![]() ![]() A bowl, for example, was created for its practical use as a bowl, and the symbols carved into it were not aesthetically inspired but held some significant meaning. Viking art was developed in a utilitarian material culture with décor and ornamentation primarily secondary to functionality and meaning, requiring a fine semantic line to be walked between art and craft (a line that exists precisely because of the dual nature of many of their material objects), which is attested to by their work with and mastery of these materials. They were known for their mastery of work with metal, wood, and horn or bone – materials that were vital to their culture. Though Scandinavian and particularly Dutch cultures would also produce new styles and techniques, the Viking Age itself stands out in the history of culturally unique artistic advances in the sense that they generally did not create art for art’s sake. The artistic styles and especially architectural technologies of the Romans laid the groundwork for the Romanesque and Gothic movements that would later explode across Western Europe and leave in their wake Merovingian, Carolingian, Celtic and other style incarnations. Ornate amphorae, kouros and koroi sculptures, formal canons through clearly defined periods, the idealism of the Acropolis and the realism of Hellenistic works are reminders of the age of the stunning progress of the Greeks who borrowed much from Mycenaean and Minoan societies before them and were themselves copied at length in the work of the Roman Empire. Pyramids and ziggurats still stand as testaments of Egyptian and Sumerian technology in addition to the hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts and consequential décor. The artistic and architectural stylistic, methodological and technological aspects of world cultures have, with rare exception, displayed bilaterally direct and indirect influence while leaving their unique historical fingerprint. ![]()
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