Timeline

25000-0 BCE

Paleolithic painters in Namibia create some of the earliest artworks, ca. 23,000 BCE.

Neolithic artists produce many examples of rock art between 6000 and 2000 BCE

The Nok culture (ca. 500 BCE - 200 CE) produces the first African sculptures in the round

0-1500

Igbo Ukwu sculptors perfect the lost-wax method of bronze-casting. 9th century

Djene builders construct an adobe mosque. 13th century.

Great Zimbabwe erects fortification walls and towers. 14th century.

1500-1800

Benin sculptors produce ivories and cast bronzes glorifying the royal family.

Sapi saltcellars are the earliest evidence of interaction between African artists and European patrons

1800-1900

Kota and Kalabari Ijaw artists produce reliquary guardian figures and memorial screens to venerate ancestors.

Royal arts include the throne of Bamum king Ngansu and Fon king Glele’s bocio of the God Gu

1900-1980

Royal arts continue to flourish in highly stratified societies, such as the Benin kingdom.

Osei Bonsu and Olowe of Ise achieve wide renown as sculptures

African peoples continue to produce elaborate masks to be danced at masquerades.

Chapter 21 Outline

Prehistory and Early Cultures

Introduction

The greatest concentrations of rock art are in the Sahara Desert to the north, the Horn of Africa in the east, and the kalahari Desert to the south, as well as in caves and on rock outcroppings in south Africa.

Tassili N’ajjer

a 7,000 year-old painting in southeastern Algeria

one of the earliest and finest surviving examples of rock art

(Horned women running)

in the Neolithic age, the Sahara had ample water, rich soil, foliage, and large populations of humans and animals

Nok

a culture outside of Egypt and neighboring Nubia

earliest demonstrations of African sculpture in the round

hundred of Nok=style human and animal heads, body parts, and figures have been found accidentally during tin-mining operations, but not in their original context.

Most date between 500 BCE and 200 CE

As in most African artworks, the heads are disproportionately larger than the bodies

By the 9th or 10th century, African sculptors had also mastered bronze-casting, examples of such can be found at Igbo-Ukwu in the lower Niger area

11th to 18th Centuries

Introduction

The best evidence for royal arts in Africa comes 1000 to the beginning of European colonization of the 19th century.

During this period, Africans also constructed major houses of worship for Christianity and Islam

Ife

Ife, about 200 miles west of Igbo Ukwu in southwestern Nigeria, has long been considered the cradle of Yoruba civilization, the place where the gods Oduduwa and Obatala created the earth and its people

Tradition also names Oduduwa the first king of life and ancestor of all Yoruba kings

For modern Yoruba, the head is the locus of wisdom, destiny, and the essence of being; these beliefs contribute to the large size of heads in African art

Djenne

A walled town located in the inland floodplain of the Niger River, the African equivalent of the fertile crescent

Built in 800 on high ground left dry during the flooded season.

One of the most ambitious examples of adobe architecture in the world

also has an extensive series of terracotta sculptures, most dating to between 1100 and 1500

Great Zimbabwe

The most famous southern African site of this period

First occupied in the 11th century

features walled enclosures and tower dating from about the late 13th century to the middle of the 15th centuries.

A prosperous trade center well before Europeans entered the scene

finds of beads and pottery from Mesopotamia and CHina, along with copper, gold, and ivory objects.

A royal residence -- as many as 18,000 people may have lived in the surrounding area

The walls are unusual for their size and the excellence of their stonework

Benin

According to oral tradition, the first Benin king in the 13th century was the grandson of a Yoruba king of Ife

reached its greatest power and geographical extent in the 16th century

in 1897 the British burned and sacked the Benin palace

Benin City thrives today and the Benin king continues to live in the palace which has been partially rebuilt

finely cast copper-alloy sculptures along with artworks in ivory, wood, ceramic, and wrought iron

Sapi

Between 1490 and 1540, on the Atlantic coast of Africa in present-day Sierra Leone

called the Sapi by the Portuguese

created art for themselves and for Portuguese explorers and traders who took the objects back to Europe.

The Portuguese commonly commissioned spoons, forks, saltcellars, boxes, hunting horns, and knife handles.

Carved from elephant tusk ivory

Earliest examples of African tourist art.

19th century

Kota

one of the many African peoples who venerate their ancestors

occupy the area just south of the equator in Cameroon and Gabon

collected the cranial and other bones of the deceased and deposited them in special containers for use in ancestor worship

crowned their reliquaries with guardian figures called mbulu ngulu

believed that gleaming surfaces repelled evil

Bamum

art made to honor royalty was a major genre of 19th century African art production

royal arts make extensive use of richly colored textiles and luminous materials, such as glass beads and cowrie shells.

Fon

the founding of the Fon kingdom in the present-day Republic of Benin dates to around 1600

Under King Guezo (r. 1818-18580), the Fon became a regional power with an economy based on trade in palm oil

Kongo

The Congo River formed the principal transportation route for the peoples of Central Africa during the 19th century.

some of the most distinctive African artworks of that period come from Kongo

Chokwe

occupy the area of west-central Africa corresponding to parts of northeastern Angola and southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo

local legend claims that the Chokwe are the descendants of the widely traveled Chibinda Ilunga, who won fame as a hunter.

