Art Beyond the West

Western culture and the Western tradition in art that which solidified in ancient Greece and developed in Western Europe and, later, the United States may be more familiar to most of us than the art of other cultures and traditions that lie “beyond the West”. But those non-Western perspectives are rich and varied and represent other ways of seeing and knowing that enable us to expand your understanding of ourselves in relation to the world. The art beyond the west during their era is more on rock paintings and engravings. 'Beyond the West' subject matter is religious tribes, religion, shrines and people. And most of their art styles were symbolism, naturalism, abstractionism and realism. It consists of different kinds of Art: African Art, Oceanic Art, Native Art, Islamic Art, Indian Art, Chinese Art and Japanese Art. Their art were influenced by the other countries from their famous artworks in history.

African art

-          Is as varied as the cultures that have populated that continent. The earliest African art, like the earliest art of Europe and North America, consists of rock paintings and engravings that date to the Neolithic period. In tropical Africa—the central portion of the continent—the lost-wax technique was developed. It is a process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass or bronze) is cast from an original sculpture. The kingdom of Benin, which during the fourteenth through nineteenth centuries occupied what is now Nigeria, was rich in sculptures of many mediums, including iron, bronze, wood, ivory, and terra-cotta.

Oceanic art

-          The peoples and art of Oceania are also varied. They span millions of square miles of ocean ranging from the continent of Australia and large islands of New Guinea and New Zealand to small islands such as the Gilberts, Tahiti, and Easter Island. They are divided into the cultures of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Polynesia they are known for massiveness and compactness. Melanesia is a wood carvings and ritual masks, the best studied of Melanesian artifacts, are brilliantly colored.

Native art

-          The art of the Americas was rich and varied before the arrival of European culture.

Islamic art

-          Islamic Art is a modern concept, created by art historians in the nineteenth century to categorize and study the material first produced under the Islamic peoples that emerged from Arabia in the seventh century.

Indian art

-          consists of a variety of art forms, including pottery and sculpture ,  cave paintings , and woven silk . Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms.

Chinese art

-          Confucianism ascended as the major Chinese way of life during the second century BCE. It is based on the Moral principles of Confucius, which argue that social behavior must be derived from sympathy for one’s fellows. Paintings and reliefs of this period show the conceptual space of Egyptian painting and create the illusion of depth by means of overlapping.

Japanese art

-         Japan’s sculpture tradition has focused on clay modeling and bronze casting, and its structures have been built from wood. In Japanese art, as in Western art, we find a developing technology, the effect of native materials, indigenous and foreign influences, a mix of religious traditions, and disagreement as to what art is intended to portray.