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Reading Response- Age of Faith

As we discussed in class, in the Islamic faith it is prohibited to create a visual representation of Allah. Instead, much of their artwork consists of calligraphy, decorative motifs, and geometric or organic shapes. Though in Christianity, Jesus is often visually depicted, usually as a white man with a beard in shepherds clothing. He is depicted in lots of artwork throughout history. My question is if the Islamic religion did allow visual representation of their God, would they undergo the same westernization that Christianity has? Jesus is often depicted with European features and light skin, which is most likely not an accurate depiction. 
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Reading Response 1

If Greek sculptors had based their work on the population, instead of the ideal, how different would our society be today? Could we see the Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf) for what it is, a fertility symbol, or would we still see it in distaste? Our western society’s concept of ‘good’ art usually incorporates idealness, something not anyone could achieve. On Instagram, you can see a majority of popular models are the ‘ideal’ body type of our society, thin. We love the Mona Lisa because she is beautiful, not because of the skill of the artist, but because we see her physical appearance as ‘ideal’. That’s a reason society felt so outraged when Duchamp released L.H.O.O.Q , not because he had defaced a replication of a famous painting, but because it felt as if he was insulting her, by adding facial hair he had made her no longer beautiful, which our society considers being an insult. Without the influence from Greek artists, I would like to believe we would base our art from the gener...
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