People began to carve sculptures in Egypt about 4500 BC, about the same time as in West Asia and in southern Africa. These early sculptures are small figurines, mostly of women. Nobody knows why Egyptian artists made these sculptures.
By the time of the Old Kingdom, about 2900 BC, Egyptian artists began to carve life-size stone sculptures. At first sculptors carved these statues sitting down, which is a lot easier to carve. Most of these life-size statues were to put in rich people's tombs after they died. The statues were like replacement bodies for the dead people, to use in the afterlife. To make the statues look more real, Egyptian artists painted the statues too. They painted men dark, to show that they spent a lot of time outside, and they painted women light-skinned, to show that they were rich enough to stay inside out of the sun, and didn't work in the fields.
In other ways, too, ancient Egyptian sculptors didn't show people the way they really looked. Instead, they tried to show what they were really like inside - their true self. Rahotep was probably old when he died, but his statue looks young and strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment