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"Every artist writes his own autobiography." (Havelock Ellis, The New Spirit, 'Tolstoi', 1890)
Neolithic society is marked by an increase of agriculture and a more settled community life. As communities grew in size, many of the activities of the community were taken over by specialists. Religion in these large agrarian communities was an organized affair requiring idols, amulets, sacred symbols, votive offerings, burial gifts and burial monuments (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pg.15). Religious specialists shaped the rituals of the religious life. Things religious were increasing separated from the ordinary or profane life. There now appears a clear distinction between sacred and profane art, (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pp.21-26). The end of the Neolithic era brought the establishment of a distinct class of artist-crafts worker, (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pg.33).
An important note must be inserted here. Almost all modern scholarship see these social developments as a step in social evolution. At the root of this evolutionary model of society is the hubris of believing that we are the most highly evolved people to have ever existed. While my own views simply followed in line with my academic training, I now seriously question this. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) illustrates that from God's point of view, increased social strength and cohesion is not necessarily a good thing. Ultimately higher civilizations all succumb to the lusts of the flesh and especially pride. We can already see this process destroying Western civilization as surely as it destroyed Rome. Remember, it was not some other higher civilization that conquered Rome, but waves of Neolithic nomads. To my mind, Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24), who may well have owned nothing but stone tools, represents a higher man than I. By this I am not suggesting a neo-Luddite quest for a pure society. After all, I am using a computer to write this. I am merely arguing that refined tools do not imply a refined man. Billions of dollars are spent on internet pornography annually, this is not progress toward social refinement in any stretch of the word.
Therefore it is my hope to reshape the discussion from an evolutionary one, to a discussion of social models and how the artist interacts with religion. As noted above, artists, in Neolithic society, were separated from the realm of sacred practitioners, now a specialized priestly class. Art objects were produced by this specialized class of artist-craft workers. Priests absorbed themselves in astrology, the magic arts, expiation, philosophy and theology. The artist took the task of representing and embellishing the spiritual life of the community, but, all under the watchful eye of the priesthood. The priest and the artist are now clearly distinct, with the artist in service to the priest, (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pp.33).
There is a definite move to larger and more awesome representation. Statues, alters and temples within the larger communities take on gigantic proportions. Scientist and scholars today are amazed at the accomplishments that these societies managed without modern heavy machinery. In addition to the massive art projects, separation of the priests from the common people lends an air of sacred awe and mystery to their practices.
Egypt is an excellent example of how tightly controlled by social and religious etiquette the arts were. Quoting again from Hauser, "The fact that the sculptures of the Old Kingdom are richer in individual features than the biographical records of the same period is to be explained, among other things, by the circumstance that they still have a magical function reminiscent of Paleolithic art, which the literary works lack. For in the portrait the Ka—that is the guardian-spirit of the deceased—was supposed to find the body in which he had dwelt on earth in its true and genuinely lifelike form again; this magical religious aim is partly the explanation of the naturalism of the portrayals.
"In the Middle Kingdom the representative function of works of art gain the upper hand over their magical and therefore, also their naturalistic character." (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pp.38-39). The naturalistic style of the earlier period shifts to a more formal style in the Middle Kingdom, because of a fundamental shift in religious and spiritual culture of Egypt. This shift cannot be explained without looking beyond changes in artistic technique, (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pp.38). "Reliefs of the Middle Kingdom and Empire periods show a high degree of abstract refinement that sums up the deliberately assumed artificiality of the Egyptian method. The rule of 'frontality' is the product of a long evolution and is a conscious choice to fulfill a symbolic and hierarchic social purpose." (Myers, 1967, pp.25-26). The frontality to which Myers refers is the manner of Egyptian paintings and sculpted reliefs in which the head, the arms and legs all point to the side while the torso still faces front. The appearance is akward and stiff and unmistacably Egyptian.
Hauser suggests there is a a transformation from religious significance to representative function. I would contend that the change is rather a change from individual representations for spiritual purposes to idealized representation for spiritual purposes based on a body of community tradition. With a large community, stability and order require that the social and religious structure be maintained. Religion and magic do not become less significant, rather the stability of society mitigates against spiritual whimsy and encouraging an entrenchment of those forms which encourage the greatest long term stability. The idea that both Hauser and Myer seem to float is that religion is evolving and therefore art is transforming to keep up with it. But look again. Magic continues to prevail at the heart of the religion. Burial arts become more elaborate. The gods, spiritual mediators or more likely demonic entities, to whom they pray multiply and become more significant.
Politics, it must be said, plays an additional and less spiritual part in the rise of the priesthood and its effect on Egyptian culture. The 'hierarchic social purpose' that Myers notes is the entrenchment of the priestly and political elite which is aided by the power and awe of the religious symbols placed before the public. Undoubtedly there were other religious and political groups who were suppressed, probably brutally suppressed.
The art of Egypt changes very little over two and a half centuries with one remarkable exception. When Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton, 1375-1358 B.C.E.) came to power this rigid adherence to formal style is temporarily broken, (Myers, 1967, pg.26). The reasons are political and religious. Amenhotep IV founded a new religion, a monotheism based on the worship of Aten, an old name for the sun god Ra. He took on the name Akhenaten, "all is well with Aten," and moved the seat of government from Thebes to Amarna. In one swift blow he confronted the corrupt priesthood of Thebes, both politically and religiously, (Gardener, pp.59-71).
This brief period brought a temporary release of artistic forces. "The overcoming of the stiff, academic style by his artists is in harmony with his own fight against pedantic, empty, and meaningless traditions in religion." (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pg.43). For this short time an entirely different style of Egyptian art reigned. The stiff poses and taut, erect torsos, give way to supple bodies, dainty and undulating in their pose. Akhenaten's religious, and hence artistic transformations, disappeared almost entirely shortly after his death. The previous priesthood and religious cult of Amen is restored and Egyptian art returns to the previous formalism with little change all the way up until the Persian conquest of Egypt.
The rapidity of the change in the artistic style of Akhenaton's reign, and especially the swift return of the preceding style, shows the powerful control of the priesthood over Egyptian artistic style. The exquisite formalism of Egyptian art was nurtured, protected and eventually enforced by the priests of Amen. Even tighter religious control was in place in Mesopotamia, where art followed an even more formal pattern, (Hauser, vol.1, 1951, pg.49).
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