NAME: __________________________ DATE: _______ PERIOD: ______
D
irections
Read the article titled “Two-Dimensional Ancient Egyptian Art” When you are finished, answer the 15
questions seen below and the required drawing. Remember to express yourself fully and carefully in your
answers, using the skills you have learned in Language Arts class this year. Use your own paper to answer.
READING
ASSIGNMENT:
TWODIMENSIONAL
ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN ART
PART I: SHORT ANSWER:
Organizing Concept: Understand elements of culture including history,
traditions, beliefs and ideologies. 1. Why does the viewer need some background knowledge when viewing pharaonic [Ancient
Egyptian] art?
2. When were the rules of pharaonic art developed?
3. Why was it so important that the artist portrayed the body as completely as possible in
pharaonic art?
4. Describe the “twist” perspective characteristic of pharaonic art?
5. Why would pharaonic artists show the same hand twice or put the hands on backwards?
6. Why did pharaonic artists always draw the human face in profile [side view]?
7. What is strange about the ways pharaonic artists drew the human eye?
8. Why did pharaonic art often look so stiff and unnatural?
9. Why did Egyptian artists make some figures so much bigger than other figures?
10. What was the name of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s daughter that is shown in the illustration?
11. What colors were used for men and women during the Old Kingdom period?
12. Why was the god Osiris usually painted with green skin?
13. What color was sometimes used as a ‘magical’ color in pharaonic art?
14. Why were some lighter-skinned Egyptians painted with black skin in tomb paintings?
15. What was the goal that artists tried to achieve by sticking so closely to the strict rules of
pharaonic art?
PART II: DRAWING:
Draw a picture in describing the following topic:
Draw a picture of Peyton Manning in his Bronco uniform throwing a football. Use the
principles of pharaonic art to draw your picture. Your picture should be about “page sized”
and have enough detail that the Egyptian rules of art can be clearly identified. Be sure to color
the picture as well. Staple the drawing to the paper that includes your answers to the 15
questions.
STANDARDS FOR GRADING THIS READING ASSIGNMENT:
GRADE C:
1. The requirements for a C are the same as for a B except that there are one or two errors or omissions that would
prevent the student from getting a B.
GRADE B:
1. The report answers all of the short answer questions in complete sentences.
2. The short answer section shows only minor factual errors.
3. The drawing addresses the topic clearly.
5. Paper is neatly written and carefully proofread with no more than four typos or spelling errors.
GRADE A:
1. The report meets all the requirements for a “B”.
2. The drawing shows exceptional time and effort and shows me that you understand the topic well.
3. The short answers are accurate, complete and written in complete sentences.
4. The report is word-processed.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
ART
By KARNAK
http://www.shira.net/culture/kemetic-2d-art.htm
When looking at two-dimensional ancient Egyptian art, it is important not to make literal
interpretations about what is depicted. While pharaonic are is easy to identify, it requires having some
background knowledge in order to interpret the images correctly. Viewers must keep in mind why the
Egyptians drew and painted the way that they did and how they kept their style consistent. There are
also other nuances in Egyptian art to keep in mind, such as scale and color.
The standardized set of rules that ancient Egyptian artists used was developed during the Old
Kingdom. These artistic devices were used almost consistently throughout Pharaonic Egypt. When
Egypt experienced long periods of stability and prosperity, the style remained intact. There are
examples of deviations from the rules, but they are rare.
BODIES
The goal in ancient Egyptian art was to show the body as
completely as possible. This goal served an aesthetic
purpose as well as a religious one. The ancient Egyptians
believed that in order for the soul to survive after death it
needed an earthly home, which is why mummies were
created. Portraits of the deceased often served as a
backup plan just in case the mummy would suffer damage.
Since these portraits sometimes served a religious function,
it was necessary to show as much of the person as
possible and this is difficult to do when the artist needs to
transfer a three-dimensional image to a two-dimensional
surface.
One of the devices the Egyptians used in their “rules” was
twist perspective: they combined frontal and profile views of
a person.
Going from bottom to top, the Egyptians showed the feet in
profile, which is logical because it is much easier to
illustrate feet from the side than the front. Often, the feet
are separated with one slightly in front of the other to show
both. The legs were also made in profile in order to show
the knees and muscles.
The torso is twisted to a frontal view at the shoulders so
both arms can be seen. It was also crucial to illustrate both hands, but sometimes an artist would
show the same hand twice or put the hands on backwards. This doesn’t mean that the person in the
portrait was deformed or the artist was incompetent; artists did this because it was more important to
show all of the fingers than get the hands in the correct spots.
HEAD AND FACES
Heads were almost always depicted in profile view in
two-dimensional art. It is easier to draw a face from the
side in order to get the nose correct. Pharaonic artists
didn’t use shading in their paintings, and it is nearly
impossible to render a realistic nose without shadow
because noses don’t have outlines in real life.
Profile heads also allowed the artist to show the ear and
headdresses of hair. However, artists did not depict the
face entirely in profile. Egyptians showed the eye from a
frontal view, which is why the iris is in the center of the
eye.
Additionally, some headdresses were twisted to show the
front view to make the image clear to the viewer.
Because of this rigidity in the rules, some poses and
postures look stiff and unnatural.
SCALE
Not only did ancient Egyptians have to keep the rules in
mind when making artwork, they also needed to use
scale to
their
advantage. Some people in Egyptian murals are much
larger than others, and there is an important reason for
that. The most important figures in artwork were the
biggest; this draws the viewer’s attention to them first.
If there are any Gods and Goddesses depicted, they
are the largest. Pharoahs are the next biggest, and the
size diminishes with the rank of the person. Children
are often shown the smallest, regardless of age. If the
artwork does not have any Deities or royalty in it,
usually the head of the household is the biggest
because s/he made the commission.
In the photo to the right, the person drawn the largest is
the Pharaoh Akhenaten. The small person behind him
is his wife Nefertiti, and behind her is one of their
daughters.
COLOR
Color is another visual element that pharaonic artists
have to consider. Many times, the artists used color as
they saw it in the natural world. They were limited in
their color choices based on what paint they could
make in their surroundings, so they often used
primary colors, neutral colors, and green.
However, artists also used color symbolically
and so color can’t always be interpreted
literally. During the Old Kingdom, men were
painted with red skin and women were painted
with yellow.
Some colors had religious meanings too. For
example, red was sometimes used as a
magical color.
Black and green symbolized rebirth and fertility
because the rich, fertile soil in Egypt was black
and the growing plants were green. Gods that
are associated with the afterlife, such as Osiris
and Ptah, were sometimes shown with green
skin to show resurrection. Anubis was show in
black to represent rebirth. Even some lighterskinned Egyptians were shown with black skin
in their tombs to symbolize life after death.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, there is much more to two-dimensional ancient Egyptian art than what meets the eye. It is
vital to keep in mind that Pharaonic artists stuck to the strict rules in order to achieve the goal of
showing figures as completely as possible, so it is impossible to make literal interpretations from
paintings and reliefs. Additionally, Egyptian artists also used scale to show importance and they
sometimes used color symbolically. This information makes it much easier to interpret ancient
Egyptian art and understand what the artists wanted to share.