Your Egypt

[kamar]

Fort Worth, TX - Can a queen be a king? In ancient Egypt she could, as will be seen in the landmark exhibition “Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh,” on view at the Kimbell Art Museum from August 27 to December 31, 2006. This major and spectacular exhibition explores the 20-year reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1479–1458 b.c.), the first great female ruler known to history.

Although less familiar to modern audiences than her much later successor, the notorious Cleopatra (51–30 b.c.), Hatshepsut’s achievements were more significant and place her with the great European queens, like England’s Elizabeth I, in the annals of world history. Ruling first as regent for, then as co-ruler with, her nephew Thutmose III (who ruled for another 33 years after her death), Hatshepsut enjoyed a relatively peaceful reign at the beginning of the New Kingdom. She stabilized the country and restored monuments destroyed during the disruptive Second Intermediate Period, when northern Egypt was controlled by invaders from the Levant (Syria-Palestine). She renewed trade with the Near East, the far-off land of Punt to the south, and the Aegean islands of Greece to the north. The resulting economic prosperity was richly reflected in the art of the time, which is characterized by remarkable innovations in sculpture and decorative arts and which produced such architectural marvels as Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri.

“Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh” brings together a vast treasure of royal statuary and relief; sculptures representing members of the royal court; and a wide variety of ceremonial objects, finely crafted furniture, dazzling royal jewelry, and other exquisite personal items that tell the compelling story of Hatshepsut’s reign and reveal the diverse and exquisite artistic production of her time. Works in the exhibition have been assembled from the major American and European museums, including many works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s extensive holdings of objects excavated by the Met’s Egyptian Expedition in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as a group of select loans from Cairo and Luxor in Egypt.
Commented Dr. Timothy Potts, director of the Kimbell Art Museum, “Hatshepsut is perhaps the most intriguing figure in ancient Egyptian history—a queen who attained all the powers, and even the physical trappings, of a pharaoh. As ruler of the most powerful nation on earth, she oversaw an artistic renewal that produced some of the greatest masterpieces of Egyptian art. This exhibition brings us as close as we will ever be to Hatshepsut the woman, the queen, and the pharaoh. ”The exhibition is organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Exhibition Overview
Born in the 15th century b.c., Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I and Ahmose, assumed the throne after her half-brother/husband died, her nephew/stepson Thutmose not yet being of an age to rule. As a woman in nominal control of the most powerful civilization in the world, Hatshepsut had many obstacles to overcome. There was always a threat of revolt, especially as her nephew came of age and could be manipulated by powerful cliques at court. But she managed to keep these challenges at bay. Using artistic propaganda and keen political skills, after six years as regent for Thutmose III, Hatshepsut became the “king” in statuary and other official art for the remaining 15 years of her rule. She even dressed in the traditional garb of male pharaohs.

The exhibition features a number of monumental statues of Hatshepsut herself, including images of her as a female ruler, as a masculine king, and as a sphinx. In fact, one of only two statues of Hatshepsut from Deir el-Bahri (the site of her mortuary temple), in which her dress style and adornment depict her as female royalty, will be on view at the Kimbell. Numerous objects that belonged to courtiers and other elites during the rule of Hatshepsut are also presented, including elegant stone vessels, lavish gold jewelry, and furniture. A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press, is available in the Museum Shop.

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Kimbell_Art_Museum-Hatshepsut_exhibit.html

[Anonymous]

Thanks

[Louise]

She is the most important ruler whose name we never know. I would like to interview her and learn how she did what she did. She must have had great charisma.