East Asian Art Essay

One mark of how developed a culture is its art forms. The arts are a large aspect or subdivision of a culture. So much of a culture’s beliefs and traditions are reflected of expressed in various art forms. Art is made by an artist, an artist’s way of seeing and interpreting things are dictated by the culture of the society of which he is a part of; this is the relationship of the arts and culture. They have a link that cannot be severed. Ancient art forms that are reflective of a societal culture can include architecture, calligraphy, culinary arts, dance, drawing/ painting, fashion, music, language, literature, sculpture, crafts, and theatre; all these are represent the rich culture of a society. Some new and modern art forms that have been brought upon by technology include film and photography. As for East Asia, in geographical context, it is the region of Asia covering 12, 000, 000 square kilometers, which is 28% of the whole Asian continent. Countries in the East Asian territory currently include Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. East Asia being the home of some of the first great and influential cultures and civilizations, their ancient works of art would be a good area of study to understand how their culture developed. During the ancient times, the major societies that served as the cultural roots of the region are China, Japan and Korea. Understanding how their culture began through the events that transpired in the first 500 years of the Common Era that contributed to the development of their art can give us an insight on what their culture was and how the present culture of the region came to be.