DE - Frist Center - Frist Center for the Visual Arts

&
T
P
f
o
Y
N
G
O
E HE CREATI
E
R
I
S
E
D
T
FRIST CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS
E GYPT
is a place that has fascinated
people for thousands of years.
Yet, most people have gleaned
whatever knowledge they have of
ancient Egypt through popular
culture: Boris Karloff’s The
Cleopatra, Steve Martin’s “King
Tut” Saturday Night Live skit,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, comic
books, popular fiction, and
video games—all created for
entertainment and filled with
misinformation, invention, and the
spectacle of glamour, kitsch,
and excess.
Egyptomania is the term that
defines a love of all things having
to do with Egypt. Historical
events that set off Egyptomania crazes were: Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of the country, which
launched a golden age in Egyptian archaeology and Egyptian-influenced design; the opening of
the Suez Canal in 1868; Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida, which was first performed in Cairo in 1871;
and finally, the 1922 discovery of the first intact royal Egyptian burial chamber of a then obscure
Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh, Tutankhamen.
Cover: Poster from Cleopatra. © 1963 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved
Still from Cleopatra. © 1963 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved
Mummy and Brendan Fraser’s
remakes, Elizabeth Taylor’s
This fascination for Egypt still exists today. What is it that is so enchanting about ancient Egypt?
Is it because of its associations with permanence and stability, which has turned it into a symbol
of something that has withstood the ages? Its monuments, such as the great pyramids and
the Sphinx, certainly are perfect in form and massive in size. They have become a measure of
Egypt’s power. How they were made and the fact that they still survive confounds us. Or, do the
country’s connections to mysticism and mystery—its death-obsessed rituals, animal-headed gods,
and indecipherable hieroglyphs—seduce, bewitch, and entice us into wanting to know more? Its
writing, which the Greeks called “hieroglyphs” and the Egyptians called “the words of the gods,”
symbolizes three thousand years of wisdom. Yet it also represents a puzzle and challenge.
This exhibition explores Egypt and its role in the creation and manufacturing of desire—a desire
to go, a desire to have, a desire for fame and immortality, and a desire to unlock the mystery—
as evident in objects ranging from nineteenth-century postcards to twenty-first century
DE S IRE
TO GO
The desire to go awakens our dreams of adventure
and wanderlust. Tourists and armchair travelers
alike clamor for extraordinary images of and
objects from Egypt. Travel to Egypt became safer
in 1517, when the country came under Turkish
rule and Sultan Selim I promised protection for
French traders and pilgrims. With the discovery of
major archaeological finds in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, tourists traveled to witness
the literal unearthing of objects that had been
buried for thousands of years.
Brian
image
James.
credit
Cairo by Air, 2004. Gouache on board, 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. © 2011 Brian James
kitsch souvenirs.
Railroads, ocean liners, and airplanes were among the technological marvels of the early
twentieth century that made travel for pleasure not only possible but also luxurious and
exciting. This new freedom to explore the world resulted in an explosion of travel posters.
Combining large color images and bold text, these posters became fixtures in train stations and
the offices of travel agents in Europe and America. They inspired and tempted people to go see
the world. With the advent of the travel postcard in the late nineteenth century, pictures could
be sent from abroad to friends and relatives back home. Then, to remember a trip, travelers
could purchase souvenirs to mark where they had been and serve as mementos of what they
had seen.
Egypt remains a popular tourist destination. Of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World, only the Great Pyramid of Giza has survived intact to the present day. The country
attracts around eleven million visitors annually, with tourism making up eleven percent of its
DE S IRE
TO HAVE
With the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922,
one of the largest archaeological finds in history
became a fantastic money maker. Modern
advertising developed with the increase of mass
production in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. As industries grew, so too
did the role of advertising. In the 1920s, the rise
of mass circulation magazines, radio broadcasting,
and motion pictures provided new media for
advertisements to reach consumers to persuade
them to purchase a good or a service.
Northwest Orient Airlines Advertisement: “Mark my words, Antony, Imperial Service is out
of this world.” In The New Yorker, 1958. Courtesy of Delta Air Lines
national economy.
and advertising were expanding markets that
sought to capture the imaginations of the masses.
People who worked in advertising wanted to
establish their professional status and win ethical
respect. What better way to garner credibility
for a product than to make associations with the
beauty, stability, and allure of ancient Egypt?
