Transcript 6517f320d48f6a5

Introduction to Art History-HIS
340- Week 8
Ancient Egyptian At
Introduction
Ancient Egyptian art refers to the style of
painting, sculpture, crafts and architecture
developed by the civilization of ancient Egypt
that emerged around the lower Nile Valley
from 5000 BC to 600 AD.
• Ancient Egyptian art as expression in painting
and sculpture was both very stylized and also
symbolic, centered around spiritual life and
religion.
• Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and
monuments and, therefore, there is an emphasis on
life after death and the preservation of knowledge
of the past.
• Egyptian art forms include architecture, as
represented in temples, tombs and remains of
palaces and houses.
• Like in Mesopotamian Art, in Egyptian Art the
religion and the temple were the centre of life.
Peoples' lives were much influenced by gods,
deities, and super powers. Egyptian mythology is
one of the strongest in the ancient world.
Aspects of ancient Egyptian
(Pharaonic Art):
• Symbolism
• Symbolism, ranging from the pharaoh's regalia (symbolizing
his power to maintain order) to the individual symbols of
Egyptian gods and goddesses, is common in Egyptian art.
Animals and colors were usually also highly symbolic in
Egyptian art.
• For example red skin implied strong tanned youth, whereas
yellow skin was used for women or middle-aged men who
worked indoors; blue or gold indicated divinity because of its
unnatural appearance and association with precious
materials; the use of black for royal figures expressed the
fertility of the Nile from which Egypt was born.
Art forms
Art forms
• Ancient Egyptian art forms are characterized by
order, regularity, perfection and detailed depiction
of human beings and nature, and were intended to
provide company to the deceased in the “other
world”.
• Artists did their best to preserve everything of the
present time as clearly and permanently as
possible. Some art forms present an extraordinarily
vivid representation of their time and the life, as
the ancient Egyptian life was lived thousands of
years before.
Regularity –order- religious themes
Art Forms- contin.
• Egyptian art in all forms obeyed one
law: the mode of representing man,
nature and the environment remained
almost the same for thousands of years
and the most admired artists were
those who replicated most admired
styles of the past.
Egyptian Representational Lawcanon of proportion
Architecture:
• Ancient Egyptian architects used sun-dried
bricks, fine sandstone, limestone and granite.
Architects carefully planned all their work. The
stones had to fit precisely together.
• Ramps were used to allow workmen to move up
as the height of the construction grew. When
the top of the structure was completed, the
artists decorated from the top down, removing
ramp sand as they went down.
The Giza Pyramids
architecture
• Hieroglyphic and pictorial carvings in brilliant
covers were abundantly used to decorate the
structures, including many motifs, like the
scarab, sacred beetle, the solar disk and the
vulture.
• The belief in existence of life beyond death
resulted in a great and impressive architectural
style to house the mummified bodies.
Construction of a burial monument commenced
as soon a pharaoh was named, and continued
until he died.
Egyptian Temples
Egyptian Temples
Sculpture:
• The ancient art of Egyptian sculpture
developed to represent the ancient Egyptian
gods, Pharaohs, and the kings and queens, in
physical (figurative) form.
• Massive statues were built to represent gods
and famous kings and queens. These statues
were supposed to give eternal life to the
kings and queens, and to enable the subjects
to see them in physical forms.
Statues
Very strict conventions were followed
while crafting statues:
• male statues were darker than the female ones;
• in seated statues, hands were required to be placed
on knees and specific rules governed appearance of
every Egyptian god.
• Artistic works were ranked according to exact
compliance with all the conventions, and the
conventions were followed so strictly that over three
thousand years, very little changed in the appearance
of statues.
• These conventions were intended to convey a
timelessness and non aging representation of the
person's life for an eternal afterlife.
Egyptian sculpture
Other examples of sculpture/figures
Obelisk
Jewelry
Paper - papyrus
• Paper
• The word paper is derived from
"papyrus", a plant which was
cultivated in the Nile delta. Papyrus
was used by ancient Egyptians for
writing and painting.
Paper - papyrus
Hieroglyphs:
• The hieroglyphic script consisted of a variety of
pictures and symbols. Some symbols had
independent meanings, whereas some symbols were
used in combination. Some symbols also conveyed
multiple meanings; for example, legs could mean to
walk, to run, to go and to come.
• The script was written in three directions: from top to
bottom, from left to right, and from right to left. This
style of writing continued to be used by the ancient
Egyptians for nearly 3500 years, from 3300 BC until
the third century AD.
Hieroglyphs:
hieroglyphs
• Many art works of the period contain
hieroglyphs and hieroglyphs themselves
constitute an attractive feature of ancient
Egyptian art. In the 19th century the
Frenchman Champollion finally succeeded in
translating the mysterious script, opening up
a wealth of knowledge to archaeologists and
Egyptologists.
Paintings
• Ancient Egyptian paintings survived due to the
extremely dry climate.
• The ancient Egyptians created paintings to make the
afterlife of the deceased a pleasant place. This is why
beautiful paintings were created.
• The themes included journey through the afterworld
or their protective deities introducing the deceased to
the gods of the underworld. Some tomb paintings
show activities that the deceased were involved in
when they were alive like hunting and farming, and
wished to carry on doing for eternity.
Paintings- religious scenes
painting
• Egyptian paintings are painted in a way to
show a profile view and a side view of the
animal or person. The main colors were red,
blue, black, gold, and green (do not forget
each color had a symbolic meaning).
• The Egyptian artists gave a great concern to
painting landscape and scenes from the
nature, like the desert, the sea, rivers, and
farms.
Paintings- daily-life scenes
painting
• They also painted scenes showing family
life, like husband and wife and children
playing.
• One aspect of Egyptian painting was the
art of caricature or grotesque, again this
is found in Egyptian art in both painting
and also sculptures showing funnylooking characters.
Paintings
Family-life scenes
Grotesque/Caricature themes