Akhenaten Art Style Analysis

This paper is a formal analysis of the Marble grave stele with a family group relief sculpture. It is a pentelic marble style relief standing at 171.1cm tall carved by a master. It is from the Late Classical period of Greek, Attic which was completed around ca.360 B.C. . I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because I’m mainly attracted to art and sculptures from the Greek era. The overall color used in this relief is ivory with a few cracks and pieces broken off. There is some discoloration which causes the color to come off as slightly light brown for most of the relief. The sculpture appears larger compared to the other sculptures in the art room. It represents a family which includes a man, his wife, and their

Each artist was influenced by the culture and location in which they created the artwork. For example, Nefertiti was the queen of Egypt with Akhenaton her husband. The style of this sculpture is Egyptian because of its location. Because Neffertiti was queen, the culture changed how the artist portrayed her. In fact, Fred Kleiner a well-known author of multiple art history articles and books says that “The sculptor seems to have adjusted the likeness of his subject to meet the era’s standard of spiritual beauty” (76). She likely would have taken offence if the artist did not change her appearance biased on the cultures ideal. This artwork was commissioned, which also played a role in the influence of this piece. Not to mention that the king commissioned this piece, and obviously no one wants to get on his bad side.

What makes the sculpture different from others of this time period are two things; the subject matter, in that it depicts no god, nor Pharaoh only a mortal human writing in a mostly illiterate society. Secondly it demonstrates age shown in sagging muscles and rotund belly. Due to this relaxed style we can gather that the subject is not a Pharaoh as it was dishonourable to insinuate that they aged as they were supposed to be gods on earth.

The main purpose of this paper is to describe the visual analysis of the artwork. This paper examines an Egyptian half nude portrait art which is taken from Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig.1). The statue characterized both male and female seated figure with a Braid hair. In this essay, I will present a complete visual description of this artwork (its preservation, costume and iconography), and then I will compare it to another artwork which is chosen from Textbook that is Akhenaten and his Family (Fig. 2).

Along with his striking religious changes, Akhenaten also led a political revolution, namely in the perception of the pharaoh. One of the most visible changes in Akhenaten’s reign was a drastic change in art. Public perception of the pharaoh was essential to political power, but Akhenaten's portraits do not portray the pharaoh in the “larger-than-life” style associated with other New Kingdom rulers. Firstly, Akhenaten was feminine in appearance, and is shown affectionately playing with his children and Nefertiti. Amarna art is realistic and Akhenaten chose to portray a reality no other pharaoh had been willing to show. Nicholas Reeves explains these changes: “In Akhenaten’s ‘new look’ these striking changes in composition and gesture, which

“Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters,” is from the Amarna period in 18th dynasty ancient Egypt, which was around c. 1353-1335 BCE. This was a time where art in ancient Egypt was vastly different from anything that had come before it, mostly due to Akhenaton himself. The religion of the time was also very different, as it had become a monotheistic religion instead of a polytheistic one, where everyone now worships the life giving god Aton, represented here by the sun who is soaking them in life-giving rays and the ankh placed on the sun representing Aton. Pictured in this work is the Pharaoh Akhenaton and his family, yet it is not the stiff ceremonial

The Seated Scribe from the Egyptian era was a sculpture that was important to the people of that time period as well as modern people. It was not significant in politics or religion; however, it was significant due to the fact that it was a sculpture resembled real people of that time period. It is important to remember that sculptures of people during this time period were exaggerated. Emperors were portrayed using unrealistic body features (broad shoulders, 6-pack of abs) instead of having a more natural look similar to the Seated Scribe. I understand the sculptures were made that way to usher in a feeling of power when they were looked upon, but why weren’t there more art work being made that was showing off the natural look of most Egyptians

In the Bronze Age paintings and specially the Minoan we began to realize how realistic they look and how they are showing movement. We can see that in paintings of landscapes, sport events or even a story or a ritual. Some of the Minoan art is different from each other but some are quite similar in style, technique or in motifs. In this essay we will be showing the similarity of style between the Hagia Triada sarcophagus and the Minoan palace frescoes paintings.

On the other hand, there may have been nothing wrong with Akhenaten, Tutankhamen, his supposed son does have an irregularly shaped skull but it is not enough to be called abnormal. It is indeed possible that the stylization of the pharaoh in this way was an artistic expression of the religious changes taking place during the Amarna period.

style of the past and shows Akhenaten as an almost cartoon-like figure, with spindly limbs, a

This first act as king brought with him a shocking speculation and hostility between his throne and the priesthood of Amun. Inside the temple was an entirely new style of art, which was often described, as “naturalistic” in Akhenaten’s portrayal of the human body. No longer was the Pharaoh portrayed as half animal with the perfect body fitted for the afterlife. Akhenaten and the royal family were shown with long toes, massive hips, extremely long fingers, skinny torso, ample breasts, big buttocks, and an elongated face. This exaggeration of the royal family’s bodies altered classic Egyptian art and became better known as Amarna Art.

When analyzing the artwork one can see the influence of what we now understand to be art form, through the numerous art elements the painting of Queen Nefertari and Isis has. Starting with lines, the artist uses many types of both regular and irregular, to create the hieroglyphics and the shape of the women along with what they wear. The ancient Egyptians liked to have things in order and consistent. We see the proof for this behind their canon of proportions method. In order to make complex figures easier to depict, the traditional style and trademark of ancient Egyptian artworks show everything drawn or carved to be two-dimensional in shape. However, they also wanted to show the aspects they valued the most as a society. As stated in the film How Art Made The World, in the case of the human body ancient Egyptian chose to show each body part from its clearest angel; and as a result of a keeping the figures 2-D, the chest is shown straight on, the face is shown in profile but the eyes were drawn straight on, the arms and hands can be

The two works of art that I have chosen to analyze are 1) Jordan Casteel. Miles and JoJo. 2014. Oil on canvas, 54” x 72” and 2) Aaron Fowler. He Was. 2015. Mixed media, 134” x 165” x 108”. The themes that these works of art represent in regards to the exhibit are love, family, and pain. However, they also fall into other thematic categories. The main theme that seems to apply to both “Miles and JoJo” and “He Was” is Human Experience. Additionally, these arts differ in some ways.

Shepard Fairey’s piece titled Pay Up or Shut Up is a representation of the role that money or your role in society dictate the power of your speech. This piece of art by Fairey was released in May of 2015. It is a screen print on cream speckletone paper.

Just from looking at a few pieces of the art of the ancient Egyptians, you begin to notice many defining characteristics about it that make it unique and different from other styles of art. There are an ample amount of recurring features in the art, so this must mean that these traits and aspects are noteworthy. This next section of the essay will go into detail about a few of the many types of art and the stylistic elements that define ancient Egyptian art and make it special and distinguishable from other types of art, and why some particular aspects of the art are important.