Art History 101 Midterm: Egypt
fractional representation
(Hippo hunt/Lord Ti again) his stiff pose in which the head and legs appear in profile, but the torso and arms are depicted frontally. (Mark of being god-like) Notice how Lord Ti's peasants are depicted much more naturalistically in their movements and the relationship of their body parts to each other. (not god-like)
expository abstractions
(in terms of lord ti in the hippo hunt) typically Egyptian to modern observers but were meant by the artist to convey certain information to the viewer as clearly as possible. For example, we have no trouble singling out Lord Ti, his relative importance designated by his large scale,
temple of hatshepsut/architecture
A particularly beautiful example of post and lintel construction appears in the *Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the only woman to occupy the throne of Egypt, at Deir el Bahri, New Kingdom, 1490-1460 BCE. (Website images and Janson figs. 3.24, 3.25 and 3.26). Located against a cliff in the Valley of the Kings, the complex is an early example of naturalistic architecture in which the structure seems to mirror the environment in which it is placed. Approach is on the central axis and strictly controlled, resembling the desired approach to an Egyptian statue. Post and lintel is used extensively to open up space in the buildings at the back of each superimposed and setback terrace. Many of the posts in the Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut are columns which consist of the following components, a capital in the form of a square abacus supported by a faceted shaft of superimposed drums. The bottom of the shaft rests on a base which in turn rests on the stylobate, the surface on which the columns sit. In the lintel blocks above the columns appear two of the moldings most commonly used in Western architecture, a half-round or torus and a cavetto, Egyptian inventions also handed on to the Greeks.
cultural significance of khafre
A useful contrast might be made by looking at a *seated statue of the Pharaoh Khafra, Old Kingdom, ca. 2500 BCE (Website images and Janson fig. 3.10) made about two hundred years after that of Zoser and of diorite, an even harder stone than Zoser's limestone, its damaged lower left leg and throne back notwithstanding. In terms of its cubic composition and method of production, it is almost exactly the same as the statue of Zoser and served the same purpose, as an alternate body for Khafra's ka to inhabit. His completely symmetrical face is perfect, without blemish, what is called "idealized" in art historical parlance. In spite of the idealism, Khafra, with a hint of a smile, almost appears approachable, a feeling definitely not communicated by the statue of Zoser. In spite of being the builder of the largest of the three great pyramids at Giza, and reigning at the height of Old Kingdom wealth, the god-like authority of the pharaoh, so palpably apparent in the remoteness of Zoser, was in decline during the reign of Khafra, and the stage set for the First Intermediate Period when ancient Egypt collapsed into civil war. Thus, in spite of the remarkable technical achievement present in the statue of Khafra, it is not, from an ancient Egyptian point of view, as successful a statue as that of Zoser because it fails to achieve both a sense of "life in death" and the remoteness of the god-king.
Egyptian art:
About stability and continuity: necessary to keep society going in a society so dependent on such a small strip of arable land. Certain artistic conventions used again and again. Very static. Not interested in naturalism.
pyramids/architecture
Ancient Egyptians, even the nobility, lived their lives among the living in relatively insubstantial buildings made of unbaked mud brick and soft wood. Like the statues that served as alternate bodies for their everlasting life among the dead and their tomb paintings/relief sculptures that guaranteed the continuity of favored activities, their tombs were also meant to last forever and therefore came to be constructed of hard stone, but unlike the buildings intended for the living, these tombs contain very little interior space, something the ka did not seem to need, and therefore Egyptian tomb architecture defines space rather than enclosing it. The most famous Egyptian tombs are the *Great Pyramids at Giza, esp. that of the Pharaoh, Khafra, ca. 2500 BCE. (Website images and Janson figs. 3.7, 3.8, and 3.9) Once again the enormous skill of the ancient Egyptians in manipulating large masses of hard stone is apparent. Indeed, given the absence of hard wood in Egypt, the Egyptians learned early how to work in stone, a technical knowledge, as we will see, that they would teach the Greeks. Originally the pyramids were covered with a smooth, shining limestone exterior a remnant of which survives atop the apex of the largest of the three, that of Khafra. Each pyramid is surrounded by a complex of structures including a necropolis, a city of the dead, consisting of the mastaba tombs of the aristocracy who, as mentioned above, surrounded the pharaoh in death as they had at court. The necropoleis (pl.) were laid out on an orthogonal plan, with streets crossing each other at right angles, perhaps the beginning of organized city planning. Each pyramid is also connected by a causeway to a funerary temple and valley temple at the Nile's edge. In *Khafra's Valley Temple (Website images), interior space is opened up using a simple system called post and lintel executed in an especially well-proportioned system of monolithic pink granite slabs.
