World Cultures
Long before there were museums, people on every continent made images, figures and vessels – for gods, rulers, the dead and everyday life. This level brings together works from four cultures whose makers have mostly remained nameless.
The times
In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh, the temples and the belief in life after death shaped daily life; art was made in workshops for the court and the priests. In the Greek city-states, citizens met in the marketplace and the assembly, and potters sold painted vessels across the Mediterranean. In Central and South America, city-states and empires such as those of the Maya, Aztecs and Inca developed their own calendars. In Africa, royal courts such as Benin and communities with their own rituals commissioned masks, figures and bronzes.
What art set out to do
Art was rarely meant to be merely beautiful – it was meant to work. Egyptian tomb goods provided for the dead in the afterlife, Greek vases told myths at banquets, the gold and jade of the ancient Americas displayed power and closeness to the gods, and African masks and ancestor figures brought spirits and forebears into the community. Many pieces were used – worn, danced, offered – and were never intended for a display case.
How to recognise it
- Strict rules: in Egypt, head and legs are shown in profile, the shoulders from the front.
- Myths told in pictures: Greek vases show gods and heroes as black or red figures.
- Precious materials with meaning: jade, gold, feathers and ceramics in the ancient Americas.
- Powerful abstraction: African figures stress the head and bearing rather than lifelike proportions.
Timeline
- c. 2600 BCE: The great pyramids of Giza are built.
- c. 530 BCE: Red-figure vase painting appears in Athens.
- 250–900: Heyday of the Classic Maya cities.
- 13th–16th c.: Casters at the royal court of Benin create commemorative heads and relief plaques.
- 1532: Spanish conquerors capture the Inca ruler Atahualpa.