How did HBO discover the Bird Lady
Madeleine Cody, a research associate for Egyptian, classical, and ancient Middle Eastern art, explained in a blog post on the Brooklyn Museum’s site:
The script for Episode 1 of Season 2 (of vampire drama True Blood) called for “a primitive piece of art; like a dancing girl” to be placed on the character Maryann’s coffee table. Suzuki and Cat Smith, Art Director, went to Google to look for images that fit these requirements, hoping to find something that inspired them. They looked at many different types of ancient images including Mycenaean, Etruscan, and Minoan examples. Entering search terms something like “Egyptian female statues,” they came across our very own “Bird Lady.” They printed out a selection of appropriate images and presented them to Alan Ball, the show’s creator.
He was immediately drawn to the “Bird Lady,” seeing something so elegant, beautiful and perfect in her form that she became the obvious choice. As Suzuki pointed out, though she is not the first to do so, this ancient figure looks both modern and primitive at the same time. In terms of the show, she said using it helped to emphasize that Maryann’s character is timeless.
We also found it interesting that Suzuki said they looked at a lot of Egyptian images and chose this one precisely because it is not a “typical” ancient Egyptian representation. This was precisely the thinking behind curator James F. Romano’s choice of the “Bird Lady” as the signature image for the reinstalled Egyptian galleries, which opened in April 2003. As usual, he wanted to get people to stop, look and think twice.
Egyptologist Christine Lilyquist retires from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
By Stan Parchin
Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Christine Lilyquist, Lila Acheson Wallace Research Curator in Egyptology at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, retired after 38 years of extraordinary service at Manhattan’s prestigious Fifth Avenue institution.
Lilyquist received her B.A. in English Literature from Pomona College (1962). The California native subsequently earned her M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1971) in ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern art and archaeology from New York University’s world-renowned Institute of Fine Arts.
In 1970, Lilyquist was appointed The Met’s Assistant Curator of Egyptian Art. Promoted to Curator in 1974, she greatly heightened public interest in ancient Egyptian civilization through her systematic modernization of the museum’s first-floor northern galleries. Lilyquist’s introduction of study rooms made many of the museum’s previously hidden artifacts visible to the public for the first time. Illuminated tables explained to visitors the intricacies of Egyptian history, art and culture.
Dr. Lilyquist supervised the installation of the Sackler Wing’s monumental Temple of Dendur (15 B.C.) (completed in Summer 1978), to this day one of Manhattan’s stellar architectural attractions. She co-curated the overwhelmingly popular special exhibition Treasures of Tutankhamun (1978-79).
A specialist in Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian mirrors, Christine Lilyquist is the author of four books and 25 scholarly articles. She recently contributed to the exhibition catalogue Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh (2006).
Venezuela Vice Minister of Culture proposes the return of ancient artifacts
The Venezuelan vice minister of Culture, José Manuel Rodríguez, president of the Institute of Cultural Heritage, suggested to the heads of institutions belonging to the National Museum in a private meeting that the collections of African art, Egyptian art and China pottery be returned to their places of origin. None of these collections are the result of theft or looting the assets of other countries.
The collection of Egyptian art was purchased by the Venezuelan state through the Museum of Fine Arts from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The collection of China pottery was donated to the MFA by Henrique Otero Vizcarrondo and the African art collection was donated to the Museum of Science.
At the meeting, Rodriguez had circulated an unsigned working paper that read: “Let’s remove from the princes of capitalism the concept of culture as an aesthetic fact. Only then will they be able to value the manifestations that have significance and pertinence to the people from every village, every hamlet and every neighborhood of our cities (…) Those princes insist that art museums have been abandoned. To them we say: The museums are not in danger, neither the works they contain. They have have simply ceased to be the referents of national culture and thus they will lose the sacred character they now enjoy. ”
An official of the National Museums Foundation, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said: “The measure is serious because it is attacking a heritage that has served as a formation tool for several generations of Venezuelans who can not only acquire knowledge of the artistic sense of the men and women of those places in the world but also of their history, especially their culture. The collections are central to a museum and this threat poses a dismantling of the museums. It’s not the wrong idea to reach the community and relate them to the arts, but there is a confusion that becomes unhealthy: a work of art is not just an aesthetic fact, it transmits knowledge. It is not only a matter of looking at a beautiful dish, but to learn the Chinese culture through this china plate, learn from the Egyptian culture through the codes in their hieroglyphics, which we can see directly, and learn African culture and its relationship to our culture through one of those masks.”
Milagros Gonzalez, who recently resigned from her post as curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, said the Egyptian art collection is valuable on this side of the sea, but certainly not for Egypt.