cultural significance of Ranofer/Metuemhet
Another characteristic of Egyptian art differentiating it from the arts of the other cultures we will examine in this course is its conservatism, its apparent changelessness throughout its 3000 years of independent development. To all but specialists, called Egyptologists, Egyptian art produced in the Early Bronze Age of the third millennium BCE looks almost exactly like Egyptian art produced in the Early Iron Age 2000 years later. This remarkable artistic conservatism is, of course, yet another manifestation of the Egyptian desire for stability and continuity, and can be illustrated by two Egyptian statues of standing men. The first is the *painted limestone statue of the aristocrat Ranofer, Old Kingdom, ca. 2450 BCE and taken from his mastaba tomb in the necropoleis surrounding the great pyramids at Giza (Website image). The second is the *statue of the Metuemhet, a priest during the last independent Egyptian dynasty (XXVIth), the Saite Period, ca. 650 BCE (Website image).
pylon temples
Finally, ancient Egyptian pylon temples, in one of their component structures called a hypostyle hall, illustrate early examples of another important architectural feature, clerestory windows. The most famous pylon temple is that of *Amun at Karnak, New Kingdom 1290-1224 BCE (Website images and Janson figs. 3. 27 and 3.28). Pylon temples are characterized by a succession of structures preceded by gateways with battered (sloping) walls. Thus the name since pylon is the Greek word for gate. Approach to the succession of structures, each affording a different aesthetic (and presumably religious) experience is on the central axis creating the bilateral symmetry so typical of Egyptian art. The first is an open courtyard often containing an interior peristyle (Greek words: peri = around, stylos = column). The second structure, and the most important for our purposes, is the *hypostyle (many columns) hall (Website images and Janson figs. 3.28). In the hypostyle hall, roofs at two levels are connected by a *clerestory wall which, when opened up with windows, allows natural light, filtered in this case through stone screens, into an otherwise dark, mysterious interior space.
Flatness
Finally, except for overlapping forms, there is no attempt to represent the three dimensional space we inhabit, but in a tradition of pictorial art intended to record an event or a kind of event, attempting to represent the three dimensional space in which the activity is occurring seemed unimportant.
ka
For example, everyone knows that ancient Egyptians mummified the dead, making every attempt to maintain the body's physical integrity, even in death. This practice was occasioned by the Egyptian conception of life after death: that death was simply a continuity of life, of physical existence and all its worldly pursuits (even sex) transposed from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead. In order to enjoy this worldly conception of life after death, a body was necessary for the ka, the life force of the deceased, to inhabit. Obviously the wealthy could afford more professional and complete embalming processes, but knowing that the actual body might not survive, a person of means also had statues of himself/herself made to be placed in tombs as alternate bodies for the ka to inhabit. Most of the Egyptian statues that we will study in this course were commissioned by the wealthy for this purpose, and because they were placed in tombs, they were not meant to be seen by the public at large, an aspect that separates them conceptually from statues created by other societies we shall study in this course, even when the form of the other society's statues is dependent on Egyptian prototypes, as in Archaic Greece. In addition, because the ka would need these substitute bodies forever in its life after death, these statues are executed in hard stone and any spaces or holes within the form of the statue that might weaken it are avoided.
hierarchical scale
For example, we have no trouble singling out Lord Ti, his relative importance designated by his large scale, Notice how Lord Ti's peasants are depicted as smaller, though they may in reality have been larger than he
Great Pyramid Complex at Giza,
Great Pyramid Complex at Giza, , ca. 2550-2473 BCE, Egyptian
abacus
In architecture, an abacus (from the Greek abax, slab; or French abaque, tailloir; plural abacuses or abaci) is a flat slab forming the uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, above the bell. Its chief function is to provide a large supporting surface (wider than the capital) to receive the weight of the arch or the architrave above.
a. 2500 BCE, Egyptian
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, ca. 1450 BCE, Egyptian
Palette of King Narmer (front)
Palette of King Narmer, ca. 3150-3125 BCE, slate/stone, Egyptian analysis: Subject matter (of reverse): Narmer unified upper and lower ancient Egypt, is first king to preside over the unified Egypt. (Upper kingdom is lower, lower kingdom is upper.) King Narmer is the largest figure, most significant in the hierarchical scale of the image. Depicted in fractional representation: different body parts facing different directions. Head to the right, hip outwards to the audience, legs facing right. By being positioned so differently from the other figures, he is being represented as a God. Figure Narmer appears to be punishing is lower Egypt, whom he is conquering as a representation of upper Egypt. Bird is a God (of fertility): Message that he has God on his side. Has a Bull-tail: symbol that he is strong. Depicted wearing crown of upper Egypt. Usability: Ceremonial make-up pallet. Not used for makeup, but as a message/crest of his power. (Is two feet long, too big for practical usage.)
