Contrast and Comparison of Ancient Egyptian and Greek Art (Essay Sample)

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Contrast and Comparison of Ancient Egyptian and Greek Art
Art is a means of conveying important ideas and meaning relevant to the society. Ancient artists discovered beauty and wonders of nature and the nobility and dignity of man. Egyptian’s and Greek contribution and achievement in the history art has shown spectacular artistic pieces in the early human civilization. The two types of the art show some differences and similarities in characteristics and style. This essay will start by exploring the differences.
Egyptian artists followed certain laws that governed the style of their art particularly in the creation of statues. For example, Pharaoh made the artists implement the strict rules and regulations concerning art for ceremonial and symbolic purposes. As compared to Egyptian Art, they had more liberty and did not adhere to strict rules. No one imposed any rule on the work of art CITATION Ter96 \l 1033 (Buckley).
Greek art placed much significance on mythology in their artwork. The artists were made to explore the world and work on what they saw. This is what the Egyptians rarely did.
Egyptian art strived for objective representation. Their figures had large heads with no expression. On the other hand, Greek art aimed at the representation of reality. They gave more importance to the human expression than objective representation which resulted in bringing out the true emotions, tissues, muscles and organs of people.
In the comparison of movement, the Egyptian art was more static. Most of their statues and painting depicting either people or gods were fixed in one place. They lacked fluidity together with the lack of expression. In contrast, Greek art portrayed some degree of movement. They captured some action, like capture the Olympic athlete where there is an expression of an athlete before throwing a discus.
Egyptian art tended to incline its work towards religion. The evidence is shown in the written hieroglyphs and incarnations drafted in all Great Pyramids. Also, they used much of the art in honoring and assisting them on the journey of afterlife because they believed that their kings were divine and, therefore, came from heaven. This is not the case with the Greek artists. Their art was inclined towards philosophy thereby depicting more of moral balance and art. Moreover, they examined the world as it was followed by exploring the various concepts of life CITATION Nic92 \l 1033 (Grimal).
In the art of Egypt, ornamental stones were mostly used. On the other hand, Greek art used durable marble and limestone.
The buildings of Egypt during the early human civilization were massive with solid structure. The buildings stood vertically while the beams were placed horizontally – a building style referred to as trabeated construction. A good ex...