African art

African art

Top: Seated Nok figure (5th century BCE-5th century CE); Centre: Benin plaque with warriors and attendants (16th-17th century); Bottom: Kuba n'dop, king Mishe miShyaang maMbul (18th century)[1]

African art describes modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as African-American, Caribbean or art in South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.^[2]

Pottery, metalwork, sculpture, architecture, textile art, and fiber art are important visual art forms across Africa and may be included in the study of African art. The term "African Art" does not usually include the art of the North African areas along the Mediterranean coast, as such areas had long been part of different traditions. For more than a millennium, the art of such areas had formed part of Berber or Islamic art, however, with many particular local characteristics.

Ethiopian art, with a long Christian tradition,^[3] is also different from that of most of Africa, where Traditional African religion (with Islam in the north) was dominant until the 20th century.^[4] African art includes prehistoric and ancient art, the Islamic art of West Africa, the Christian art of East Africa, and the traditional artifacts of these, and other regions. Many African sculptures were historically made of wood and other natural materials that have not survived from earlier than a few centuries ago, although rare older pottery and metal figures can be found in some areas.^[5] Some of the earliest decorative objects, such as shell beads and evidence of paint, have been discovered in Africa, dating to the Middle Stone Age.^[6][7][8] Masks are important elements in the art of many people, along with human figures, and are often highly stylised. There is a vast variety of styles, often varying within the same context of origin and depending on the use of the object, but wide regional trends are apparent. Sculpture is most common among "groups of settled cultivators in the areas drained by the Niger and Congo rivers" in West Africa.^[9] Direct images of deities are relatively infrequent, but masks in particular are or were often made for ritual ceremonies. Since the late 19th century, there has been an increasing amount of African art in Western collections, the finest pieces of which are displayed as part of the history of colonisation.

African art had an important influence on European Modernist art,^[10] which was inspired by their interest in abstract depiction. It was this appreciation of African sculpture that has been attributed to the very concept of "African art", as seen by European and American artists and art historians.^[11]

West African cultures developed bronze casting for reliefs, like the famous Benin Bronzes, to decorate palaces and for highly naturalistic royal heads from around the Bini town of Benin City, Edo State, as well as in terracotta or metal, from the 12th–14th centuries. Akan gold weights are a form of small metal sculptures produced over the period 1400–1900; some represent proverbs, contributing a narrative element rare in African sculpture; and royal regalia included gold sculptured elements.^[12] Many West African figures are used in religious rituals, and are often coated with materials placed on them for ceremonial offerings. The Mande-speaking peoples of the same region make pieces from wood with broad, flat surfaces and arms and legs shaped like cylinders. In Central Africa, however, the main distinguishing characteristics include heart-shaped faces that are curved inward and display patterns of circles and dots.