TEL +32 (0)2 741 72 68 WWW.KMKG.BE FAX +32 (0)2 733 77 35 [email protected] 21 May 2013 Press Release Contour Scribes – Drawing in Ancient Egypt From 13 September 2013 to 19 January 2014, the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels will be hosting the exhibition ‘Contour Scribes – Drawing in Ancient Egypt’. This is a prime opportunity to discover the secrets of the draughtsmen and painters of pharaonic Egypt. The exhibition opens together with the grand retrospective devoted to the work of Henry van de Velde. In Ancient Egypt, draughtsmen and painters were known as ‘contour scribes’. Indeed, Egyptian art was primarily determined by lines encompassing forms and areas, thereby producing outline sketches within which colours in all their hues could be applied to dazzling effect. The exhibition, which, as ‘The Art of Outline Drawing in Ancient Egypt’, is currently having its first showing at the Louvre in Paris (from April to July 2013), points up the importance of drawing in the pharaonic civilization. It treats conventions, techniques, functions and applications, and brings the visitor into direct contact with Egyptian artists through the medium of the most free and spontaneous creations, as well as of strictly official works of art. A whole range of questions regarding the ‘contour scribes’ are dealt with, including: how and by whom they were trained, what their position in society was, how much literary and artistic schooling they had, and how their creativity and aesthetic sense can be described. The exhibition also seeks to provide a profound reflection on the concept ‘art’ in Ancient Egypt, as well as to consider how we ourselves experience Egyptian art, what ideal of beauty lies behind that art, and how that relates to the function of the works of art produced by the artists of the Nile Valley. This rich range of themes is explored on the basis of approximately 200 remarkable items lent by world-class museums, and includes illustrated papyri and ostraka, wall paintings from tombs, stelae, sculptures, items of grave furniture, and drawing instruments. Numerous of these items have come from the Louvre and the Royal Museums of Art and History, and also co-operating in the exhibition are the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the British Museum and the Petrie Museum (London), the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Leiden), the Medelhavsmuseet (Stockholm), the Kestner-Museum (Hanover), the Ägyptisches Museum (Berlin), the Museo Egizio (Turin), the Museo Egizio (Florence), the Musée Calvet (Avignon), the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Lyon), the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris) and the Musée des Antiquités nationales (Saint- Germain-en-Laye). Accompanying the museum is a richly illustrated catalogue that not only discusses the items on display, piece by piece, but also includes a number of earlier essays on Egyptian drawing. Practical information Contour Scribes – Drawing in Ancient Egypt 13/09/2013 – 19/01/2014 Cinquantenaire Museum Jubelpark 10 B-1000 Brussels www.kmkg.be – [email protected] Opening hours Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. (the ticket office closes at 4 p.m.) Closed on Mondays and 1 and 11 November, 25 December and 1 January Entrance prices € 8 - € 7 - € 3 Guided tours Information and reservations: +32 (0)2 741 72 15 – [email protected] Catalogue L'art du contour - Le dessin dans l'Égypte ancienne (in French) Under the direction of Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë Louvre éditions / Somogy éditions d’art, 2013 € 39 Already on sale in the Museum shop. A Dutch translation is in preparation. Museum shop +32 (0)2 741 73 62 - [email protected] Restaurant / ‘Le Midi 50’ Cafetaria +32 (0)2 735 87 54 - [email protected] Access Train: Brussels Central station(+ metro) or Schuman station Metro: Schuman station Tram-bus: 22, 27, 61, 80, 81 Ample parking space for cars and coaches More information for journalists This press release and the press photographs can be downloaded from the Cinquantenaire Museum website: http://www.kmkg-mrah.be/nl/pers Michel Draguet, Acting General Manager Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë, General Curator, Director of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, curator of the exhibition Luc Delvaux, Curator of the Egyptian Collection, curator of the exhibition in Brussels Bart Suys, Head of Communication +32 (0)2 741 73 00 - [email protected] Become a fan of the Cinquantenaire Museum on Facebook.