Art Like an Egyptian

Posted by Mary Murray on May 18th 2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: Museum of Art

Mark your calendars and come see Shadow of the Sphinx, opening to the public Sunday, June 17. This exhibition, organized by Museum of Art Director Anna T D’Ambrosio, is an invitation to travel through the eternally fascinating world of Egypt and to witness its long influence in arts and culture into the present.

See the ancients’ rituals for ferrying their dead into the afterlife: the show includes a tomb room with a sarcophagus, a selection of mummy masks, a canopic jar, and shabty—the statues that would serve as laborers in the afterlife.

Shadow of the Sphinx also looks at the influence of ancient Egyptian art and culture on Europeans and Americans, from the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, who campaigned through Egypt between 1798-1801, into the 20th century.

Ernst Karl Eugen Koerner (German, 1846-1927), Temple of Karnak, the Great Hypostyle Hall, 1890, oil on canvas,
31 1/4 x 18 1/4 in.,
Dahesh Museum, 1995.114

Shadow of the Sphinx features numerous 19th-century French paintings in what is known as the “oriental” style, depicting life and landscape of the region.

Marcel Demay (French, early 20th Century), Evening Dress, 1910-11, silk, metallic thread, beads, fur,
Cincinnati Art Museum,
Gift of Betty Fleischmann Holmes, 1920.132

In the United States during the later 1800s, furnishings and dress inspired by ancient Egypt became fashionable. Visitors to Shadow of the Sphinx can stroll through a room vignette filled with scarabs and similarly inspired fine household objects.

Boris Karloff as The Mummy,
Universal Studios, 1932

The exhibition concludes with the transporting fantasies of popular culture. Through songs, movies and the design of everyday things, the shadow of ancient Egypt’s allure continues to captivate our imaginations.