Egyptian Fashion

Clothing in Ancient Egypt was made from varies textured linens which included both coarse and fine texture. The design of their clothing was comfortable while also good to be worn during a dry climate. Egyptian men wore short skirts know as kilts and was a custom of that time through the Old and Middle Kingdoms. The kilts were variant for younger men with wealthy families and those of an older age. Young men wore kilts with pleats while longer kilts were made for men of an older age. 

The royal family wore different clothes than the people they ruled over; they would dress in ceremonials garb with a lot of decoration such as feathers and sequins. No shoes were ever worn with the exclusion of sandals being worn during special engagements. The King's sandals would be the most decorated over all. It was not uncommon that the king wore gloves too. 

When it came to labor work, the men wore a loincloth, while women worn short skirts. Noble women wore beaded dresses. Children in summer went about with no clothes at all but when winter came, they were covered up in wraps and cloaks. During the period of the New Kingdom, noblemen also wore a long coat over their kilt. The women during this same time wore a shawl over their long pleated dresses.

Hair was kept short among the common people. Pigtails were often seen on young girls while boys shaved their heads completely. Wigs were worn by both genders at that time. They also wore hair extensions and stored their wigs in special boxes. 

No matter what social class a person was in, they all wore jewelry like anklets, bracelets  earrings and armlets and were worn by both genders. Each type of jewelry had a different meaning and purpose. Rings and amulets were looked upon as a way to keep evil spirits away and to prevent injury. 

Modern Egyptian Style Fashion
A neck Piece with the god Horus on the sides

History Of Fashion - Egypt. 2013. History Of Fashion - Egypt. [ONLINE] Available at: http://fashionhistory.zeesonlinespace.net/egypt.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Ancient Egyptian Fashion. 2013. Ancient Egyptian Fashion. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.egyptartsite.com/fashion.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

TrendQuizz: Egyptian Fashion Runway | Trendland: Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine. 2013. TrendQuizz: Egyptian Fashion Runway | Trendland: Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine. [ONLINE] Available at:http://trendland.com/trendquizz-egyptian-fashion/. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Egyptian Jewelry: Fashion exotic. 2013. Egyptian Jewelry: Fashion exotic. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.haramlik.com/egyptian_jewelry_fashion_exotic.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013]

Jeff Koons

He is a 58 year old American artist who was born and works in York Pennsylvania. His father was a furniture dealer and interior decorator, while his mother was a seamstress. To gain some pocket money, as a child, after school Koons went door to door selling wrapping paper and candy. He works as an illustrator, painter and sculptor. Koons is well known for being a contemporary artist with works of art touched by an eclectic array of sensibilities.

Some of his art works such as his balloon dogs show his art which consist of neo-kitsch forms while some other of his art works consist of overly sexual themes. His work reflects the commercial systems of the modern world as of those examples of pop artists of the 1960s.

Some of his works include Vacuum cleaners encased in Perspex which were monuments to sterility.

Koons stated that his work had no hidden meanings nor any critiques. This divided critics on the views towards Koons work. The critics, contradicting his rerasoning say that his art work as pioneering and major importance to the history of art. Others felt as though his work was cynical self-merchandising.

In the mid-1980s Koons rose to prominence. This was a generation were artists explored the meaning of art in a media-situated time. He gained recognition and set up a studio which was staffed and running like a factory with 30 assistants. These assistants were tasted with producing different aspects of his work. These days the factory has grown with 91 regular assistants. To be able to execute his canvases and sculptures with the impression and consistency as if they had been done by the same single hand, Koons developed a color-by-number system.

Jeff Koons many Art Work Series incllude:

The Pre-New, The New, and Equilibrium series

The Pre-New – A result of a configuration of a series of domestic objects attached to light fixtures.

The New – A series of vacuum-cleaners mounted in illuminated Perspex boxes. These were displayed as though in a showroom around a central red fluorescent light box with the words “The New” in a style as though to announce a new marketing brand.

Equilibrium series – Working with a prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Tanks filled with distilled water and a small amount of salt, were able to suspend hollow balls in the centre of the tank filled with water. While in another version of 50/50 Tanks the tanks were filled only half way, the balls were floating half in and out of the water.

