Author: Dianne Gibson

Final Project

THESIS:

Although women and feminism are sometimes overlooked in the discussion of Egyptian art, The presence of  Feminism and women in Ancient Egyptian culture is not only reflected in Egyptian art, but adds an entire new layer of importance, depth and value to the artwork.

 

STATEMENT ONE:

Feminism was subtle  integrated in the fashion of the men in Ancient Egypt, showing their respect and need for feminism in their own everyday lives.

 

  • Egyptian clothing was about class. The clothes that everyone wore reflected which social class they belonged to and the status that they held in society
  • The basic attire for All men in Ancient Egyptian society was a wrap skirt around their waist,because it was fashionable (Fun fact :the color of the skirts were preferably white to reflect cleanliness)
  • Depending on how rich a man was, their skirts would be decorated with various amount of expensive jewelry and beads.
  • The clothes were mostly made by women – this meaning that behind the scenes, women dictated what looked fashionable and therefore played a enormous role in the unique appearances of ancient egypt
  • Men (including the Pharaohs) also wore makeup to darken their eyes
  • To conclude the various integrations of femininity into the men’s fashion wear in Ancient Egypt ( jewelry, skirts, beads, makeup) showed that men valued the balance of masculinity and femininity. The combination of both was seen as  a sign of strength, status, and appealing to the gods.
  • The presence of femininity in egyptian fashion reflected a major Egyptian value as well. ““One of the central values of ancient Egyptian civilization, arguably the central value, was ma’at – the concept of harmony and balance in all aspects of one’s life”
  • Take the painting below for example Depicts the process of Egyptian Afterlife
    • The men are all wearing skirts or dress – not one pair of pants is in sight
    • Each male present has an adornment of some sort, whether it be jewelry or extra fabric, which signifies their individual role and power in their Human life.
    • Each males as well can be seen wearing eyeliner.
    • All of the men present in this painting ( with the exception of the scribe) are gods. They are looked up to and respected by everyone living in Egypt. However even the Gods of ancient egypt cannot deny the need for femininity and balance in their everyday lives, as depicted in the painting.

SOURCES

 

STATEMENT TWO:

Women’s role in everyday life was essential to the society functioning as well as it did. These depictions of women in action through ancient egyptian art are necessary to show that ancient Egypt didn’t just consist of the conquering of other nations and how strong the pharaoh or any man’s masculinity was. On the other hand it displayed just how strong the women were as well

  • Women were mainly in charge of the household duties ( cooking and cleaning, raising the children) while men were in charge of going to war and handling“ affairs of the state” In terms of social status however, the roles of both genders combined displayed what was valued in the social scale for Ancient Egypt. Long story short, to be viewed as a wholesome balanced family in ancient Egypt you can’t have one without the other.
  • Women has the same rights under the law as men.
  • Women handled their own individual property
  • Woman decided who they wanted to marry and also decided if they wanted divorces or not.
  •  Women were also goddesses, One goddess that we can mention is Bastet. This goddess specifically looked out for the good of women and protected all the affairs of women
  • Women were also priest who could interpret dreams (Dream’s were very important on the religious scale)  dreams were considered to be portals to the after life.
  • Take the statue below for example
    • It promotes the equality between both the male and the female in the family
    • If you look even closer the man is leaning back and the woman is holding up
    • In other words, she is so much more than just his support system, she is an equal, she is strong and powerful. Without her he wouldn’t survive.

SOURCES

 

STATEMENT THREE

There were many queens in ancient Egyptian history, but Queen Nefertiti is the the default queen that most people refer to. The reason being she as a queen arguably contributed more to ancient Egypt legacy than some other kings and pharaohs.

  • – Nefertiti, whose name means “a beautiful woman has come,”
  • She ruled alongside her husband Akhenaten, and made decisions for the well being of Egypt
  • She and her husband started the religious revolution in creating the Atens clan.

 

The carving below displays Nefetari alongside her husband with their children.

-As stated before they are equals

– She Is seated on the throne alongside her husband. This suggesting that no decision can be made without her.

