Ancient Egyptian Art: Conventions

Traditional Arts: Ancient Egyptian Art

• Ancient Egyptian art served a functional purpose above all else.
• There were specific methods and rules in drawing and training but slight differences depended on experience.
• This art uses the symbolism of expression and the beauty of lines and is primarily decorative.
• Proportions, graceful aesthetic, and infinite tenderness characterize Ancient Egyptian art in drawing and execution.
• Ancient Egyptian art lacks a third dimension, embodiment, or perspective. It presents a light-impact embodiment in drawings and engravings, with drawings on horizontal lines.

Conventions in Ancient Egyptian Art

• A king is drawn larger than common people, wives, and children to signify importance.
• The bodies of nobles and others were often drawn with the side view for the body, the front view for the chest, and the side view again for the lower part of the body, highlighting bodily features.
• Colors are explicit and placed ornately, enhancing harmony and vitality.

Decorative Unity Features

• Lack of perspective drawing - Egyptian artists drew based on their imagination rather than perspective rules. For example, a fish or crocodile might be drawn from the side, while a scorpion is drawn from the back. Placement of objects like jewelry on an upright table is due to imaginative representation, and the head might appear to hang in the air.
• Use of Animal Elements in Decorations - Ancient Egyptians depicted animals from their agricultural environment. Excluding buffalo and camels (which were rare), they turned animals into symbolic forms of Egyptian deities, combining human bodies with animal heads, like the Sphinx, goddess Taourt, and goddess Baobao.
• Use of Elements from Birds - Illustrations combined a human body with a bird's head.
• Use of Symbolic Elements - Most decorations and drawings were symbolic like the winged sun, winged scarab, and forms of Egyptian deities. The lotus flower symbolized Upper Egypt, and the papyrus plant symbolized Lower Egypt.
• Use of Writing - Writing was considered miniature inscriptions, and Egyptian inscriptions are enlarged and symbolic. Hieroglyphs consists of two Greek words: "hieros" for holy, and "glyphe" for writing.
• Law of Proportions - Artists used a standard unit of measurement to establish the proportions of the human figure. A canon of proportion was based on the "fist," measured across the knuckles, with 18 fists from the ground to the hairline on the forehead.

Egyptian Art Drawing Rules

• People were drawn using strict and consistent rules.
• The person's chest is drawn as if viewed from the front.
• Hips, legs, and head are drawn as if viewed from the side.
• Men were drawn with one foot ahead of the other.
• Women were drawn with their feet together, usually standing, sitting, or kneeling. The arm position indicated the character's actions.

Frontalism in Egyptian Art

• Egyptian art follows a strict, consistent style.
• There's a code or set of rules for producing artwork called "frontalis".

Egyptian Drawing and Painting Rules

• Profile: Head in profile, side view of eye and eyebrow, eye never looks straight ahead.
• Color: Men often painted in red ochre, women in yellow ochre, or skin tone of women lighter than men.
• Stance: Hips displayed in a three-quarter turn, chest and shoulders in full width, and both feet, legs, arms, and hands must be shown.
• Scale: The size of figures reflects social status, with men larger than women of equal status and wives and children often crouching, with arms around father’s calves.
• Proportions: Hands and feet are often large compared to the rest of the body.

Mural Photography

• Mural photography played an important role in conveying religious ideas and creating a spiritual atmosphere for rituals.
• Ancient Pharaonic temples and tombs had drawings with worldly and religious themes.

Ancient Egyptian Colors

• Colors conveyed meaning related to Egyptian deities and possessed specific powers and traits.
• Green and blue symbolized fertility and prosperity, representing plants, water, and the sky. Gold symbolized the sun and the skin of gods and was associated with immortality.

Ancient Egyptian Graphics

• Graphic design has roots in antiquity and was present in ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, where illustrated manuscripts were created.
• Scribes and illustrators blended text and image to create harmonious manuscripts, such as the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.
• Hieroglyphic narratives were illustrated on papyrus rolls. Words and pictures were unified in horizontal bands. Consistent brushwork was used for writing and drawing.