DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69711#0033
IMAGINATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SENSES 15
people was its isolation, for the country of the Nile was
bounded on two sides by deserts, which strengthened the
pride of the Egyptians. The Nile having no tributaries,
influenced the people to follow the example of their sacred
river, and not to mingle with others. This influence of the
Nile left its mark on the art of the people as well, for
one cannot understand the art of a people if one knows
nothing of the forces that mould their thoughts. It
must be remembered that art at that time was not divorced
from actual life, but was an inherent part of life. Art
found expression in the simplest cooking utensils, as well
as expressing itself in architecture or in the ceremonies
of the temples and the court. As art in those days was
also a language, it was in the language of art that the
records of the deeds of heroes were carved. (Fig. 1.)
It is important to touch upon Egypt, however briefly,
because of the influence it exercised on early Greece which
was the first great Western civilization, and no art in turn
has left so great an influence on European art as has
the Greek art. One must realize that all this influence
works through the imagination which should be educated
and controlled. This was not always understood, for
only recently, through the new excavations led by Dr.
A. J. Evans in 1900, it was discovered how far back Greek
civilization went. The Egyptian and Assyrian (Fig. 2)
influences on Greece were not known till then, and so
we took literally what should have been taken symboli-
cally. Therefore there was little understanding of the
Greeks’ use of color or of their mental attitude towards
their statues. It was not as literal as it was at first supposed
to be, for their art of phrenology has been lost. The
statues of their gods were symbolic, representing certain
traits. Therefore the statue of Zeus, who represented
more universally the attribute of a benevolent monarch,
was quite differently portrayed from that of Athena, who
represented wisdom; or Apollo, who represented music;
people was its isolation, for the country of the Nile was
bounded on two sides by deserts, which strengthened the
pride of the Egyptians. The Nile having no tributaries,
influenced the people to follow the example of their sacred
river, and not to mingle with others. This influence of the
Nile left its mark on the art of the people as well, for
one cannot understand the art of a people if one knows
nothing of the forces that mould their thoughts. It
must be remembered that art at that time was not divorced
from actual life, but was an inherent part of life. Art
found expression in the simplest cooking utensils, as well
as expressing itself in architecture or in the ceremonies
of the temples and the court. As art in those days was
also a language, it was in the language of art that the
records of the deeds of heroes were carved. (Fig. 1.)
It is important to touch upon Egypt, however briefly,
because of the influence it exercised on early Greece which
was the first great Western civilization, and no art in turn
has left so great an influence on European art as has
the Greek art. One must realize that all this influence
works through the imagination which should be educated
and controlled. This was not always understood, for
only recently, through the new excavations led by Dr.
A. J. Evans in 1900, it was discovered how far back Greek
civilization went. The Egyptian and Assyrian (Fig. 2)
influences on Greece were not known till then, and so
we took literally what should have been taken symboli-
cally. Therefore there was little understanding of the
Greeks’ use of color or of their mental attitude towards
their statues. It was not as literal as it was at first supposed
to be, for their art of phrenology has been lost. The
statues of their gods were symbolic, representing certain
traits. Therefore the statue of Zeus, who represented
more universally the attribute of a benevolent monarch,
was quite differently portrayed from that of Athena, who
represented wisdom; or Apollo, who represented music;