A.D. In 1986, the band “Bangles” sang “All the Old Pictures in the Tomb” of the song “Walking like an Egyptian.” Although he was neither an art historian nor an Egyptian researcher, songwriter Liam Sternberg mentioned one of his most remarkable qualities. Ancient Egyptian Visual art – flat, two-dimensional image of people, animals and objects. Why did the ancient Egyptians do this? And is ancient Egypt the only culture to create art in this style?
To create a fantasy on a flat surface requires drawing a different view in three directions. Drawing an object in two dimensions (height and width) requires the artist to describe only one aspect of that object. And just highlighting one floor, changing, has its benefits.
“In the picture, the list contains a lot of information,” says John Beans, professor of Egyptian studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. “It’s easier to understand when something is designed.”
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When drawing on a flat surface, the description will be the most important aspect, although many Egyptian paintings and drawings contain details from many sides of the object. “There’s also a lot of focus on transparency and understanding,” Bins said.
In many wise traditions, “size is of equal importance,” according to Bins. In wall art, royalty and tombstones are far more important than anything around them. If an artist uses a three-dimensional view of human proportion as a priority and background, it contradicts this principle.
Another reason to show a lot on a flat two-dimensional plane is to create a visual narrative.
“Only one person should think [a] The comic strip is like a parallel. Information that is not easily put into a picture. “Often, these scenes do not represent real events” but a general and appropriate representation of life. ”
However, not all illustrations in ancient Egypt were two-dimensional. According to Bins, “Most of the art is embedded in architecture.” Some of the compositions on tomb walls are also known as bass relief, in which most of the statues are carved on a wall or mounted on a wall. In 2400 BC. In the tomb of Akhotep, a royal official who lived during the fifth dynasty, we can see two scribes whose bodies are engraved on the wall. Bins explains, “The relief is not a flat design because it shapes the body,” because in addition to their list, they have text and features.
In many examples from 2700 BC, artists painted on top of relief to add more details, as shown in the image of the two authors below.
Egyptian visual art “has used more or less international human approaches to represent flat land,” Bynn said.
“it is [Egyptian art] Influenced ancient Near Eastern art, ”such as ancient Syria (or Levantine) and Mesopotamia There is art, bins. Similar agreements can be found in many other ancient wisdoms. Screen Art also uses illustrations and hieroglyphic scripts. Although classical Greek and Roman Art is unique, there are even examples of similar art conventions for medieval painting and medieval Europe. “It’s a very good system, so you don’t need to change it,” Bins explained.
First published in live science.