Ancient Egyptian art

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Bust of Queen Nefertiti , 18th Dynasty ( New Kingdom , Amarna Period )

Ancient Egyptian art is the collective name for the works of fine art from the various periods of Pharaonic Egypt . Works of literature and music are usually not included in the term.

Ancient Egyptian art is mainly found in works of painting , relief art , sculpture and architecture . Furthermore, numerous works of fine arts and crafts are also included. The so-called ostraka , small limestone shards on which the artists often made draft drawings and which have been preserved in large numbers, provide an important insight into the “workshop” of ancient Egyptian artists .

Ancient Egyptian art can be narrowed down fairly precisely in terms of space, time and style. Their typical design language is original and is recognized as ancient Egyptian even by laypeople without difficulty. Due to the geographical closedness of its distribution area, it has not absorbed a lot of outside influences, but also not exerted much influence on other cultures. Forgotten in Europe for many centuries, it was rediscovered in the early modern period and enjoys great interest among broad sections of the population in the western world.

Characteristic

Naturalism versus formalism

Burial Chamber of Menna ( TT69 ): Naturalism in Representation of Nature: Animals in the Marshes (New Kingdom)

The art of ancient Egypt is characterized on the one hand by strict formalization and canonicalization , but on the other hand by a high degree of naturalism and attention to detail.

Naturalism prevails in depictions of nature , plants and animals, but also in craft, agricultural and other practical activities such as shipping , hunting and fishing . The species of animals shown can usually be identified in a zoological way (see also fish in ancient Egypt , geese from Meidum ).

When depicting people in whom the social representation or even the lordly function of the depicted persons is important, the method of representation follows strict rules and a complicated canon, which could vary greatly from dynasty to dynasty depending on the social structure and the prevailing power relations. The dominant stylistic device here is the perspective of meaning . Further elements are the costumes of the depicted people and their headgear, as well as additional attributes such as objects held in the hand. The extent to which the actual ceremonial appearance of the people was realistically depicted can no longer be reconstructed from today's perspective.

The representation of people who are not depicted during practical activities is generally subject to a strict formalism. The posture is very stiff and straight, both when sitting and standing. When standing, men take a step position (left foot in front) and hold their hands in a fist, women have their feet at the same height and their hands open. The skin color is reddish brown in men and ocher yellow in women, so it is significantly lighter.

Tomb of the night (TT52): the tomb lord is shown larger than his servants (New Kingdom)

The depictions of scenes from the world of gods and the hereafter as well as the depiction of cosmic processes are particularly abstract or allegorical . These representations with their iconography usually overwhelm the modern viewer considerably (see also: Dendera light bulbs ). Often it is only the inscriptions that make these scenarios halfway understandable for modern people. The representation elements used (human figures, animal figures, plants, objects and cosmic objects) are quite concrete, but in their specific combination they gain a new meaning that the uninitiated viewer does not understand at first glance. The best-known example are the depictions of gods in the form of human figures with animal heads, which led to many misunderstandings and to restrictions of the otherwise high esteem for ancient Egyptian culture in later epochs.

Aspectives and perspective, surface and space

The pictorial representations in painting and relief (flat screen) usually appear as if spread out over the surface of the representation plane. This prevents objects or people from overlapping or even covering one another, even only partially. As a result, there is no background design. Figures usually stand in front of an empty surface.

Often different angles of view of the same object or scene are combined in one picture. For example, people standing on a water surface are shown from the side, but the water surface is shown from above. The same applies to table surfaces and game boards , but also to the walls of buildings.

The form of the representation of human figures in flat screen is particularly typical of ancient Egyptian art. The head from the side, one eye, shoulders and chest from the front, the hips and legs from the side are shown. This was done in an effort to depict people as completely as possible. This striking style element is called "Aspective" (after Emma Brunner-Traut ) or "Straight imagination" (after Heinrich Schäfer ).

Elaborately illustrated hieroglyphs

As a rule, the depth of the space is not shown, but it is customary to show homogeneous groups of people or animals (groups of servants, groups of prisoners of war, herds of animals, carts of horses in front of chariots, etc.) staggered backwards with a geometrical precision, overlapping. In this way, a uniform multitude is suggested without wasting a lot of space.

In painting, as in modern comics , areas of color often have black borders. The surfaces, which are mostly painted in bright colors, usually have no shading , highlights or color gradients . A drop shadow is also not shown.

Integration of text and image

Typical of ancient Egyptian art is the integration of artfully executed hieroglyphic texts in the pictorial representations, i.e. in painting and relief. In some cases, characters and pictorial representations are so similar that it is difficult to differentiate between them. The use of hieroglyphs is a common attribute of the figures, especially when depicting gods and kings. For example, gods can wear a letter of their name on their head for identification or hold the symbol for “life” ( ankh ) in their hands so that their life-giving function can be expressed.

completeness

Ancient Egyptian art strives for the most complete representation possible of what is represented. Partial views, facial portraits or image details contradict the ancient Egyptian conception of art, which is also assigned a magical function. In this way, a close relationship between the image and what is depicted is always assumed. The destruction of a picture would also have unpleasant consequences for the person represented. Incomplete images that can be found in art collections today are either exercise pieces or templates as aids for artists (bust of Nefertiti, ostraka ) or components of comprehensive works (death masks as components of a mummy thought to be complete).