Palate vs. Harvester Vase (minoan art)
Palette vs. Vase: Different historically, different in usability, different in subject matter, difference in representation of that subject. Historically: Palette is commemorative of a singular historical moment, vase is commemorative of a yearly, re-occurring event. Usability: Palette is static, stable artifact of Narmer's conquest and unification of egypt, used more like a shield that would greet people upon arrival to the palace. Vase is used in a religious way Subject Matter: Representation: vase is more dynamic, uses curvature of vase to represent more naturalistic space
Pylon Temple of Amun
Pylon Temple of Amun, begun 15th cent. BCE, Karnak, Egyptian
Palette of King Narmer (back)
Subject matter (of obverse): Imagery separated by four horizontal bands called registers. First register: Upper egypt's victory over lower egypt. Second register: Two animals, each representing a side of egypt, their necks entwined to represent unification of the two sides. Last register: conquering of a city. Bull represents the strength of king narmer. Object is a relief sculpture: sculpture that adheres to the surface but does project outwards. Usability: Ceremonial make-up pallet. Not used for makeup, but as a message/crest of his power. (Is two feet long, too big for practical usage.)
Cultural significance of Zoser
The statue was discovered in a special space called the serdab room in the Stepped Pyramid funerary complex of Zoser already seen in the panoramic view of Saqqara. The serdab room had no doors, its only opening a slit in the wall at eye level through which the statue (and its inhabiting ka) could peer at the outside world and partake of the incense burned to the god-king. Made of hard limestone, Zoser's skin is painted a reddish brown, (Website image) and the eyes, gouged out at the time of the statue's discovery to avoid the "evil eye," were separately made of shell or glass paste. Their wide-eyed, staring effect must have greatly enhanced the statue's otherworldly appearance. Seated bolt-upright on a backed throne, the statue has a cubic effect largely occasioned by the method of production: the sculptor drew four views on a block of hard limestone - front, sides and rear - and began removing stone until the four views met, the result emphasizing a frontal view as in all Egyptian sculpture-in-the-round. It should be noted that in the Early Bronze Age, when the statue was made, there was as yet no metal capable of carving such hard stone, so the sculptor used abrasion, rubbing away at it with a still harder stone. A shroud-like garment envelops the body, providing webs of stone between the arms and the torso (and thus buttressing the upper arms against breakage by attaching them to the torso). The different positions of the arms are the only feature in which the bilateral symmetry of the statue is broken. In spite of the shroud, the almost emaciated forms of the body are allowed to project through to the surface as can be seen in both the arms and the legs. The statue's spectral effect is especially enhanced by the pointed projecting shoulders. Indeed, it is Zoser's appearance of a "life in death" combination that makes it such a great statue. It visually epitomizes Egyptian belief.
Egyptian Society
Thus the life of the Egyptian peasant, the fedayeen, both in antiquity and today, is spent getting water from the river into the irrigation canals. If, as occasionally happened, the requisite cooperation broke down, the crops failed, and famine and pestilence ensued. Thus every aspect of ancient Egyptian society was organized to avoid factionalism and civil strife, stressing continuity and stability in social organization, the religion that gave sacred significance to the established social organization, and the art that gives visual expression to these values.
Valley Temple of Khafre at Giza
a. 2500 BCE, Egyptian
Ranofer
ca. 2450 BCE, Egyptian
Hippopotamos Hunt
ca. 2450 BCE, painted limestone relief, from the mastaba tomb of Lord Ti at Saqqara, Egyptian cultural significance: The hippo hunt, apparently one of Lord Ti's favorite activities, is painted on the dry wall of the tomb. Knowing that paint applied to a dry wall may well flake off, and wanting to ensure that this favored activity never disappeared from his everlasting life after death, Lord Ti had the scene also executed in raised relief, a technique in which the figures are drawn, background around the figures is cut back, and then the raised figures modeled and painted. Thus, even if the paint were "fugitive" (to flake off) the depiction of the activity would still remain. Although the scene represents realistically Mankind's relative position in the natural world, as the dominant phenomenon in nature but only one of the thousands of phenomena of which the natural world is composed, there are also a number of abstractions,
Seated diorite statue of Khafre
ca. 2500 BCE, from pyramid complex at Giza, Egyptian
Seated limestone statue of Zoser
ca. 2650 BCE, from pyramid complex at Saqqara, Egyptian
Mentuemhet
ca. 650 BCE., Egyptian
necropolis
city of the dead
capital
forms the topmost member of a column (or pilaster). It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface. The capital, projecting on each side as it rises to support the abacus, joins the usually square abacus and the usually circular shaft of the column.
drums.
in architecture, any of the cylindrical stone blocks composing a column that is not a monolith.
faceted shaft
the main pole thing
naturalistic architecture
the structure seems to mirror the environment in which it is placed.
stylobate
the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform on which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a leveling course that flattened out the ground immediately beneath the temple.
