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Art Through the Ages Volume I. Early African Art. African Art. Philosophy: Art was created and conserved to honor the ancestors in preparation of the afterlife. Ancestor worship and nature deities Art was used for rituals Hunters and gatherers society
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Art Through the AgesVolume I Early African Art
African Art • Philosophy: Art was created and conserved to honor the ancestors in preparation of the afterlife. • Ancestor worship and nature deities • Art was used for rituals • Hunters and gatherers society • Art differed according to a regions economy, lifestyle, ideology, and materials available to them. • Works were made from terracotta, ivory, cast metal • Art was used for trade
The Earliest Art In Africa • The worlds earliest art was discovered in Africa • Rock engraving was one of the earliest mediums used in Africa. • Rock art was concentrated in the dry desert regions • There was a rich record of environment, human activities, and animal species
Characteristics of Nok Art (Central Sudan) • Pierced eyes, mouth and ear holes. • Clay sculptures • Ritual context
Nok Head, 500 B.C.- 200 A.D. • Rafin Kura, Nigeria • Terracotta • 1’ 2 3/16”
Heads of Lydenburg (South Africa), 6th – 8th century • Nearly life size terracotta heads discovered outside of Lydenburg • Heads were reconstructed from fragments of Terracotta • Scarification on forehead, temples, and between eyes
Early Iron Age Earthenware Head, Lydenburg, 500-600 A.D. • 210 mm • Radiocarbon date to about 500 to 600 A.D. • One of the seven Lydenburg heads
Equestrain Figure on Fly-Whisk Hilt, Igbo Ukwu, 9th – 10th Century • Copper-alloy bronze • 6 3/16” high • A bronze-casting tradition developed in West African during the 9th and 10th century. • Facial stripes (scarification) on the figure represents marks of status • Oldest metal castings known from regions south of the Sahara
King, Ile Ife, 11th -12th century • Zinc-brass alloy • Represents a figure head • Contains precise detailed patterning • Idealized naturalism • Ife is considered the cradle of Yoruba culture and civilization • Figures served in rituals supporting divine kingship
Ivory Belt Mask of a Queen Mother, Benin Art, mid-16th Century • Ivory and Iron • 9 3/8” high • Royalty commissioned metal pieces and ivory carvings • Art was given as royal favors to title holders or other chiefs. • This mask was worn by a king at his waist.
Bracelets: Crocodile Heads, Benin Art, 17th -19th century • 17th-19th Century • African art is often functional • African women wear all the jewelry the own at the same time, not just for ceremonies and festivals.
Oba Supported by Attendants, Benin Art, 1500-1897 A.D. • Oba is the belief of the ability to accomplish great things • work depicts a king with a human torso but with legs formed by mudfish • The king needs the help of his two attendants to stand.
Great Zimbabwe (Southern Africa) • Great Zimbabwe is also known as “Africa’s Stonehenge” • Zimbabwe means Stone Enclosure in Shona • Complex Stone Structures • Zimbabwe was prosperous trade center, with a wide trade network • Soapstone birds, ancestor worship
Walls and tower, Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe,14th Century • Stone • Eliptical Stone walls, used no mortar • Unusual for their size and excellence in stone work • Small pieces of stone were cut for decorative edging or insets
Bird with Crocodile image on top of stone monolith, Great Zimbabwe, 15th Century • Soapstone, • Bird is interpreted as symbolizing the first wife of the rulers ancestors
Sapi Art (West Atlantic Coast) • Carved stone, wood and ivory objects, such as utensils, saltcellars, boxes, hunting horns, and knife handles. • Objects were made to export to Europe • Details on figures were characteristically European. • Large heads, flaring nostrils
Master of the Symbolic Execution, saltcellar, Sapi-Portuguese, 15th and 16th Century • Ivory, 15th-t16th century • Kneeling figure on top holds an ax and a shield and prepares to behead the slouched figure. • Circular platform is held up by slender rods adorned by crocodile images
Beta Medhane Alem church, Lalibela, Ethiopia, 14th century • Largest rock-cut church • Work had to be visualized before work could begin
Inland Niger Delta Art(Western Sudan) • Subject matter includes: equestrians Male and female couples emaciated & diseased people snake entwined figures
Equestrian figure, Inland Niger Delta, 13th- 15th century • Terracotta • 28” • Since the 1940s, low-fired ceramic figures and fragments have been unearthed at various sites in the Inland Niger Delta region.