African Art Lesson
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. In the 1970’s, the
National Gallery in
Washington
D.C.
put on a display called “African Art in Motion.” Though most all the masks and sculptures themselves have no sign of
motion in their form, the title of the exhibit captured the use of these items
in the African societies. As we
examine African Art, one must understand the uses of the art in African Society
instead of trying to apply typical western standards of art evaluation.
When studying African Art, it is very
difficult to generalize about its form. First, one must understand that
Africa
is the second largest continent on earth. It includes over 1,000 different cultural
groups and even more language groups. The
northern part of
Africa
developed it’s own style of artwork. Through
history, some of the northern art was influenced by it’s Mediterranean
neighbors and also by the spread of both Islamic and Christian religions that
had their own artistic styles. Sub-Saharan Africa, or the areas south of the
Sahara
Desert
, developed its art relatively free of outside cultures. It is this art that we will attempt to describe in the following
pages.
Early African Art was typically made out of
wood materials. The coloring for the
art came from natural sources and was highly prized. Later in African history, metals were incorporated into the African Art. Two major forms of African Art
were masks and sculptures.
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African Art Lesson
1 2 3 4 Cave Art Lesson
1 2 3 4
Mesopotamia Art Lesson
1 2
Egyptian Art Lesson
1 2 3 4 5
Greek Art Lesson
1 2 3 4 5 Roman Art Lesson
1 2 3
Middle Ages Art
1 2 3 4 5 6 Middle Ages Architecture
1 2 3 4 5