week 3

In the ancient Mesopotamian age many gods were worshiped, both spiritual as well as physical gods. In the early Dynastic period Sumerian style of art was obtained and used in many sculptures as seen in the figure of the Standing Male Worshiper, 2750-2600 BC. The obscured proportion and basic but at the same time complex detail brings out certain portions of the figure to capture the eye of the viewer.

Considered two of the most powerful gods of Mesopotamian during the third millennium BC, raging storm, and wild bull, were both seen as top of the gods as you can tell by the names. A reason why the sculpture is so wide eyed and in aw is because of the power given off by those gods, the aw of the people is one of the strongest attributes of this Standing Male Worshiper as well as many other.

                When looking at this piece of work many things come to mind right off the back even before learning about the culture or time period of the piece. The composition of the sculpture shows a very week man in his body language and the humbleness of his stance, standing in awe of what he is seeing or worshiping. Being sculpted in the round gives this sculpture a little bit more of a story; it can be placed on any surface big enough to support him giving the potential to be surrounded by other figures to create that story. The use of limestone to create this figure is very common because of the area it was created in, a land surrounded by limestone. Color in the sculpture is very limited because of the medium used; limestone is very mono-colored, other then what seems to be black paint on the face of the male statue. One distinction that changes color to the eye of the viewer is the facial hair on the man because of the shadows created in all the ridges and lines. This portion of the figure is what is most capturing to the eye of the viewer because of the complex detail. With the figure being only about 11 inches in height and still having that amount of detail is pretty amazing to see it not only gives more color to the figure but also adds texture, rather than having just this smooth limestone figure. When taking a second look at the sculpture you can see how proportionally this figure looks a little funny. This was a common artistic style of the time period and among the Sumerian style of art. The arms looking somewhat flat for a 3 dimensional figure troughs off that proportion, as well as the length of the torso and upper body which is shortened and thin, leaving the lower body feeling elongated and abnormally large. One part of the figures proportion that does seem to work is the hugeness of the eyes. This is made to show what the figure is doing, worshiping and in awe of what he is seeing. So the hugeness of the eyes is necessary to have.