Please answer the following question. Your answer should be thorough and demonstrate your understanding of the material.
What does the art tells you about the people of Africa? You are required to make reference to the YouTube video or resource from Learning Activities page to demonstrate you have completed these activities.
Make sure you support your answer with evidence from the readings.
Week 13
Introduction
African art usually refers to the works of sub-Saharan, Africa, that part of the continent originally inhabited by Blacks who developed cultures quite distinct from those of North Africa. Within this huge geographic area are regions of radically different topography, climate, and natural resources. The economies of these regions, therefore, also differ radically from one another, as do the customs, religions, languages, and artistic expressions of their peoples. There is startling diversity within each of the regions as well.
African art is utilitarian and an integral part of daily life. The most common objects have meaning and purpose which turns them into art. It’s not art for art’s sake, but rather art for the purpose of living a deeper and more meaningful life with a greater understanding of the world.
Knowledge of the history of visual arts in Africa is very piecemeal. For example, the earliest-known sculptures are the pottery heads, figures and ironworking of the Nok culture of Nigeria (500 BC to AD 200). The earliest evidence for the use of copper is found in the Igbo village, also in Nigeria, where sites of the 9th century AD have revealed cast bronze regalia used in ceremonies along with other works of art. But, very different in style from the brass castings of the Yoruba city of Ife (11th-15th century) or to those of Benin (15th-19th century), also in Nigeria. Other examples from other regions include the heads from Lydenburg in South Africa dated to about AD 500; Sculptures in stone from Sierra Leone, probably the work of Sherbro carvers and datable to no later than the 16th century. The earliest-known sculptures in wood may be certain portrait statues of kings of the Kuba, central Zaire, thought to date from the 17th century. Some of the finest sculptures in wood date in the 1920s from Yoruba masters such as Olowe of Ise (d. 1939) and Areogun of Osi-Ilorin (c. 1880-1954). What is ironic is that each of these examples seems to be a fully developed style, indicating it is not likely the first.
As you can tell “African” art is as broad of a concept as any other discussion about the continent. This module will introduce you some of the art. In no way is it an exhaustive study. Side note: There is a wonderful class available at Sinclair if you are interested in a more complete exploration of the topic.
Five Elements of African Art
There are five elements of African art that are used to describe the aesthetics. Yet African art is so simple and complex at the same time that the elements can’t capture its real meaning and purpose. But people need a way to classify and define art and so have narrowed the basic elements of African art to the following:
Resemblance to a human being:
African artists praise a carved figure by saying that it “looks like a human being.” Artists seldom portray particular people, actual animals, or the actual form of invisible spirits. Rather, they aim to portray ideas about reality, spiritual or human, and express these ideas through human or animal images.
Luminosity:
The lustrously smooth surface of most African figural sculpture, often embellished with decorative scarification, indicates beautifully shining, healthy skin. Figures with rough surfaces and deformities are intended to appear ugly and morally flawed.
Self-composure:
The person who is composed behaves in a measured and rational way; he or she is controlled, proud, dignified, and cool.
Youthfulness:
A youthful appearance connotes vigor, productiveness, fertility, and an ability to labor. Illness and deformity are rarely depicted because they are signs of evil.
Balance and proportion through material choices.
The only one of the five elements that is common to Western Art.
The reality is that trying to describe the 5 elements of African art in a few sentences is like trying to describe the universe in a paragraph. Though art differs by region in its forms and materials, the aesthetic elements provide common ground for understanding the complexity of the art. In Africa, art is intended to portray ideas, beliefs, status and workmanship.
Source: http://www.all-about-african-art.com/5-elements-of-african-art.html
Art & culture
African art and culture are one and the same. Culture is the history, practices and beliefs that make up a society. In Africa, art was seldom used for decorative purposes, but rather to give life to the values, emotions and daily customs of the various ethnic groups throughout the continent.
African art and culture, in many instances deals with making sense out of the world. It also deals with the religious aspects of life. The first African art were terracotta figures that didn’t bother with normal human representation. That’s because African art doesn’t focus on recreating the world in another form, but rather concentrates on explaining the world to reduce the fear of the unknown.
They blend together to create an explanation of the universe which would not be possible otherwise. It is poetry built into objects used throughout daily life. It includes ritual and ceremonial objects, items used daily, adornments showing status or tribe and representations of those things in life which defy explanation.
For thousands of years, African culture was primarily passed on through direct teaching and through verbal communication. Instead of books and tablets, Africans used sculptures and objects to pass on their beliefs and customs from one generation to another . A sculpture may be of an ancestor or a particular mask may be used only during a special ritual or ceremony that is important to the tribe.
The different materials used to make various pieces of African art were determined by location. However religion was the common thread that made African art and culture the perfect team. Masks, sculptures, headdresses, carvings, cooking bowls and many other items were created with the purpose of providing insight into the unpredictable unseen world.
They are so entwined that its impossible to separate the two. Almost every piece of African art represents a cultural value or belief. For example, baskets may hold the remains of an ancestor whose story is retold to all group members or masks enable the wearer, in times of battle, to invoke the god of strength and courage. Its these mystical qualities attached to each piece of African art that makes them so unique, desirable and valuable.
