Compare And Contrast Statue Of Gudea And Sabu

When an artist creates a work of art, they can plan every detail ahead of time so they know exactly what to do, they can just start creating with no planning whatsoever, or they can do a mixture of both. More often than not, one can tell that artists are relaying a certain theme, message, or idea within their work of art. By looking at certain aspects, such as texture, shape, and light, the viewer of the artwork can try to interpret it (Belton, 1996).
The Statue of Gudea and The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu are two sculptures made a very long time ago, both in B.C. One of the most defining features of a sculpture is, of course, shape. The whole point of sculpting something is defining the shape into what is wanted, and without shape, it most likely wouldn’t even be called a sculpture.
The position of his folded hands and the writing on his robe both speak to the viewers of the sculpture. The body language of Gudea is welcoming, and he also appears to be in prayer. While the writing on his robe states,
"Gudea, the man who built the temple; may his life be long" (Met Museum, 2017). These statues appeared in Gudea’s temples. It appears the artist’s intention was to depict Gudea as an inviting and kind man, bringing and welcoming people into his temple.
The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu takes a little more digging to really depict what the artist could mean. Memi was part of the royal dynasty and Sabu was not (Met Museum,
2017), but one would probably not be able to tell that just from looking at the sculpture. Their intimacy is seen by her hand around his waist and his hand over her breast. One could interpret this in many ways, such as Sabu is not as into Memi as he is into she. A slight smile is seen on his face, while hers is looking