A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art

Provides a broad view of the history and current state of scholarship on the art of the ancient Near East

This book covers the aesthetic traditions of Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatolia, and the Levant, from Neolithic times to the end of the Achaemenid Persian Empire around 330 BCE. It describes and examines the field from a variety of critical perspectives: across approaches and interpretive frameworks, key explanatory concepts, materials and selected media and formats, and zones of interaction. This important work also addresses both traditional and emerging categories of material, intellectual perspectives, and research priorities. The book covers geography and chronology, context and setting, medium and scale, while acknowledging the diversity of regional and cultural traditions and the uneven survival of evidence.

Part One of the book considers the methodologies and approaches that the field has drawn on and refined. Part Two addresses terms and concepts critical to understanding the subjects and formal characteristics of the Near Eastern material record, including the intellectual frameworks within which monuments have been approached and interpreted. Part Three surveys the field's most distinctive and characteristic genres, with special reference to Mesopotamian art and architecture. Part Four considers involvement with artistic traditions across a broader reach, examining connections with Egypt, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. And finally, Part Five addresses intersections with the closely allied discipline of archaeology and the institutional stewardship of cultural heritage in the modern Middle East.

Told from multiple perspectives, A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art is an enlightening, must-have book for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of ancient Near East art and Near East history as well as those interested in history and art history.

Auteur

Ann C. Gunter, PhD, is Professor of Art History at Northwestern University. She is also the former curator of ancient Near Eastern art at the Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution, where she organized numerous exhibitions.

Contenu

Notes on Contributors ix Preface xiii Acknowledgments xvii Abbreviations xix 1 The "Art" of the "Ancient Near East" 1 Ann C. Gunter PART I Approaches and Methods of Analysis and Interpretation 23 2 Art and Material Culture 25 David Wengrow 3 Meaning and Interpretation 49 Astrid Nunn 4 Style 75 Margaret Cool Root 5 Connoisseurship and Classification 103 Eleonora Pappalardo 6 Visual Culture 129 Sarah B. Graff 7 Technical Examination and Material Analysis 153 Deborah Schorsch 8 Gender and Sexuality 179 John D. M. Green 9 Semiotics, Reception Theory, and Poststructuralism 209 Marlies Heinz PART II Critical Terms and Concepts 231 10 Representation 233 Dominik Bonatz and Marlies Heinz 11 Narrative 261 Paul Collins 12 Ideology 283 Beate Pongratz-Leisten 13 Ritual 309 Carolyn Nakamura 14 Agency 333 Sophy Downes 15 Aesthetics 359 Gebhard J. Selz PART III Materials, Media, and Artistic Environments 383 16 Statuary and Reliefs 385 Claudia E. Suter 17 Glyptic 411 Adelheid Otto 18 Religious Architecture 433 Jean M. Evans 19 Palaces and Elite Houses 457 Andreas Schachner 20 Rock Reliefs and Landscape Monuments 483 Ömür Harmansa' h 21 Reconstructing Artistic Environments 507 Mehmet-Ali Ataç PART IV Interactions with Neighboring Regions and Artistic Traditions 531 22 The Ancient Near East and Egypt 533 Betsy M. Bryan 23 The Ancient Near East and the Bronze Age Aegean 565 Marian H. Feldman 24 Near Eastern Art in the Iron Age Mediterranean 585 James Whitley PART V Intersections with Archaeology, Collecting, and Cultural Heritage 613 25 Archaeology and the Art of the Ancient Near East 615 D. T. Potts 26 Cultural Heritage across the Middle East, Ancient and Modern 637 Geoff Emberling and Katharyn Hanson Index 661