Above is this fellow who was at one time known as Amenhotep, but upon becoming Pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaten meaning "living spirit of aten". This piece we actually got a peak of in class on Thursday, and I thought it was really interesting. I thought it was an amazing piece that really showed off the profile of this radical Pharaoh. Not only did he bring about HUGE changes for the people and religion of Egypt, he also made vast improvements to Egyptian art. He changed the Egyptian approach from an idealistic view of the subject to a more realistic view, which I think is pretty evident in this piece. Compared to many works done previous to his reign, this work looks like flesh in stone instead of a stylized representation. I really like the soft curves and natural flow of the facial features. This is a great piece and a wonderful start in the right direction for Egyptian art.
Akhenaten is indeed an interesting character. I really like how you commented about the structure and flow of his facial features.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the stone being a flesh tone before but that is a very interesting observation. Akenaten is one of my favorite characters from ancient Egypt.
ReplyDeleteI like how Akhenaten did not care what he looked like and wanted his statues to be more realistic. This statue is very well done and I like how it is more realistic than previous pharaoh statues.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your "flesh in stone" comment. I like the realism of this piece, but the one thing that detracts from that would be the portion of stone between the false beard and his neck; that's my only problem with this sculpture.
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