Final Blog

My favorite periods that we looked at were the Ancient Egyptian.

I've always been interested in Egyptian art ever since I was a little girl. Egyptian art is easily distinguishable even among people with no art history background. This means most people know and understand the artistic characteristics of the pieces without even realizing it. "The Palette of Narmer" (c. 2950 BCE) has a lot of these specific characteristics. It shows a pharaoh in the act of almost killing another man, most likely a pharaoh as well. It tells a specific story, which I like because there is obviously meaning behind the piece. I like and dislike the fact that for Egyptians their art was about telling a story rather than being a piece of art. I like it because you get the idea of what they are trying to convey, but I don't like that as a viewer you do not always get a great idea of what the Egyptians are capable of creatively. With that said, the pieces you do see did require artistic talent and patience. There seems to be a large amount of time that was devoted to these pieces. The palette is said to be depicting the unification of Egypt, because before this time Upper and Lower Egypt were two separate states. The figures in this piece are also in the composite pose which is often found in Egyptian art; this is not necessarily natural for the human form but it shows that Egyptians were about creating works that sent across a specific message, and they did not mind bending the natural rules of form to do it. The Egyptians definitely had the ability to create forms that were lifelike  as seen in the "Seated Scribe" (c. 2450-2325) and the "Butcher" (c. 2450-2325). These pieces seem to be more rare and are in three dimensional form and are much more realistic. This shows that Egyptians did have the ability to represent humans very well, they just preferred to make art that was about the story.
It is not completely sure what the palette was used for. It is said it was used for crushing makeup for ceremonial purposes. I think it is interesting that there is no way to know for certain what this piece is used for but it is easy to assume that it definitely had a purpose in the aesthetically gorgeous but almost utilitarian period of the Egyptians.

I also really enjoy the "Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun" (c. 1332-1322). This may be one of the most easily recognized pieces of Egyptian art besides the Sphinx. The mask shows an idealized Tutankhamun, more beautiful than realistic. The Egyptians created a lot of pieces that were extremely decorative and elegant for their deceased pharaohs. This means that a lot of pieces are aesthetically pleasing because, like the funerary mask, there is quite a bit of inlaid stones and gold.

I think I enjoy looking at Egyptian art for the reasons that most people do: as a viewer you get a small window into what life was like for the Egyptians and the aesthetic beauty of the pieces that were created in this time.