Religious Influences

Art has been shaped by religion for a very long time, with religious figures and scenes being depicted in art for thousands of years. If you are interested in the representation of religion in art then maybe this would be a great subject for you to complete a dissertation on. Take a look at the following examples:

Example religious influences dissertation topic 1:

The transition from symbols to images of Buddha in early Indian art

This dissertation explores the symbols originally used to represent Buddha in Indian society, prior to the 1st Century CE, and the evolution of those symbols into anthropomorphic images. It examines the nature of those first early images of Buddha, and compares how changed the early images of Buddha are to that which is recognised as Buddha today. In so doing, it speculates what spurred this evolutionary change, and why substantial change did not persist throughout the subsequent centuries. This paper makes use of an extensive range of secondary sources, and re-examines older resources to determine how valid they remain.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Coomaraswamy, A.K. (1927). ‘The origin of the Buddha image’, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 9(4), pp. 287-329.
• Lancaster, L.R. (1970). ‘An early Mahayana sermon about the body of Buddha and the making of images’, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 36(4), pp. 287-291.
• Thompson, A. (2011). ‘In the absence of the Buddha: ‘Aniconism’ and the contentions of Buddhist art history’. In, Brown, R.M. and Hutton, D.S. (eds), A companion to Asian art and architecture. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 398-420.