Australian Aboriginal Art

1. Australian Aboriginal Art

2. Who are the Aborigines? • Aborigine means “native” • Original people of Australia • Traveled in canoes from SE Asia • Lived there at least 40,000 years as the only people • Developed unique beliefs about creation • Survived as hunters and observers

3. What is Aboriginal Art? • Last traditional art form to be appreciated • To understand Aboriginal Art we first need to learn about Dreamtime • Dreamtime • Art is a way to stay in touch with their ancestry and be a part of the natural world

4. Dreamtime Stories • Passed down through generations by word of mouth • Artworks depict deep meaning told through dreamtime stories • Basis of value and belief system, affects their interaction with the land and animals • Land is sacred because it contains their heritage, history, and powerful ancestors or spirits

5. How did Aboriginals create art? • Unique subject matter and style • Rock paintings, bark paintings, sand (or dot paintings), and body decoration • Brushes • fingers or sticks to paint • Used natural ochers (minerals) or clay • charcoal

6. Aboriginal Rock Art • Longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world. • Ubirr, located in North Australia, has very impressive rock paintings.

7. "One old man in Arnhem Land remembered being carried as a child on his father's shoulders as his father climbed up a log leaning against a rock wall. His father then sprayed his hand with red ochre against the rock, leaving a stencil he could still recognize many years later. The main function of the stencils was to record people's presence and association with a site."

9. X-Ray Style Painting • Developed around 2000 B.C. • Found in shallow caves or rock shelters particularly in Western and Northern Australia • Simple exterior animal shapes that depict internal organs, bone structure (ribs, back bone), or baby animal inside • Created by painting the animal’s silhouette in white and using red or yellow for the inside

10. Body Decoration • Traditional practice for ceremonies • Includes scarring, smeared clay or ochres on face, wearing ornaments and headdress • Deep spiritual significance • Geometric designs • Use respected patterns of an ancestor to take on their living appearance • Designs may also reflect their role in the family or important role in their community

11. Early African Art • KORHOGO MUD CLOTH PAINTING • & other textile styles

12. What is KORHOGO? • ‘RITUAL and MAGIC’ are part of Korhogo . • Fila is the name of the cloth that the Senufo people of Ivory Coast would wear for ‘protection’ • It is a white, hand-woven cotton on which black & gray drawings are painted with vegetable juices & mud. • The clothing items are worn on certain days of the week. • Part of the ritual would require the wearers to observe certain restrictions of food and other obligations.

13. Mud Cloth Fabric is…Made using ancient and extensive process. • Fabric is all hand spun making individual cloth sheets • Each strip of cloth is sewed together. Fabric is then dyed in tea made from the Bogalon tree found in Mali, West Africa. • The tea acts as a fixative for mud painted designs that are hand painted, using specially prepared mud. • Some designs are then bleached after the entire process is complete to give white designs. 

15. Ivory Coast in part of West Africa. Korhogo is a village that is known for its weaving and cloth designs Korhogo weavers

16. Guro Shield Mask Ivory Coast Guro Tribe artifact Rams head mounted on a concaveshield. The head is surmounted with the usual abstract bird.

17. African Masks and Sculptures:

18. What similarities do you see?

19. Some Modern Artists Influenced by Africa: -Pablo Picasso -Henri Matisse -Maurice de Vlaminck -Amedeo Modigliani -George Braque