AFRICAN ART

Lecture 7A: Introduction

The San of South Africa

Eastern Africa

MAP OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

AFRICAN ART HISTORY…

A FEW WORDS

• Scholars are just now beginning to understand the complexity of African art.

• In addition to studying the object, CONTEXT is CRUCIAL!!! Works are used in dances, rituals, and have sacred power.

• Context can be difficult to recreate due to the long reaching negative effects of colonization and the institution of slavery.

• The current scholarship shows African art to be vibrant, expressive, and deeply rooted in religious thought.

Masked Kanga Dancers,

Dogon, Mali. 20th century

THE WORLD’S OLDEST KNOWN ARTWORK!!!

• In 2008 archaeologists uncovered a 100,000 year old paint workshop in the Blombos Cave in Africa near the Southern Cape Coast.

• Ochre with delicate, incised geometric patterns found.

• Completely undoes many of the assumptions we had about early human history!!!

WORLDVIEW OF THE SAN CULTURE,

SOUTHERN AFRICA

• Painting on stone surfaces

are among the oldest

known art forms in Africa.

• (NOTE: These works are

not related to the rock art

in Australia).

• San artworks both

illustrate and play an

active role in the power

and activities of

healers/shamans.

Rock paintings of Elands (sacred species

of antelope)

San people, South Africa, date unknown

Rock paintings of hunters and Elands, San people,

South Africa, c. 2000 B.C.-A.D. 1900

San culture, South Africa, Eland with “line of force”

representing sacred energy or life force (n’um)

San culture, rock painting from South Africa, showing healing ceremony

THE ART OF EAST AFRICA The Giryama of Kenya, the Tutsi of Rwanda, and Christians in Ethiopia

MAP OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

FUNERAL POSTS OF THE GIRYAMA IN KENYA

• After a person dies, their spirit asks a wealthy relative for a spot to rest outside of the cemetery.

• Faces range from naturalistic to highly abstract; the body is always a long, thin rectangle.

• “Body” decorated with patterning that can represent the achievements of the deceased during their lifetime.

• No post? That’s a problem!

VIDEO OF THE GIRYAMA PEOPLE

SINGING AND DANCING

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzqMbSf_rbM

TUTSI BASKETRY

• Baskets, mats, clothes, fishnets, fences, AND architecture were woven due to abundance of grass in the east.

• Baskets decorated with vibrant geometric patterns in yellow, red, black, and white.

• Woven with wet reeds; baskets then dry and keep their shape.

Lidded Basket (Igiseke), 20th century

Rwanda; Tutsi peoples

ETHIOPIAN ART: CHRISTIAN ART FOR AFRICA

• East Africa was Christianized

from the 4th to 6th centuries.

• Elements of Early Medieval

Christian art were combined

with African abstraction and

love of vibrant red and orange

inks.

• Both medieval and African

Christian texts completed on

parchment with ink.

Page from an Illuminated Gospel, late 14th century

Ethiopia, Highland region

Page from an Illuminated Gospel, late 14th

century

Ethiopia, Highland region

Parchment (vellum), wood (acacia), tempera, ink

The Gospel According to

Matthew, Lindisfarne

Gospel, early 8th

century. Compare to

figure 7.6

AFTER THIS LECTURE YOU SHOULD

BE ABLE TO…

• Discuss the ineffective nature of trying to understand African art from a western art historical perspective.

• Identify key features of the worldviews of African peoples in the south and eastern portions of the continent.

• Compare and contrast medieval and Ethiopian manuscripts.

• Identify who makes artwork in this region and how owners treat the works.