“The Cairo Museum is after foremost works, like the bust of Nefertiti, but the pieces in this collection are very poor compared to theirs, which also happen to be crammed in their exhibition spaces. This collection is important to this side of the world and makes more sense being here. The same goes to the Chinese ceramic collection, which has only items that were made in that nation to be sold to the West, so I doubt that they, with all their heritage, would be really interested in having this modest collection. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is that China wanted to be seen by the West through these pottery.”
Translated from Amigos de la Egiptología
Lectures on Tutankhamen at Los Altos Library
Image by jvnunag via FlickrThe Los Altos main library has scheduled three lectures describing different aspects of the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibition currently showing at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.
• Mina Shea will present an overview of the exhibition 7:30 p.m. July 8. She will include information on 80 objects from the royal family and court.
• Julia Geist will discuss “Discovering Ancient Egypt: Tombs, Temples and Pharaohs” 7:30 p.m. July 15.
• Kay Payne will speak on “Women Yesterday: Egypt, Greece and Rome” 7:30 p.m. July 22.
All lectures take place in the Program Room of the main library, 13. S. San Antonio Road. For more information, call 948-7683.
Meanwhile, the 25 foot tall statue of Anubis that has been traveling with the Tut show across Europe and the US has arrived in San Francisco and placed at Pier 39.
Recession hits the Met
Image by wallyg via FlickrNinety-six staff members of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY accepted an offer of voluntary retirement, part of a wider staff reduction that also will cut employees by layoff and attrition and bring the payroll down by 357 positions, to 2,200.
Many had served the museum for decades, and all had been there for at least 15 years and were older than 55. The list includes: Everett Fahy, chairman of the department of European paintings, with 22 years of service; Colta Ives, curator, drawings and prints, 43 years; Christine Lilyquist, curator in Egyptology, 38 years; Susan Allen, associate research curator, Egyptian art, 16 years; Kevin Avery, associate curator, American painting and sculpture, 20 years; Lucy Belloli, conservator of paintings, 27 years; Takemitsu Oba, conservator of Asian Art, 31 years; Sondra Castile, conservator of Asian art, 31 years.
The Palaeodetectives: digging up small molecules with big messages from the past
The exhibit, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), English Heritage, with additional support from Shimadzu UK Ltd, is located in the Wellcome Trust Lecture Hall, University of Bristol.
Visitors to the stand will have the opportunity to interpret the past by ancient identifying molecules found in different artefacts and sediment. The second activity, an interactive computer game, will enable people of all ages to become a Paleodetective. Participants will be asked to choose from one of eight cases including the case of the Blackened Egyptian mummy. The black colour is due a black substance applied to the skin, bandages and other funerary objects. The Palaeodetective will have to find out what the black substances found on the mummy is made of by reviewing the evidence, completing the profile and solving the mystery.
The collaborative group for the exhibit include: Professor Richard Evershed, Drs Fiona Gill, Rich Pancost and Ian Bull from the University’s School of Chemistry.
Another exhibit called ‘The Chewing Robot’, developed by researchers at the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with the Department of Oral and Dental Science, is a new biologically inspired way to study dental wear formation on human teeth and is also being showcased at the Exhibition.
The exhibits have been developed with the support of the University’s Centre for Public Engagement, which encourages the University’s academics to engage with the public.
Three Empires On the Nile
Between the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, the British Empire expanded up the Nile River, impelled by varied motives: money, vengeance, humanitarianism, and imperial diplomacy. In Three Empires on the Nile, Green’s panoramic narrative re-creates these three decades with remarkable dynamism, applying a flair for pithy characterization to the political and religious players involved. Among the dozens of portraits worked into the chronicle, none are sharper than Green’s images of two men who personify the period: General Charles George Gordon and Mohammed Ahmed (better known as the Mahdi), both of whom were mystics. Where Gordon’s mysticism was Christian and personalistic, the Mahdi’s was Islamic and totalistic. As the “Expected Guide” awaited in Islamic tradition, confirmed as such to his adherents by his killing of Gordon at Khartoum in 1885, the Mahdi established a militantly fundamentalist state destroyed in turn by the Anglo-Egyptian forces of General Herbert Kitchener. Occasionally bemused but never supercilious, Green achieves a vividly popular account of Britain’s ascendance in Egypt and Sudan.
Ancient city discovered near Cairo
A team of archaeologists has discovered parts of what was a city of great commercial importance dating from Dynasty XXVI (625-664 BC) in the city of Ismailiya, 120 kilometers east of Cairo. The Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement that the fortress, found in the archaeological site of Tel Dafna has a wall of thirteen meters long, the largest found so far to the east of the Nile Delta.
