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The influence of Egyptian art
Egyptian art and religion
The style of egyptian art
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When shown in a realistic light, our insecurities, flaws, and shortcomings are shown to everyone around us. In result, there is a vulnerability and weakness that is felt. In order to keep such feelings away, people strive to achieve the unachievable, perfection. This is widely shown in Egyptian art. Egyptians, more so Egyptian rulers, wanted to show that there was no such thing as “flaws”. Without there being an existence of flaws, Egypt could be looked at as an almighty power. Thus, resulting in a nation full of intimidation; however, though ideology beats realism in the idea of perfection, realism still holds a natural beauty, literally speaking. In Egyptian art, when portraying an individual in a realistic way, it is known that that person …show more content…
From this concept, the hierarchy of scale was produced. This scale was used to depict the importance of the individual in the work of art as opposed to others that were also present; however, Egyptians came to a conflict. Without them even realizing it, the rules found in their art became a contradiction. When portraying a ruler in the hierarchy of scale, perfection can not be achieved; therefore, the concept of ideology completely leaves that image. With this realization, perhaps the Egyptians saw that a flawed portrayal wasn’t so bad after …show more content…
Typically, this individual can be seen on a grander scale as opposed to an average person in the art. This is called the hierarchy of scale. People that are on a large scale in the art are often dominant, of a higher power, or higher religious status. Ideology was formed to portray people of power in a ruling position; therefore, anyone seen in a realistic light was assumed to be of a lower class or a servant. However, as time progressed, realism started to be appreciated by
Egypt. Egyptians saw a natural beauty behind realism, so using this to represent someone of high class or low class was ideal; however, the further you go back in Egyptian history, one can see that art that was more on the realist side would represent someone of low class, meanwhile the idealistic human form was more so represented by royalty and leaders. With the beautiful portrayals of both idealistic and realistic bodies in Egyptian Art, it has influenced others cultures in doing the same idea. This can be shown in Roman and Greek art; however, Roman and Greek art used both a realistic and ideologic portrayals in their art. The broad stature of men showed
In conclusion, the portrayal of ancient rulers is dependent not only on the style of art popular during the era, but also on the evolution of the political climate. The portrayal of Menkaure, a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt, is of complete authority, control and power. His face does not show concern or grief over his people, because he is not challenged politically, the image of control coincides with his sole power over the kingdom. While the depiction of Alexander the Great, in ancient Greek coins is deified. Alexander’s leadership ended with world domination; therefore, his deified portrayal on monetary funds is particularly appropriate. By contrast, Philip the Arab’s portrait sculpture almost resembles a present day photograph with its capture of fleeting expression. This expression of anxiety and sadness is a representation of the political turmoil during the time period of his rule. Taking the progress of ancient cultures into account, how does the art of sculpting improve in the manipulation of the medium used?
Moving through art we start to see more and more human figures being represented. At first they appear on paintings, then small figurines, and finally in full body realistic rock sculptures. Two examples of this are Anavysos Kouros and Doryphoros the Spear Bearer.
To recall another relic of ancient Greece, Plato had strong opinions on artwork, even that which was created during his time. Plato believed tha...
The Egyptian culture was a culture that lasted about 3,000 years and was located near the Nile River. The Nile River provided most of the resources for the Egyptians; therefore, a lot of the artwork was based on representing these bountiful resources. Another major influence of the artwork that was created was the kings and gods that were held at such high standards (Stokstad and Cothren, 50). There is one king in particular that was known in history for his great accomplishments, this king was King Narmer. The Egyptian’s expressed their respect for this king through a palette known as The Palette of Narmer. This piece is one of the firsts of Egyptian times that sets the morals for Egyptian artwork; it was created in the Early Dynastic time period. The Palette of Narmer tells a vast political story of the history of Egypt and the king, King Narmer.
The ancient Egyptians are known for many of the incredible aspects of their culture and everything they have produced. Some of the well known ancient Egyptian relics are the ones like the ancient pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza, mummies, and their many forms of art. Ancient Egyptian art is one of the most recognized styles of art. The most commonly known types of ancient Egyptian art are types like paintings, ceramics, and sculptures. Not only is Egyptian art beautiful, but it carries a huge deal of value and significance with it. A great portion of the time, the art has some kind of religious meaning to it. Consequently it is very difficult to discuss the art itself without delving into the various gods and goddesses presented in it. Something that particularly struck me about ancient Egyptian art was their proneness to use animals in their art. Not only do they use the animal’s full figure, but they also put individual parts on human bodies. This intrigued me because not many cultures have art that embrace animals to this extent. I will be exploring why the ancient Egyptians depict animals in their art repeatedly, and considering what they meant to them.
