Sumerian Art

face of a goddess
from Warka, about 3500 BC
(This face was looted
during theUS
attack on Iraq
but later regained)

Sumerian art is the art made by the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq beginning about 4000 BC. We stop calling it Sumerian art when these people are conquered by the Akkadians, about 2300 BC. Sumerian art is mainly about exploring and supporting the relationships between people and the gods, and plants and animals. These relationships are complicated, and so Sumerian art represents them in several different ways.

Warrior, ca. 2500 B.C. with
helmet, battle-axe and sickle-sword;
a small plaque of engraved shell
from the ancient city of Mari
on the Euphrates (
Louvre, Paris)

Because clay was common in West Asia and stone was not, most of the earliest statues in West Asia were made out of clay. It's hard to make any sharp edges when you're working with clay, so most West Asian sculpture looked round and soft. Even when the Sumerians began to carve sculptures out of stone, they kept this round, soft look (at least compared to Egyptian sculpture).

Cylinder seal impression; scene representing mythological beings, bulls and lions in conflict (British Museum No. 89538)

To learn more about Sumerian art, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

The Sumerians, by Elaine Landau (1997). For kids. Despite the bad Amazon rating, this is a good solid introduction to the Sumerians, with an explanation of prehistory at the beginning for context. Pictures of ancient stuff, and good maps.

Hands-On Ancient People, Volume 1: Art Activities about Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Islam, by Yvonne Merrill and Mary Simpson. Art projects for kids, though the directions are really aimed at teachers or parents.

Mesopotamia, by Julian Reade (1991). Good pictures of objects in the British Museum.

The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, by Henri Frankfort (5th edition 1997). The standard for college art history classes.
 

Sumerian architecture
Sumerian Literature
Sumerians
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