Ancient Egypt, pp. 33-40

The invention of Egyptian visual language: relief representations from the Palette of King Narmer (Pre-Dynastic Period) Notions of abstraction and agoraphobia

Giving shape to eternity: architecture from the mastaba (Pre-Dynastic) to the pyramid (Old Kingdom) Abstraction and realism in sculpture (Old Kingdom)

The Egyptians brought the prehistoric period to an end when they created hieroglyphic writing: the use of pictures, objects, and other signs to represent spoken sounds

Egyptian culture was characterized by a concern for personal as well as collective eternity: elaborate funerary practice Rulers devoted huge sums to the design, construction, and decoration of extensive funerary complexes , including the pyramids: a dialogue with History

Egyptians elaborated representational conventions that are among the most distinctive in art history, and that were applied for 3000 years

The invention of Egyptian visual language With the Palette of Narmer we are at its origins and we can already recognize its main qualities We are at the end of the PreDynastic period, when the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united in a great and powerful empire (Upper conquered Lower Eg.) the palette is the earliest document of this historical passage

Palette of Narmer, Pre-Dynastic Period, c.3000 BCE, p.34

The invention of Egyptian visual language Subject matter: unification of Egypt Left: king Narmer slaying Lower Egypt. Under his feet are two fallen enemies Right: the interwound necks of two felines refer to Egypt’s unification; in the uppermost register, victorious parade

Palette of Narmer, Pre-Dynastic Period, c.3000 BCE

The invention of Egyptian visual language

Palette of Narmer, Pre-Dynastic Period, c.3000 BCE

The invention of Egyptian visual language FUNCTION: makeup holder (eyes make up) used in religious rituals -political value: commemoration of the military and territorial victories of Narmer

Palette of Narmer, Pre-Dynastic Period, c.3000 BCE, p.34

FORMAL ANALYSIS The palette is decorated with relief images Relief: Image or motif which sticks out from a fixed background in carved or molded sculpture - and is therefore not freestanding. The image may stick out in high (alto), medium (mezzo) or low (bas) relief

Here we have the 4 main characteristics of the Egyptian figure representation: 1) twisted-perspective (descriptive approach): profile views of head, legs and arms; front views of eye and torso 2) hierarchical proportions: the size of figures corresponds to their importance within the image’s narrative and to their social rank 3) the surface is subdivided into registers: pictorial elements are inserted into their organized setting in an orderly way horizontal lines are both separating the narratives and defining the ground supporting the figures

Palette of Narmer, PreDynastic Period, c.3000 BCE

Egyptian “abstraction” 4) the Egyptian tendency toward abstraction: Abstraction: the process of considering something independently of its associations, attributes, or concrete accompaniments. -the process of removing something. -in 20th century art: freedom from representational qualities -from Latin: from the verb abstrahere: raw away

Egyptian artists tend to “remove” images and forms from reality and to elaborate them into ideal shapes with new, symbolic meanings

The invention of Egyptian visual language

the representation of facts is translated into symbols The falcon with human arms is Horus, the king’s protector: he is taking captive a manheaded hieroglyph with a papyrus plant growing from it that stands for the land of Lower Egypt

The invention of Egyptian visual language Stylistic abstraction:

Texture: smooth surfaces. no surface irregularities (opposite to Paleolithic exploitation of the natural conformation of the rocks); shapes are neat and perfect, the hand of the sculptor is not visible - Spatial abstraction: the notion of space is translated into abstract registers without reference to the optical perception (flat background, figures reduced to silhouettes)

The invention of Egyptian visual language German art historian and theorist, Worringer, wrote (Abstraction and Empathy, 1907) that Egyptians, like moderns, suffered of collective agoraphobia (fear of open spaces), which led them to formulate an abstract representation of space

The invention of Egyptian visual language Subject-matter abstraction: Actually, in Narmer’s palette is not represented the historical fact, but rather a religious ritual, staging the unification of Egypt In fact, Narmer’s servant is holding the king’s shoes: in Egypt the act of taking off shoes characterized religious rituals The Unification of Egypt was the historical fact from which Narmer’s dynasty received its right to rule

Symbolic value of images: hunting as metaphor of triumph over the forces of evil Twisted perspective: descriptive approach to the human figure Tendency toward abstraction: the dense forest of papyrus changes from being a representation of nature to a fine abstract pattern

Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, painted relief, Saqqara, Egypt, c. 2510-2460 BC, p. 39

the surface is subdivided into registers: fishes and hippopotami are inserted into their organized setting in a neat and orderly way

Palette of Narmer, Pre-Dynastic Period, c.3000 BCE

hierarchical proportions: Ti (an official of the pharaoh) is bigger than his servants Hierarchy is shown not only through the figures’ size: different levels of abstraction are used as differentiation of social ranks While Ti is represented according to a traditional abstraction and stillness, his servants are much more realistic They are portrayed in action, and with more natural poses In the history of art, especially portraiture, it is almost a rule that as a human subject’s importance decreases, formality is relaxed and realism is increased

