Egyptian Art
Published on Nov 22, 2015
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ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART
The Great Art of the Ancient Egyptian World : by: Nishita Abburi
Photo by kairoinfo4u
Ancient Egyptians did not have paper like we do now, so they did their art on a paper-like material called Papyrus and on walls. Papyrus was a plant that grew in the marshes of the Nile. The thin stalks of it were pressed together to make a material like paper. The Egyptians had to develop something to be able to use on the papyrus, so they created ink. They often used papyrus for writing, but it was used for drawing too. Papyrus is not easily preserved, so they are only a few visual examples in the world.
Photo by Travis S.
Wall paintings were widely created in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians had strict rules when dealing with many things, and painting was one of those things. Although the Egyptians did follow the rules that they were put to, many of the wall paintings turned out to be really creative. The wall paintings, usually were paintings of their everyday life. Others though, were more interesting. One example is one where these animals were walking like humans and they were making sacrifices to the gods just like the humans would. The Egyptians chose not to waste their ink on the wall paintings and instead they used this paint that they made out of other natural materials.
Photo by ketrin1407
Another type of beautiful Egyptian art are reliefs. Reliefs are a technique of sculpting for artisans and other skilled people. Reliefs were created often and lined the temples with beautiful replicas of who the Egyptians saw as God and sometimes animals. Many reliefs have been broken down from war, but there are still some pieces left and saved only for viewing in museums. The greatest relief known in Egypt is called "The Sea Battle". It is based on a great battle that happened a while ago which caused great tragedy for the Egyptians. Reliefs were a big part of Egypt and made for both the reasons of religiousness and sometimes just for fun.
The artisans and sculptures at that time didn't have too many great tools to work with, so they improvised. They started with a light sketch as good as they could on the wall because they didn't have any tracing tools. Then, they outlined it in red. After the paint dried, they tried hard to chip away at the red lines to make an inside-out imprint sort of illusion. When that was done, they colored the whole thing bright colors or didn't color it at all. It usually took days to make these amazing creations, they usually turned out beautiful.
Photo by dynamosquito
The Egyptians were great builders and built many great things. Some people call the pyramids in Egypt wonders considering how un-advanced they were compared to us. It still boggles many people that the Egyptians were able to even attempt these massive masterpieces. Pyramids, one of the most interesting pieces of art were made in the richest and most civilized time of Egypt.
The pyramids are usually not considered as art, but if you really think about all the precision and skill it would take to make these, then you can actually relate it to the other Egyptian art such as the reliefs and paintings that I talked about earlier. Their massive scale represents the unique role that the pharaoh, or king, played in Ancient Egyptian Society. After a great pharaoh died one time, the artisans created a six step building with stone to keep him in. It reached 204 feet, which was actually the highest building in that time.
Photo by archer10 (Dennis)
The pyramids became a form of regular burials of important people and such, so they made it bigger. Outside, it was lined with shrines and other things to honor the dead. The great pyramid of Giza is the most celebrated of the pyramids. It is clearly the biggest pyramid there is, and therefore the most valuable. There were also a few pyramids here and there making a complex. They were all built for Khafre, a a son of a very important person to the previous pharaoh.
Photo by Héctor de Pereda
Inside Khafre's complex, was a very unique building called the Great Sphinx, a guardian statue made of limestone with the head of a man and the body of a lion. The people would come and worship the Great Sphinx and think of it as a local form of the Ancient Egyptian God, Horus. About 2.3 million blocks had to be transported, cut, and assembled for the pyramids. It took 20 years to build, and the labor of 20,000 to 100,000 workers, but that just shows how hard they worked to create such beauty for someone.
Photo by Keith Yahl