Egyptian motifs found their way into nineteenthand twentieth-century advertisements as
companies capitalized on the public’s fascination
with the country’s ancient past. Cosmetics
and beauty product companies highlighted
associations of Egypt with glamour. The Palmolive
Company launched a long-running and highly successful campaign that used conspicuously
Egyptian imagery in its shampoo and soap promotions. Messages such as “3,000 years ago—
and tonight” attested to longevity, which Americans identified with Egypt rather than their own
civilization, which was relatively young in comparison. Egyptian-inspired advertisements became
popular, even if the product had no direct correlation with ancient Egypt. For example, wear a
Maidenform Bra and “achieve Cleopatra curves.”
DE S IRE
FOR FAME & IMMORTALITY
The Egyptomania craze also lit up the silver screen. In particular, the story of Cleopatra VII (69–30
BCE) has been retold through Hollywood’s interpretation and invention. Between 1908 and 1918,
there were five feature films about Cleopatra well before the more famous sound versions were
made by Cecil B. DeMille in 1934 and Joseph Mankiewicz in 1963.
Cleopatra, 1934. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC. © 1934 Emka, Ltd.
In the early to mid-twentieth century, fashion
Cleopatra is a female figure who continues to fascinate and confound. “In one of the busiest
afterlives in history, she has gone on to become an asteroid, a video game, a cliché, a cigarette,
a slot machine, a strip club, a synonym for Elizabeth Taylor. Shakespeare attested to Cleopatra’s
infinite variety. He had no idea,” writes author and columnist Stacy Schiff. 1 The “Cleopatra Look”
has recurred regularly in fashion trends, advertising, and haute couture fashion shows since the
beginning of the twentieth century. Leading actresses such as Claudette Colbert, Vivian Leigh,
and Elizabeth Taylor were put in fantastic clothing, dramatic make-up, and elaborate settings of
staggering beauty and detail. The allure and obsession only increased when during the filming
of Mankiewicz’s 1963 film Cleopatra, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor began their storied
love affair.
This melding of celebrity, fashion, and film is something we now take for granted, but it is
movies like Cleopatra and stars like Elizabeth Taylor that helped create our modern obsession
with celebrities and fame. It does not matter if the fashion or personality is distorted and
disconnected from actual historical or literary referents—the stories capture and become
ingrained in our imaginations.
DE S IRE
TO UNLOCK THE MYSTERY
After the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922, Art and Archaeology magazine reported:
“Archaeology has shown that it can make as potent a popular appeal as baseball; it can drive
international politics and the latest murder mystery from the front pages.” While popular, much
of our understanding of ancient Egypt is still shrouded in mystery. We do not have a complete
picture of its civilization—only what is known from archaeological finds and the writing of
ancient historians such as Herodotus (ca. 484–425 BCE), Diodorus Siculus (ca. 90–21 BCE),
and Strabo (ca. 63 BCE–24 CE) who lived many years after the time when the Old Kingdom
pharaohs built the pyramids. Though we are fascinated by the practice of mummification, we
do not fully understand the Egyptian concepts of transitioning to and existing in the afterlife.
The last time hieroglyphs were inscribed was on a temple wall in 394 CE. For fifteen hundred
years the strange symbols stood as a
puzzle and a challenge to all who saw
them. Today, most of us are unable to
read this ancient language. It is this desire
to understand and a fascination with the
exotic and unknown that makes Egyptian
art exhibitions some of the most popular.
Treasures of Tutankhamun, which was
to mark the fifty-year anniversary of the
discovery of King Tut’s tomb by Howard
Carter, drew more than 1.6 million visitors.
The exhibition then traveled to seven
venues in the United States between 1976
and 1979, attracting more than 8 million
visitors. Even though Tutankhamun was a
relatively insignificant pharaoh, his tomb
has created a legacy that lives on in our
popular culture. The popularity of Egyptian exhibitions continues today. The Frist Center for
the Visual Arts has hosted two Egyptian shows in five years, with The Quest for Immortality
welcoming almost 190,000 visitors in the summer of 2006.
Between the imaginative allure of the movies and travel industry and the tangible presence of
Egypt’s most treasured artifacts on display in museum exhibitions, it is clear that this ancient
civilization invites each successive generation to discover its exotic beauties and profound
mysteries. Egypt has continued to evolve and transform through its religion and pro-democracy
movements. Yet, it remains a country whose storied history is still very real, and the desire for
the past remains palpable.
Note:
1. Stacy Schiff. Cleopatra: A Life (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010), 1.
Sphinx, 2008. © Courtesy of Jim Womack
organized in 1972 by the British Museum
Egypt and the Creation of Desire
An Education Exhibition
October 7, 2011–January 8, 2012
This exhibition has been organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
Platinum Sponsor:
Gold Sponsor:
Barbara and Jack
Bovender
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by:
919 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37203
www.fristcenter.org
Silver Sponsor:
Hospitality Sponsor: