On November 1st, historian Sebastian Conrad (FU Berlin) presented on ‘Nefertiti’s Twentieth-Century Career: A Global History’. Conrad focused on the different perceptions of beauty following Nefertiti’s history since her discovery. Conrad began his presentation with the modern fascination with Nefertiti with celebrities such as Beyonce, who held a great fascination with Nefertiti and would incorporate her in musical and artistic visuals. She even visited the excavation sites in Egypt with Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, who later distanced himself from Beyonce regarding their different perceptions of the Queen, while the former considered Nefertiti a symbol of Black pride, the latter considered her a symbol of Egyptian pride. Conrad would go on to explain the different appropriations of her throughout the world, starting with the concept of ‘beauty’ as ‘one of the central ingredients of theories of civilization’.
Nefertiti’s bust was first discovered in Egypt by archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt in 1912 and he wrote his firsthand account of her ‘amazingness’. It is now housed in the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany. The first exhibition of the Nefertiti Bust was in 1924, and Borchardt described it as ‘the epitome of calmness and perfect proportions and a divinely beautiful woman’. These concepts of beauty, especially those bestowed upon by the West would be associated with Nefertiti’s bust while also erasing her history and ethnicity as well.
The emergence of European modernity and the idea of modern beauty shaped the way Germans saw her, as she was seen as a woman that did not belong to no specific place or time. Along with this came the problem of ancient Egyptians not being seen as people of color but instead as white people, with a western appearance.
Conrad described Nefertiti’s significance for Germany during the 20th century. During the era of the Weimar Republic, Nefertiti became Germany’s proxy queen. Nefertiti throughout the 20th century would be used to fit and push certain narratives of beauty, race and power.
Conrad continued about the universalism of beauty bringing up Christopher Hill’s idea of ‘Relativizing Universal’, as validation of an idea as a ‘universal’ concept could be described differently in every location. This goes alongside another endeavor and project Conrad is trying to pursue, which is the question of universal beauty and how it's viewed in different places, its change throughout history and what kind of narratives it is trying to push. Indeed, with this presentation, Conrad made a compelling argument with Nefertiti as a woman being held hostage by her image since her discovery.