The four videos I picked this week were African Art, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese Art: The Treasures of the National Palace Museum. The reason why I picked these specific videos was because these were the topics in our readings this week that interested me the most.
African Art: The key concepts in this video were: That art was shown through hair styles, dress, rituals, and performances. Art was an important tradition, and it is usually incorporated with dance. Sound, color, and movement are all concepts of African art. Many of the ceremony art pieces were mostly made of wood or straw. The oldest existing art can be found in drier regions where there are carvings on stone or sculptures, also that carvings or sculptors where considered the homes of the ancestors. The main point that I found most interesting was that African art had an influence on the famous Picasso.
This video relates to our readings this week because it helps reinforce and give images of what African art was and how was created and used.
Buddhism: The key concepts in this video were: The key teaching is “Tanha” which means feed to extinguishing of desires and all things that the ego contains. After Buddha died Buddhism was split into two groups the monks “Hinayana” and the “Mahanyana” which mean big boat. Sanchi became the center of art and architecture and after Buddha died he was rarely shown in art form he was created by using symbolism. The Borobudur Temple is the largest shrine in the world, and the Great Stupa is where thousands of Buddhists go to pray. This temple contains 432 sculptors of Buddha’s. The most interesting thing I learned in this video was that in the east pilgrims must walk clockwise in the Stupa or any temple because this is how they would be able to let go of material things for the attainment of virtue.
This video relates to our readings this week because it helped give me a more in depth understanding of Buddhism and certain things that go into it.
Hinduism: The key concepts in this video were: The only source of life is “Brahma” which means great breath there are several ways to “Brahma” which were shown through their many Gods. Within Hinduism there is a wonderful sense of spiritual in the ordinary and everyday life. That Varanasi is the holiest city in India and within this city there is a river called “Ganges”, and this river is the symbol for the circle of life. Many priest would go to this river and perform an “aarti” which to honor the gods. Gods and Goddess in Hinduism are the same as saints to Catholics they help the people gain access to their higher God. There was a lot of architecture created with sculptures of their Gods. The Kandariya Mahadev temple was built by the rules of Chandella which is located in Khajuraho India. The walls are covered with erotic images and this is where pilgrims go to pay respect to the “lingam/Phallus” of its life giving creative forces.
This video related to our readings this week because it helps reinforce the concepts we read about that relate to Hinduism.
Chinese Art: Treasures of the National Palace Museum- The key concepts of this video were that it allowed the viewer to see many pieces of art that are in the museum. It was a collection which spreads over 5,000 years. There are too many to talk about so will list my three favorite- I really like the Chinese double handed vessel because it contained the earliest treaty over territory which I thought was very interesting that they used art work to document agreements. The second were the tea bowls that were from the Zhou dynasty they were beautiful and the details on them were amazing. The third was the golden Buddha in a lotus position on a throne with his hand lifted to show webbed fingers that shows a gesture called Buddra of the absence of fear. This sculpture has so much detail on the front and back and I really liked how each item told a different story or had a different meaning.
The video related to our readings this week because it helped provide visual images of all the many different types of art work and sculptures that were created in our history and the meaning behind them. This was my favorite video because it allowed me to see and appreciate the great attention to details that went into creating the art work.
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