Egyptian Art

3200 - 1070 BC

Egyptian Art can be divided up into the following periods:

• 3200 - 2185 BC: Old Kingdom
• 2040 - 1650 BC: Middle Kingdom
• 1550 - 1070 BC: New Kingdom
• 1370 - 1340 BC: Amarna Art

When we talk about Egyptian art, we most often talk about paintings and sculptures that were used to decorate tombs or mastabas. In ancient Egypt, there was a strong belief in the afterlife. Death was considered a necessary transition to the next world where the dead would lead a life similar to life as they knew it. This belief was the reason for the embalming of bodies, the abundance of funerary offerings, the statues, the relief carvings, the inscriptions and of course, the paintings.

The many paintings that were created in Egyptian tombs told of who and how the deceased was in life - so that he/she would continue this lifestyle in the hereafter. In these paintings, the important people were given a rather large, out of scale size, the overlapping of outlines was avoided at all costs and all parts of the body were represented as flatly and completely as possible. There's a very good reason for all of this -- by showing the Egyptians in this way, all of the body parts needed in the afterlife would be properly expressed and therefore readily available to the deceased.

The style involved:

• 
  
  Profile of the face
  
• Frontal view of the eye
• Frontal view of the upper body
• Arms - one in front, one at the side
• Profile of the legs

In Egyptian art, there was a strong sense of order, form and symbolism (certain items held certain meanings). The paintings especially were highly stylized and they told a story. The style of art in Egypt didn't change for three thousand years in part because the artists quite simply obeyed the rules set out for them.

Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt

c.2400 B.C, Painted limestone

Recommended Books:

Egyptian Art (World of Art)

Art of Ancient Egypt: Revised Edition