( Scroll Down)

(Below is the Pdf document with the pictures. )

Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

 

Final Project Outline Proposal

Topic: The role/purpose of the depiction of women in Ancient Egyptian Art

Thesis: Although women and feminism were often overlooked in Egyptian art, the very presence of a woman alone was necessary for the art to contain true meaning.

The ways I will go about proving my statement

  1. depicting how the pharaohs headress resembled feminine features. I will propose the reason for that would be that in the Egyptian subconscious people needed something more to respect than just pure male dominance. The famine headress, and the skirts was a symbol of the understanding human side that only feminism can bring to the table.
  2. Depicting women in everyday life. Women weren’t always written off of all the art work for ancient Egypt. some pieces would show women dancing joyously together. other works would show a queen beside her pharaoh husband holding their child. These depictions are necessary to show that ancient Egypt didn’t just consist of the conquering of other nations and how strong the pharaoh was. On the other hand it displayed the need for family life and how beautiful it is. Again something that could have only been displayed with the presence of a woman.
  3. we will focus on the Queen Nefertiti there were many queens in ancient Egyptian history, but Nefertiti is the the default queen that we think of. the reason being she as a queen arguably contributed more to ancient Egypt legacy than some other kings and pharaohs.

 

unit 2 summary

 

The art produced by the ancient world is very significant in understanding the way society operated during those times. In class the three, civilizations that we studied were, Egypt,  and Greece

The art produced by Egypt displayed that the qualities of power as well as the after life, were incredibly important to them. Egypt often had statues of and paintings of the beings that they viewed as powerful. the first being being the ruler of Egypt, the king, the pharaoh. often times statutes of the pharaohs were mad to honor and display the power of the ruler. the status would show the rulers decked out in all there royal attire, while sitting or standing upon their throne looking into the distance. Sometimes the statues or paintings didn’t only show the ruler ” ruling” per say, but often displayed actions of power. Other stone carvings produced by ancient Egypt show the Pharaoh conquering other human beings in war, displaying no threat to hinder his strength. the main reason why there was such an emphasis on the power held by the pharaoh was because, they rulers of Egypt were closely connected to the important after life.  the afterlife in ancient Egypt was the notion that if any one person lived a balanced life and pleased the gods, they would be allowed to leave a joyful eternal life alongside the gods that have went on before them. Pharaohs were considered to be gods on earth, so striving to display the god’s powers one of many ways to please them.

    the process of the afterlife depicted in ancient Egypt art
pharaoh and his wife on their throne.

The picture above depicts the journey of a scribe who in undergoing the process of the after life.He interacts with a serious of various gods (all in charge of various task) who judge whether or not he has lived a balanced life. The scribe passes all the test and is introduced to the ” god of all gods” if you will ( who may I point out was once a pharaoh on earth.) Its amazing how  the Egyptians were able to interlock various beliefs and values into beautiful pieces of art.

The art that came from ancient Greece was similar in the fact that they exalted the power stemming from their culture. just like ancient Egypt The people of Greece displayed the power in their culture that they were most proud of through their art work. however unlike ancient Egypt the power that was displayed by ancient greece didn’t exalt gods per say, must exalted the power of the man, the human.

statue of a young warrior in Ancient Greece society

Humanism was the notion of celebrating the strengths snd qualities of that the human has displayed, rather than I’ve all the credit for advancement in society to gods. The base of  the art in ancient Greece was humanism. The statues as the one displayed above showed how fearless and bold the humanism movement was in this society. here we see a young warrior/ athlete who is in shape in a lounging position. Instead of clothing this man, the sculptors decided to leave him with everything display. The reason for that being, other cultures were typically despised baring it all, and sometimes looked on nudity as shameful. the Ancient Greece culture however thought the exact opposite of nudity. The viewed it as a symbol of pride and strength. This explaining why their are multiple statues resembling the one above. In promoting true humanism in their society, ancient Greece discarded that their art would symbolize everything they believed in, unless ALL the qualities and features of them human were celebrated.

Blog Post Humanism

 

To me humanism is the emphasis on how extraordinary, and unique the human race is. By highlighting the best physical, emotional and spiritual qualities of humans, humanism creates the argument that humans should not only be celebrated, but even goes as far to suggest that humans should be revered as a deity of some sort.

