Comparing the Marble Statue of a Kouros Archaic and the Statuette of Amun - Essay Example

Order 194772 The statue of the kouros dating from 590-580 B.C. represents a noble young man, and it is assumed to be one of the earliest freestanding marble statues from Attica, the region around Athens - this is what we find out from the presentation made by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. According to the same source all kouroi statues belong to the archaic period, between the late seventh and early fifth century B.C. and they had the purpose of marking graves. The ancient Greek word kouros referred to a male youth and from the fifth century B.C. it was used to talk about an adolescent - not yet man, but not a child anymore. The first statues of this type were made of wood but later, Greeks learning from Egyptians, started carving them in stone. According to various sources, it's not only in the material used that the influence of the Egyptians is to be seen, but in the style of the statue also. The theme itself is derived from them. (Carpenter, 18) Greek art is divided into several periods: the formative stage known under the name of geometric style (900-700B.C), a period when geometric and abstract models are predominant in art, the archaic period (700-500 B.C), the early classicism (480-450 B.C), the classic period (450-400 B.C.), the late classicism (400-350 B.C.), and the Hellenist period. The archaic period is known as an age when very important events take place, greatly important especially for the future of architecture and sculpture. It's the period when the natural size men and women figures appear. They are shown in a standing position. Their rigid attitude and their frontal representation demonstrate the Egyptian influence. The masculine kouros resembles a lot the Egyptian statues, with the left leg forward and both arms very close to the body. Although presenting an idealized nude, the early kouros figures present rather geometric than natural features. In Greece, art had no magical or mystical purposes as in Egypt or in other cultures. The places where the kouros statues were found in Greece as compared to the places where they appeared in Egypt are a proof of this fact. Egyptians placed them in tomb chambers where they were supposed to serve as refuges for the souls of the deceased persons, while in Attica they appear near burial places, far from temples. If early kouros statues mark tombs in Greece, they soon become the image of the living persons, not of the dead ones, representing the athlete, a deity, a human votary or anything that could be represented and thought of as having a material, physical body. They are not, like in the Egyptian art, "a symbol of a superstitious belief or an act of magic ritual" (Carpenter, 19), but a representation of something material, representation that suited the practical Greek mind. This is especially because of Greeks beliefs and philosophy of life. "The Greek Gods like all the Greek heroic company of myth and legend were as immediately accessible to artistic representation as anything in the world of sight." (Carpenter, 18). That is why, in art, between human and divine there is no barrier. Although taking the model from the Egyptians, the Greeks leave their own trace on the statue of the kouros, giving it certain particularities. Egyptians represent the male figure skirted, while Greeks represent the young man nude - which is the case for this kouros. Geometric forms predominate - mark of the Greek art, but the way the wrists and the knees are carved is a formula belonging to the Egyptian art. The long hair is rendered as a string of beads. The reason why Charles Seltman, the author of Approach to Greek Art sees the Greek kouros statues in general as different from the Egyptian ones is the fact that "they didn't have portrait-like faces but features as formal and patterned as were the bodies."(34) And indeed, if we look attentively at the statue of kouros from 590-580 B.C. the truth of this statement is obvious. Eyes, nose and mouth seem only sketched and not clearly defined, ears are not placed correctly, and. The second reason meant to explain Seltman's opinion refers to the representation of the body. In his words, the Greek kouros statues "follow some other scale of proportions." (34) They look more like a Greek athlete and not like an Egyptian. The history of Egypt can be divided in three great periods: The Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom.The world of the Ancient Egypt gave a brilliant spiritual culture that was admired both by ancient Greeks and by Romans. It is so different from other worlds that it leaves an unforgettable memory to those that visit it. "A brilliant civilization was developed on the banks of the river Nile 5000 years ago, which did not change any of its fundamental concepts or practices until it cracked-up 3000 years later"(3)- this the way Lincoln Rothschild begins his study of Egyptian sculpture and art in general. Describing the Egyptian culture, the same author says: "Lacking any concern with space, the Egyptian sculptor in his work in the round concentrates completely on developing its opposite or complementary quality, mass."(5) Egyptian art is dominated by religious and monarchic ideology. This situation imposed on the artist the use of a solemnity style and the respect for tradition. He was supposed to illustrate a religious or political idea, to communicate a meaning already established. The Egyptian is not depressed at the thought of death, he is not obsessed by death, for him death is just a continuation of life, but he must be prepared for it. Egyptian sculpture is one of a great synthesis. The Egyptian artist was submitted to certain rules and to society's interest. Egyptians managed to make a synthesis of form and volume. The statuette of Amun dating from 945-715 B.C.E. embodies the Egyptian god Amun. So, if we want to compare the two statues, the Greek kouros and the Egyptian Amun, we notice from the very beginning a difference: the first one represents a man, the second a God. The two peoples had different beliefs and philosophies of life: Greeks placed man at the side of Gods, or at least regarded Gods the same way as they regarded man - accessible, and Egyptians worshiped Gods and placed them above. Egyptians worshipped many Gods. All of them were divine personifications of all that was important to them, particularly in maintaining a sense of order and well being in this life and the next, ensuring the survival of the next generation and the continued fertility of the soil.