The human form transcends throughout time persistently present in art. Dating all the way back to Paleolithic human beings our renderings of idealized forms have served many purposes. Though the Neolithic and Paleolithic purpose of these renderings is widely speculative the range of reason for these depictions ranges from idolization and worship to assertion of aristocratic and economic status even to simply serving as statements of self-expression. Amongst ruins and artifacts, sculptures of ancient cultures demonstrate the ways in which humans perceptions of what is aesthetically desirable have progressed. Two idealized sculptures the Woman from Willendorf and the Khafre statue with approximately 21,500 years separating their individual gestations this demonstrate the stylistic progression of idealized imagery through time.
Most classes (even those who were rich) had more or less of an idea on
To conclude, both sculptures do not have much in common, but it is obvious that the artists had knowledge in human anatomy and was able to sculpt them spectacularly. It is also obvious the break from somewhat idealistic to realistic human nature. The change is so drastic that one might not believe that both sculptures come from the same Greece because it is so well-known for its astonishing artworks found in temples, building, etc.
In the book “Ways of Seeing,” John Berger explains several essential aspects of art through influence of the Marxism and art history that relates to social history and the sense of sight. Berger examines the dominance of ideologies in the history of traditional art and reflects on the history, class, and ideology as a field of cultural discourse, cultural consumption and cultural practice. Berger argues, “Realism is a powerful link to ownership and money through the dominance of power.”(p.90)[1] The aesthetics of art and present historical methodology lack focus in comparison to the pictorial essay. In chapter six of the book, the pictorial imagery demonstrates a variety of art forms connoting its realism and diversity of the power of connecting to wealth in contradiction to the deprived in the western culture. The images used in this chapter relate to one another and state in the analogy the connection of realism that is depicted in social statues, landscapes, and portraiture, also present in the state of medium that was used to create this work of art.
Plato’s ideas. There are many different aspects of Greek art that can be accredited to Plato
The artworks of Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, the Aegean cultures, and Ancient Greece have similarities that not only reflect objects and images, but also the media, style and representation. These countries were not always wealthy, clever, creative and powerful enough to gain supplies, but they all find a way to create art with what they had. They have all influenced on each other’s cultures and belief through their artistic values and ways, ranging from the materials and tools they use, position and representation of their monuments and their religious intent.
People decided to rebel against the political and social rules of their time and started a new trend of art. It conveyed dramatic subjects perceived with strong feelings and imagination.
Perhaps one of the most defining and easily identifiable aspects of the ancient Greek culture was the immortalization of humans and gods in sculpture. Sculpture had existed in the world for thousands of years before the ancient Greeks made their stake in the art, but the Greeks added an entirely new set of aspects to their sculptures. Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture centuries earlier, the Greeks set forth not just to capture the image of a man but to capture that which made him a man. The Greeks set in place three base tenants to display the tone of a sculpture. Through the use of Humanism, Realism, and Idealism the ancient Greeks were able to capture humans and gods forever in marble.
During the ancient times in Greece, Plato was the first human to document and criticize the existence of art and artists. He mentioned that human art was always in a form of a representation of something else. In one of Plato’s famous works, he demonstrates the idea of art is like an “imitation of nature” (Blocker 3). In other words, the purpose of art was to represent nature and nothing else. Art was not created for the sake of its own self nor was it created to appreciate its own beauty by any means. Instead, art, usually in forms of writings, paintings, or sculptures, was created to only to represent nature, Gods, emperors, families, or other important individuals. Furthermore, Plato had a very critical view towards the existence art in our society because art makes us more emotional, and our emotions lead to many errors about life. He believed it is our rational thinking, not our emotions or senses, which helps us und...
Like the famous Marsh Scene found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art which shows day to day life in ancient Egypt. The habits and customs survived more than three thousand years. They changed and evolved but mainly remained true to their history. The Egyptians made great efforts to ensure the survival of their souls after death so their art always had deep and religious meanings. ‘Symbolism can be observed throughout Egyptian art and played an important role in establishing a sense of order.’ This order paired with their history and customs made that civilization prosper and endure all the hardships through