In the Fullness of Time: Masterpieces of Egyptian Art from American Collections

African Arts, Winter, 2003 by Shanna Kennedy-Quigley

In the Fullness of Time Masterpieces of Egyptian Art from American Collections James F. Romano Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, 2002. Distributed by University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. 94 pp., 11 b/w & 67 color illustrations, map, notes. $24.95 softcover.

In the Fullness of Time was published in connection with the exhibition of the same name arranged by the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and presented there (August 31, 2002-January 4, 2003) and at the Boise Art Museum (March 8-July 29, 2003). The exhibition featured 48 examples of Egyptian art on loan from such distinguished American institutions as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The artifacts comprise a range of Egyptian artistic expression: three-dimensional and relief sculpture, paintings on portable objects, and personal arts.

The catalogue, just 94 pages in length, opens with an essay by John Olbrantz, director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, titled "Innocents Abroad: Collectors, Curators, and the Rise of Egyptian Collections in the United States." Olbrantz traces the trajectory of American Egyptology, beginning with its inception in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when Americans first became involved in Egyptological explorations and Egyptian relics began to appear in U.S. collections. The Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, founded in 1799, provides the earliest securely dated instance of the collection and exhibition of Egyptian artifacts in the U.S.: it received a mummified ibis donated by a Captain Apthorp in the early 1800s.

Moving steadily through the next two centuries, Olbrantz effectively demonstrates not only the evolution of the accession process but also the increasing fascination among American individuals and institutions in the visual culture of ancient Egypt. The author's conscientious footnotes recommend resources to those seeking more specific information regarding the development of Egyptology in America. The accompanying photographs capture the key faces and places behind the gradual accretion of historical insight and material evidence in the American context: Phoebe Apperson Hearst, benefactor of the museum that bears her name at the University of California, Berkeley, on tour at Giza in 1900; a view of the valley mortuary temple of Menkaure at Giza, under excavation in 1910 as a joint effort of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; James Henry Breasted, assistant director of the Haskell Oriental Museum (forerunner of the present Oriental Institute) at the University of chicago during the late 1890s and early 1900s, at the Amada temple in Nubia; Clarence S. Fisher, curator of the Egyptian Section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology from 1914 to 1925, excavating at Dendara; and the temple of Dendur, acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1967, on display in New York in 1979.

Following Olbrantz's account is a more extensive essay by James F. Romano, curator of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and consultant to the Salem exhibition. Romano addresses the primary thematic concern of "In the Fullness of Time": Why is Egyptian art so readily identifiable? To answer this question, he focuses on the function of art within the Egyptian context, considering not only the information conveyed by the artist but also the chosen modes of communication. A concise survey of techniques employed to create the art forms represented in the exhibition is provided, as is a remarkably lucid assessment of the complex cultural, iconographic, and formal principles which governed these works. Within this highly conventionalized framework, Romano shows the presence of significant stylistic variation, thereby dismantling the longstanding misconception of Egyptian art as strictly "conservative." Ultimately he demonstrates that the persistently religious occupation of ancient Egyptian art necessitated its formal consistency, and hence supreme recognizability.

In the Fullness of Time has much to offer newcomers to the field of Egyptology, from a history of the discipline in America to an instructive and accessible assessment of Egyptian visual culture. Those familiar with the art of Egypt will appreciate the authors' facility with the subject matter and the superior quality of the works chosen for inclusion, as reflected in the numerous excellent color photographs. While showcasing the beauty of these artifacts, this catalogue delves deeper; rather than simply extolling the technical proficiency of the Egyptian artisan, it concerns itself most significantly with the motivations of those responsible for creating such venerable final products. Thanks to the combined efforts of Olbrantz and Romano, In the Fullness of Time successfully captures the essence of ancient Egyptian artistic expression.