History of Ancient Egyptian Art PDF

History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade Chapter 1 The principles of Egyptian art 1-1 Three Dimensions Art 1-2 Two Dimensions Art 5 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptia...

History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade Chapter 1 The principles of Egyptian art 1-1 Three Dimensions Art 1-2 Two Dimensions Art 5 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade Principles of Egyptian Art (1-1) Three Dimensions Art. We have some features through which we can differentiate the Egyptian art. These features will be as an introduction for any piece we will study. 1- The three – dimensional representation The first principle is the forntality or facing ahead which contains all the statues whether standing, seated or kneeling. The statues were created not for decorations but to play a role in the cults of the gods, the kings and the dead. Thus, it made sense to show the statue looking ahead at what was happening in front of it. - These statues are made out of stone, wood or metal. Stone: Stone statues were made out from a one block of stone to protect it from destruction and all the gaps have to be filled for the same reason. Also, usually the statue was supported by a back pillar. Wood: 6 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade Wooden statues were carved from several pieces of wood fixed and gathered together by means of tenons to form the statue. Metal: Metal statues were made by hammering the sheets of metal and then wrapping them around a wooden body or by the lost wax way. 2- The formal & informal statues The formal statues were the statues representing the deities and kings, they are limited to specific poses, standing, sitting and kneeling. However, the informal statues were the statues of all other persons such as the servants, which were put in the tombs of the elite to serve them, and represented in a variety of activities and poses like bending and squatting. 1-2 The two – dimensional representation This represents all the scenes and paintings on palettes, walls and all the reliefs. - Most of the body is shown on profile, such as, the head, the waist and the limbs, while the eyebrow, the eye and the shoulders are full-view. 7 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade 4- The Scale or size -The scale of the figure was very important. It reflects the levels of the society, the larger the figure the more important its position (the bigger you are, the more importance you have), for example the figure of the king is the same of the figure of the gods, but larger than the figures of his officials. 5- The Hieroglyphic Texts -The hieroglyphs themselves are small pictures drawn according to the principles of the Egyptian two- dimensional art. 6- Depicting all items from the best way of view to be easily recognized. 7- Order of the images 1- Not haphazard unless showing chaos 2- Ordered by a system of registers 3- The lower border of a register acted as the ground line for the figures within that register. 8 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade 4- When items are overlapped, what is behind is further from the viewer than what is in front 5- When placed above one another, so those higher up are behind those lower down. 6- The order of society was reflected in art by the scale or the size. The larger a figure the most important its status. 8- Avoiding age in depictions as they mostly were represented in idealism except for few periods of Egyptian history 9- Tendency towards symbolism as most of the depicted items were not meant as they appear but they represent symbolism behind their shapes. 9- Relief There were three main types of reliefs: Raised relief (high relief) and sunk relief (low relief) and wall painting -In raised relief, the stone of the background was cut away, so that the figures were left protruding from the surface as can be hold by hands. -In sunk relief, the figures that were cut away and leaving the surface of the background at a higher level. - In both, chisels were used to cut the outlines of figures. 9 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade -The third is the wall painting where the scene is painted on the same level on the surface. 10- Making a relief (painting ): First, the surface had to be smoothed, then the scene was drawn on sketches in red color by and the correction would be in black. Squared grids were often drawn out on the surface before the scene was sketched; the function of these squared grids was to help artists to draw perfectly. - First they had to extract the color from its natural origin, then they add some water and the white of the egg to make it wet and shiny. - Then the surface had to be polished well, the outlines will be drawn. - Finally, all the details were drawn, then they add some glue as sticky material, the white of the egg again, and finally bee wax to save them. 11- Colors: - Most of the colors were taken from the nature that is why they keep their original colors till now. - White was generally made from gypsum or limestone. - Black was produced form one of several forms of carbon. 10 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb History of Ancient Egyptian Art Tourist Guidance – 1st Grade - Men, especially ordinary, were usually painted in reddish color while women in white creamy color. 11 Dr. Ahmed Samy Al-Deeb