EGYPTIAN REVIVAL IN ART DECO

The twenties brought on a time of excess and greed. They had just come out of a war and fashion, architecture, literature, dance, music and jewelry all radically changed into a new style with influences from all over the world; Mayan, Chinese, and especially Egyptian. Egyptian-inspired architecture styles were used for  grave markers, courthouses, prisons, funerary sculptures and structures as the style was deemed appropriate for them seeing because Egyptian architecture had for the Victorians connotations of eternity. Not only did the Egyptian Revival show itself in architecture, but in 1927 created a clock inspired from a gate with a wall built around an Egyptian temple. This clock was made to fit in with the Egyptian popularity in the 1920's. Many illustrations of Egyptian architecture, jewelry and poetry were created that showed the modern Western fascination with the exotic wonders of Ancient Egypt.

Cartier Egyptian revival striking clock of the Gate of Khons at Karnak.

Egyptian Revival mausoleum, Forrest Home Cemetry, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Egyptian Revival prison in New Jersey.

References:

Egyptian Revival in Art Deco | Aileen Mason - Academia.edu. 2013. Egyptian Revival in Art Deco | Aileen Mason - Academia.edu. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.academia.edu/1551501/Egyptian_Revival_in_Art_Deco. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Cartier Egyptian revival striking clock of the Gate of Khons at Karnak | Flickr - Photo Sharing!. 2013. Cartier Egyptian revival striking clock of the Gate of Khons at Karnak | Flickr - Photo Sharing!. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonomapicman/4423183235/. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

File:Egyptian Revival mausoleum, Forest Home Cemetery.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. 2013. File:Egyptian Revival mausoleum, Forest Home Cemetery.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. [ONLINE] Available at:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egyptian_Revival_mausoleum,_Forest_Home_Cemetery.jpg. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

EGYPTIAN FURNITURE

In ancient Eygpt, houses were sparsley furnished. Most of the Egyptians did not have a lot of belongings that needed to be hidden, so a couple of chests and a few baskets would be used as plenty of storage space and tables were rarely used. Scribes were not written on tables, but instad squatted on the floor while holding a wooden board on which papyrus was sread with a hand and written on with the other. Kitchen work with utensils was also done crouching on the floor while having things laid out. Most houses also had low stools but many just simply sat on the ground. While the rich slept on beds, the poor made mattresses with straw and wool as stuffing, or they slept on a mat, or even on the plain floor.

Refrences:

Ancient Egypt: Furniture. 2013. Ancient Egypt: Furniture. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/furniture.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Everyday furniture of ancient Egypt. 2013. Everyday furniture of ancient Egypt. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/181furniture.php. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Flickriver: The Adventurous Eye's photos tagged with egyptian. 2013.Flickriver: The Adventurous Eye's photos tagged with egyptian. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.flickriver.com/photos/theadventurouseye/tags/egyptian/. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

iDesign / Styles/ Empire. 2013. iDesign / Styles/ Empire. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.jbdesign.it/idesignpro/Empire.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

EGYPTIAN FASHION

The types of materials that the ancient Egyptians made the clothes from are not very different from the clothing that is made today. Clothing was created by a variety of textured linens such as coarse and fine textures. The design of their clothing was made to provide comfort while being worn during a dry climate. Scottish men were not the only ones who wore kilts, Egyptian men also wore short skirts with the same name and was very typical through the Old and Middle Kingdoms. The kilts came in a range of options; men with wealthy families wore kilts with pleats and longer kilts were made for older men. When it came to labourous work, the men wore a loincloth, while women put on short skirts. Noble women wore beaded dresses. Children in summer went about with no clothes at all but when winter came, they were covered up in wraps and cloaks. During the period of the New Kingdom, noblemen also wore a long coat over their kilt. The women during this same time wore a shawl over their long pleated dresses. The royal family wore different clothes than the people they ruled over; they would dress in ceremonials garb with a lot of decoration such as feathers and sequins. No shoes were ever worn with the exclusion of sandals being worn during special engagements. The King's sandals would be the most decorated over all. It was not uncommon that the king wore gloves too. Hair was kept short among the common people. Pigtails were often seen on young girls while boys shaved their heads completely. Wigs were worn by both men and women at this time, which were made from sheep wool and human hair, used as protection from the heat as well as a decoration. They also wore hair extensions and stored their wigs in special boxes. No matter what social class a person was in, they all wore jewelry. Some popular ones included anklets, bracelets  earrings and armlets which were worn by both men and women. Each type of jewelry had a different meaning and purpose. Rings and amulets were looked upon as a way to keep evil spirits away and tp prevent injury. People who were wealthy also wore collars made of jewels or beads and pendants. Their jewelry was made from silver and gold while the less fortunate wore copper pieces.

References:
History Of Fashion - Egypt. 2013. History Of Fashion - Egypt. [ONLINE] Available at: http://fashionhistory.zeesonlinespace.net/egypt.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Ancient Egyptian Fashion. 2013. Ancient Egyptian Fashion. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.egyptartsite.com/fashion.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

TrendQuizz: Egyptian Fashion Runway | Trendland: Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine. 2013. TrendQuizz: Egyptian Fashion Runway | Trendland: Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine. [ONLINE] Available at:http://trendland.com/trendquizz-egyptian-fashion/. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Egyptian Jewelry: Fashion exotic. 2013. Egyptian Jewelry: Fashion exotic. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.haramlik.com/egyptian_jewelry_fashion_exotic.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

SALVADOR DALI.

Salvador Dali, a Spanish artist from Madrid, (born on May 11th 1904, died on January 23, 1989) is probably the most famous surrealist artist. His strange persona started when he was 10 years of age, an age where he also began his first drawing lessons. He showed talent in painting and drawing while he was still very young, and at the age of 18, began his studies in a Fine Art school in Madrid and became very well known among the students there for his abnormal behavior and strange manners, but even more so for his artwork. In 1926 he was then expelled from school for claiming that none of the professors where qualified enough to examine him. Throughout his life, Dali kept and showed his love for Catalan culture, and he showed the landscape surrounding figures in several popular paintings through his career. His work was influenced by Raphael and Velazquez among some others. Dali was also greatly influenced by Picasso especially when they met in 1926, and was also influenced by cubism. Dali joined the surrealists in 1929, and with Magritte, he developed the visual surrealist style. One of Dali's most famous paintings, The Persistence of Memory (1931) displays a landscape with melting watches. The idea for this well known artwork came from an evening after Dali had entertained guests and saw soft, half melted cheese on the table which gave him the idea of melting watches. Dali often liquefied shapes, he made use of elephants and other animals in his artworks, and the image of an egg also played an important role in some of his paintings. He was one of the artists who was greatly influenced by Freud, and dream analysis became a focal point in Dali's paintings. The Freudian theory shows us Dali's attempts at creating meaning out of his dreams and hallucinations. These account for some of Dali's iconic artworks by which he gained tremendous fame throughout his life and beyond. Dali's works showed themes of eroticism, death and decay that reflect his own familiarity with the known theories of his time. Though Dali is mainly remembered for his paintings, in the course of his long career he successfully turned to print making, sculpture  fashion, writing, advertising and was also very famously known for film-making in his collaborations with Luis Bunuel and Alfred Hitchcock. His paintings also show a fascination for Classical and Renaissance art which is very visible through his hyper-realistic style and religious symbolism of his later work. Dali's manner of showing and combining the gap between reality and illusion influenced all manner of modern artists. Beyond creating and developing his own symbolic language, Dali experimented on a way to represent the inner mind. He is known to be one of the major surrealists who used shock and unease to show moments of pleasure, and his work remains highly contemporary. He got formally excluded from the surrealist group in 1834 for his political views.

"There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is same. I know I am mad."

-Dali.

Salvador Dali.


Salvador Dali, Swans reflecting Elephants, 1937.


Salvador Dali, Ascension, 1958.


Salvador Dali, Illuminated Pleasures, 1929.


Salvador Dali, Assumpta Corpusclaria Lapislazulina, 1952.


"Hair, I command you to rise up."


Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali.


Gala, Dali's wife, with Dali's design for a shoe as a hat for Elsa Schiaparelli in 1937.

References:

Surrealism Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. 2013.Surrealism Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Famous Paintings by Salvador Dalí. 2013. Famous Paintings by Salvador Dalí. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.show-your-own-art-gallery.com/paintings-by-salvador-dali.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Salvador Dalí. Short and informative about his life and work.. 2013. Salvador Dalí. Short and informative about his life and work.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.show-your-own-art-gallery.com/salvador-dali.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Freud - The Life, Work and Theories of Sigmund Freud. 2013. Freud - The Life, Work and Theories of Sigmund Freud. [ONLINE] Available at:http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/sigmund_freud.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Salvador Dalí Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com . 2013.Salvador Dalí Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/salvador-dal%C3%AD-40389. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

CUBISM

Cubism was a revolutionary style of modern art that was developed by Georges Braques and Pablo Picasso. It was the first kind of abstract art that started at the beginning of the 20th century in Paris in response to a fast changing world. Cubism was an attempt by artists who believed the traditions of Western art had run their course and those traditions needed revitalizing. Cubists challenged conventional forms of representation, with perspective being an example, which had been the rule since the Renaissance. Their aim was to see a new way of looking at things that also reflected the modern age. Between 1870 and 1910, western society had more technological process than in the four centuries before. During this time, inventions such  as cinematography, photography, the telephone, sound recording, the motor car and the airplane where the beginning of a new age. Photography slowly started replacing painting as the main tool for documentation, so artists sought to use a more radical approach to expand the possibilities in art in the same way that technology was extending the boundaries of communication and travel. This new way of seeing things was called Cubism. Cubists introduced collage into paintings and were influenced by art from other cultures, particularly African masks. There are two important phases of the Cubist style; Analytical Cubism (pre 1912) and Synthetic Cubism (post 1912). Cubism led to influence many other styles of modern art such as Orphism, Futurism, Suprematism, Vorticism, Constructivism and Expressionism.

Pablo Picasso- Factory, Horta de Ebbo, 1909.

Paul Cezanne, Bibemus Quarry, 1895.

Georges Braque, Viaduct at L'Estaque, 1908.

Left: Pablo Picasso, Head of a Woman, 1907.

Right: Dan Mask from West Africa.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Mandolin and Guitar, 1924.

References:

Cubism | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. Cubism | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Cubism - the first abstract style of modern art. 2013. Cubism - the first abstract style of modern art. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/cubism.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

DADA

Dada, which officially was not a movement, began in Zurich in the early twentieth century; it's artists, not artists and its art, not art. This movement only strived to follow one rule; to never follow any known rules. It ridiculed contemporary culture and traditional art forms. It was intended to provoke an emotional reaction from the viewer which were typically shock or outrage. Dada art is almost bare of any sense. Abstraction and Expressionism were Dada's main influences, followed by Cubism and Futurism. Dadaist art had no predominant medium. Geometric tapestries, glass, plaster and wooden reliefs could all have been considered Dadaist art. Several artists used the chance results of accident as a means of production. Assemblage, photo montage  collage and the use of ready made objects all received wide acceptance because of their use in Dada art. For something that was meant to mean nothing, Dada created many offshoots. Dada influenced to create many trends in the visual arts. The one best-known movement that Dada is most responsible for creating is Surrealism.

Marcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q, 1919.

The series- We From The Sea.

References:

Dada - Art History Basics on the Dada Movement - 1916-1923. 2013. Dada - Art History Basics on the Dada Movement - 1916-1923. [ONLINE] Available at: http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

ArtLex on Dada. 2013. ArtLex on Dada. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/d/dada.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].


taira L anderson: BLACK SWAMP + DADA. 2013. taira L anderson: BLACK SWAMP + DADA. [ONLINE] Available at:http://tairalanderson.blogspot.com/2012/09/black-swap-dada.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Dada: Art about war | Tyler Green: Modern Art Notes | ARTINFO.com. 2013.Dada: Art about war | Tyler Green: Modern Art Notes | ARTINFO.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/2006/04/dada-art-about-war/. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

AFRICAN ART

In the early 1900s, the qualities of traditional African sculpture became a very big influence among many European artists who formed an avant-garde in the development of modern art. Over in France, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and some of their friends combined the highly stylized treatment of the human figure in African sculptures with painting styles derived from the post-Impressionist works of Cezanne and Gauguin. The resulting vivid colour palette, picotrial flatness, and fragmented cubist shapes had helped to define early modernism. While these many artists knew nothing of the original meaning and function of the West Central African scupltures they encountered, they immediately recognized the spiritual aspect of the composition and used these qualitites to their own works to move beyond the naturalism that had defined Western art since the Renaissance.

Pablo Picasso, Bust of a Man, 1908.

African Mask.

Pablo Picasso, Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907.

References:

African Influences in Modern Art | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. African Influences in Modern Art | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aima/hd_aima.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Dissociation (Coulter-Smith 2006: ch. 5, p. 2). 2013. Dissociation (Coulter-Smith 2006: ch. 5, p. 2). [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.installationart.net/Chapter5Dissociation/dissociation02.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].