African art is characterized by its diversity and pluralism, reflecting the continent's rich cultural heritage and historical experiences. This article explores various aspects of African art, including pottery, textiles, body adornment, and contemporary expressions, highlighting their unique characteristics and cultural significance.
Pottery
Pottery is a widespread practice in sub-Saharan Africa, with many communities producing their own wares. Traditionally, pottery involves molding coarse-textured clay by hand, using techniques such as building the clay up in rings or employing hammer-and-anvil methods.
The pots are then fired in open bonfires at relatively low temperatures. The variety of forms and designs is almost endless. Pottery techniques are also used in a few places for sculpture, as, for example, in the grave memorials of the Asante in Ghana.
In most modern cases, potters are women.
Textiles
In both East and West Africa, cloth traditionally was woven of locally grown and hand-spun cotton. In West Africa today most cotton is factory-spun (producing a more regular and easier-to-weave fiber), while in East Africa weaving traditions have virtually disappeared in the face of competition from ready-made fabrics.
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Woolen yarn is woven in rural Amazigh (Berber) areas of North Africa and by Fulani weavers of the inland Niger delta region of West Africa. Silk is also woven in West Africa. Hausa, Nupe, and Yoruba weavers in Nigeria use a locally gathered wild silk; Asante and Ewe weavers in southern Ghana use imported silk, a practice begun by Asante weavers unraveling imported fabrics in the 17th century.
Fibers prepared from the leaves of the raffia palm are woven into cloth principally in central Africa, especially Congo (Kinshasa), though also in parts of West Africa.
Throughout most of the continent, men are the weavers, though in some areas (such as Nigeria and Sudan) women also weave. If in any place both sexes weave, each uses a different type of loom.
Textiles are designed either as part of the weaving process-in which case colour, texture, and weave structure are significant-or by a range of techniques employed on the already-woven cloth.
The cultures that have developed the greatest skill and creative variety in woven design are undoubtedly the Asante and the Ewe, with the Fulani and other weavers of the middle Niger, on each side of Timbuktu, following closely in expertise. Three types of woven pattern are common.
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- In the first, yarn of different colors is used for the warp, creating stripes along the length of the cloth.
- In the second type of pattern, the loom is set up in such a way as to allow the weft (the yarn interwoven with the warp) to predominate in the finished cloth so that the use of different colors gives patterns across the width of the cloth.
- The third type of patterning employs an extra weft. This second yarn is woven in a different way from the basic weft, using a technique known as float weaving.
A further design element is provided by the unusual way in which the double-heddle loom has evolved in West Africa. The construction of the loom is so narrow that it weaves strips of cloth of considerable length; these strips are then sewn together edge to edge to make the finished textile.
Hausa man's embroidered robe, Nigeria; in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.
Embellishing the Woven Cloth
The most widespread technique of embellishing already woven cloth is dyeing-particularly with indigo but also with other dye colors, all of which are obtained from local vegetable and mineral sources as well as in ready-made industrially produced form.
Another pattern-making technique is known as resist-dyeing, in which parts of the cloth to be embellished are either tied, stitched, or painted with starch to prevent the dye from coloring those parts.
Other techniques of embellishing woven cloth are embroidery and appliqué. Embroidery is especially common in two areas. In the first, the savanna stretching across West Africa, male embroiderers give pattern to the wide-sleeved gowns (historically of Saharan origin) typical of that region. The embroidery of the Hausa and the Nupe are the best-known examples.
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Appliqué, mostly for flags, banners, and tent hangings, is practiced mostly along the Nile and in the savanna region immediately south of the Sahara. It often takes the form of Islamic texts cut out in cloth of one colour and sewn to cloth of a contrasting colour.
A related technique is the stitching of glass beads onto a cloth backing-for example, to make royal regalia and sometimes other ceremonial objects. Those practicing this technique are the Yoruba and the Kuba and the various peoples of the Cameroon grasslands.
Fon appliqué banner representing a lion hunt, Dahomey; in the Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Other Fabrics
Textiles are not traditionally woven throughout sub-Saharan Africa; in some areas other fabrics are used. The stitching of beads to hide is found among some peoples of East and southern Africa-as, for example, in the clothing of Maasai women in Kenya.
Animal hides are also treated to produce leather, the working of which is an art associated with many of the Islamic peoples south of the Sahara (for example, the Tuareg and the Hausa), each with its distinctive style.
In Uganda bark cloth is prepared by felting and dyeing certain tree barks, which are often then painted or stenciled. The use of vegetable fibers for matting and basketry is universal throughout this region, with particular peoples noted for their styles of pattern and design.
