Comparing and Contrasting Two Different Pieces of Art

For the museum report, I visited the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. I don't have a ticket stub because the day I visited it was free admission. In the museum, I strolled through the Asian gallery on the second floor, and saw a statue called, "the Buddhist Stele of Amitabha Buddha and the Western Paradise." This piece of artwork seemed to have been chiseled from a slab of limestone. It is Chinese, from the Tang Dynasty, which is around 697 AD. The card also said the piece of art was, "bequest[ed] of Prynce Hopkins." The top of the stele showed a Buddha figure surrounded by four other men, with two long dragons on the outside of their meeting. On the bottom there was another large Buddha, with smaller people next to him. Others seemed to be dancing. I found it very interesting that the figures were carved into the block, not just outlined like many other carvings I've seen this semester. Reading the card next to the stele, I found that Amitabha was the supreme Buddha of the Pureland Sect. It's said that Amitaba taught others how to easily access salvation, or paradise. According to Amitaba, paradise consisted of musicians, dancers, and souls were reborn in lotus flowers. The Western piece I will compare and contrast with the Buddhist stele is, "Emperor Justinian and His Attendants." from page 34 in our textbook.

"Emperor Justinian and His Attendants," is a picture basically showing us what it's name implies: Emperor Justinian and his fellow attendants. The mosaic is currently being held in the Church of San Vitale in Rivanna, Italy. It was made in the year 547 by Canali Photobank. Emperor Justinian is in the middle with a halo around his head and carrying some sort of basket. There are six white, robed men on either side of him, looking very stern. On Justinian's left side, there are four orange and green soldiers carrying weapons and shields.

In both pieces of art, the artists show in some way who the most important figure is in the picture. Amitabha is the biggest figure in his stele, and also on the top half of the stele. People sitting on lotus' or dancing are below him. Emperor Justinian is the only one with a halo around his head. Also, his black robe contrasts greatly with the white robes behind him. You can also tell the rank of all of the picture's figures. For example, in Emperor Justinian's picture, you can tell the people behind him in white robes are his trusted helpers, while to his side are some other guys dressed in green and orange. It's easy to see that those people are lower than the white robed ones because of their position in the picture and how they're carrying weapons and shields.

Some major contrasts between the two is that the non-Western stele depicts a religious belief, while the Emperor's picture is obviously political, thus both functions are completely different. Another one I found is that in the Emperor's picture, there are attendants holding things like a golden cross, golden paper, plants, and Justinian is holding either a golden basket, or a basket with gold in it (I can't tell). One of the attendants is even wearing a robe with golden decorations on it, while Justinian himself has a golden crown and golden robe decorations. Even the soldiers have golden necklaces and the big shield is lined with gold as well. This shows that these people cherished gold and other valuable material things. On the other hand, the Buddhist stele has no pictures of gold or any material items. The Buddhists on the stele seem to be content with their lotus chairs and each other's company. Another big difference between the two art pieces is that Emperor Justinian's is more realistic. The Buddhist stele has dragons, adding to the, "heavenly paradise" effect.

Personally, I liked the fine details on the Buddhist stele more than the art piece depicting Emperor Justinian. I could tell lots of time was spent carving each individual person on the stele, and could hardly imagine how they could be so precise in times that had no electricity or advanced technology. In Emperor Justinian's picture I enjoyed the use of vivid colors. They made the picture seem alive and moving. I also enjoyed the religious symbolism because it forced me to look at the picture, analyze it, and think about what the symbols could mean. In conclusion, these two pictures are from different parts of the world, but certain artistic means are still used, which shows us that certain art forms are universal.