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Egyptomania: The Egyptian Revival: A Recurring Theme in the History of Taste.
In this beautifully illustrated book Professor Curl offers a comprehensive guide to the numerous revivals of the Egyptian style from Antiquity to the present day. This pioneering and definitive work analyses the influence of Ancient Egypt on art, architecture, design, and religion, and outlines the astonishing persistence of Egyptianising themes throughout two millennia of the History of Taste. The author develops his lively argument throughout the book, focusing on his case that Egyptian civilisation is central, rather than peripheral, to the development of European culture. Egyptomania charts the persistence of Egyptian motifs in design from Ancient Greece and Rome, through the Mediaeval and Renaissance periods, and into Neo-Classicism after the Napoleonic campaigns in Egypt at the end of the eighteenth century. It goes on to trace the rise of Egyptology in the nineteenth century, the twentieth-century Art Deco movement influenced by the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, and subsequent Egyptianising tendencies, to the present day.
Essential reading for students of art, art history, design, and architectural history, and for all those interested in the History of Taste, aspects of religion, and the remarkable absorption of Egyptian and Egyptianising aspects into Western European culture.
Egyptomania: The Egyptian Revival: A Recurring Theme in the History of Taste (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1994)
ISBN: 0-7190-4126-0
Buy - A few copies of the earlier version of this book, published as The Egyptian Revival by Allen & Unwin in 1982, are also available in hardback, with wrappers, at £80 each.
Reviews 'Once again Curl has brought his formidable scholarship to bear on a subject which....has not received the attention it dererves...Curl moves with majestic logic through the strange history of this 2000-year-old European obsession...Curl's mastery of his material is an impressive as ever, and his book will be, without doubt, the last word on the subject.' Dan Cruickshank in The Architects' Journal (6 October 1994).
'...comprehensive and enthralling... The interest and usefulness of the book lies...in the exploration of the absorption of Egyptian culture by the civilisations that followed...The book is yet another monument to Curl's knowlege and tireless industry. Never guilty of mere orthodoxy, he demonstrates the perennial obsession with Egyoptian forms with a wealth of illustration.' Gavin Stamp in Building Design (24 February 1995).
'Curl's work might well come first in order of recommended reading. It is...systematic...and provided with a strong line of argument which is maintained from start to finish. The range of examples is most impressive.' T.G.H.James in Burlington Magazine (August 1995).
'Curl's field of investigation is enormous....He analyses the persistence of the Egyptian style with great pertinacity and imparts a huge range of information. the ground covered by his choice of illustrations is immense, and his bibliography makes a great contribution to scholarship and serious future enquiry.' Gazette des Beaux-Arts (July-August 1995).
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