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Forums / Art Talk / Painting Talk / why did Egyptian craftsmen adhere to a canon of proportion and strict convention of representing the humans?
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Artist
69 posts |
#21872 2007-09-10 20:35 GMT |
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in Egyptian painting, relief, and sculpture?
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CaptainCrunch
46 posts |
#21873 2007-09-10 22:17 GMT |
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I am dropping in text from a source. I think this is better and will include link.
Whenever the Ancient Egyptian artists sculptured, inscribed or painted figures, their proportions would be determined by a canon of proportions. Up until the end of the New Kingdom's 26th Dynasty, the Ancient Egyptians used a grid that measured 18 units to the hairline, or 19 units to the top of the head. The height of the figure was usually measured to the hairline rather than the top of the head, this part of the head often being concealed by a crown or head piece making it difficult to base a canon of proportions on. 1 This separation of the crown of the skull from the rest of the body reduces the height of the figure to 18 units and provides a consistent point upon which a figure's proportions could be based. |
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LadyWoman
36 posts |
#21874 2007-09-10 23:49 GMT |
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The reason is that Egyptians did not depict the body as they saw it with their naked eyes, but the way they thought corresponded to the truth, with each body part clearly identifiable.
Keeping to very logical conventions and a canon of proportions may seem strange to us, but this was the reason. For example, the head was drawn in profile, but the eye and the eyebrow were depicted in full view. Men's shoulders and upper torso were also depicted frontally so that the arms, hands, and fingers were visible as well etc. The Canon of Human proportions to which they adhered almost in every dynasty was a square-grid of 18 units applied to a drawn human figure (standing) allowing its reproduction in various sizes, but always anatomically proportionate. For details see http://www.egyptvoyager.com/artcrafts_egyptianart_2.htm By means of this expression of truth through measurement, , the Egyptian artists intended to endow people who died with an other-wordly existence connected to the cult and magical character whic distinguishs Egyptian art - whether painting, relief or sculpture from mere picture making. |
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Dex
29 posts |
#21875 2007-09-11 11:59 GMT |
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In ancient Egypt art was not created for the same reasons we might create art today. Art was considered a language - in fact the scribes that wrote the language we know as hieroglyphs were also the designers of the paintings and sculptures. The craftsmen merely followed the orders of the scribes. If you look carefully at Egyptian paintings and sculptures you might notice that they are really just hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs were the language of the gods and if you want the language to be understood you have to follow the rules - if you make up your own language no one (or no god) would know what you're talking about. Some of these rules might include: whoever is larger in scale is more important. dark skin = male, light skin = female. Men have left foot forward while women have both feet together. Child has finger in his mouth. A person with an open hand in front of their face is in mourning. Cross-legged seated figure is a scribe. These examples and many more are used in hieroglyphs, painting and sculpture. Hope this helps!
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