Some ancient societies however had slightly different definitions from one another of what humanism was. Therefore, their ways of portraying it, more specifically  in their art had slightly different emphasis on different things. To illustrate this point we will com pare the art work Ancient Greece nd Rome to that of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, starting first with the latter.

Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt art channeled their view of humanism through exalting their gods and the after life. Often times we see paintings and sculptures we can observe that the Pharaohs and kings are being praised as gods. Their exotic head dresses, their upright posture upon the throne they are sealed on, along with their powerful case into what the view are all defining characteristics of this type of art. As if to say ” this being who happens to have the body form of a man, dare not be perceived as an ordinary human being; but rather kn9ow it is a god who has taken up a human form to serve and be relatable to you. The second part of humanism that we find in Mesopotamian and Egyptian art is the foglight of the after life.we see in paintings ( Such as the one with the scribe)  that everyman in his life time strives to live a balanced life. this way when they die they will be found worthy to obtain eternal life with the gods. so we see through his channel that the emphasis on humanism again isn’t necessarily the humans them selves, bu the humans strive to be a man- like god.

Unlike Mesopotamian and Egyptian art ancient Greece and Rome take the focus off the gods and place it solely on humans, when channeling their perception of humanism through art. In the statues that we viewed in class we couldn’t help that notice that the male figures were almost always nude. As we discussed, to other societies being nude would be a sign of shame. But to the romans nudity was a sign of pride, especially for a young male warrior or athlete. it displayed humanism as ” being proud of the skin you’re in and showing of EVERY ACCOMPLISHMENT you have achieved” Humanism through art in Ancient Greece and Rome didn’t look to deity’s for confirmation of how amazing and unique humans are, but rather looked to themselves.

Unit One Summary

When coming into Art 1010 I didn’t know what to expect exactly.  It’s officially been a month now, and just recently we finished unit one of the course. Unit one basically served to me as the introduction potion of what the course entailed for the remainder of the semester.

The first item we learned about was the banking model. The banking model is a theory about hie a classroom should be conducted created by Paulo fiere. In his theory he states that in a classroom the flow of information only goes in one direction. that direction being from the teacher to the students. The teacher stand and the front of the classroom allegedly with all the wisdom and power , while all students quietly listen and accept everything as truth.  I believe that Although the banking model is generally what is standard in most forms education across the world, it doesn’t allow room for other occurrences that happen while learning takes place. Often times a teacher can be wrong when teaching a subject. Just because they are the ones operating the class, doesn’t mean they have learned everything there is to know about the subject. Secondly, I strongly believe that informations shouldn’t and doesn’t flow one way in a classroom while learning is taking place. I feel, when a teacher stops to receive feedback from the students, they can properly analyze the amount of learning that has taken place and what to teach next. However if Information is only going one way, the teacher is left blind to the actual effectiveness of his or her lesson.

The second thing we learned about in unit one was Formal Analysis. When initially hearing of the concept , I believed formal Analysis to be an impossible skill to grasp. However, After learning more about what it entails I found doing formal analysis much more achievable. You see formal analysis is about describing a piece of art work to the best of your ability. it requires your observational skills to be the best that they can possibly be. When you look at a piece of work you observe the color, lines, shadows… etc, to understand the composition of the work. The most interesting part of formal analysis though is when you uses the details drawn for the composite of the work to guess the message of the creator. Each piece of art work has a message, or even a purpose. The process of formal analysis helps us decipher what that message is and therefore gives us a greater appreciation for the work.

 

Blog 4 : Formal Analysis

Formal Analysis is a way that people evaluate various works of art. The goal when performing a session of formal analysis on work is to be able to decipher and/ or define the meaning of the piece artwork that is being observed. While doing formal analysis, its important to keep and open mind and let your imagination run free. It is also just as important to ask questions of the work. These questions should really be thought provoking questions, as if you were trying to get into the head of the artist who created the work. When describing the work in formal analysis it’s so important to show and not tell what is occurring in the work. When you show and not tell you are developing critical description skills ( the art of describing). Finally, its important to always keep a central focus on what the work is about.

