Art
Through the Ages
Pages 56
- 82
Context:
Geographic Isolation
Economic Security
civilization is defendable, homogeneous culture = continuous traditions 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
Belief in the Afterlife plethora elaborate of stone
funerea
= megalithic architecture, permanence l traditions, objects and tomb architecture
Works of Art:
Palette of Narmer
Stepped pyramid of King Zoser
Pyramids at Giza seated Ka Statue of Khafre seated Scribe
Menkaure and his bride wood statue of Ka-Aper
Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut c. 3168 BCE Old Kingdom
c. 2750 BCE < < < Lower Egypt / Memphis c. 2500 BCE c. 2500 BCE
Pyramids Papyrus c.2500 BCE
C. 2400 BCE c. 2500 BCE c. 2325 BCE New Kingdom 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
: alluvial deposits innundation of the Nile ka hierarchal Imhotep canon / canon of proportion
Amarna period convention
Akhenaton
(versus innovation) monotheism ben-ben / fetish stone: pyramidal iconoclast
“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 valley temple stone courses living rock mortuary temple causeway
corbeled arch / corbeling sphinx temples: engaged columns fluting clerestory hypostyle hall necropolis pyramid precinct
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
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?

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.
"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
(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
1: Idealized flawless body (youth), perfect facial feature (prime of life), no emotion,
2: Timelessness serenity 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