''My Egypt'' is a 1927 painting by the American artist
Charles Demuth
Charles Henry Buckius Demuth (November 8, 1883 – October 23, 1935) was an American painter who specialized in watercolors and turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism.
"Search the history of Ameri ...
. It depicts a
grain elevator
A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...
from the artist's hometown of
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...
, and is considered a "masterpiece" and "emblem" of the
Precisionist art movement.
Background
The grain elevator featured in the painting belonged to John W. Eshelman and Sons, and was part of a feed mill located near the center of Lancaster. The concrete silos depicted were constructed in 1919, and are flanked by older brick and timber structures near the lower edge of the painting.
The art historian Emily Farnham notes that Demuth's earlier paintings—especially his 1917 Bermuda landscapes—were characterized by pale colors, while also identifying ''My Egypt'' as part of a shift in which the painter's "color came back to life".
Analysis
The art historian Karal Ann Marling finds the
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, ...
to be the "primary analogue" to the painting's monumental grain elevator, and interprets the pyramidal elevator to be "Demuth's memorial to himself ... ''his'' Egypt, a personal emblem of death constructed in terms of the American monument which dominates the skyline of Lancaster." The Egyptologist
I. E. S. Edwards
Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, (21 July 1909 – 24 September 1996) — known as I. E. S. Edwards— was an English Egyptologist and curator, considered to be a leading expert on the pyramids.
Biography
Born in London, he was the son of Edwar ...
traces the link between pyramids and grain elevators to at least as early as the 5th century, when
Julius Honorius Julius Honorius, also known as Julius Orator, was a teacher of geography during Late Antiquity.
He is known only by a single work, ''Cosmographia'', which is a set of notes he had written down by one of his students while he lectured about a world ...
attempted to prove that the Egyptian pyramids were
Joseph's granaries.
References
Sources
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Further reading
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External links
''My Egypt'' on Google Arts & Culture
{{Authority control
1927 paintings
Paintings by Charles Demuth
Paintings in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art