Giving shape to eternity: architecture from mastaba to the pyramid

Ancient Egyptians believed that an essential part of every human personality is its life force, or spirit, called the ka

mastaba Which lived on after the death of the body It was important to provide a comfortable home for the ka of a departed king In Early Dynastic Egypt, the most common Imhotep, Stepped tomb structure was the mastaba: Pyramid, ca. 2630A flat-topped, one story building erected above an 2611 BC underground burial chamber For his tomb complex at Saqqara, king Djoser commissioned the earliest known monumental architecture in Egypt.

Giving shape to eternity: architecture from mastaba to the pyramid

The architect of the complex was Imothep, king Djoser’s prime minister and priest of the sun: the first artist in history known by his name (after his death he would be venerated as a god) Imothep first planned the tomb as a matsaba, then later decided to enlarge upon the concept In the end, what he produced was a stepped pyramid formed by six mastaba-like elements This monument fulfilled a dual function: 1)to protect the mummified king 2)and to symbolize his absolute divine power -Djoser’s Stepped Pyramid may also have been conceived as a giant stairway (link between the ka and the sun)

Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid, ca. 26302611 BC, p.35

Giving shape to eternity: architecture from mastaba to the pyramid

The growing wealth of ruling families of the Old Kingdom (c.2575-2150 BC) is reflected in the size and complexity of the tomb structures they commissioned for themselves the true pyramid, with a square base and four sloping triangular faces is the development of the Stepped Pyramid into an abstract, purely geometric solid The angled sides of the pyramids may have been meant to represent the slanting rays of the sun,

Great Pyramids, Giza, c. 25502450 BC, p.35

inscriptions on the walls of pyramids tell of the deceased kings climbing up the rays to join the sun god Ra

Giving shape to eternity: architecture from mastaba to the pyramid

Symbolism: kings were reborn in the afterlife as the sun is reborn each day at dawn Moreover, pyramids were surfaced with white limestone When this facing was intact, the reflected sunlight would further underscore the pyramid’s role as a solar symbol the four sides of each of the Great Pyramids are oriented to the cardinal points of the compass

Great Pyramids, Giza, c. 25502450 BC, p.35

The funerary temples associated with them are placed on the east side, facing the rising sun and underscoring again their connection with Ra this is probably the origin of the east orientation existing in most of the temples in Mediterranean cultures

Giving shape to eternity: architecture from mastaba to the pyramid

The designers of the pyramids tried to ensure that the king and his tomb would never be disturbed They placed the king’s tomb chamber in the very heart of the mountain of masonry, at the end of a long, narrow, steeply rising passageway, sealed off after the burial with a 50-ton stone block. Three false passageways further obscured the location of the tomb

Great Pyramids, Giza, c. 25502450 BC

abstraction and realism in sculpture Khafre, from Gizeh, ca. 2520-2494 BC, diorite, p.38

Egyptian statues’ blocklike forms express a feeling of strength and permanence Function: images of the deceased served as houses for the ka should the mummies be destroyed Khafre wears a simple kilt and sits rigidly, he has the royal false beard fastened to his chin perfect body and face, regardless of his actual age and appearance

abstraction and realism in sculpture strict proportional scheme A squared grid drawn on three sides of a block of stone was used to demarcate the height and width of each figure’s body parts following a STANDARD FORMULA

abstraction and realism in sculpture Khafre, from Gizeh, ca. 2520-2494 BC, diorite, p. 38

Egyptians considered ideal proportions and symmetry appropriate for representing imposing majesty, The purpose was not to record individual features, but rather to proclaim the godlike nature of Egyptian kingship

abstraction and realism in sculpture Not only in the seated figure of Khafre, but also in the canonical “walking” Menkaure, the sculptor suppressed all movement and with it the notion of time, creating an eternal stillness

Khafre, from Gizeh, ca. 2520-2494 BC, diorite

Menkaure and His Wife, slate statue, Egypt, c. 25152472 BC, p.39

abstraction and realism in sculpture

Seated Scribe, from Saqqara, ca. 2400 BC

Old Kingdom sculptors produced figures not only of kings but also of less prominent people Such works are often more lively and less formal than royal portraits (we noticed the same phenomenon) Scholars have written of an Egyptian Realism in order to contrast these works to the abstract character of royal portraits The scribe’s sedentary vocation has made his body a little flabby, a condition that advertised a life freed from hard physical labor Because the pupils are slightly offcenter, the face acquires a lively intelligence Such signs of physical imperfection and liveliness (which means humanness) would have been disrespectful in a depiction of a divine king