Statuary Series – sculptures using inflatable toys cast with highly polished stainless steel like for example The Rabbit.

Luxury and Degradation series - hand-made renderings of alcohol-related paraphernalia, as well as reprinted and framed ads for drinks 

Made in Heaven series - artwork about the media on a billboard.

Celebration series -   large-scale sculptures and paintings of others balloon dogs, Valentine hearts, diamonds, and Easter eggs.

Puppy - A 43 ft (13 m) tall topiary sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier puppy.

              

        West Highland White Terrier Puppy                                        The Rabbit

 http://www.jeffkoons.com/site/index.html

http://www.biography.com/people/jeff-koons-507550

http://www.lmgallery.com/artists/jeff-koons/?view=bio

http://www.answers.com/topic/jeff-koons

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jeff-koons-2368

Egyptian Furniture

Fully furnished houses in ancient Egypt were quite rare as they usually had little furniture. Most of the Egyptians did not have a lot of belongings that needed to be hidden, so a couple of chests and a few baskets would be used as plenty of storage space and tables were rarely used. Some modern furniture is being inspired from Egyptian design. This is distinguished by the shape r colors chosen and some chairs or tables have the sphinx or a symbol that relates to the Egyptians.

Scribes were not written on tables, but instead squatted on the floor while holding a wooden board on which papyrus was spread with a hand and written on with the other. Kitchen work with utensils was also done crouching on the floor while having things laid out. 

Most houses also had low stools but many just simply sat on the ground. While the rich slept on beds, the poor made mattresses with straw and wool as stuffing, or they slept on a mat, or even on the plain floor.

Design of Egyptian Furniture

Egyptian Style Furniture

Modern Egyptian Style Furniture

Ancient Egypt: Furniture. 2013. Ancient Egypt: Furniture. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/furniture.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Everyday furniture of ancient Egypt. 2013. Everyday furniture of ancient Egypt. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/181furniture.php. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Flickriver: The Adventurous Eye's photos tagged with egyptian. 2013.Flickriver: The Adventurous Eye's photos tagged with egyptian. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.flickriver.com/photos/theadventurouseye/tags/egyptian/. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

iDesign / Styles/ Empire. 2013. iDesign / Styles/ Empire. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.jbdesign.it/idesignpro/Empire.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Art Deco - Egyptian Design

Excess and greed rose up in the twenthys and this is because the people had just come out of a war. Fashion, architecture, literature, dance, music and jewelry all dramatically changed into a new style which was influences from all over the world and different cultures. Some of them were Mayan, Chinese, but the one which especially had impact was Egyptian. 

Egyptian-inspired architecture styles were used for  grave markers, courthouses, prisons, funerary sculptures and structures as the style was deemed appropriate for them seeing because Egyptian architecture had for the Victorians connotations of eternity. Not only did the Egyptian Revival show itself in architecture, but in 1927 created a clock inspired from a gate with a wall built around an Egyptian temple. This clock was made to fit in with the Egyptian popularity in the 1920's. Many illustrations of Egyptian architecture, jewelry and poetry were created that showed the modern Western fascination with the exotic wonders of Ancient Egypt.

Cartier Egyptian revival striking clock of the Gate of Khons at Karnak.

Egyptian Revival mausoleum, Forrest Home Cemetry, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Egyptian Revival in Art Deco | Aileen Mason - Academia.edu. 2013. Egyptian Revival in Art Deco | Aileen Mason - Academia.edu. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.academia.edu/1551501/Egyptian_Revival_in_Art_Deco. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Cartier Egyptian revival striking clock of the Gate of Khons at Karnak | Flickr - Photo Sharing!. 2013. Cartier Egyptian revival striking clock of the Gate of Khons at Karnak | Flickr - Photo Sharing!. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonomapicman/4423183235/. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Egyptian Architecture

Probably the world's best architectural achievement even though they were built many centuries ago, the Pyramids are world wide famous structures used to hold within them the deceased kings. These structures can be as tall as 147m high. The first pyramid was built for the king Zoser in Saqqara, and it was called a step pyramid because as the name implies  it had a step-like shape. The pyramids that where later built were smooth sided.

