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Ancient Egyptians - Egyptian Art |
Ancient Egyptian Art Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Art Fact Sheet Fact 1 on Egyptian Art: Predynastic Egypt: The artwork of predynastic Egypt and the Early Dynastic Period mainly consisted of painted pottery and figures, ivory carvings, slate cosmetic palettes and flint weapons. Monolithic (massive) statues of gods were created using limestone. Fact 2 on Egyptian Art: Old Kingdom: The artwork of the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) saw the emergence of the stylistic conventions that characterised the artwork of ancient Egypt for nearly 3000 years Fact 3 on Egyptian Art: Stylistic Conventions: The stylistic conventions of their artwork adhered to 'frontality' in which heads were depicted in profile with just one eye visible, but both shoulders were shown front facing. Fact 4 on Egyptian Art: Representations of gods depicted some deities with the heads of humans wearing various styles of crowns and headdresses whilst other gods were depicted as 'human hybrids' with the bodies of humans but with the heads of animals. Fact 5 on Egyptian Art: The arms of the deities generally had to be visible to right and left of the body Fact 6 on Egyptian Art: The legs of the gods were shown to the best advantage when viewed sidewise, so the Egyptian artists depicted them in this sideways style with parted legs. Compositions also followed the rules of axiality by which figures were situated in, on, or along an axis. Fact 7 on Egyptian Art: The bodies and heads of seated gods were often depicted entirely in profile. Gods with human like heads were always painted in a brownish-red color and goddesses were always painted in a yellow color. Fact 8 on Egyptian Art: The animal heads depicted on some of the gods was a simple device used to visually convey the qualities and attributes of the deity. Fact 9 on Egyptian Art: The characteristic outlines used when painting figures were capable of being easily reproduced in pure line upon a flat surface this technique resulted in somewhat 'stilted' forms which were caused by a lack of perspective. Fact 10 on Egyptian Art: Egyptian artists had their own rules of perspective, completely different to modern rules of perspective which create the illusion of 3 dimensions on a 2-dimensional surface continued... Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Art Fact Sheet Egyptian Art Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Art Fact Sheet Fact 11 on Egyptian Art: Color: Six basic colors used by the ancient Egyptians in varying shades of red, yellow, blue, green, white and black.
Fact 12 on Egyptian Art: Color Meanings: Each colors had a meaning and together with the numerous symbols used by the ancient Egyptians conveyed ideas and elements from ancient Egyptian mythology. Fact 13 on Egyptian Art: Art Materials: Materials consisted of various forms of plant dyes and mineral compounds were used for creating the different colors and shades. Fact 14 on Egyptian Art: Color: The ancient Egyptian word for color was 'iwen' which could also could also be translated to mean "nature" or "character". Fact 15 on Egyptian Art: The Symbols used were similar to simple pictograms conveying meanings through pictures of signs that signified and resembled the shapes of physical objects or people. Fact 16 on Egyptian Art: Color Symbolism: The colors were not chosen at random, each color had special meaning, significance and symbolism. Colors were often used purely as symbolism, rather then for realistic accuracy of a subject. Fact 17 on Egyptian Art: Color Symbolism: Colors were often used purely as symbolism, rather then for realistic accuracy of a subject, for example the god Osiris was depicted with a human head but green skin which symbolized rebirth and regeneration. Fact 18 on Egyptian Art: Hieratic scaling: The ancient Egyptians often used the system of Hieratic scaling in which the size of figures is determined by their importance. Fact 19 on Egyptian Art: Statuary: Rounded figures either standing or seated types were developed in ancient Egyptian statuary but there was strict adherence to the law of frontality. Fact 20 on Egyptian Art: Statuary: Even with statuary the ancient Egyptians tended to emphasize symmetry and to minimize suggestion of movement. continued... Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Art Fact Sheet Ancient Egyptian Art Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Art Fact Sheet Fact 21 on Egyptian Art: Sculptures: Ancient Egyptian sculptures were bulky, solid, and impersonal. Fact 22 on Egyptian Art: Artwork during the period of the Middle Kingdom focused on massive portrait sculptures of Pharaohs. Fact 23 on Egyptian Art: The artwork of the New Kingdomreflected the riches of the kingdom making vast use of expensive materials such as gold, precious and semi-precious gemstones, ebony and ivory. Fact 24 on Egyptian Art: The ancient Egyptians believed that the statues of deities and pharaohs (who were also considered divine) placed in their temples and tombs was inhabited by the spirit of the person. Only priests and royalty were allowed to see these divine statues. Fact 25 on Egyptian Art: Deities and pharaohs were always depicted as young and healthy. There are no representation of facial hair other than the stylized pharaonic beard. Enemies were portrayed wearing beards, possibly a sign of being foreigners. Gods and pharaohs were always depicted with bare feet, emphasizing their close connection with the land of Egypt. Fact 26 on Egyptian Art: Tomb paintings and papyrus containing versions of the Book of the Dead depicted images of a perfect existence in the Afterlife with the deceased portrayed in the way they wished to remain forever. Fact 27 on Egyptian Art: The figures and scenes in ancient Egyptian artwork were arranged in horizontal rows (called registers). Fact 28 on Egyptian Art: Figures were not depicted with expressions of emotion, as feelings were only transitory. Fact 29 on Egyptian Art: Ancient Egyptian artists did not depict the play of light and shadow in their artwork neither did they attempt to create the illusion of space and atmosphere in outdoor scenes. Fact 30 on Egyptian Art: Proportions: The proportions of the human figure were related to the width of the Fact 31 on Egyptian Art: Artwork relating to animals were depicted in a more realistic fashion to humans, depicting a sense of movement and accurate representations of their environment but the artists still adhered to their artistic rules of frontality and axiality. Fact 32 on Egyptian Art: The Armana Period: There was a short divergence from the strict form and styles applied to ancient Egyptian artwork during the the reign of Akhenaten, the heretic Pharaoh and the father of Tutankhamen. Armana was the name of a city entirely built under the instructions of Akhenaten and a new art style developed during this period. Fact 33 on Egyptian Art: The Armana Period: Amarna artwork radically changed existing conventions and artists developed a more graceful and naturalistic style. The stylised images of pharaohs, who were only depicted as perfect young men, to be replaced with a far more realistic approach. Akhenaten decreed that all of the old gods were to be replaced with just one god, called the Aten. There were no statues to the God Aten as these were viewed as idolatry.
Fact 34 on Egyptian Art: The Armana Period: The Armana period lasted for only for 16 years from 1349BC - 1333BC. The old artistic conventions (and the old religion) were restored to the ancient Egyptians. Fact 35 on Egyptian Art: The highly stylized techniques and conventions of ancient Egyptian artwork was therefore used, except for the extremely short-lived Armana period, for nearly 3000 years. Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Art Fact Sheet Egyptian Art Egyptian Art |
