AFRICAN ART

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AFRICAN ART
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AFRICAN AFRICANS AND THEIR ART

• INTRODUCTION
• DEFINITION
• ROLE OF THE ARTIST
• TRADITIONAL ART
• AFRICAN SCULPTURE AND MASKS
• ARTISTIC DRESSING BODY ART
• CONTEMPORARY ART

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INTRODUCTION

• African art was misunderstood by the Western
  world until 1900s
• Famous Western artists were influenced by African
  art
• Picasso and Matisse
• Mask of the Fang of Gabon influenced their styles
• Ignored because of ethnocentrism
• Viewed as inferior
• Realism was view until modern art became popular

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DEFINITION

• Art is a means of communicating ones experiences
• Visual expression or account of the culture and
  history of a people as seen by an individual
• Through engraving, painting and sculpture,
  societies relate their ideas, beliefs, values,
  norms, attitudes, traditions and feelings

Family of Three Shona Sculpture (Zimbabwe)
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THE AFRICAN ARTIST

• Work of the artist can be
• Functional (cups, bowls, pipes)
• Traditional (sculptures, masks)
• Contemporary (paintings, drawings, ceramics)

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DEFINITION

• People have different attitudes on art
• Art in traditional Africa was mainly functional
• Fulfills requirements of everyday life
• Clothing, housing, rituals, economic and
  political, war and entertainment
• Secondary for aesthetics
• Sculpture has symbolic value
• Glyptic art of the ancient Egyptians

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TRADITIONAL ART

• Art found in Africa before the Europeans
• Original art of the continent
• Rock drawings
• Roughly carved human heads
• Sculpture
• Wood, terra cotta
• Basketry
• Masks
• Musical instruments
• Printed textiles

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AFRICAN SCULPTURES AND MASKS

• Sculpture
• Can be carved engraved or molded and is three
  dimensional
• Generally symmetrical but can be naturalistic or
  conventional

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AFRICAN SCULPTURES AND MASKS

• Masks
• Very important part of African culture
• Closely related to life events
• Secret societies, funerals, royal celebrations
• Can take the form of spirits, humans or animals

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IBO OF NIGERIA

• Living mainly in the forested areas of south-west
  Nigeria,
• Over ten million individuals.
• Mainly farmers and merchants, they also hunt and
  fish.
• The heads of families form the council of elders,
  which shares its power with numerous secret
  societies.
• These societies exercise great political and
  social influence.
• They are highly hierarchical, their members
  passing from one level to the next.
• There is strong social pressure toward individual
  distinction, and men can move upward through
  successive grades by demonstrating their
  achievements and their generosity.

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IBO MASKS
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IBO SCULPTURE
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AFRICAN MASKS
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ARTISTIC DRESSING

• Dress varies by geographic regions, lifestyle and
  culture
• Communicates a message and identifies the social
  status of the person
• Dress for special occasions
• Adulthood

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AFRICAN DRESS
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AFRICAN DRESS
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JEWELRY

• Jewelry
• Metal jewelry worn on the arms and legs is
  thought to be good for the bones
• Amulets worn in the hair or on the body is
  thought to bring good luck

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JEWELRY

• Jewelry
• Beads are used to enhance romantic feelings

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JEWELRY
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JEWELRY
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JEWELRY
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BODY ART

• African body art uses the human body as a way to
  express an individual's status, spiritual
  beliefs, or ethnic affiliation. It can be created
  on the body itself in the form of tattoos,
  scarification, body painting,

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BODY PAINTING
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BODY PAINTING
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BODY SCARIFICATION

• Body Scarification
• Used to demonstrate family group and as
  decoration
• Sign of beauty
• Used in rituals and ceremonies to mark rank and
  social status

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BODY SCARIFICATION

• Body scarification is an artistic expression and
  made in 4 common ways
• Skin can be punctured with needles ritually
  purified in fire and rubbed with acidic substance
  like a nut to raise scars
• Scar can be made by a knife rubbed in ashes to
  create a relief pattern
• Irritating materials are inserted under the skin
  by needles dusted in ashes
• Razor Blades

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BODY SCARIFICATION
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ARCHITECTURE

• Architecture is also a form of artistic
  expression
• Egyptian pyramids
• Traditional stone houses of Zimbabwe
• European and American architecture is also an
  influencing factor

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CONTEMPORARY ART

• African art today includes painting that can be
  hung on the wall
• Recent development in contemporary art is
  beadwork and bracelets and glasswork
• Evolution of African art a result of social and
  physical mobility
• Artistic styles are being diffused