Egyptian Art: Art with a purpose
If our idea of art today is something we can hang on the wall and enjoy, than this isnot the case with Ancient Egyptian Art. The Egyptians did not create art for aestheticreasons. The sole purpose of Ancient Egyptian art was funerary, from the obvious tombsand mortuary temples to the statues and relief sculpture that filled them. The art was notsimply for decoration or visual experience. Ancient Egyptian art can hardly be termed art,not if the word art is defined by only the creation of beautiful or thought-provokingworks1. There was much more involved in the artwork, or craftwork of the AncientEgyptians, practically every thing they created was solely to serve the afterlife in one way If the Theban village people's homes were any indication of cultural reflection thenthere was little to reflect on. Aside from the one single room dedicated to worship, theTheban people lived very simply. White washed homes provided little in comfort aside
The few relicsthat are visually pleasing are placed in a single room dedicated to the current King, deityor the Sun god, 'Amen-Re'. Why are we compelled toterm these findings 'art' when we could easily call them 'untencils'? Definition of line,adherence to style and permanence of the works have allowed us insight into the minds ofartists, scribes and tomb makers of the past, allowing us the pleasure of examining theirhistorical objects, and what is our conclusion? One day we may find out. Many Egyptians preferred to serve the gods atthe current Pharaoh's tomb3 as opposed to their private homes. Governed by the strict laws ofthe Egyptian style: seated statues had to have their hands on their knees, the women werepainted with lighter skin than the men and the deities were required to have theappropriate animal heads or body parts. New York: The Limited Editions Club. Cambridge University Press, c 1991. While today we may consider all of these funerary works beautiful and aestheticpieces of art, can we be sure that the Ancient Egyptians thought the same? Time and timeagain we are shown examples of work that was created for the tombs, for the mortuarytemples and graves. The stone was to be cut clearly, accurately, butno one was asked to sculpt originally. The aesthetic qualities qualify it as a piece ofart worth of any Art Gallery yet there is a purpose to this scroll. Egyptian Art in the age of the Pyramids.
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