Module+Assignments+-+Gina+Privitera

Gina Privitera

Module Assignments

Module 12:

Module 13 Assignment:
 * =Women's Monumental Mark on Ancient Egypt=
 * Barbara S. Lesko
 * [|The Biblical Archaeologist], Vol. 54, No. 1 (Mar., 1991), pp. 4-15
 * Published by: [|The American Schools of Oriental Research]

This article discusses instances of women in ancient Egyptian funerary art. It covers mostly tomb art, where women are usually depicted alongside their husbands. However, this article goes more in depth to reveal that women were depicted in respectful positions throughout society. In rare cases, there are even scenes of women trading and buying things on their own-- a situation completely unheard of in most of the world at that time. Statuary as well as paintings and carvings are discusses, all supporting the idea that women held power in their society. A section on Egyptian queens delves into their lavish tombs, some from the early dynasties that were as large and grand as their male counterparts. There is also relevant information about the frequency of women in art throughout Egypt’s history.

This article was quite interesting, but does quite obviously have much speculation tied in to the interpretations. As with any art analysis, there will always be a tint of the interpreter’s culture (or projections of their desired culture). I do not think that the ideas presented are without reasonable support, however. Mentions of the Amarna period art conflict with some of the other information I have gathered, but, this article noticeably predates my other sources. This article is useful for someone looking at art or gender in ancient Egypt, or a casual art history buff.

Module 14: Helen M. Strudwick, et al. " Egypt, ancient ." //Grove Art Online//. //Oxford Art Online//. 3 Dec. 2009. <@http://www.oxfordartonline.com.ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T025075>  The section of this lengthy article that I am referring to here is §IV: Ideology and conventions of representation. This in depth article discusses the details of how Egyptian art came to be the regulated art form that it was. The main sections describe decorum-- including the definition of decorum as it applies to Egyptian art and its historical development, how religion contributed to the rules of decorum, the methods of representation, and rules of proportion.

This article was extremely helpful for me during my research, and the information contained therein was written by professionals with experience in art analysis (unlike many of the other sites and articles I found floating around the internet). Despite the professional and in-depth language of the article, it was not at all hard to understand for someone without an art history background. The entire article includes sections on the artisans themselves, and also unlike many other sources, includes all aspects of Egyptian art. I highly recommend this article for anyone doing academic or enrichment research on this topic.