(Oakes, 267) There were thus, gods of the cosmos, of the afterlife, gods of the childbirth and grain. They could take different human and animal forms. Amun appeared as a man with a double-plumed headdress, as a ram or ram-headed, as a goose or frog-headed. His name means "the hidden one" and one of his epithets is was "mysterious of form" although he was usually represented in human form wearing a tall double-plumed headdress. He first became prominent at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom and from the New Kingdom on he was the most important god in the Egyptian Pantheon. He often appears as Amun-Re, being combined with the main solar deity, Re. His sanctuary was the temple complex at Karnak. Just like the Greek statue, this statuette is represented in standing position, with the leg slightly forward. He is identified by his flat-topped crown, which originally supported two tall gold feathers, now missing. He wears a god's braided beard with a curled tip and carries an ankh emblem in his left hand and a scimitar across his chest. On pylons and temple walls of the New Kingdom he is often depicted presenting a scimitar to the king, thus conferring on him military victory. (The Amica Library) The statue is made out of gold, which makes it extremely precious and rare. Gold had a sort of magic power. The fact that they made the statues representing gods out of this precious material, that they associated with the sun, shows the praise and high respect Egyptians had for their deities who were thought to have a gold skin. The concern for details, for perfection, beauty and precious in making the statue is another element that differentiates the two works of art. While the kouros statue can be described by using terms like: simplicity, realism, concern for rendering the vitality, the natural and strength of a young man, the statue of Amun shows a more sophisticated and fine art. The first one has a lot of geometric elements, the second can be defined as smooth, the first one presents only abstract forms, the second is detailed. The first one is, in the Greek style of representing figures, naked, a praise of man's virtues, the second figure is represented as wearing a skirt and other power accessories. The Greek statue is representative for a people concerned with the practical, physical life, the Egyptian statue is significant for a people whose main concern is the preparation for a life to come. Considering this, we understand why such preoccupation with the decoration of tombs, why such concern for god figures. Both figures are shown in a standing position, both seem to express a proud attitude. And it is understandable: both characters embodied in the two statues are important figures for the culture they belong to: a young Greek and an Egyptian god. Both figures represented, have their left leg put forward as if they are in movement, as if they are advancing. But the greatest interest of Egyptians is not so much in movement as it is in mass. This seems to have been associated with power. "The interest of the Egyptians in mass represents their cultural aspiration to dominate time." (Rothschild, 5) And this is contrary to our tendency move in order to control space, that is why it may be more difficult for us to understand it. Although so much interested in mass, the Egyptians make proof of great delicacy in treating their works of art and in particular, the sculptures. We can notice, in the Amun statuette haw carefully, and delicately the features are created. All lines seem to have been paid attention to. If Egyptian sculpture is concentrated on celebrating and worshipping gods, the Greek sculpture is dedicated to celebrating man and his vigor and virtues. Greeks worshipped supernatural deities too, but, as Rothschild puts it, "gods were essentially a superior group of people who ran things in the way a powerful noble family might." (40) Their gods governed different aspects of human life - war, love, marriage, trade, agriculture and they resembled a lot in their appearance and actions human beings. In order to emphasize on the difference in point of culture and mentality, Rothschild points out Greek's taste for change, they don't take the world the way it is, they constantly try and modify it, that's why, the author says, more change occurred in Greece in three hundreds years, than in Egypt in three thousands years. If Egyptians connected their happiness and their whole of life to gods and their wishes, the Greeks place man and his intelligence at the centre of their philosophy. Measure, clarity, regularity and beauty are the concepts that best describe Greek art. A practical and rather mathematical mind, guided by reason and its principles rather than by sensitivity, feelings, fears and superstitions, the Greeks couldn't create identical works of art to those made by Egyptians - a people that gave a great importance to world beyond, to the life after death for which they constantly prepared through all their actions and in all their activities. Art in Greece was not guided so much by religious considerations and the creative act engendered a lot of reason. Their mathematical aspect left its trace on art. As we have already noticed, geometric aspects predominate in the sculpture analyzed. Greeks are more interested in rendering the proportions realistically than in conveying a feeling through art or expressing symbols and mystic experiences. The complexity of Egyptian sculptures as compared to the simplicity of the Greek sculptures is understandable in the context in which the whole art was connected and placed in service of religion. Their gods were complex figures, often appeared under different forms and sometimes combined with other deities. Both sculptures -kouros and Amun suggest power, but it's a different form of power in each of them: the kouros suggests human power, strength and vitality, it's rather a form of physical power and the force of the young man, Amun embodies the mystic and ruler's power, a rather symbolical force, and a spiritual force too. To conclude and express the comparison Greek statue of the kouros-Egyptian statuette of Amun in terms of antitheses we can say that they are represented by the pairs: simplicity- complexity, geometric and rugged forms- delicate, fine forms, reason- sensitivity, man-deity, power-delicacy. Bibliography 1. The Amica Library. "Egyptian Statuette of Amun". 2000 < http://www.davidrumsey.com/amico/amico1256747-105500.html#record> 2. Carpenter, Rhys. Greek art: A study of formal evolution of style. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962 3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C. - 1 A.D." 2006 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/04/eusb/hod_32.11.1.htm 4. Oakes, Lorna and Lucia Gahlin. Ancient Egypt. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006 5. Rothschild, Lincoln. Sculpture through the Ages. New York: Whittlesey House, 1942 6. Seltman, Charles. Approach to a Greek Art. London: Studio Publications, 1948 Read More