Artistic expression of Egypt

Artistic expression in any given age always develops from works, styles, and themes produced in earlier eras. The further back into history we go, the more difficult it may be to ascertain the source of a given culture and the art it produces. The wonders of Egypt have long fascinated archaeologists, historians, and art experts. This art did not develop out of whole cloth but instead had antecedents which can be discerned elsewhere on the continent of Africa, specifically the rock art of Africa which can be seen as a precursor of the Egyptian civilization that would develop to the north.

The connections between the different cultures of Africa can be seen now as extending back to the beginning of humankind, for recent research seems to indicate that human beings first emerged on the African continent. Cultural development in the area can be traced back to the paleolithic, and Africans began to use well-fashioned stone implements in the neolithic era. The domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants has been traced to Egypt about 5000 B.C. and may have been brought there from the Levant and Mesopotamia through trade contacts. within some 1500 years, the lower Nile region was developed into a region of farming communities, with a growing urban civilization culminating in the emergence of dynastic Egypt and a sophisticated culture in the Nubian areas of the Upper Nile Valley:

It cannot be established with certainty whether agriculture and the raising of domestic

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and often with great attention to detail. This is known as the Bubalus Period. It is followed by the Cattle or Pastoralist Period as various animals along with cattle are depicted. The style is now less naturalistic, and less attention is paid to details. For instance, hooves are often omitted, and the horns are usually shown in "twisted perspective," meaning frontally when the rest of the animal is drawn in profile. The engravings are now smaller. The next period is the Horse Period, and this is divided into three phases. The first is the Chariot Sub-Period when the elephant is still represented along with domestic cattle. The style has now become conventionalized. The Horseman Sub-Period shows a change from horse-driving to horse-riding. The animals are now shown in a semi-naturalistic style, and human beings are schematized as two triangles. The Horse and Camel Sub-Period shows the introduction of the camel. Cattle are shown more rarely. The style coarsens. The Camel Period is the last and continues to the present day (Willett 48-49). Paintings are less widely distributed than engravings because painting requires a smooth surface and their survival depends on the painting being sheltered from the elements. An

Category: Arts - A