The citadel with an old military road was used as a trading post in the east of Egypt, and also to protect the eastern borders from invaders.
Archaeologists found in the same area a church with fifteen large stores of weapons and ammunition as well as a small palace.
Translated from Amigos de la Egiptología
Fortified Garrison Town Discovered in the Northeastern Delta
The northeast Delta held a special position in Egypt; the area acted as a major centre for trade with the east, and was also the location of an ancient military and trade route known as the Ways of Horus, which connected Egypt with the East. The area was used as a strategic position by the Late Period kings (ca. 747-525 B.C), especially those of the 26th Dynasty, in order to defend the eastern borders of Egypt from invaders.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, stated that King Ramesses II of the 19th Dynasty (ca. 1279-1212 BC) chose the site of Tell Dafna to erect a fortress or fortified town at Egypt’s eastern border in order to repulse Egypt’s enemies. The newly discovered fortress shows that King Psmatik I (ca. 664-610 BC) also built fortifications here.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maksoud, Head of the Central Department of Lower Egyptian Antiquities and the director of the mission, said that the newly discovered fortress covers an area of about 380×625m, while the enclosure wall is about 13m in width. It is considered to be the largest fortress discovered in the eastern Delta.
The mission also discovered a large mudbrick temple, consisting of three halls. There is also a group of storage magazines at the eastern and western sides of the temple. A small mudbrick palace was also discovered at the northeast side of the temple, consisting of eight rooms.
Furthermore, the mission discovered a group of drainage networks for rain water inside the ancient structures, consisting of pottery tunnels that end with a group of pottery vessels buried vertically in the sand to a depth of about three meters.
Art Show: “The Egyptian Mystery Room”
“The Egyptian Mystery Room,” created by Mary Robinson, is another unusual offering from the North Bank Artists Gallery. That venue is primarily supported by studio rental fees and membership dues, which gives it flexibility to present shows that aren’t commercially viable otherwise. Admission is free.
Robinson, a former economics professor at Clark College, has been fascinated for years by ancient Egyptian culture and history and symbols. The 65-year-old loves to read mysteries, and her artwork typically includes recycled materials refurbished and made appealing in a new way. She combined those interests to make the puzzle room, which subtly reveals clues to an underlying narrative that binds together a collection of collages, paintings, books, cabinets, jewelry, letters and other art objects, including hand-decorated journals.
The setting is the early 1900s, and visitors to the gallery initially will encounter a couple of letters that start the story. From there, participants can follow any of the three main plotlines or the dozens of subplots. Some end in success. Others in disappointment.
Robinson said the artwork is meant to be explored visually and physically. Things are not always what they appear to be. Robinson expects the mystery could take 20 minutes to unravel, or 90 minutes, or even days, depending on the depth a person wants to delve into the concept.
Even though the exhibit is not commercially oriented in nature, the artwork will be for sale, ranging from $120 for the crow journal to $1,200 for a large collage featuring pyramids and the sphinx as well as other Egyptian symbols.
Excerpted from an article by Brett Oppegaard for The Columbian
Can anything be cooler than Egyptian cotton?
Egyptian cotton…seems as oxymoronic as English tea or Irish coffee. Ancient Egypt used linen and flax not cotton, both for the living and the dead. But Egyptian cotton is the new wonder fabric from an antique land, and unlike Egyptian linen, its magic has not been hidden and forgotten in pyramids for centuries.
Mohammed Ali Pasha is the one who had the foresight to introduce a wonderful long staple cotton to his country’s farmers in the Nile delta in the 1820s that catapulted them to the top of the quality ladder. Adroit timing also ensured that cotton from Egypt captured the British mill industry when the US stopped exporting their raw cotton during the Civil War. Piquantly, the cotton plant used by the Egyptians is a native American variety — Gossypium barbadense — but it has clearly taken to the sun and sand of the Nile.
Most items that do use Egyptian cotton display that fact very prominently as it is a beacon for quality (and luxury) hunters. The most wonderful and satisfying characteristic of this cotton is that the more it is washed the softer it gets and it never develops nubbles or lumps or gives off lint. That is because its strands are at least double the length of other cotton varieties. Yet, despite its fineness, there is a tough core, thanks to the long strands of cotton, that makes it resistant to wear and, especially, tear.
Nowadays, whether it is a shirt, dress, bedsheet or towel, the words ‘Finest Egyptian Cotton’ not only guarantee unbelievable softness and absorbency but also tough resilience.
Excerpted from an article by Reshmi R Dasgupta for The Economic Times