The Chokwe revere him as founder, hunter, and civilizing hero, and he figures prominently in their royal arts

Dogon

live south of the inland delta region of the great niger River in what is today Mali

their art commonly features the couple

also features strong stylization

importance of space, rhythm and tension

Kalabari Ijaw

hunt and fish in the eastern delta of the Niger River in present-day Nigeria for several centuries

lavished attention on memorials to ancestors

Kalabari ancestor shrines are screens of wood, fiber, textiles, and other materials

20th Century

Benin

in 1897, when the British sacked Benin City, there were still 17 shrines to ancestors in the Benin royal palace

Today, only one 20th-century altar remains.

Osei Bonsu

Africans traditionally tend not to exalt artistic individuality as much as Westerns do

Some 20th century African artists achieved enviable reputations

osei Bonsu was a master carve based in the Asante capital, Kumasi, in present-day Ghana.

Olowe of Ise

the leading Yoruba sculptor of the early 20th century

ca. 1873-1938

Kings throughout Yoruba-land (southern Nigeria and southern Benin) commissioned Olowe to carve reliefs, masks, bowls, veranda posts, and other works.

Senufo

located in the western Sudan region, what is now northern Côte d’Ivoire

produce masks used in the important communal rite of the masquerade

Mende

farmers whose homeland is the Atlantic coast of Africa in Sierra Leone.

Unlike most other mask performance, women control and dance Sande society masks, while men perform the Poro society masks.

Kuba

opulent court arts with geometric patterns and rich materials

African Art today

Many contemporary African artists have trained or worked abroad and have achieved international prominence

despite the growing importance of urbanism, most African people still live in rural communities

Traditional values, although under pressure, hold considerable force in villages especially

AP Specific

Location

DRC, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mali, Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon,

Patron

Europeans

Kings

Unknown

Audience

other citizens

royal court

ancestors

gods

Materials

stone, wood, fiber, beads, ceramic, brass, adobe, copper, pigment, raffia, cloth

Descriptive Terms / Style

Adobe: a building material made from earth and organic materials

Aka: an elephant mask of the Bamileke people of Cameroon

Byeri: in the art of the Fang people, a reliquary guardian figure

Bundu: masks used by the women’s Sande society to bring girls into puberty

Cire perdue: the lost wax process. A bronze casting method in which a figure is modeled in clay and covered with wax and then recovered with clay. When fired in a kiln, the wax melts away, leaving a channel between the two layers of clay which can be used as a mold for liquid metal

Fetish: an object believed to possess magical powers

Ikenga: a shrine figure symbolizing traditional male attributes of the Igbo people

Lukasa: a memory board used by the Luba people of central Africa

Mblo: a commemorative portrait of the Baule people

Ndop: a Kuba commemorative portrait of a king in an ideal state

Nkisi n’kondi: a Kongo power figure

Pwo: a female mask worn by women of the Chokwe people

Scarification: scarring of the skin in patterns by cutting with a knife: when the cut heals, a raised pattern is created

Torons: wooden beams projecting from walls of adobe buildings

Content

rich materials, geometric designs, stylized figures, large heads, depictions of people

Influence

will influence European art, future african art

influenced by previous african art, european art,

Function

guarded family reliquary boxes

quite literally supported the building

assisted in religious and cultural rituals

source of power/strength/authority

Required Artworks

167. Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe.

Shona peoples (Southeastern Zimbabwe)

c. 1000-1400 CE.

Coursed granite blocks

168. Great Mosque of Djenné

Mali

Founded c. 1200 CE., rebuilt 1906-1907 CE

Adobe

169. Wall plaque, from Oba’s palace

Edo Peoples

Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria)

16th century CE.

Cast Brass

170*. Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool)*

Ashanti peoples (south central Ghana)

c. 1700 CE

Gold over wood and cast-gold attachments.

171*. Ndop* (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul

Kuba peoples

Democratic Republic of the Congo

c. 1760-1780 CE.

Wood

172. Power figure (Nkisi n’kondi)

Kongo peoples

Democratic Republic of the congo

c. late 19th century CE.

Wood and metal

173. Female (Pwo) mask

Chokwe peoples

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Late 19th to early 20th century CE.

Wood, fiber, pigment, and metal.

174. Portrait mask (Mblo)

Baule peoples

Côte d’Ivoire

Early 20th century CE.

Wood and pigment

175. Bundu Mask

Sande Society

Mende peoples

West African forests of Sierra Leone and Liberia

19th to 20th century CE

Wood, cloth, and fiber

176*. Ikenga* (shrine figure)

Igbo peoples

Nigeria

c. 19th to 20th century CE.

Wood

177*. Lukasa* (memory board)

Mbudye Society

Luba peoples

Democratic Republic of the Congo

c. 19th to 20th century CE.

Wood, beads, and metal

178. Aka elephant mask

Bamileke

Cameroon, western grassfields region

c. 19th to 20th century CE.

Wood, woven raffia, cloth, and beads

179. Reliquary figure (byeri)

Fang peoples

southern Cameroon

c. 19th to 20th century CE.

Wood

180. Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)

Olowe of Ise

Yoruba peoples

c. 1910-1914 CE.

Wood and pigment