|
Indepth Arts News:
"Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen"
2000-07-17 until 2000-09-24
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL,
USA
For more than two millennia, the civilization of ancient Egypt has been
a source of fascination for both scholars and the general public. Yet
within the broad span of Egypt's history, one era has engendered the
greatest interest--the Amarna period, or the Age of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamen. Pharaoh
Akhenaten was a revolutionary ruler who during a relatively short period (1353-1336 B.C.) engineered a
wholesale reorganization of Egyptian art, religion, and politics. The city of Amarna, founded by
Akhenaten, served as the fountainhead of this movement, and it was here that his views were most
eloquently expressed.
Pharaohs of the Sun makes the city of Amarna come alive for modern viewers with more than 250
objects--including surprisingly naturalistic representations of the royal family and private citizens, objects
from daily life, architectural fragments, a large-scale model of the city, graphics, and a video
presentation--as well as an interactive Web site program. This exhibition explores the spectacular civic
and cultural achievements of Amarna, the forces that ultimately undermined it, and the dramatic impact
that the city had on the rest of the ancient world.
Image:
Sculpture of Akhenaten, 1353-1336 B.C. Yellow stone. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photograph courtesy Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.
Related Links:
| | 
|
