Video Review

Human greater than human:

Images of the human body encompass surround us. The most influential images of the human body are abstract. Artists produce grossly exaggerated human forms. Humans allegedly have similar brain function to seagulls. Just as seagulls prefer an exaggeration of their mothers beaks, humans enjoy exaggerations of important human forms. For three thousand years, Egyptian art contained no exaggerated forms, and didn’t change at all. Their art represented their culture, not how their brains functioned. Ancient Greeks were obsessed with the human figure. They believed that the gods had perfect bodies, and attempted to resemble them. After the Greeks attempted to overthrow the Pharaoh, Egyptian culture assimilated itself into Greek culture. The Greeks learned masonry skills needed to construct large statues.

On 8-07-1908 archeologists found the Venus of Willendorf statue. Egyptian art shows each body part from its clearest angle. The Greek statue Kourus exhibited Egyptian features; namely the rigid pose with shoulders square, and one foot forward. The Contrapposto style implies the potential for motion of a body at rest. This still also exaggerated human form. The central muscle was impossibly large, legs were impossibly long, and no coxic bone was present.

Other civilizations had a Venus statue similar to the one made in Willendorf. The Russians had the Kostenski Venus for example, while another culture had the Moravary Venus. All Egyptian were similar in the way they fit into a grid used for every painting.

Illuminated Manuscript:

Monastic scribes copied the text of religious books in order to spread the information around the civilization. As the Middle Ages wore on, the task of copying text became a for profit endeavor. How to books, romance novels, and chronicles, all developed during this period. After approximately 50 years, the printing press replaced scribes.

Charlemagne was named holy roman emperor. Scribes decorated text in the animal style. Monks not only copied text, but illuminated the stories.

In addition to religious material, monks wrote about current event. They were punished whenever they made mistakes. It was believed the evil spirits caused mistakes, and that all mistakes were kept in a proverbial bag to be kept in order to use against them at the day of judgment.

Art and Life in the Middle Ages:

Luttrell Psalter was a prayer book that contained Psalms. The images in the book taught us about farm animals, and preparation of food. Many illustrations were of holy scenes. The holy spirit was depicted as a dove

Egyptian Museum

Eighty-thousand artifacts are in the basement of the Cairo Museum. One such artifact gave evidence that body parts were repaired so individuals could walk in the after life. Artifacts were found in cachets (deep recesses in the hills). In one such cachet forty-four mummified Kings were found.

The statue of Kai portrayed the hierarchical scale in that it was tinted a dark reddish color. Gold signified more than wealth. It referenced eternal life, and light from the sun.