 The Step Pyramid at Saqqara in Egypt.

Before the pyramid, the kings used to be buried in tombs. The tomb also featured a false door which was accommodated by highly decorated walls of the funerary chapel. This was a symbol which meant the linking of the dead with those who were alive. There used to also be a carved image of the pharaoh buried of the tomb. The halls led to many smaller rooms that housed the deceased pharaoh's furniture, offerings, victuals and sacred text and this was done because the Egyptians believed that once the pharaoh crosses over, he would need these riches. 

The Tomb of Sennefer on the West Bank at Luxor.

Stone figures can also be seen throughout Egypt. These figures had various shapes which represented figures like a king, a tiger, an eagle or even a mixture of both. The best known stone figure is probably the Sphinx  which is a creature with the body of a lion and a head of a king wearing a striped head cloth.

Stone Figures

Egyptian Architecture . 2013. Egyptian Architecture . [ONLINE] Available at:http://library.thinkquest.org/10098/egypt.htm. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

At the Step Pyramid. 2013. At the Step Pyramid. [ONLINE] Available at:http://aghill.fatcow.com/CRI/step.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

The Great Pyramid of Giza | OpenBuildings. 2013. The Great Pyramid of Giza | OpenBuildings. [ONLINE] Available at: http://openbuildings.com/buildings/the-great-pyramid-of-giza-profile-1161. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Egyptian Stories (Myth-Folklore Online). 2013. Egyptian Stories (Myth-Folklore Online). [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.mythfolklore.net/3043mythfolklore/reading/egypt/images/tomb.htm. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Egyptian History

Most of the Egyptian people were farmers and this meant that agriculture was the center of the Egyptian life. The growing season lasted eight to nine months. They also had pastoral farming which is the herding of cattle, sheep and goats. The harvesting and growing of wheat, fruit and vegetables was very important as they were the principal crops. When the annual flooding of the Nile came, farming was rendered impossible. when the water receded, this was a very good thing for the farmers as it left a thick layer of fertile soil over the farmlands and this helped to insure thick grass for their grazing animals and rich soil for their crops. 

The Nile was the center of their culture, with its cycle of growth, death and rebirth to new growth becoming their cycle of everyday life that made up their religion and understanding of an afterlife.Apart from aiding to supply food, the river Nile also insured a line of communication and transportation among the provinces of the kingdom. To the pharaohs the Nile was an advantage because it was a means to transport their armies and thus maintaining a strong, unified nation. 

The River Nile.

Egypt had a centralized government controlled by a line of hereditary rulers by 3100 BC. The Pharaohs kept a royal court of advisers and nobility and controlled the governors of the provinces of the kingdom. They also commanded the Egyptian army and also ordered priests and priestesses who officiated at the complex religious ceremonies and played as servants to the gods and served the pharaoh. The pharaohs represented of the gods on earth and also they were considered and treated as gods themselves.

Hieroglyphs of a pharaoh. 

Life in Ancient Egypt. 2013. Life in Ancient Egypt. Available at:http://www.watson.org/~leigh/egypt.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013]

Civilization.ca - Egyptian civilization - Geography - Nile valley . 2013.Civilization.ca - Egyptian civilization - Geography - Nile valley . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/egypt/egcgeo3e.shtml. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

World History to 1500: Ancient Egypt. 2013. World History to 1500: Ancient Egypt. [ONLINE] Available at:http://worldhistoryto1500.blogspot.com/2010/09/ancient-egypt.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

Exhibition 4 - Tonio Mallia

Tonio Mallia  was born in Malta in 1955 and he began his artistic career as a painter of landscapes in watercolors. He perfected the use of this medium; which he uses  in most of his works; with years of experience and testing.

In the Exhibition at St James Cavalier in Valletta, the theme of the works exhibited was War. most of them were on the pain of War and the suffering it brings like death, suffering, loneliness and tragedy. When you look at Tonio Mallia's works, you can see that the theme war is presented well even with the dark, dirty colors he used. 

Some of the Works from the Exhibition at St James Cavalier Valletta

Waiting

The Sea

Crushed

Desert Rat