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African art, the visual arts of native Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, including such media as sculpture, painting, pottery, rock art, textiles, masks, personal decoration, and jewelry.
What are the 5 elements of African art?
Elements of the African Aesthetic Resemblance to a human being: Luminosity: Self-composure: Youthfulness: Clarity of form and detail, complexity of composition, balance and symmetry, smoothness of finish:.
What material is most common in the early African art?
Clay is among the most plentiful African art materials. Terracotta works are among the earliest surviving Sub-Sahara pieces from the continent dating back to the 8th millennium B.C. The earliest terracotta works that have remained intact were figures known as Nok; other works include vessels and figurative objects.
What were the earliest forms of art in Africa?
Rock art is the earliest art form in Africa. We know from human evolutionary science that modern Homo Sapiens began in Africa. It stands to reason therefore that Africa would contain both the oldest and greatest amount of rock art on this planet.
What is African art mostly used for?
Traditional African art served a purpose (and does still in some cultures) as an agent of religion, social stability, and social control. Art that has a purpose is not unique to African or other non-Western cultures but occurs in Western ones as well.
What are the common forms of African literature?
African literature then expanded to include hymns, romance, epic, poetry, fictional narrative, epistles, diaries, philosophy, biography, and autobiography. One particular form of African narrative which may have been the first to draw Western attention for the first time was composed by slaves.
What are the element of African art?
Three-dimensional Objects Most traditional African art is three-dimensional and includes carvings, castings, pottery, basketry, jewelry, clothing that is not merely flat, and buildings. Contemporary African three-dimensional art includes sculptures, ceramics, jewelry, much clothing, basketry, and buildings.
What are the four major forms found in African art?
Pottery, metalwork, sculpture, architecture, textile art and fibre art, are important visual art forms across Africa and may be included in the study of African art.
What is traditional African art?
What is called Traditional African Art is what is most commonly recognized by Westerners. Wooden masks feature heavily in Traditional artworks, and originate mostly from Western African countries. These masks are created to represent human, animal, or mythical creatures and are used for ceremonial purposes.
What material is most common in early African art that has survived the present time?
Most African sculpture was historically in wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than at most a few centuries ago; older pottery figures are found from a number of areas. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylized.
How many types of African art are there?
There are seven major types of art produced historically in Africa that are widely recognized The following decorative art forms can also be added.
What is the most popular art form?
But the most popular ones are painting, sculpture, photography, prints, and works on paper. The Contemporary Art Market Report recorded in 2020 that currently the most used mediums were painting at 65% and sculpture at 16%.
What influenced African art?
Because of colonialism and slavery, African art found its way around the world. First presented as curiosities of primitive cultures, objects such as masks and sculptures influenced European artists looking for a new vocabulary that didn’t rely on Realism.
What is art and types?
art, also called (to distinguish it from other art forms) visual art, a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination. The term art encompasses diverse media such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, photography, and installation.
What is culture of Africa?
The Culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes that each have their own unique characteristic from the continent of Africa. For example, social values, religion, morals, political values, economics and aesthetic values all contribute to African Culture.
How is African art different from Western art?
African Art is much different in use from its Western Art counterparts. Western Art, is used to decorate walls and can be studied for its perspective, lines, symmetry and many other artistic forms. African Art was used as an integral part of the societies rituals, dances and ceremonies.
What are the forms of early African poetry?
As in most post-colonial situations, the tilt of our writing should be more towards the pre-colonial African literary heritage as manifested in the song, dirge, folktale, elegy, panegyric or riddle.
What is colonial African literature?
Literature in colonial Africa is synonymous with writing about life shaped by the colonial experience of direct rule and domination by imperialist powers. From most definitions of ‘postcolonial literature’, literature in colonial Africa is postcolonial.
What is traditional African literature?
African literature, the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages together with works written by Africans in European languages. Works written in European languages date primarily from the 20th century onward.
What common elements are of art used in African art or masks?
The most commonly used material for masks is wood, although a wide variety of other elements can be used, including light stone such as steatite, metals such as copper or bronze, different types of fabric, pottery, and more. Some masks are painted (for example using ochre or other natural colorants).
What forms of visual art did West Africa create?
What forms of visual art did West Africans create? They created sculptures, masks, textiles, and everyday objects.
What is Nigerian art?
The history of Nigerian art is fascinating. The dawn of the 15th century saw an explosion inthe art scene. The 19th century saw the prominence of arts from the Nok, Benin, Igbo Ukwu, Owo, Esie and Ife artworks. Today, these artworks energise Nigerian creatives to produce works within obvious traditions and practices.
What are two purposes of the many forms of African art?
Many African artworks were (and continue to be) created to serve a social, religious, or political function. In its original setting, an artifact may have different uses and embody a variety of meanings.
