The Fayum portraits

Duration: 15

Year Published: 1988

Creator: Metropolitan Arts for the Program for Art on Film

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: Presents over fifty mummy portraits painted in the Fayum region of Egypt between A.D. 100 and 300 during Roman rule. Executed in encaustic during the subject's lifetime, the portrait was placed over the person's head after mummification. Explores the psychological intensity of these portraits, all highly individualistic but with similar rendering of the eyes--an open, abstract gaze that separates these subjects from their earthly context. Multiple sound tracks include excerpts from late Hellenistic texts, religious texts, and personal documents from Fayum dwellers, as well as art-historical interpretation by Richard Brilliant, commentary by a tour guide, and music by Meredith Monk. Interweaves these elements to provide a multifaceted experience that explores the historical and aesthetic issues behind the portraits. A film by directors Bob Rosen and Andrea Simon and art historian Richard Brilliant.