In order to keep a central focus on what the work is about you must know the components of central Analysis.  The first component is formal properties. Formal Properties focuses on the physical aspect if the work. This includes, contrast, the size and scale of the items in the work, how everything is positioned, the composition, the colors used and illusions and mimesis. The second component of formal analysis is subject matter.  Subject matter focuses on the context, and story of the work. It’s important to consider what the message of the painting is and how every individual item contributes to the over all story. finally the last component of formal analysis is historical context. Every piece of work that you look at may not correspond to the times and social norms that you are currently used to. When analyzing work, its important to consider the time period it was created in. Know that time period may have influenced the artist as well as the people that observed their work at that time.

Blog Post 3: Pedagogy and Power,

Palo Fiere was born in Brazil in 1921.  As a child he lived a life of poverty. however he managed to get into school and get multiple degrees. He ended up teaching Portuguese and studied law as well.  In 1946 he was the director of the department of education and social services. Education and the way it was implemented was very important to Fiere.

The banking Model to Fiere was a form of teaching in education. In this form the teacher/ professor stands at the front of the room and is the only one allowed to speak,  while all the students silently listen to what the professor has to say. The professor has all the power in this scenario because it is implied that the teacher has all the ” wisdom” while the students have nothing of value to contribute too the class. Fiere believed strongly in the banking model because of of his work in education led him to believe strongly in the ” traditional” model of education. The banking model puts students involved in it at a huge disadvantage. Some people don’t learn my being a sponge and just soaking up what someone else has to say. Some learning needs to be interactive. Furthermore the professor may not know everything in the world and at times may need to be corrected as well.

I have A lot of experience with the banking model, as most of my education has been attained through this model. every since first grade all the way to being a senior in high school, a teacher would tell us all we should know to pass a class or a test. I am relatively well acquainted  with the model from young. so learning in the banking model wasn’t a challenge. I do appreciate my teachers giving me the knowledge they had to share with me. However, there were some circumstances in which  I know that an interactive classroom would’ve helped me learn better. unfortunately that opportunity was rarely available.

My Art Story

Write up your art story: What we we mean when we say art? What is art to you? How does it fit in to your life? What do you want to learn about in this class?

What does art mean to me? Honestly, this question is really tricky because I’ve never had to define it before. I always used to think that art was a self explanatory term; a subject. However after giving the task at hand of defining art more thought, I realized that Art has a range of definitions.

So here it goes. art to me is a form of expression that people use. In addition to being a form of expression, art to me is a form of communication- and an essential one at that.  In order to communicate and get certain messages of importance across to each  other and society, the traditional form of communicating may not be acceptable. Instead of just writing or speaking on an idea, art takes the idea to the next level, and grabs the attention of the intended audience in a way that can be done by nothing else.

Some people believe art to be subjected to the practices of just painting and drawing. ( I must admit I was one of those people as well) but the practices of art are so much than one can possibly understand. Music, paintings, poetry, sculptures, thoughts, ideas,… etc all can be considered art.

In this class I Hope to learn what art means from the perspective of artist everywhere. This way I can have a greater appreciation for what they do.

How To Post 101

How To Post

  1. Have an Idea  – The idea that you have in your head is your vision and will generally be your guide.
  2. Select a Platform – Selecting a platform helps you during the writing process because you are considering who you are writing for and how best to entertain your audience.
  3. Pick a Title- Picking a title generally helps you have a focus and reference point to what your post will be about. some people like to title their work after they’ve written everything. That is fine as well.
  4. Write Your Blog – Its very important to be expressive as you want when writing your blog. what you write is  a direct representation of who you are and your character. If your post just happens to be an assignment make sure you are tacking all the given prompts in the most unique way possible.
  5.  Post your Blog – After writing everything and making sure you are content with the outcome, you can post your blog for others to see. be on the look out for comments and constructive criticism from others. if you do receive them, make sure to take the comments into account for the next time you post.
  6.  Remember to Have Fun- That’s the ultimate name of the game. If you have fun while posting you know you’re doing something right