Issue No. 603
Culture
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12 - 18 September 2002 Issue No. 603 Culture |
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Plain Talk
My friend Dr Ernest Wolf- Gazo, professor of philosophy at the American University in Cairo, has just come back from the States. Naturally he has many stories to tell, but I was intrigued -- and pleased -- to hear from him about his visit to the current exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. "The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt", as explained in the brochure published by the gallery, is about "the pursuit of life after death" as envisaged by the Ancient Egyptians. It is an age-old subject that must have preoccupied thousands of Americans after the tragic events of 11 September.
This might explain why hundreds of thousands of Americans queued to get in. I was intrigued by the popularity of the show and pleased that there were so many people eager to visit the exhibition. To me this means that civilisation and culture endured and were able to transcend the barriers that 11 September appeared to have thrown up.
The brochure which my friend showed me gives a bird's eye view of the preoccupation of Ancient Egyptians with life and death and their quest for immortality. It explains how the Ancient Egyptians denied the physical impermanence of life. They formulated "a remarkably complex set of religious beliefs and funnelled vast material resources into the quest for immortality".
While Egyptian civilisation underwent a number of cultural changes over its long history, the pursuit of life after death endured. The exhibition focusses on the understanding of the afterlife in the period from the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) through the late period (664-332 BC). The New Kingdom marked "the beginning of an era of great wealth, power and stability for Egypt and was accompanied by a burst of cultural activity".
I do not intend to bother readers with information about Ancient Egypt with which they are already familiar, but only give details of this great exhibition which is organised by the United Exhibits Group, Copenhagen, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo. The exhibits have been lent by the Egyptian government and come from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Luxor Museum of Ancient Art, and the archaeological sites of Tanis and Deir Al-Bahari. The works of art on display include statues, jewellery, painted coffins and other tomb furnishings and have been selected to demonstrate the exhibition's theme: "the quest for eternal life".
A number of activities are also planned alongside the exhibition. Slide overviews of the artefacts are offered in one of the gallery's auditoriums while a series of lectures by leading Egyptologists of America, Egypt and Europe is scheduled. A 10-minute film produced by the National Gallery is shown continuously in the exhibition hall. It chronicles Egyptian burial practices in the New Kingdom, from death through to mummification and burial and into the afterworld. Besides, a 30-minute version of this film is sold as a video- cassette in the gallery shops and is available on a free- loan basis from the Department of Education resources.
The National Gallery of Art has published a 256- page book with the title The Quest for Immortality: Treasures from Ancient Egypt edited by Erik Hornung and Betsy Bryan, based on the artefacts on display. It has 190 colour illustrations and costs $65 for the hard cover edition or $30 for the soft cover edition.
I mention these seemingly boring details only to illustrate the importance the National Gallery of Art is giving to the exhibition and to show the multi-faceted activities accompanying it. Maybe this can help our own museums in re- assessing their functions and activities.
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