Continuing the last posts – Egypt, the Nile civilization and Ancient Egypt, historical periods – let us get to know Egyptian art, first painting and ceramics and, in the next post, sculpture and architecture.
Art is an essential characteristic of any civilization. By satisfying basic human needs such as food, shelter, community laws, and religious beliefs, cultures begin to produce works of art. In many cases, all these developments occur simultaneously. The origins of Egyptian art date back to the fourth millennium BC, and over the centuries it has been interconnected with the art of neighboring cultures (Syro-Palestinian and Phoenician). It can be divided into two major periods: prehistoric pre-dynastic art and dynastic art.
Dynastic art, with three main periods, follows a non-linear evolution, characterized by some phases of great development interspersed with dark periods.
Detail of Tutankhamun's throne showing the pharaoh with his
wife Ankhsenamun on the right. w. 1327 BC, National Museum, Cairo.
In the Predynastic Period (c. 6,000 BC - c. 3,150 BC) this process began through images of animals, human beings and supernatural figures inscribed on rock walls. The first are crude, yet they express an important value as a balance of Egyptian cultural consciousness.
To be understood, ancient Egyptian art must be seen from the point of view of the ancient Egyptians. The static, often formal, strangely abstract, and often blocky nature of many images has sometimes led to unfavorable comparisons with later and much more “naturalistic” Greek or Renaissance art.
However, the art of the Egyptians served a quite different purpose than that of these later cultures. The works were not signed, and the artists had no autonomy over what they produced, as everything was under the command of their ruler.
It was an art closely related to the environment of the time. The geographic environment determined a closed culture that made its art impervious to external influences due to the lack of communication with the outside world. Thus, the pharaoh, the nobles and the priests were the main users of Egyptian art, a royal and official art, which developed fundamentally due to the religion extremely linked to the pharaoh.
Granite head of a sphinx of the Egyptian pharaoh Senusret III with youthful
features. Egypt. Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1870 BC (State Museum
of Egyptian Art, Munich, Germany). Photo by: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin.
The functionality of Egyptian art
Egyptian society was based on the concept of harmony known as ma'at, which emerged at the beginning of creation and sustained the universe. All Egyptian art is based on perfect balance because it reflects the ideal world of the gods. In the same way that these gods provided all the good gifts to humanity, the work of art was imagined and created to have, primarily, functionality.
No matter how aesthetically a statue may have been crafted, its purpose was to serve as a home for a spirit or a god. An amulet would have been designed to be attractive, but aesthetic beauty was not the driving force in its creation but rather protection.
The objects that we consider artistic today had a transcendental function. Paintings, sculptures, and reliefs were the means in which spiritual life materialized. At the same time, they allowed us to establish a connection with the deities. Given the sacred nature of its function, it was an art based on conventions that did not change over the more than three thousand years of this civilization. Therefore, monumental constructions with religious, funerary, or political functions stand out.
The production of images was also especially important, as they served as support for the ka, a kind of soul, spirit, or part of the vital force of the universe that remained after death if it had a body in which it manifested itself. It could be a mummified corpse or an image. The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul and that it could suffer eternally if the body was desecrated. Mummification and the monumental nature of the place where the mummies were placed were intended to protect them eternally.
Statuary provided a place for the recipient to manifest and receive the benefit of ritual action. Whether divine, royal, or elite, statues provided a kind of channel for the spirit (ka) of that being to interact with the earthly realm. Those of divine worship (few of which have survived) were the object of daily rituals of clothing, anointing and fragrant incense. They were then carried in processions to special festivals so that people could try to “see” them because they were almost all completely hidden from view, only their “presence” would be felt.
While we marvel at the glittering treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb, the sublime reliefs in New Kingdom tombs, and the serene beauty of Old Kingdom statues, it is almost obligatory to remember that most of these works were never intended to be seen because it was not its purpose.
Royal and elite statuary served as intermediaries between the people and the gods. Family chapels with a statue of a deceased ancestor could serve as a kind of “family temple.” There were parties in honor of the dead. The family came to eat in the chapel, offering food for the afterlife, flowers (symbols of rebirth) and incense (whose scent was considered divine).
Edfu Temple, Egypt. Passage flanked by two walls full of hieroglyphics.
What we see in museums
The works we see on display in museums were products of royal or elite workshops that better suit our modern aesthetics and ideas of beauty. However, most museum basements are filled with hundreds or thousands of other objects made for lower-class people. They are small statues, amulets, coffins, and stelae that are completely recognizable but rarely displayed.
These pieces generally have a lower quality of finish, strange proportions or are poorly executed, so they may not be considered “art” in the modern sense. These objects, however, had the same function of providing benefits to their owners, with the same degree of effectiveness as those made for the elite.
Features of ancient Egyptian art
The art of Ancient Egypt was primarily in the service of religion. Almost all artistic production aimed to please and invoke the gods. It also sought to help the deceased achieve eternal life after death. It was a conservative culture but oriented towards prolonging life into eternity and images had that function.
The most common theme in Egyptian art is the representation of gods and pharaohs, in addition to the supernatural creatures that were part of the imagery of that religion, such as sphinxes and animals that often symbolized these deities. On the other hand, the environmental elements that emerged did not do so to represent a landscape in itself, but to give shape and meaning to the mythological scene in question. All of this used to be arranged in the most sacred places, such as temples and funerary areas.
Examples of high and low relief.
The wide variety of materials used in artistic productions can also be highlighted. Materials that often had an extremely high value were used because they were projects promoted by the pharaoh and because they were linked to the most sought-after asset: achieving eternal life after physical death.
Some examples that can be cited are ivory for small pieces of funeral trousseau, quartzite in sculptures or malachite and lapis lazuli to obtain pigments in paintings. And of course, gold, the pharaohs' favorite metal in artistic works such as funerary masks or jewelry.
Egyptian images had a strong influence on the development of Greek art and, through it, European and Western art. Greek sculpture of the archaic period, for example, derives directly from Egyptian sculpture. It is an art governed by strict rules. The rules of representation and construction were unalterable. They established, for example, the proportions between the parts, the postures of the characters, the size, etc. The gods and pharaohs had attributes that allowed their identification, such as the falcon head of the god Horus.
In the long Egyptian history, there was only a brief period of seventeen years during which these characteristics were abandoned. Amenhotep IV, pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty, revolutionized traditional religion, imposed the cult of the sun, and favored a type of naturalistic and spontaneous representation. After his death, the longstanding tradition was resumed.
Egyptian art is better known than that of other ancient peoples for two factors: religious beliefs from beyond the grave and the use of stone as a material in the construction of their religious and funerary buildings, which gave them great solidity and durability. The painting and relief sculpture used in temples and tombs, combined with the use of abundant hieroglyphs, allowed us to understand the history of Ancient Egypt in detail.
4,400-year-old paintings found in the tomb of
Priestess Hetpet represent the society of the time.
The Law of Frontality
One of the strongest aesthetic characteristics of Egyptian art paintings was their original canon to represent the human figure, the so-called Law of Frontality. Used in human representations, it determined that the torso was portrayed from the front, with the head, legs, and feet, to the side. It was believed that the eyes, seen from the front, would be the greatest characteristic of the person portrayed. Only three points of view were allowed: profile, front and top.
We might think that this profile canon was a sign of the artist's incapacity, which is not true. As in any other element of Egyptian art, this rule hides a symbolic-religious character, applied to earthly beings with aspirations of eternity in the afterlife.
A drawing of a deceased person invoked them directly in the afterlife, in a kind of direct communication with them. Therefore, the objective was for the deceased to always show the most important part of their body or soul, which was nothing more than their inner gaze (housed in the eye) and their heart (housed in the trunk).
In profile: head, arms, and legs.
Front: torso and eyes
The figures and elements of the scene were always flat, that is, they lacked volume and were in two dimensions, without faithfully representing spatial depth. However, to express the idea of distance or depth, it was customary to superimpose profiles, so that the more distant figures stood out in height and appeared partially covered by the closer figure. A hierarchical order is often seen expressed in size: the pharaoh adopts larger dimensions than the rest of the human characters represented, unless it is the spatial norm of overlapping profiles.
The profile canon and spatial conventions remained in force in Egyptian art for more than three millennia since its earliest phases. It was only ignored from the first century AD, under Roman rule, which to a certain extent imported its own artistic canons. However, the rupture of canons under Roman rule led to the emergence of a genre transcendental not only to the history of Egyptian art, but also to the history of universal art: the fascinating portraits of Fayoum, found in the necropolis of Hawara, near the Fayoum oasis, today in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.
In the burials, in the part corresponding to the head of the sarcophagus, portraits of surprising naturalism were painted, worthy of the best works of the Italian Renaissance, with the clear intention of showing in a realistic way the mummy housed inside.
Expressive conventions
In two-dimensional representation (bas-relief and painting), Egyptian artists have demonstrated over the centuries a clear adherence to a series of conventions that make Egyptian art unique and immediately recognizable, an image of a conservative and stable society.
The interest of Egyptian artists in representing an object or a human figure was to present its physical totality as much as possible, without “choosing” a single point of view, selecting multiple points to have the best perspective for each element that appears. makes up the figure, studied part by part and not in its entirety.
The representations were thus obtained by logical “montage,” without any interest in the illusionism of creating figures that gave the viewer the idea of having them in front of them. For this, geometric grids were used, which guaranteed a precise relationship between the parts of the body.
This is why in the human figure the shoulders and torso are usually placed frontally, the pelvis in three-quarters, the legs in profile, spread the width of a step; the face is in profile, but the eye is portrayed from the front. "Hierarchical" proportions are typical, that is, the most important characters represented on a larger scale; the man was portrayed larger and with a darker complexion than his wife, placed to his left.
The pharaoh's daughter was highlighted as the first heir to the throne. Men sitting placed the palm of their hand on their thigh, while men standing kept their left foot further forward. This way, they could incorporate different human aspects, such as movement and stillness at the same time. Among the animals, lizards and bees were portrayed from above and crocodiles in profile.
Egyptian painting
Painting was one of the most prominent artistic representations, reaching
great technical development, as these are works conducted three or four millennia ago, in some cases. This is especially notable in mural painting, which may well be considered a precedent for the fresco painting used many centuries later.
The hierarchical perspective was widely used, which is why the most important characters were represented larger and without shadows. The space was always flat, and the images were distributed in horizontal bands that functioned as narrative records.
During the Middle Kingdom, painting prevailed over sculptural arts due to its greater ease of execution. There were two innovations in this period: the naturalism of the Beni Hasan tombs and the tendency to paint mummy sarcophagi. The decorations are sober and essential.
Detail from Hunefer's Book of the Dead showing an upper and lower register. The Judgment of Hunefer in the Presence of Osiris, Book of the Dead, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, c. 1275 BC, papyrus, Thebes, Egypt (British Museum; photo: Steven Zucker; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
The use of colors
The best example of technical virtuosity was in the production of pigments. The mixtures used offered very high-quality results, especially in terms of durability, due to the stable temperature and humidity conditions of these locations, often underground or within the rock. Thanks to this, they remained in good condition for thousands of years.
The Egyptians obtained their pigments from nature itself, from earths of different shades, which they dissolved in water after mixing them with mud. They were then combined with egg and glue, among other options, which made them worthy initiators in the tempering technique. It was applied, for example, to sarcophagi, while fresco was used in mural painting, transferring the pigments to the plaster layer. The paints used in these paintings were extracted from nature, as follows:
Black (kem) – associated with night and death, although more of a prelude to resurrection, so it did not usually have a negative connotation. It was obtained from wood charcoal, kiln scale carbon or pyrolusite, a manganese oxide from the Sinai desert.
White (hedj) – was extracted from lime or plaster and symbolized purity and truth.
Red (decher) – represented energy, blood and life, power, and sexuality. It was the easiest to obtain, especially in the ocher version, as it came from hematite in earthy form, something quite abundant in the region. That is why it was one of the most common colors in Egyptian art. It was used for the skin of male human figures.
Yellow (ketj) – was the symbol of the sun and eternity, extracted from the natural mixture of different iron oxides (ochre), hydrated iron oxide (limonite) or different minerals. It was generally used on female human bodies.
Green (uadj) - symbolized regeneration and life and came from minerals of fascinating natural beauty, such as malachite or Sinai chrysocolla.
Blue (khesebedj) - extracted from copper carbonate and minerals such as azurite, it was associated with the Nile River and the sky. The use of lapis lazuli has also been documented, although it did not exist in the region. Therefore, it had to be imported from distant places like Afghanistan, which shows the significant importance attributed to this color.
In addition to these six fundamental colors, others were obtained through certain mixtures. Despite having a reduced color palette, the visual and symbolic power of the colors more than compensated for this limitation. A good example is the different skin tones that deities could adopt, which referred to their powers. Green generally referred to agricultural fertility, as in Osiris, and blue alluded to the cosmic or celestial character of its corresponding deity, such as Amun.
“It is worth picking up a pencil and trying to reproduce one of these “primitive” Egyptian drawings. Our attempts will always seem awkward, asymmetrical, and deformed. At least mine seem to. For the Egyptian sense of order in every detail is so powerful that any variation, however slight, seems to disorganize the whole entirely.” Ernst Gombrich, historian.
Ceramics, between the everyday and the artistic
Pottery was a quite common work in Egyptian society, its pieces had distinct functions, from everyday use to funerary and religious. In everyday life, ceramic objects were used for tasks such as cooking, preserving food or containing perfumes, often decorated with simple geometric shapes or schematic figures.
The most valuable works are precisely the funerary ones, as they were placed next to the tombs to provide numerous services to the deceased in the afterlife. Pieces were made enameled with varnish and, in some cases, with parts coated in gold. Alabaster, or ivory, was the material used as a complement.
Vase with boat designs, painted pottery from Egypt,
c. 3450–3350 BC; at the Brooklyn Museum, New York. 17.6 x 20.9 cm.
Particularly noteworthy are the canopic cups, containers intended to contain the viscera of the deceased, which had to be washed, embalmed, and preserved so that the deceased could achieve eternal life after death. The viscera were united to the mummified body and its immaterial entities, ba and ka. At first, they were simply decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions, closed with a slab. In the New Kingdom, caps took the shape of the head of the deceased and, towards the end of that period, the head of the protective deity.
Other masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art, such as ushabti (those who answer calls), were placed next to the tomb of the deceased to work for them in the afterlife. It was common to use faience, a type of fine glazed ceramic, which could leave extremely attractive finishes in colors such as ocher or blue in different shades (greenish and light blue). However, they could also be made from other non-ceramic materials, such as wood or lapis lazuli.
֎
Did you like this publication? Do you have any suggestions or criticism? Write your comment below and, if you want, you can share it. This all helps me a lot in my work.
Links used and suggested
Comments