What the Photographer Can Learn From Egyptian Art

With the advent of the negative image and the introduction of photography in 1839, early photographers sought to establish photography as a legitimate art.  Part of that movement entailed Pictorialism, where photographers staged scenes that evoked classical painting and photographed them.  Eventually, the groups known as photo-secessionists moved towards more realism in photographic subject matter, taking advantage of the unique aspects of the photograph and the camera rather than trying to force the square peg of the photographic image into the round hole of painting.  In other words, photography was its own medium and did not need to imitate other forms of art. There is value to the photographer in viewing paintings of all movements as well as sculpture and other art forms.  Subject matter, composition, and how an artist uses a particular medium are informative. 

Which brings me to Egyptian art.  On a certain level, one can discern elements of street art in Egyptian wall painting and objects from tombs.  This image which I photographed at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore was part of the Egyptian collection depicting "Daily Life In Ancient Egypt.”  This image shows two men playing the board game senet.  This scene included other games players and musicians and was presumed to be a bas relief on the lintel of a doorway in the tomb of Ankh-ef-en-sekhmet.

©Steven M. Richman

Look at this carefully.  The man on the left has his left hand grasping the table leg as he reaches to make a move just as, apparently, the man to our right is in the process of perhaps finishing his move with his right hand.  This man’s left hand is resting on his leg.  Without too much of a stretch, we see one man, perhaps tense and maybe losing, and the other man, relaxed and perhaps winning.  Artists generally make choices.  Both are right-handed, apparently, but Egyptian art was about showing the entirety of the human form—why not have one left-handed and one right-handed, with the free hands in more symmetrical position? Both seem to have a trace of a smile on their faces as well.  Perhaps the best answer is the artist sought a more natural depiction of daily life as it was actually lived.  In this small detail, we come far closer to these two people in the time frame of 550-525 BC, within the Egyptian Late Period of 500 to 450 BC. 

Compare the Egyptian players with these two chess players in Atlanta, Georgia.  Neither is touching a piece, but both are focused on the board.  Their hands rest on their legs.  It is a scene composed similarly to the Egyptian one, essentially two game players and a board, not looking at each other but at their board and contemplating their moves.

©Steven M. Richman

What I find remarkable is that these two sets of players are separated by some 2500 years, and we can find common ground in human behavior.  The street photographer in particular, searching for evidence of daily life in the contemporary city, finds an example of composition and human interaction in Egyptian art.  The more we are aware of human behavior across the centuries as depicted in art, the more likely we are to recognize it in contemporary life.