Art Education in Uzbekistan

Abstract

The art of Uzbekistan has established itself over many centuries, developing a tradition whereby masters of the arts passed on their crafts skills and knowledge to students from generation to generation. The history of art in Uzbekistan goes back 18 centuries and can be divided into three main periods:   Ancient and Antique (second to eighth century)   Mid-century and Islamic (eighth to twentieth century)   Modern (twentieth century onwards) pre- and post-Soviet since 1990 The art of the pre-Islamic period is represented by wall sculpture, painting and different kinds of crafts. The brightest samples of these were created during the Ancient and Antique periods (second to eighth century). There were beautiful pieces of wall painting and sculpture as well as other crafts. The art of that period reflects the influence of ancient-Iranian, Hindu Buddhist, Hellenistic and local Central-Asian cultural and religious traditions. The mythological and religious characters of ancient Greece and Zoroastrian and Buddhist deities interacted with local cult images and all of these added a special originality to the art of Antique Central Asia. This susceptibility and tolerance of local art to external influences was combined with its ability to retain its individuality and uniqueness during the whole period of development.