Minoan Art

Egyptian art depicts people in a rigid, blocky, stiff manner and the people portrayed were generally religious or political figures often sculpted or painted in profile. For example, the "Palette of King Narmer" located in Hierakonpolis, Egypt is a blah-colored "stone slab with a circular depression" (Kleiner 57). This palette depicts the king on both sides in human form escorted by his "sandal-bearer." Please note that this is an example of Egyptian art where profiles are indeed, demonstrated. This artwork probably recognizes the historical event of the joining together of Upper and Lower Egypt which is common for Egyptian art to commemorate an event. In contrast, Minoan art demonstrates various characteristics of the Minoan people, their culture
First, you can see that it is not a religious or political figure being portrayed. In this piece of art, "young men grasped the horns of a bull and vaulted onto its back" (Kleiner 89) demonstrating bull leaping, a ritual performed at the time. This image is a great example of how people were portrayed in Aegean art. Two young women are shown on either side of the bull. "The young women have fair skin and the leaping youth has dark skin, in accordance with the widely accepted ancient convention for distinguishing male and female" (Kleiner 89). People are portrayed curvaceous, not rigid or blocky in shape with solid color beautifully displayed. Minoans utilized a "wet" method of painting called true fresco. In comparison, Egyptians used a dry painting method called fresco secco. With fresco secco, "artists let the plaster dry before painting on it" (Kleiner 74), whereas with true fresco, artists painted on wet plaster which "enabled slower and more meticulous work than painting on fresh plaster" (Kleiner 74). Some other differences were that the imagery of people were now being placed in a more naturalistic space in Aegean art instead of a flat base in Egyptian