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Akhenaten and Nefertiti
Catalog of an exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences.
Aldred's book Old Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt was published in '49, followed by volumes on the middle & new kingdoms in '50 & '52. These publications established him as an Egyptologist & art historian. He also contributed essays on Egyptian woodwork & furniture as a part of the Oxford History of Technology in '54 & '56. In '55, he worked as an associate curator in the dep't of Egyptian art in the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the curator, Wm C. Hayes. During his time at the Met, he improved the presentation of the exhibitions & helped identify & catalog a number of previously overlooked artifacts in storage. In '56, he returned to the Royal Scottish Museum to enhance the Egyptology team. In '61 he was promoted to keeper of art & archeology, a post he held until his '74 retirement. During his time at the RSM, he not only gave lectures but also made purchases & helped the museum vastly improve not only the Egyptology displays but also the W. African & S. Seas sections.
Foreword
Preface
Introduction: The Armana Revolution
The historical outline
The monuments of Akhenaten & Nefertiti
The development of the Armarna style
The early period
The development of the Armarna style
The later phases
Iconography
The character of Armarna art
Notes
Catalogue
Bibliography
Concordance I
Concordance II
Aldred's book Old Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt was published in '49, followed by volumes on the middle & new kingdoms in '50 & '52. These publications established him as an Egyptologist & art historian. He also contributed essays on Egyptian woodwork & furniture as a part of the Oxford History of Technology in '54 & '56. In '55, he worked as an associate curator in the dep't of Egyptian art in the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the curator, Wm C. Hayes. During his time at the Met, he improved the presentation of the exhibitions & helped identify & catalog a number of previously overlooked artifacts in storage. In '56, he returned to the Royal Scottish Museum to enhance the Egyptology team. In '61 he was promoted to keeper of art & archeology, a post he held until his '74 retirement. During his time at the RSM, he not only gave lectures but also made purchases & helped the museum vastly improve not only the Egyptology displays but also the W. African & S. Seas sections.
Foreword
Preface
Introduction: The Armana Revolution
The historical outline
The monuments of Akhenaten & Nefertiti
The development of the Armarna style
The early period
The development of the Armarna style
The later phases
Iconography
The character of Armarna art
Notes
Catalogue
Bibliography
Concordance I
Concordance II
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
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About the author
Cyril Aldred
97 books13 followersCyril Aldred was a British Egyptologist, art historian and author. He also served as the Keeper of Art and Archaeology for the Royal Scottish Museum.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 27, 2012
Akhenaten and Nefertiti is a catalogue of an exhibition on the Amarna period in Ancient Egypt. Unlike the
Pharaohs of the Sun
exhibit and catalogue, Akhenaten and Nefertiti is focused squarely on the reign of Akhenaten, as you might have picked up from the title.
Aldred has produced an excellent resource on the Amarna art. Apart from a historical outline, the prefatory essays are all focused around this subject, looking at how the early and later art phases developed, the monuments, and the iconography and character of the Amarna art style. Each item within the catalogue is given a short, but detailed commentary, which includes a description of what is represented and how it looks like (material, size, condition).
Yet, I'm hesitant to give this a five star rating, and this is because of the presentation. A fair number of pages in the catalogue look cramped and even a bit untidy.
The plates are another niggle of mine. All 175 items in the catalogue and a further 55 supplementary illustrations are in black and white. There is an insert of 8 colour plates and Aldred does describe the colour of object, but it's not always easy to visualise what an item looks like in reality. I do understand that there were probably printing/budget constraints, but I can't help but want more colour plates. I also feel like the use of colour plates would help in the presentation and make Akhenaten and Nefertiti even more useful as a resource.
My final issue is that it is the book is dated. For example, Aldred's commentary on the "Co-Regency Stela" is now considered out of date, and it's not the only item description that would need updating. Probably the most obvious sign of the age of the book is that it appears to be written prior to the discovery of Kiya.
All up, Akhenaten and Nefertiti is a valuable visual reference for the reign of Akhenaten and an useful resource on Amarna art. However, readers will have to be careful with taking Aldred's information at face value, and there is definitely room for improvement in the book's presentation.
Aldred has produced an excellent resource on the Amarna art. Apart from a historical outline, the prefatory essays are all focused around this subject, looking at how the early and later art phases developed, the monuments, and the iconography and character of the Amarna art style. Each item within the catalogue is given a short, but detailed commentary, which includes a description of what is represented and how it looks like (material, size, condition).
Yet, I'm hesitant to give this a five star rating, and this is because of the presentation. A fair number of pages in the catalogue look cramped and even a bit untidy.
The plates are another niggle of mine. All 175 items in the catalogue and a further 55 supplementary illustrations are in black and white. There is an insert of 8 colour plates and Aldred does describe the colour of object, but it's not always easy to visualise what an item looks like in reality. I do understand that there were probably printing/budget constraints, but I can't help but want more colour plates. I also feel like the use of colour plates would help in the presentation and make Akhenaten and Nefertiti even more useful as a resource.
My final issue is that it is the book is dated. For example, Aldred's commentary on the "Co-Regency Stela" is now considered out of date, and it's not the only item description that would need updating. Probably the most obvious sign of the age of the book is that it appears to be written prior to the discovery of Kiya.
All up, Akhenaten and Nefertiti is a valuable visual reference for the reign of Akhenaten and an useful resource on Amarna art. However, readers will have to be careful with taking Aldred's information at face value, and there is definitely room for improvement in the book's presentation.
February 12, 2013
This book represents an art exhibition at the Met focused on the reigns of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the short-lived period of Egyptian reforms in art, politics and theology which Freud made so much of in his Moses and Monotheism. Although historical background is given, this is primarily an illustrated art book.
September 10, 2014
Extremely interesting and thorough book on the Sun Pharaoh-Akhenaten and the Queen Nefertiti. Either King Tut's grandfather, father, or brother or all combined. More of a detailed museum book that is dry than a detailed in-depth book, but with excellent critique of the artwork of that time. Very detailed with a great deal of examples of 3 different era's of this one Pharoah's reign.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews