In 2010 (August 6th), while I was doing my doctorate (Ph.D.) research, I had the opportunity to offer a presentation on Ancient Egyptian art, iconography and canon of representation of Pharaonic Egypt at the Art History department of the Cegep du Vieux Montréal in Montreal. You can download the free presentation in French below and here is basic English translation of the introductory text for the presentation.
Iconography and canon of representation of Pharaonic Egypt
"The objective of the conference is to present, after a brief historical context of Pharaonic Egypt, the canon of representation used in the representation of this ancient culture, while explaining the symbolic and ideological role linked to the iconography."
(August 16th 2010) Abigaëlle Richard, Iconography and canon of representation of Pharaonic Egypt, presentation at the art history department of the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal, Montreal.
(16 Août 2010) Abigaëlle Richard, Iconographie et canon de représentation de l'Égypte pharaonique, conférence au départment d'histoire de l'art du CEGEP du Vieux Montréal, Montréal.
Download the free presentation in French:
In 2005, I submitted my Masters' thesis in French at the Université de Montréal. The topic of this research was an iconographical analysis dance in Ancient Egypt in the form of tomb paintings of the elite of the New Kingdom. The aim of the research was to identify the social and ideological functions of iconographical representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt. A full version of the text in available in the form of a free ebook (see below), while a basic English translation of the introductory text can be found here.
"Social and ideological functions of iconographical representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt"
"The objective of the author of this work is to identify the functions of the iconographic representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt. First, she analyzes the socio-cultural context of Egypt, the contexts in which the dances appear, the movements of the dancers and the social status of the dancers themselves. In a second time, it exposes the problematic of work. The third section studies the concept of representation itself, examining its nature and functions and situating them in the context of Egyptian representations. The fourth section studies the symbolic and plastic aspects of the Egyptian canon of representation. In the last section of the dissertation, the author analyzes a corpus of around a hundred iconographic representations of dance in order to extract from them elements allowing the validation of the identification of five main functions, belonging to the social and ideology of Egyptian society.
The primary function of dance performances would have been to express and maintain the socio-economic and political status of members of the elite, who could afford to hire dancers and performers to represent them in their tombs. A second function would have made it possible to use dance performances as updates to mythical stories and thus to stabilize society and the universe. A third function would have been to produce depictions of dwarf dancers or dancing deities like Bes, who possessed apotropaic power against various threats. A penultimate function, associated with the representation of sensual dancers in the tombs, would have made it possible to magically stimulate the vital force of the deceased, thus allowing him a post-mortem rebirth. Finally, the last function of the dance would have consisted of a form of offering for the gods or the deceased.
The author concludes her analysis with a study of the elements that could make the case for future studies on the subject."
(2005) Abigaëlle Richard, Social and ideological functions of iconographical representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt, masters' thesis, Université de Montréal, Montreal.
(2005) Abigaëlle Richard, Fonctions sociales et idéologiques des représentations iconographiques de danse de l’Égypte pharaonique, thèse de maîtrise, Université de Montreal, Montréal.
Download the free ebook in French:
In 2002 at the Université de Montréal, as one of my Masters program (M.SC.) seminar on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, I made this research on the Maya civilization art and iconography based on the study of Mayan paintings on vases and pottery. The main subject of the study was the symbolic relationship between representations of dance and death in Mayan art.
The full text is in French but you can find here the basic translation of the introduction. The full text in French is available for download for free (see below) and you can offer a Paypal donation if you so wish.
Dance and death among the Maya: analysis of iconographical representations of dance on polychrome vases
The objective of this analysis is first to examine the different types of Mayan dances and then to determine to what extent death, in the broad sense of the term, occupied an important place in the context or the themes of these dances. The analysis of the iconographic representations of dance on the polychrome vases made it possible to determine, by means of a deductive approach, which proportion of these representations was centered on the theme of death. In order to place these representations in context and to obtain a broader picture of the types of Maya dances, this analysis was supplemented by the contribution of ancient sources (written and iconographic) and recent works.
We will therefore begin with a brief description of the general context of Mayan dances. We will see by whom they were performed, in which places, which musical instruments accompanied them and finally, what types of costumes were worn by the dancers. Then, we will briefly discuss the contribution to our analysis of iconographic representations, ancient sources and recent works. Thereafter, we will briefly describe the different types of dances not directly related to death, finally emphasizing and examining in detail the types of dances which seem to have had a more direct connection with the theme of the death.
Findings
The analysis of iconographic material, ancient sources and recent works have allowed us to obtain a clearer, if not exhaustive, picture of Mayan dances and their context. Indeed, through this study we were able to detect a large number of dances linked, at least indirectly, to death and the underworld. Indeed, the mythological contexts of the Popol Vuh and the corn-god, the contexts of sacrifice and war, the context of communication with supernatural beings and the context of hunting ceremonies within calendar festivals show us an important link between the dance and death. We find a very large majority of polychrome vases illustrating the epic of the corn god, dances of kings which in various contexts allowed communication with the beyond and the maintenance of the spiritual, social and political structure of Mayan society."
(2002) Abigaëlle Richard. Dance and death among the Maya: analysis of iconographic representations of dance on polychrome vases, Master's thesis research seminar, Université de Montréal, Montréal.
(2002) Abigaëlle Richard. La danse et la mort chez les Maya : analyse des représentations iconographiques de danse sur les vases polychromes, séminaire de maîtrise, Université de Montréal, Montréal.
Download the free ebook in French: