Unit Sheet #3 Egyptian Art CH. 3 Art Through the Ages Pages 56 - 82
Context:
Geographic Isolation civilization is defendable, homogeneous culture = continuous traditions
Economic Security agricultural base due to inundation of the Nile = prosperity, continuity
Deeply Held Religious Beliefs Pharaoh son of god, hierarchical society = stability/ aversion to change,
Hierarchical Society Pharaoh top of “pyramid” = collective will /aversion to change
Geological Substructure plethora of stone = megalithic architecture, permanence
Belief in the Afterlife elaborate funereal traditions, objects and tomb architecture
Works of Art:
Palette of Narmer c. 3168 BCE Old Kingdom
Stepped pyramid of King Zoser c. 2750 BCE < < < Lower Egypt / Memphis
Pyramids at Giza c. 2500 BCE Pyramids Papyrus
seated Ka Statue of Khafre c. 2500 BCE c.2500 BCE
seated Scribe C. 2400 BCE
Menkaure and his bride c. 2500 BCE
wood statue of Ka-Aper c. 2325 BCE New Kingdom
Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut c. 1400 BCE Upper Egypt / Thebes
Sculptures of Hatshepsut (seated & kneeling) c. 1400 BCE < < < Temples Lotus
wall paintings: Tomb of Nebamun c. 1400 BCE c.1500 BCE
Temple of Amen-Re at Karnak c. 1250 BCE
various works from the Amarna period c. 1330 BCE < < < NOTE: Amarna Period
Abu Simbel (Ramses II) c. 1225 BCE 1333 BCE
Vocabulary: alluvial deposits innundation of the Nile ka hierarchal Imhotep
canon / canon of proportion convention (versus innovation) pyramidal
Amarna period Akhenaton monotheism iconoclast
ben-ben / fetish stone: “I have trodden these rays as ramps under my feet where I mount up to my mother Uraeus on the brow of Re”
Architecture: cardinal points of the compass plan / elevation in architectural renderings
pyramids: mastaba stone courses living rock corbeled arch / corbeling
valley temple mortuary temple causeway sphinx
engaged columns fluting necropolis pyramid precinct
temples: clerestory hypostyle hall colonnade entablature pylon
axis bi symmetrical sanctuary sacred lake atlantids
post: column (types of capitals: bell and bud) shaft drum base (of column)
lintel: entablature limestone tensile strength of stone obelisk
Sculpture: negative relief /positive relief types of stone: diorite, granite, slate atlantids
Painting: “The [Egyptian] artist uses the conceptual approach rather than the optical, representing what is known to be true of the object, instead of some random view of it, and showing it’s mos characteristic parts at right angles to the line of vision” Gardner
fresco secco technique of wall painting twisted perspective hierarchal ordering
Ideas / Concepts:
1: Using the 4 aspects of “context” discussed in class, connect contextual issues to the Old Kingdom pyramids and New Kingdom temple.
Why did Egyptian architects choose the pyramidal shape for tombs?
2: How is the concept of hierarchy expressed in the design of New Kingdom temples ?
3: Why is there very little change (of style) in Egyptian art and architecture (except Amarna period)?
4: Why did Egyptian craftsmen adhere to a “canon of proportion” and strict conventions of representing the human figure in Egyptian painting, relief and sculpture?
5: Understand how contextual issues relate to the function of Egyptian painting, sculpture and architecture.
6: Understand how the function of Egyptian painting and tomb sculpture determines style
7: Why did Egyptian painters concentrates on conceptual reality rather than presenting an optical reality?
An Iconographic reading of the Palette of Narmer:
Narmer, who has been identified with Menes, first king of the first Egyptian dynasty, appears
three times. As the largest figure on side A, he wears the crown of Upper Egypt and brings
under his control a figure who probably represents Lower Egypt. The nearby human-headed
figure with six papyrus blossoms being held captive by the god Horus (shown as a falcon)
almost certainly represents, in a symbolic manner, the submission of Lower Egypt to Upper
Egypt. This use of symbols to represent complex ideas is an important new development in art,
and one which hints at the later development of Egyptian hieroglyphs, in which figures or pictures
signify words or sounds. At the bottom of side B, Narmer himself appears as a symbol - a
horned bull, victorious over an enemy and the enemy's fortified city. At the bottom of side A are
two more defeated antagonists and small symbols of a fortified city and a gazelle trap that suggest
victories in the city and countryside. Near the top of side B, Narmer, wearing the crown of Lower
Egypt and accompanied by a processional retinue, views the decapitated corpses of enemies.
The central symbol at the top of both sides represents Narmer's name and his palace. It is flanked
by horned animals representing the sky-mother (Hathor), in whose shrine the palette was probably
dedicated. In addition to Narmer's assumption of the two crowns, union is also suggested by the
joining of two fantastic, long-necked lionesses on side B, their serpentine necks intertwined to form
the shallow indentation that refers to the function of the object.
The Later Canon (rule of proportion) of Egyptian Art
"With its more significant lines permanently fixed on specific points of the human body, the Egyptian
network [of equal squares] immediately indicates to the painter or sculptor how to organize his figure:
he will know from the outset that he must place the ankle on the first horizontal line, the knee on the sixth,
. . . and so on . . . . It was, for instance, agreed that in a [lunging] figure, . . . the length of pace . . should
amount to 10 1/2 units, while his distance in a figure quietly standing was set at 4 1/2/ or 5 1/2/ units.
Without too much exaggeration, one could maintain that, when an Egyptian artist familiar with this system
of proportion was set the task of representing a standing, sitting, or striding figure, the result was a foregone
conclusion once the figure's absolute size was determined" Erwin Panosky, Meaning in the Visual Arts
Conventions of Representing the Human Figure in Egyptian Art
(wall painting, relief sculpture)
“The artist uses the conceptual approach rather than the optical, representing what is known to be true of the
object, instead of some random view of it, and showing it’s most characteristic parts at right angles
to the line of vision” from Art Through the Ages (Gardner)
1: Twisted Perspective used – two points of view combined into the representation of a single figure
2: Canon of proportion always used in representing figures
3: Formalization of anatomy and stance = rigidity, lack of a sense of movement
4: Hierarchical organization of figures within a composition (relief and painting, but also sculpture groups)
5: Little or no depth within composition registers used to organize figures
6: Literal presentation of information conceptual ordering of symbols, motifs, hieroglyphics, patterns
Egyptian sculpture: Conventions of Representing the Human Figure
1: Idealized flawless body (youth), perfect facial feature (prime of life), no emotion, serenity
2: Timelessness figure compact, without gesture, with no protruding breakable parts,
carved in diorite (hardest stone available), to last for all time
3: Power and Authority iconography reflects kingship and religious power and the divinity of pharaoh.
4: Stereotypical Poses figures carved according to a canon of proportion and gestures
– following established conventions
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