EGYPTIAN ARTTimeline of Egyptian Art

Patronage and Artistic Life

Characteristics of Egyptian Sculpture, Painting and Architecture

Select Works Artworks from the Timeline

VIDEOGuide Questions Art has been advancing during this

period but are the artist considered as artist?

What are the distinct elements of Egyptian Art?

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TIMELINE PERIOD OF EGYPTIAN ART The Early Dynastic Period The Old Kingdom (2575¬2134 BCE) The Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BCE) The New Kingdom (1550¬1070 BCE) Ptolemaic Era (323-30 BCE) The period of Roman rule (30 BCE - 395 CE)

PATRONAGE AND ARTISTIC LIFE Egyptian sculptors and

painters were paid artisans and not as “artists” in the modern sense of being a creative individual. They were trained and worked as part of a team.

Imhotep, the architect who built the Stepped Pyramid (2630 – 2611 BCE) for King Zoser was so highly revered in later times that he was deified.

The credit for any work of art, however, was believed to belong to the patron who had commissioned it.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN PAINTING Most Egyptian Art is a picture of contentment and stability

that shows successful man and woman in a calm and rational manner

Made use of a Canon of Proportion (a precise measurement of a body) that allows little individuality

Shoulders are seen frontally, while the rest of the body, except the eye, is turned profile. Often heads face one direction while legs face another.

In the Amara Period (14 BCE)this rule has been laxed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN PAINTING: THE USE OF COLOR Red, the color of power, symbolized life and victory, as well as anger

and fire. Green symbolized new life, growth, and fertility Blue symbolized creation and rebirth Yellow symbolized the eternal, such as the qualities of the sun and

gold. White was the color of purity, symbolizing all things sacred, and was

typically used in religious objects and tools used by the priests. Black was the color of death and represented the underworld and the

night

> Men are painted ruddy brown or red; Women painted lighter with yellowish tinge. > Shading is rare

CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE Ranges from intimate jewelry to megalithic sculptures. Sculpted portraits of pharaohs are meant to impress

and overwhelm Limestone is the primary stone used for sculpting

aside from gypsum and sandstone. Wood sculptures are painted Copper and Iron are also used in sculpture. Megalith structure like the Great Sphinx are carved on

site (in situ) from the local available rock

SCULPTURE DEFINED Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by

shaping or combining hard materials - typically stone such as marble - or metal, glass, or wood. Softer ("plastic") materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals. The term has been extended to works including sound, text and light.

Found objects may be presented as sculptures. Materials may be worked by removal such as carving; or they may be assembled such as by welding, hardened such as by firing, or molded or cast. Surface decoration such as paint may be applied.

Sculpture has been described as one of the plastic arts because it can involve the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated.

The word sculpture originates from the Latin word sculpere, which means "to carve".

KINDS OF SCULPTUREFree Standing Sculpture

sculpture that is surrounded on all sides, except the base, by space. It is also known as sculpture "in the round", and is meant to be viewed from any angle.

KINDS OF SCULPTUREStatue - representationalist sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person, event, animal or object.Types Full statue Bust - representation of a person

from the chest up Equestrian statue - typically showing

a significant person on horseback

KINDS OF SCULPTURE Relief Sculpture

the sculpture is still attached to a background; Types of Relief Sculpture bas-relief (low relief)mezzo-rilievo (mid relief)alto-relievo (high relief)sunken-relief

CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN RELIEF SCULPTURES Relief Sculptures follow the Canon of

Proportion When carved outdoors they are done

Sunken Relief to dramatically create shadows and make the work visible

When carved indoors reliefs are done either Bas Relief or Mezzo Relievo

CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

Egyptian Pyramids are sleek solid surfaces and monumental scale. Made of stone blocks without mortar (mortar a mixture of lime, sand and water used in building for holding bricks or stones together)

The sides of the pyramids are oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass

Egyptian temples have astronomical orientation. (Temple of Ramses II admits light into the deepest recesses at dawn on Ramses’ birthday

Columns used in New Kingdom temples are based on plant shapes: lotus, palm and papyrus.

SAMPLE COLUMNSa) campaniform b) clustered lotus columnc) simple lotus column d) palm column e) Hathor-headed column

MAJOR ART WORKS OF PRE-DYNASTIC AND OLD KINGDOMNarmer Palette, 3000 – 2920 BCERelief sculpture depicting King Narmer uniting upper and lower Egypt Hathor, a god as a cow with a woman’s face, depicted four timesNarmer is the largest figure in front while Horus, a god of Egypt (Hierarchy of Scale)Schematic lines delineate Narmer’s muscle structure.Hieroglyphics explain and add meaning to the NarrativeA palette is used to prepare make-up

OLD KINGDOM PAINTINGTi Watching the Hippopotamus Hunt, c 2400 BCE, painted on limestone, Tomb of Ti, Saqqara, EgyptPainted on relief in the mastaba of Ti, a government officialHunt takes place as a memorial to the deceased; success in the hunt is a parallel with the fight against evil

MIDDLE KINGDOM BUST Senusret III, c 1860

BCE, stone, CairoMoody look in the eyes and mouth: depressed rather than heroic figures of the Old KingdomFigure reflects the period of civil unrest

MIDDLE KINGDOM ARCHITECTURE Rock Cut Tombs of

Beni Hasan, c 1950 – 1900 BCE

Cliff walls hollowed out to reveal small burial chambersReserve columns cut away from the interior chamber to create the look of conventional columnsColumns are not round but fluted

NEW KINGDOM Judgement before Osiris, c 1290 – 1280 BCE,

papyrusIllustration of the Book of the Dead, an Egyptian book of spell and charmAnubis, god of embalming, Thoth, a god who invented hieroglyphics and Osiris, god of the underworld seated on the throne

NEW KINGDOM ART Mask of King Tutankhamen,

c 1323 BCE, gold enamel, semi-precious stones, Cairo

Death maskMummified body of King Tutankhamen buried with 143 objects on his head, neck, abdomen and limbsGold coffin that is 6’7” longSmoothly idealized features of the boy-king

NEW KINGDOM Temple of Ramses II,

1290 – 1224 BCE

Temple of Amen-Re, 1290 – 1224 BCE

NEW KINGDOM STATUE AND BUST

Akhenaton, c. 1353-1335 BCE, Sandstone

Amarna style of sculpture

Nefertiti, 1353 – 1335 BCE, Limestone

Wife of Akhenaton

Queen Hatshepsut, c 1473 -1458 BCE, granite

Queen dressed in male costumeOften portrayed as a sphinx

KARNAK TEMPLE OBELISK An obelisk is a tall, four-

sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top.

These were originally called "tekhenu" by the builders, the Ancient Egyptians.

Ancient obelisks were often monolithic (that is, built with a single stone), whereas most modern obelisks are made of several stones and can have interior spaces.

OBELISK Cleopatra's Needle is the popular

name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City during the nineteenth century. Although all three needles are genuine Ancient Egyptian obelisks, their shared nickname is a misnomer, as they have no connection with Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and were already over a thousand years old in her lifetime. The London and New York "needles" were originally made during the reign of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Thutmose III. The Paris "needle" dates to the reign of Ramesses II in the 19th Dynasty and was the first to be moved and re-erected as well as the first to acquire the nickname, "L'aiguille de Cléopâtre" in French.

ART PROJECT: DUE ON JUNE 30 Research on an Egyptian Painting

showing Hieratic and Schematic Style Recreate the painting on your sketch

pad Use pencils to sketch your art and paint

it using your acrylic paint. Line your work using black acrylic paint

and pointed brush to emphasize the figures