archers, foot soldiers and horses
and chariots. The tomb itself has not been excavated but is thought to contain a life-size palace.
Content: This army is a symbol of the power of the emperor who united a large area and
gave China its name. The army was to protect him in the after-life. In many ways his
authoritarian government went against the philosophy of Confucius, who wanted an orderly
society based on justice and responsibility between ruler and subjects.

Context: This emperor formed a dynasty (political and art period in China) through war and a
centralized government. He rewarded merit over noble birth. He standardized writing
(calligraphy), measures, and money. His government demanded absolute obedience and had
very strict laws and punishments. He also built the Great Wall of China to keep out enemies to
the north.
Style: The warriors are individualized realistic types that balance individuality with the
conformity of a great army.
Medium: The warriors are made of terracotta (low temperate clay) by using molds to make
different parts that are assembled after fired in the kiln (oven). These parts would be assembled
in many different combinations and further individualized by hand modeling and painting. The
emperors ceramic workshop was very large and well-organized to make such an army.
Formal Analysis: The army was originally organized around the tomb as a real army would
have been. This is an installation (art arranged in real space). The scale of the whole army is
immense. Proportions of each figure are realistic. The individual scale of the warriors is about
a foot larger than life.

Title: Poet on a Mountaintop

Artist: Shen Zhou
Date: 1500
Culture: China
Period: Ming Dynasty
Scale: 15 inches high

Subject: A poet looks out from a mountaintop and sees the poem in his mind about his
experience of nature. This is basically a landscape (a view of nature).
Content: Landscape is a major type of painting in China and is associated with artists that
left the court of the emperor to live in nature. They believed in Daoism, a philosophy that
stresses the artists experience of nature as a teacher and guide to living ones life. The artist
was supposed to get energy (chi) into his painting. These artists combined three major areas in
their art: poetry, calligraphy, and painting. They emphasized creativity and experimentation.
This type of painting is fine art because it is based on ideas and aesthetic appreciation.

Context: Artists of high birth left the court in the 14th century when the court was overtaken
and controlled by Mongols from the north. The Ming Dynasty restored the court to
traditional Chinese rule but the landscape tradition continued.
Style: This style is typical of Chinese landscape painting. In the court painting artists used
closer views of human figures and animals with more color applied. In landscape painting the
view is farther away to emphasize the importance of nature and humans are smaller in scale.
These landscapes are usually black using the background as a contrast. Chinese painting is
abstracted because of its technique and representational because we recognize landscapes as
existing in the world.
Medium: This is ink brush painting and uses the technique and materials of writing. Artists
learned calligraphy first and then painting. They would practice types of strokes over and
over again until they perfected them. They copied the paintings of old masters until they were
good enough to try their own original attempts. The ink was usually put on paper or silk and
painted on a flat surface so it didnt run. This technique is incredibly difficult considering the
number of strokes in a painting and the control necessary. There is no way to correct a mistake.
Painting formats were horizontal (hand scrolls) and vertical (hanging scrolls).
Formal Analysis: This painting is abstracted from nature mainly because of its focus on line
and lack of color. The atmospheric perspective shows distance and depth; note how the
mountains farther away are less distinct and faded.

Title: Rock Garden in Kyoto

Date: 1500
Culture: Japan, Zen Buddhism
Period: Muromachi
Scale: 32 x 80 feet

Subject: This is a garden in a Buddhist temple. There are five groups of stones surrounded by
white gravel. There are a total of 15 stones. The gravel is raked daily by the monks. The garden
is to be viewed from the porch and all the stones cannot be seen at once.
Content: The garden is meant to stimulate meditation and suggest the intimate and the
cosmos. Some think it is about islands in the water. It is to help viewers break through
ordinary thinking and perception, the goal of Zen (meditation). Zen meditation is to cultivate
discipline and concentration by quieting the mind. Daily mundane tasks like raking of the
gravel would be meditative.

Context: Zen meditation was very popular with the shoguns (military governors who were
followed by samurai or warriors). This was also the time of the tea ceremony (Zen social
ritual). Zen was a way to be culturally refined and to focus energy.
Style: Japanese aesthetics (beauty) often emphasizes natural materials that are not too finished
or expensive. Rustic and worn qualities were valued as was nature itself. This aesthetic
developed from Japans earliest religion, Shinto (nature as having sacred places and spirits).
Japanese style in general tends to value simplicity. The experience of the garden is to be quiet
and subtle and based on close visual and spatial perceptions.
Medium: The materials of rock and gravel form this outdoor installation. It as been
maintained this way since it was created. Raking the gravel and maintaining the rows is not
easy but meant to look simple and natural.
Formal Analysis: The composition is very carefully arranged. Slight movements of any rocks
or the direction of the gravel would completely change how one would perceive the garden. The
pebbles and rows create complex patterns. Slightly different viewing positions and angles
create different compositions.

Title: Evening Bell

Artist: Harunobu
Date: 1700s
Culture: Japan
Period: Edo
Scale: 11 x 8.5 inches

Subject: Two young women sit on a porch. One is drying herself after a bath. The other turns
to the chiming clock. Behind them is an open room. In the upper left hand corner is the bottom
of a screen with bamboo painted on it.
Content: This is a popular culture scene from the pleasure quarter of a large city. The women
are geishas getting ready for the evening and this scene is meant to be erotic and suggestive,

almost like poetry. Here femininity is defined by clothes, makeup, and hair. Nudity is not
considered erotic. These scenes were meant to suggest the fleeting quality of beauty, human
pleasure, and the material world (Buddhist ideas).
Context: The growth of large cities led to entertainment areas for men full of theaters and
pleasure houses. Wood-block prints were posters from these quarters and very inexpensive.
Geishas were hostesses trained in the arts such as literature and music. European
Impressionist painters were influenced by these prints.
Style: Japanese pictures often have an elevated viewpoint like this where you are looking down
on the subject matter. They tend to stress asymmetry, line, and pattern. They tend to look flat
with not much depth or shading on figures.
Medium: This is a woodblock print which is relief printing. They were made by publishing
houses and were inexpensive and mass produced. First an artist would design the picture and
then printers carved wood blocks for each different color. For example on the block for
black, each line is a raised piece of wood that ink is put on and then transferred to paper. The
wood was very hard so that fine details and multiple prints could be pulled. Japanese woodblock
prints average 20 different blocks. The black block is done first and acts as a guide to line up
the other colors.
Formal Analysis: Contour lines, pattern and flat areas of color dominate the asymmetrical
composition.