Since statues and reliefs in particular had religious significance and were revived as part of rituals , any damage (not only, but also as part of an iconoclasm ) meant that the affected body parts could no longer fulfill their function. Without a nose the spirit of the statue could no longer breathe (i.e. no longer live), without ears , prayers were no longer answered, without the left arm (with which offerings were made) could no longer be sacrificed, a missing right arm prevented one from being received Sacrifice and so on. If statues and reliefs are damaged, vandalism must therefore always be considered. This explains why e.g. For example, damaged noses occur not only in numerous statues (which can be explained by their exposed position, which favors accidental damage), but also in many reliefs (in which noses are not more prone to damage than other parts of the body).

Time limitation

The development of ancient Egyptian art took place parallel to the formation of the Pharaonic state around the year 3000 BC. Already at this point in time, the stylistic elements, which are still perceived as typical today, were formed, which remained astonishingly constant over almost three millennia. For this reason, works of ancient Egyptian art can easily be recognized as such even by laypeople.

Over this long period of time, only a few stylistic elements from other countries flowed into ancient Egyptian art, even in the late period of foreign rule , foreign influence remained comparatively low. It was only with the rule of the Ptolemies that elements of Greek art penetrated Egypt. During this period one can still observe a strict separation of the ancient Egyptian style and the Hellenistic art that prevailed in Greek cities such as Alexandria. Under the Roman occupation, both elements were mixed up, especially in funerary art. Temples of Egyptian deities continued to be built in a purely Egyptian style even at this time.

With the rise of Christianity , Egypt became a cultural province of the Byzantine Empire and thus, from an artistic point of view, a part of the late ancient Mediterranean region. Ancient Egyptian elements still lived on in detail. (see also Coptic Art , Coptic Museum (Cairo) ).

Spatial limitation

The works of ancient Egyptian art are spatially limited to the Nile valley and the Nile delta and the surrounding oases . The radiation to the south changed and depended on the expansion of Egyptian rule over the peoples of Sudan ( Nubia , Empire of Kush ). However, art in the kingdom of Kush was strongly influenced by the Egyptian language of forms.

Despite prolonged Egyptian rule in Palestine and Syria , only a few ancient Egyptian works of art and monuments can be found in these areas. Egyptian influences are particularly noticeable in the cabaret. In the second millennium BC, Syrian seals bear Egyptian motifs, later it is mainly ivory inlays.

Ancient Egyptian artist

As in the European Middle Ages , no distinction was made between craft and art in ancient Egypt . The artist and the craftsman were on the same social level and worked on behalf of the state, the king and the temple. Artists also did not become known for their own artistic achievements, because specialists worked together in a division of labor, especially on major projects such as furnishing buildings or graves.

However, numerous artists, together with their families and craftsmen, who worked on the design of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the course of the New Kingdom , have been passed down by name. They lived in a special workers' settlement, which is now called Deir el-Medina , far from the fertile Nile valley. The ruins of this settlement have been preserved to this day, because they were not built over several times like other ancient Egyptian settlements. The findings of numerous everyday records made by the families living here give us precise knowledge of the everyday life of this community.

Also known are the artistically first-class family graves that the top artists of the New Kingdom who lived here created for their own use (for example TT1 ).

Another artist known by name was Thutmose , the chief sculptor of King Akhenaten in Amarna . In his workshop in 1912 , Ludwig Borchardt found the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti , which is considered to be one of the most famous works of art in ancient Egypt.

Reception in later eras

Luxor Hotel with Sphinx in Las Vegas / USA, opened in 1993

Egyptian culture was already highly valued in ancient Greece and Rome. This also applied to Egyptian art to a certain extent. In ancient times, Egyptian obelisks were transported to Rome and erected there. In the Roman Empire, Egyptian motifs were very popular, especially in wall painting.

In the course of the Middle Ages , Egypt fell out of sight of the Europeans and was only perceived from the biblical tradition.

This changed with the development of Greek sources in the course of the Renaissance . The idea of ​​Egyptian art, however, remained rather blurred due to a lack of visual material. It was not until Napoleon's Egyptian expedition in 1798 that knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture improved significantly in Europe. The scientists and artists brought along by Napoleon played the largest part in this. The results of their research have been published in the extensive collection of texts and images Description de l'Égypte . The most significant single discovery was the discovery of the Rosette stone on July 15, 1799, which ultimately enabled Jean-François Champollion to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs . These discoveries triggered a true Egyptomania in Europe , which was to be repeated several times in later decades. Egyptian motifs can still be found in modern handicrafts and architecture today ( see: Luxor Hotel and Casino ).

In the 19th century, there was a great deal of interest in ancient Egyptian cultural assets in Europe, while the local Muslim, but also Coptic-Christian population showed no understanding of the ancient culture. The Islamic rulers also showed themselves to be largely disinterested in the elevation of art treasures and allowed the mass exports to Europe, which filled the museums in London, Paris, Berlin and Turin in particular. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was founded late under French leadership and developed into the central national collecting point of ancient Egyptian art. The export of ancient Egyptian art was later banned in principle. After their scientific processing, archaeological finds must be handed over to the Egyptian Antiquities Administration for safekeeping in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Important art collections

Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo
Entrance hall of the "Great Egyptian Museum" still under construction in Giza (November 2019)

By far the largest collection of ancient Egyptian works of art in the world is the Egyptian Museum in Cairo , which will be supplemented or replaced by a new building from around 2020 (see Large Egyptian Museum ). Outside Egypt there are important collections in the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museo Egizio in Turin and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Other important collections in Germany are the State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich, the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, the Egyptian Museum in Bonn , the Egyptian Museum of the University of Leipzig and the August Kestner Museum in Hanover.

literature

(sorted chronologically)

See also

Web links

Commons : Ancient Egyptian Art  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julia Wolkoff: Why Do so Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses? In: Artsy. March 8, 2019, accessed March 25, 2019 .