African Masks

• African masks were a very important part of the African Culture, although masks are a lot less common now, then it was in earlier times.
• Masks are usually made of materials like: wood, cloth, dried leaves, or even animal fur. For decoration, Africans used things such as; bird feathers, dried grass, paint, and twigs. The type of material used really depends on what the Africans were trying to represent. Usually the Africans were trying to represent humans, important animals in their culture, mythical creatures, or gods/goddesses that they believed in. 
•  People think that masks are used as a disguise, or a costume, like on Halloween. But Africans wore their masks in ceremonies.

• The ceremonies were held to honor the dead, gods/goddesses, animals, and even important people in their society like the king.

• Masks were never played with. This was because Africans believed that masks were very powerful. 

Image Above: http://www.thewaronterra.com/kazdrums/images/mask_african1.jpg

• There are many ethnic groups that used them. Some of them are: Fang, Punu, Dogon, Kuba, Bamba
  
  
  • Cora, Yoruba, Igboo, and the Woyo. The most important tribe is the Igbo tribe. They had the largest variety of masks.
   
   
   
   Click to view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eckCUEo0jHw

 Source:

• http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dafrican%2Bmasks%26sado%3D1%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26fr2%3Dsg-gac&w=408&h=432&imgurl=www.mariposamuseum.org%2Fafrican_artifacts%2F147KEWDelyssa%2Fmask_african1.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mariposamuseum.org%2Fafrican_artifacts%2F147KEWDelyssa%2FAfricaMariposa.html&size=32KB&name=African+masks+we...&p=african+masks&oid=903d56169efdba38926078a37d74ac41&fr2=sg-gac&no=2&tt=49500&sigr=12hir1u02&sigi=128b1mc1a&sigb=1348qpk9a
• http://www.birdart.org/images/Original-African-mask.JPG
  
  
  

Have a Site in the Architecture of Africa

          The African architecture is authentic and magnificent. It is a type of creation that all can’t get enough of. They are famous for their pots but looking at the present, it is still significant as it roots to plants and nature. It also involves different emotions that a person would clearly see through their creations. They are so creative that it looks more significant than the modern arts and architecture as it is full of passion. A person would even feel the amazement of how all those creations came about. The depictions of their art hides the struggles they had been. Their scenic society makes their black blood flourish. They are filled with a lot of resources that people do not recognize its worth. But through the value of the creative minds, the resources they have are enough for them to please and state ones worth.   

    Even after Nubia became independent again Egyptian influence remained strong. A great example is the Meroe, kings and queens are buried in an Egyptian style pyramids, although they are slightly taller and narrower than the Egyptian ones. Greek and Roman influence later filtered down from Egypt, but was never as strong as that of Egypt.

This links would surely flourish your minds with the great architecture of all.

Click to view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOMLqbeyGg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVgUNSf0VJ4

http://www.afritecture.org/

African Sculpture

African Sculpture: Criteria and Methods of Selection

           Every country has its own treasures that became part of its history. They value it so that they would know what happened from the past; from these studies they will understand why this thing presently happening or where this thing came from. Art plays an essential role in the lives of the people and their communities. It serves as a more vital purpose than merely to beautify the human environment.

            But what happened to African sculptures’ criteria and method of selection was one sided at all. With more than eleven thousand objects in the sub-Saharan African collection of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania only few were chosen to be included in the exhibition and most of them were famous. Many others remained in the storerooms from the day of their acquisition, never to be photographed or studied, let alone exhibited. The objective of this exhibition have been chosen primarily for their aesthetic merits, but for some reason at all the art historian chooses to select the finest object for display through the qualitative comparison of similar works.

However, many studies regarding the aesthetics of African art found out that the basis of moderation is the principle of African art. That is why most of the time you can recognize the hand of an African master carver because the creation must always be a recognizable and true representative of the tradition that produced it. There are factors that represent African art. It is used to transmit the laws, moral codes and history of each group to their young. It is also use to facilitate communication between people and super natural forces and beings. And lastly African art is used to indicate wealth and status of its owner.

It’s too unfair to choose only well known objects to be display in a major exhibition of African sculpture rather than those sculpture that carve by a master carver that we all know has a purpose not just the beauty of displaying it in a museum but the essence of its worth.

Click to view:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTCp_RP4qbw

Sources:
www.africa.upenn.edu/Sculpture/af_​sculpt.html

The African Rock Art

          African Rock Art has long been the subject of study for archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians. In recent years, it has become a topic of particular interest to the wider public as new discoveries and technologies enhance our understanding, and as conservation groups highlight the need to protect the sites of this ancient art form.

African Art Beginnings

            African Rock Art varies as widely chronologically as it does regionally. While some African Rock Art was executed as recently as the 19th century, many examples have been found to date back several thousand years, and evidence suggests that certain traditions may go back as far as 50,000 years. The oldest rock art which can so far be reliably dated has been traced to 27,000 BCE: the "Apollo 11" cave paintings of southern Namibia, discovered in 1969.
Click to view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LodvKRdJ7nA

Rock Art in Southern Africa

            The Apollo 11 paintings are the earliest found so far in a long tradition of San Art throughout southern Africa, most notably Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The San, or Khoisan — sometimes colloquially referred to as bushmen — are a group of people indigenous to the area with roots going back to the dawn of time. A 2009 DNA study published in the journal Science found that the San are the oldest population in Africa, and in turn likely on Earth.

            San rock art spans several centuries, from the prehistoric era of the Apollo 11 cave paintings, continuously right up to the 19th century, when Dutch and British colonists were depicted. In all ages, they are among the most sophisticated of African Rock Art, specifically in two key attributes: portability, and three-dimensionality. Many paintings have been found not on fixed wall surfaces, but on portable tablets and stones; and a relatively complex palette of pigments allowed for more sophisticated rendering of three-dimensional figures than the more basic palette of similar styles in North Africa.

           

             San painting is perhaps best typified by the famous eland paintings of the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa.

North African Rock Art

            The study of North African Rock Art provides fascinating insight into the changing land of the Sahara. The rock art of the region is divided into categories generally dictated by style and subject matter — which evolves along with the environment.

            The earliest rock carvings are from the "Bubaline" period of circa 8000 BCE, which takes its name from a now-extinct species of wild cattle. It has also been referred to as the Large Fauna period, again relating to the subject matter of the carvings: large-scale depictions of animals including giraffes, rhinos, elephants and bubals. These images, found primarily in the Fezzan region of modern Libya, reflect the more lush environmental nature of the Sahara in that period.

The later periods, encompassing both carving and painting, comprise:

• Archaic or "Round Head" style of Algeria's feted Tassili n'Ajjer site, circa 8000–6000 BCE;
• Bovidian or Pastoralist period, circa 5000–2000 BCE, reflecting the move from hunting–gathering to herding, similar in style to both the Drakensberg San paintings and cave paintings of Southern Europe;
• Caballine or Horse period, depicting horses, chariots and "Libyan Warriors," circa 2000 BCE;
• Camelline or Camel period of the first millennium BCE, completing the pictorial evolution of the Sahara to present-day desert with the advent of the camel.