Greetings.
This might seem a silly question, but I was wondering.... You know how a
Western "take" on Chinese art and objects is called "Chinoisserie" (excuse
spelling) and Japanese via the West is "Japonaisse" or something like that
(really should be checking my dictionary, and will asap), I was wondering if
there was a word for the use of Egyptian visual forms by Westerners, as in
say, by the Order of the Golden Dawn? Something like "Egyptianissme" (I made
that up). I'm interested in the Egyptian aesthetic in Western secret
societies. Is it, as Ronald Hutton says, a matter of new archaeological
information simply being in corporated into, say, the Freemasons in the 18th
and 19th centuries for example, as it is unearthed? And perhaps the
Egyptians were practically the only "ancient society" that people knew
about? Or perhaps the Egyptian aesthetic is so powerful it just "seemed"
really right to incorporate it into secret society imagery and costume.
Maybe "Egyptian" was so foreign that it was something safe to befuddle, it
was distant enough and weird enough that outrageous claims could be made
about it?...
Musing...
~Caroline.
|