It goes without saying that art is the powerful force that makes the world a beautiful place and at the same time allows the artist to show the rest of the people their true colors; taking the veil off the everyday mysteries, art pins down the tiniest imperfections of life and yet portrays it as something unique and delightful.
One of the most unusual kinds of art, the one that allows to represent the elements of the world in their usual three-dimensional form, sculpture is the least emphasized at present, which makes it quite a peculiar target for a research.
Comparing the specifics of the Kuwait and British sculpture, one can possibly see the specifics of the Kuwaiti and the British culture, the key differences and the unexpected similarities, and learn about the trends in both the British and the Kuwaiti sculpture.
Speaking of the aim of the research, one must mention that the paper will describe the key differences and the similarities between the current Kuwaiti and British sculpture.
Being the key purpose of the given paper, the search for the specifics of each sculpture art development will lead to the further analysis and the work on the conclusion. Thus, the links between the British and the Kuwaiti culture are likely to be discovered. In addition, the prospects for the further development of the Kuwaiti and British sculpture are likely to be made.
Moreover, it is necessary to mention that the given aim presupposes reaching a number of various objectives. For instance, the research will focus on the development of the Kuwaiti sculpture and the key people who contributed to the latter most; the same issues are going to be researched in the field of the British sculpture.
However, since Britain includes English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish art, the British sculpture development will be mentioned briefly, with the key facts about each of the cultures.
The paper is going to be split into three major parts, i.e., the research on the British sculpture, the research on the Kuwaiti sculpture and the following analysis of the two. However, since there are possibly several major stages in the establishment of the British and the Kuwaiti sculpture, the first two parts will possibly be split into several parts according to the sculpture development stages.
Speaking of the way in which the analysis is going to be conducted, the following aspects are going to be compared:
- the time period at which the art of sculpture appeared;
- the key cultures and/or factors which contributed to the stylistic choices;
- the most famous sculptors;
- the outside influence;
- the modern sculpture and the current tendencies.
Therefore, it can be suggested that the given paper will be targeted at several objectives that will contribute to a single goal of learning about the sculpture of the two countries.
There have been quite a number of researches on the British culture, yet there are quite few papers on the topic of the Kuwaiti culture and especially sculpture. Hence, it can be considered that the given field needs additional researches.
In addition, even though there have been some papers devoted to the issue of the Kuwaiti culture, and some even touched upon the issue of sculpture, there are still not enough researches made on the differences and similarities between the development of sculpture in the two states. Thus, the research background is rather scanty, yet one can possibly learn quite much about the issue in the process.
As for the significance of the given paper, one can possibly assume that the given research will have some weight. Mainly due to the fact that there has been very little done in exploring the sculpture of Kuwait, one can assume that the paper will provide a lot of colorful new details about the issue.
In addition, since there has never been a comparison made between the British and the Kuwaiti sculpture, one can suppose that the given paper is going to shed some light on a relatively unknown subject and provide unique facts, as well as deliver specific and unexpected results. Hence, the significance of the paper is going to be sufficient enough to prove its right to exist.
In terms of the paper methodology, it is necessary to mention that the research is going to be conducted on the basis of the data collected from books and reports.
As it has already been mentioned, the research is going to touch upon various epochs in the development of sculpture in both countries, which means that not only the recent reports on the sculpture exhibitions or festivals and the modern sculptors with their most famous works are going to be analyzed, but also the books on the historical development of sculpture in the specified countries are going to be considered.
The next issue to discuss will be the sources. As it has already been explained, the sources for the paper are going to be very diverse, mostly because of the specifics of the issue. In addition, it will presumably be quite difficult to pick the necessary information, since the art of sculpture was underdeveloped in Kuwait until the mid-90ies of the XX century.
To start with, the story of the Kuwaiti sculpture is going to be researched. In DiPiazza’s work (2006), several artistic traditions are going to be researched, such as the annual Festival of arts. Moreover, the reasons for the underdevelopment of the sculpture genre in Kuwait are going to be explained in details.
Another peculiar work which deserves taking a closer look at is the book by O’Shea & Spilling (2009); the latter will shed some light on when the actual development of the Kuwaiti sculpture began (according to the authors, it was exactly 1963 (O’Shea & Spilling, 2009, 108)).
Finally, USA International Business Publications (2007) will tell about the places in Kuwait where notable sculptures are, such as Free Studio for Fine Arts (USA International Business Publications, 2007, 257), etc. Further on, when dealing with the emergence and the further progress of sculpture in Great Britain, the book by Westmacott (1824) will be of great importance.
Allowing to track the history of British sculpture till the day it emerged as a phenomenon, Westmacott offers more than enough information for the given research. Unlike Westmacott, Greengrass & Huges (2008) offer the specifics of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish sculpture instead of digging deep into the history of the British sculpture in general.
Allowing to access the most significant elements of the British sculpture, the given book, nonetheless, makes it obvious that British art embraces several cultures, which is the key difference between the British and the Kuwaiti sculpture. Meanwhile, Hill (2011) allows to check the greatest sculptors of the XXI century Britain, making the readers plunge into the present-day British sculpture.
However, Eigner (2010) shows that there are a number of modern Kuwaiti sculptors worth mentioning; listing the key people who have had essential impact on the XXI century Kuwaiti sculpture, the author stresses the fact that sculpture is only developing in Kuwait.
With the help of Ammari’s (2009) article, one can learn even more about the modern Kuwaiti sculptures, which Wintle (2002) lists the key British sculptors of the XXI century. Brought together, the above-mentioned sources allow to track the history of British and Kuwaiti art of sculpture.
For the paper, the following work plan is going to be adopted. First of all, the sources on the topic are going to be collected based on their relevance to the issue.
Further on, the sources are going to be analyzed and split into several categories, i.e., the sources which deal with the Kuwaiti sculpture and sculptures at the time when sculpture appeared in Kuwait, the sources which deal with the same issue of appearing and further development of sculpture in Great Britain, and the sources which concern the present-day sculpture in each of the countries in question. Further on, the outline for the paper is going to be developed.
Finally, I will provide a rough draft for the paper and start writing the research. In the end, the final conclusions will be drawn and the prognoses for the Kuwaiti and British sculpture will be drawn.
References
Ammari, S S, 2009, Kuwaiti sculptor’s work is new addition to downtown Burj Dubai. Web.
DiPiazza, F D, 2006, Kuwait in pictures, Twenty-First Century Books, Minneapolis, MN.
Eigner, S, 2010, Art of the Middle East: modern and contemporary art of the Arab world and Iran, Merrel, London.
Greengrass, M & Huges, L M, 2008, The virtual representation of the past, Ashgate Publishing, Farnham, UK.
Hill, J, 2011, The sculpture of Gertrude Hermes, Ashgate Publishing, Farnham, UK.
O’Shea, M & Spilling, M 2009, Kuwait, Marshall Cavendish, Singapore.
USA International Business Publications, 2007, Kuwait investment and business guide, International Business Publication, Washington, DC.
Westmacott, C M, 1824, British galleries of painting and sculpture, comprising a general historical and critical catalogue, with separate notices of every work of fine art in the principal collections, Sherwood, London, UK.
Wintle, J, 2002, Makers of modern culture, Routledge, New York, NY.