Egyptian art - Research Paper Example

Egyptian Art and Comparison to Other Arts The sculpture selected is Nefertiti. The sculpture is in a standing position, and it is curved from limestone. The sculpture is also painted. It was designed by Amarna from the 18th dynasty. Nefertiti was a royal wife of an Egyptian pharaoh (Akhenaten). The sculpture is realistic and covers the whole body. It is also in a relaxed manner (Tyldesley 8). The scale of statues is significant as it dictates the differences in how it is viewed. Sculptures made to human scale lack intimidation as objects.

Scales that are larger than human reduce the viewers to less than individuals. This puts them in a perspective which they cannot deny the significance or importance of the work. The significant and important people are made in a larger scale. The sculpture was from the new kingdom and was curved around 1350 BC (Tyldesley 8). Overtime, the art of Egyptian sculpture changed. It evolved to represent Pharaohs, Egyptian gods, kings and queens in physical form. Massive statues began to emerge. However, it must be noted that strict rules were to be followed by artists in Egypt.

Artists were ranked according to the compliance to the rules. These rules were followed over thousands of years meaning that appearance of statues did not change significantly.Mesopotamia lacked vast reserves of stones for making of sculptures. In comparison to Egypt, their sculptures had religious attribution. Also, both of these had sculptures depicting royal figures and people. The difference between the two is that Mesopotamia’s sculptures had smaller heads. They were mostly on a smaller scale than Egypt’s (Bailey 34).

It is evident that ancient Egyptian influenced the Archaic sculpture style. This was facilitated by a flourishing commerce between Greece and Egypt. However, there were differences between the two. In Egypt, statues encompassed a set of strict laws. Every artist had to adhere to this. The Egyptian sculptures were often showing no facial expression, were heavy set figures, had large heads and did not show any suggestion of movement. The Egyptian sculptures are symmetrical, and the legs are close together, and feet are parallel.

In contrast, Archaic sculptures have a more sense of reality in terms of being naturalistic. They explore the body organs and human anatomy, often show facial expression. The Archaic sculpture lack symmetry since emphasis was placed on extreme poses and dynamic movement (Bailey 43).A sculpture in America that demonstrates political importance is the statue of Liberty. This was a gift to the US from France in 1886. The statue commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of Independence Declaration.

There is a tablet in the left hand depicting the date. The appearance of the sculpture is based on Libertas. This was a Roman goddess symbolizing liberty (Harris 14).Works citedBailey, Douglass. Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality. London: Routledge, 2005. Print.Harris, Jonathan. A statue for America: The first 100 years of Statue of Liberty. NY: Macmillan, 1984. Print.Tyldesley, Joyce. Nefertiti: Egypts Sun Queen. NY: Penguin. 1998. Print.