Mertz, Barbara. Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1990.
Although this book was very interesting, there were only a few chapters that focused on my study of art and the human form. The author begins the most important chapter, "Wielders of the Chisel and the Brush," with a quick explanation of Egyptology and how extensive the science can be. She also compares the ideas of two immediate influences. Dr. Heinrich Schafer, a German Egyptologist, believes that the only way to understanding Egyptian art, or any culture's art, is by extensive study of that particular culture's ethical and spiritual thought. On the other hand, Dr. Henri Frankfort, an American Egyptologist, believes that the artist's motives and cultural background are extraneous to the study of art. The art should speak for itself. He believes that the study of the form should come first. I agree with both Egyptologists. The form itself can say a lot to the viewer, but there is always more to a piece than what is seen or experienced by the viewer. Without an idea of the society or motivation behind the artwork, the viewer can be left with a hollow statement to look at.
By comparing a western perspective drawing to the Egyptian drawing, the reader can clearly see the difference in thought between these two cultures. The Egyptian artist included everything in their style of drawing. The perspective drawing hides some of the objects important in informing the viewer of what is there. The Egyptian wanted complete and accurate renderings in every object they drew. Mertz describes this process in drawing the human figure:
One obvious characteristic of Egyptian two-dimensional art, which can be seen in our example, is the abscence of foreshortening. This is brought out by the Egyptian way of drawing the human figure. Suppose you- and by "you" I mean an untrained, not particulary talented artist, like myself - suppose you want to draw a man. If you show him in the front view you will run into several problems of foreshortening. Unless you are satisfied with a sort of blob, you, the untrained artist, cannot draw a nose that looks like a nose. Feet are even worse; they look like wooden blocks. So you decide to to draw your man in profile. Now the nose looks like a nose, and the feet have a certain resemblance to feet. But what are you going to do with the shoulders? (p.153)
By asking the reader to place themselves "in the shoes" of an Egypian artist, her point is stated more clearly. I do not agree with, however, her leading the reader to believe the Egyptian artist was untrained. One careful study of a figure painting can show you that these artists were highly trained and disciplined in their art. An example is the canons of proportion, that were established for two thousand years, would not have lasted as long as they did without disipline. Trying to draw a smooth flowing contour line that is as confident and precise as an Egyptian artist's is almost impossible for me to do. Not only were the artist trained in art, but they also had to be intimate with religion, writing, and texts.
The other valuable chapter to my study was "Be a Scribe, Put it in Thy Heart". In this chapter the author describes the art of writing and the materials. Scribes were closely linked to the artists by using the same tools and skills. Artists were usually trained as scribes and later chosen to become artists. The author descibes how the scribes worked, how they were taught, and how their materials were produced. The author gives the following description of the scribe's materials,
The scribe's outfit is well known, from actual examples and from drawings. The so-called palette was a narrow rectangular piece of wood with a slot down the center to hold the pens, and depressions for the cakes of ink. The pens were slender rushes pounded or chewed at one end to form a fine brush; when not in use they were kept in a pen case, which was often made in the shape of a pretty, rounded column with a flower capital. The ink came in solid form; the black was usually some kind of soot, and the red, made of red ochre, was used for rubrics, or headings. The scribe needed water to moisten his ink cakes; it was kept in a small shell or pot.... To complete his equipment a scribe might have a burnisher for smooting out rough spots in the papyrus, a grinder for preparing his ink, a ball of linen thread to tie around the papyrus roll and a rag for rubbing out mistakes. The most convenient eraser, however, was a quick swipe of the tongue. (p.121)
Descriptions like this were more interesting and helpful to my study than other books devoted entirely to the same subject! A majority of this book was not helpful to my study although I did find the descriptions of everyday life in Egypt very interesting. It's always good to know some of the background of a culture other than just the artists'. This gave me insight to the culture as a whole. Although there were no pictures in this book, I still found it very descriptive and illustrative of the subjects discussed.