The appreciation of ancient sculpture is closely linked to religious veneration, and it’s important to understand that these sculptures are not just aesthetic objects, but a communion with the divine. While Eastern and Western art used different materials and methods of expression, they ultimately focused on exploring the nature of man and nature.
To properly appreciate ancient sculpture, we need a classical scale of appreciation. This scale goes beyond simply evaluating aesthetic elements, and includes understanding the historical and religious context in which the work was created. This is because ancient sculptures in both the East and West were often the realization of the religious ideals of the people of their time. A proper appreciation of ancient sculpture is primarily predicated on a sense of reverence for what it symbolizes. This reverence goes beyond mere awe and implies a communion with the divine being represented by the sculpture. It then becomes something far beyond the mere materiality of stone. It is true that when we look at ancient sculpture, an aesthetic emotion is triggered intuitively, but it is not until much later that we come to appreciate the work in terms of its aesthetic qualities. In short, ancient sculptures were meant to evoke feelings of transcendence, such as sacredness and holiness, in the viewer. Therefore, understanding them solely in terms of beauty can lead to a reduction of their meaning.
A good example is the statue of Venus in a labyrinth found in a cave on the Mediterranean coast in the early 19th century. At the time of its discovery, it stood against the north wall of the cave, in front of a large stone that appeared to be an altar, with pottery scattered around it. This suggests that human statues in the Greek period were placed in shrines, much like Buddhist statues in the East, and were objects of religious worship for the people of the time. These discoveries provide important clues to how ancient peoples visualized and worshiped their gods. This suggests that we shouldn’t look at Greek sculpture the way we look at modern sculpture.
Their exploration of the human body in these sculptures was both realistic and idealized. This spirit has become fundamental to Western art. Whereas in the East, natural objects were the main subject of expression, in the West, the human body was the main subject of expression. But why did Westerners choose the human body as the main subject among all the many subjects? It stems from their unique idea that the human body is the measure of all things. In other words, the human body has a golden proportion that is not found in any other creature, and this proportion became the standard for measuring all things. For Westerners, the human body was more than just a physical form; it was a sacred structure that held the secrets of the universe. In other words, exploring the human body was seen as a way to discover all the secrets of God’s creation. This way of thinking had a great influence not only on artists, but also on philosophers and scientists. In this context, Aristotle argues that art is the imitation of man. This is the immortal idea that led Western artists to make the nude their lifelong subject.
On the other hand, Eastern painters have been using natural objects such as mountains, water, trees, animals, insects, flowers, etc. as their regular subjects throughout history. In the East, the art of painting was known as sasang. Sasang is the practice of painting nature, such as mountain scenes or birds. These natural subjects were not just expressions of beauty, but tools to explore how humans and nature can coexist harmoniously. This is not to say that they imitate nature as it is. Their purpose was not simply to reproduce the appearance of natural objects; it was to explore human nature by exploring how the objects lived and moved on their own, and by uncovering the secrets of nature. In this process, Eastern artists came to realize that nature and humans are not separate, but deeply connected.
Eastern art sought to confirm human nature through the exploration of nature. In this way, Western and Eastern art may seem to be opposed to each other at first glance, but they are ultimately united in spirit. Therefore, in order to deeply understand the art of the East and West, we must look beyond their differences to the fundamental human understanding and exploration of the nature of nature that they share.
