Egyptian art of the nude?
Michael L. Siemon
(SenorMesa) wrote:
+Does anyone know why there is such a scarcity of female
+nudes in ancient egyptian art? Maybe the books I have
+just don't have any.
That is probably the case. There are lots of nude (or
effectively so -- with a few dangling ornaments but not
much else) dancers in the tombs (especially the non-royal
ones) on the west bank at Thebes. Other images come to
mind from the Musuem in Cairo. Keep in mind that most
Muslims are more prudish (even!) than the American hordes
who want to keep nudity rare, so that they can enjoy it
more.
No, there aren't any full-figure nude statues -- such
statues were primarily of VIPs and they did not exhibit
themselves nude. In point of comparative fact, there are
also no nude female statues in Greece before Hellenistic
times (_korai_ are always clothed, wheras _kouroi_ are
often, if not always, nude.) I think Egyptian art *is*
deficient (by Greek standards :-)) in representations of
male nudes -- but so is Roman art, and most European art
with a few Renaissance exceptions.
--
Michael L. Siemon (m...@panix.com)
"Hail R67, the Panda's thumb of the one carbon metabolism
clique.." -- Deaddog
Stella Nemeth
>Does anyone know why there is such a scarcity of female
>nudes in ancient egyptian art? Maybe the books I have
>just don't have any. If you compare the art of ancient
>greece or roman art, it seems like the egyptians were
>almost Victorian. Why is this? Or where are the nudes?
>I can only think of ONE little sculture (that Carter
>supposedly "stole" from the Tutahnkamen tomb) of a
>female nude. Was it against their religion, or what?
I suggest you try a book of Egyptian tomb paintings. Lots of naked
people, mostly slaves and members of the lower classes. Clothes were
a class distinction marker in Ancient Egypt.
As for the Greeks, they only showed the gods naked, and athletes, who
were considered somewhat godlike. Real women were portrayed with
clothes on.
Stella Nemeth
s.ne...@ix.netcom.com