Assignment 1_The Book of Dead

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The Book of Dead

This is an artwork of an ancient Egyptian funerary text.

I have done some research on this artwork for my HoA&D1 Assignment 1.

 The Book of Dead is about the afterlife of a person.

I found it quite interesting.

This is because I never see artwork which related to afterlife although there are many artwork about religion.

 I wonder the artwork is similar to reality or more to imagination.

Still, it is interesting for me.

However, I'm not fully understand about this artwork.

Hope to do research again if got more time.

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The essay below is what I did for my HoA&D1 Assignment 1. My group members are Gim Khai Shian, Ma Vi Cienne, and Theresa Chong. I did the part II which is analysis of the artwork. But, I did not did a very good job for this part :(

 

Part II : Analysis

In “Book of the Dead”, there are many principles of organization can be found. This had created visual impact of the artwork.

Firstly, the artist repeated 2 types of lines which were horizontal lines and vertical lines. Horizontal lines that appeared more at right hand side of the artwork created the state of peace in afterlife, while vertical lines that appeared more at left hand side created the sense of power of the God in afterlife. The combination of vertical lines and horizontal lines made the artwork balance.

Secondly, for the formation of shape, the artist used actual shape and implied shape. From the artwork, we can found that squares or rectangles were used and caused this artwork become serious and solid.

The artist used colour to create visual impact too. The use of both blue and orange, which are known as complementary colour had created contrast in this artwork. We can clearly identified the characters and object through contrast. Furthermore, analogous colour such as yellow-green, pure green and blue-green made the artwork peaceful and harmony. Hence, by using the principles of organization, the artist created unity in the “Book of the Dead” and we could feel completeness in this artwork.

The artwork was done on papyrus and sarcophagus by using scribed and written method. In the subjective view, this artwork made us feel scared because it involved death and afterlife. We would also feel scared feel the texture of wood when we touch it. Other than that, we might hear mysterical music and prayers. Taste of bitter chocolate could be tasted too.