The Human Body in Art

Early on in his reign Akhenaten began introducing new artistic styles, both in relation to religion and personal portrayals of the royal family. After moving the capital from Thebes to Amarna in search of new land on which to worship Aten (the God of sun/light) the artistic portrayal of the god changed to become one the most symbolic and abstract depictions of a God in Ancient Egypt (Weigall 1922, 120). The new depiction of Aten became a sun disc with long rays extending hands down to earth, and often to the royal family or the king himself. This can be thought of as symbolising the power given to the king by the Gods (Kempt 1989, 173). Akhenaten also introduced his own style of royal artwork, in which the royal family was represented in an exaggerated manner. The most notable of these exaggerations was the changes to facial features, such as the long skull and chin, and large oval eyes. This is thought to perhaps represent the separation of the royal family from everyday Egyptian people, however this contradicts with the meaning of another change to Amarna artwork, the personal, intimate portraits of the king’s family life (Kempt 1989, 265).

Hatshepsut is not only known for being a rare woman ruler during this archaic time period, but also for the representation of her in art- blending imagery of a male king with presentations of herself as a woman. During the early years of her reign, Hatshepsut had herself portrayed in the traditional garb of a woman. However, in the seventh year of Thutmose III’s reign, the year that Hatshepsut took over, she began to be portrayed in male attire, still attempting to further her legitimacy as Egypt’s ruler. The surviving representation in art varies on this masculine and feminine

Throughout history the human figure has been demonstrated in Middle Eastern, Egyptian and Greek sculptures and paintings. Most of these artifacts tend to focus more on humanism than realism due to Rulers and Gods, geographical areas, resources and events thus, giving them the idea for the theme of the art they create. These are the reasons that might explain their commonalities or differences in the representation of the human figure.

Hatshepsut and Akhenaten have both revolutionized Egyptian art during their reign as rulers of Egypt. In the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, the art of both Queen/King Hatshepsut and Akhenaten represented them with features not corresponding to their biological sex or social gender. In several of her paintings and sculptures, Hatshepsut was often portrayed as a man despite that fact that she was a woman. On the other hand, Akhenaten was often portrayed with feminine features, something that was never done before in Egyptian art. There have been many different theories from historians as to why Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, and their artists may have done this, but nothing has yet to be confirmed.

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 body art is an ancient concept of human society. Tattoo and body piercing are the current and common trends of the body art in the American culture. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong to have these things on an individual’s body, if he or she is an art lover but if someone have this just because virtual world personalities have these then it is not relevant for him or her. As my classmates Juliet and Daniela have been mentioned about the harmful consequences of these things on human body in some ways.

Throughout the years humans have had the tendency to record their daily lives and events. In other words, the art of each era reflects the society and mentality of the civilians. This is why each era has a different way of depicting the human body and how the story they tell is narrated. This research paper will compare between the depiction of the human body in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Ancient Egypt art was at the start of art history, which was between 3000 BC and 400 AD. The Egyptians wanted to focus more on realism and narrating the story rather than showing the exact details, they wanted everything to be clear and show what was happening in their daily lives rather than show the positions, they didn’t have deficiencies, they were more keen on portraying the whole image. Meanwhile The Ancient Greek art had something equivalent to the Ancient Egyptian art in the cultural part, where they both were obsessed with precision and order. They believed their Gods took human form, that’s why they always had this mentality of portraying the human figure perfectly. They related perfection to the athletic

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

The popularity of and the fascination with Egyptian Art come from the pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphs. The theme of the exhibition is about racial types in Ancient Egyptian Art it will survey the various naturalistic facial features found in the non-royal sculptures. In contrast, the Royal portraits are extremely symbolic in representing human figures with the combination of human gods and animal forms that tend to portray idealized, conventional faces of Egypt. Utilizing objects from the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, this exhibit will display 25 portraits of nobleman, officials, and local individuals in order to hint at a variety of racial subdivision such as the Hykos, Nubian, Persian and Roman influence in the

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.

Name: Professor: Course Name: Date: The Amarna Period The Amarna period is the era in the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the Egyptian Pharaoh called Amenhotep IV (later Akhenaten) took the throne. This period encompasses Akhenaten’s reign in the city of Amarna (ancient Akhetaten) which he had founded himself though it did not last beyond his reign.

Different fashions will come in and out of style but people want to be able to stand out in their own manner showing the world how they express themselves. A common form of self-expression is by getting a piercing or tattoo, something that can set a person apart from the majority. Body piercings and tattoos on women at one time were unacceptable and distasteful in the United States. However over time women having assorted types of body art has become more acceptable in society. Today young women at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, use piercings and tattoos as a form of self-expression that is vastly encouraged by peers and social media. Each woman has a different reason for why they personally want a piercing or a tattoo but are there some factors that have influenced the college community of women as a whole?

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

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.