Body Adornment
The adornment of the human body involves all aspects of the arts as practiced in Africa. The body may be altered in ways that are permanent, especially by scarification, or the cutting of scars. Among the Yoruba, scarification indicates lineage affiliation.
Sometimes the body is scarified for the aesthetic value of the patterns, as among the Tiv of Nigeria.
The body may be altered in ways that are semipermanent, in the sense that a person is not normally seen in public without certain effects, although they can be removed or adjusted in private. Royal regalia are an example, as are the heavily beaded ornaments worn by Maasai women.
The body may also be altered in ways that are essentially ephemeral. For example, some young Nuba men celebrate their youthful vigor in extensive body painting.
Perhaps the most striking example of body decoration is that of the pastoral Fulani of Nigeria. It reaches its height in the annual gerewol, a beauty contest between men whose faces are painted and who wear metal bracelets, bead necklaces, and head ornaments. The women regularly wear elaborate hairstyles (often featuring golden rings around separate locks of hair) together with a profusion of jewelry.
The varieties of dress and jewelry found throughout the continent are invariably matters of aesthetic concern, whatever social purposes may also be served.
Facial and body design on a young Nuba man, Sudan.
Contemporary African Art
How Has Colonialism Affected the Development of Contemporary African Art? - African Roots And Routes
Since the groundbreaking exhibitions “Primitivism in Twentieth Century Art” (1984) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and “Magiciens de la Terre” (1989) at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, art historians and critics have struggled to accommodate contemporary African art within the discourse of modern and African art history.
What appears to be a dazzling heterogeneity of art styles is the consequence of the plural modernisms and national styles that emerged after the end of diverse experiences of colonialism and independence. The rise of globalization and the ongoing African diaspora increased the heterogeneity and multiplicity of allusions characteristic of contemporary African art.
The Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, the Cairo Biennale, the Johannesburg Biennale, the Bamako Biennale, and FESPACO (a forum for African cinema) all served as sites for the unveiling of new, complex, and innovative art forms as well as the introduction of gifted artists to an international audience.
Such artists, however, should not be viewed as representative of major movements within contemporary African art, as those movements remain country-specific. Instead, their work shares an interest in the issue of identity and in the history of colonialism, nationalism, and modernity.
In the wake of the “Magiciens” show, African critics and intellectuals voiced opposition to this relatively narrow presentation of the artistic production of the continent. The sophisticated and abstracted forms of artists Twins Seven Seven and Ben Osawe and the lush and bold canvases of Uche Okeke, all from Nigeria, illustrate the degree of engagement on the part of contemporary African artists with the discourse of Modernism.
The installations of Benin artist Georges Adéagbo reveal the decolonization process; the striking images of Ethiopian Gebre Kristos Desta reveal the religious art of the Eastern Coptic Orthodox tradition; and the beautiful and evocative abstractions of Kamala Ishaq, from Sudan, reveal the richness and variety of African engagement with this discourse.
Although North Africa has received less attention in international exhibitions, the abstractions of Ahmed Cherkaoui of Morocco and the striking installations of Ghada Amer of Egypt underscore the range and multinational focus of contemporary art production.
It should be noted that the influence of specific movements and nationalisms on contemporary African art production has been significant. The pan-African philosophy of Léopold Senghor is evident in the work of the first generation of Senegalese painters, organized into the École de Dakar.
During the last few decades, South Africa has experienced a florescence of contemporary art production, much of which comments on apartheid and its aftermath.
In Gavin Jantjes’s work, the conditions of a racially segregated state were directly addressed in silkscreened “cartoons” that juxtaposed bright blocks of colour with the harsh realities of South African life in the apartheid era. Moshekwa Langa’s collaged media elements similarly presented a haunting vision of racial classification and oppression.
William Kentridge’s work in a range of media and Sue Williamson’s powerful set of passbooks in the assemblage For Thirty Years Next to His Heart (1990) are equally evocative and demonstrate the sophisticated installation technique of the contemporary South African artist.
In the realm of photography perhaps no artist is more internationally recognized than Malian Seydou Keïta. His portraits constructed a vision of the residents of Bamako, the capital city of what was then French Sudan, in the 1940s and ’50s as modern, beautiful, and urbane.
The South African photographer Santu Mofokeng created in the exhibition “Black Photo Album/Look at Me: 1890-1950” a striking exploration of history and identity. The exhibition showcased photographs of working-class Black South Africans that had been digitally reworked by the artist.
In the early 21st century many contemporary African artists created work within diasporic societies in the United States and Europe. Ouattara Watts, originally from Côte d’Ivoire and now living in New York City, produced striking collages and installations that draw from West African architectural forms and occult signs.
The London-based Nigerian Yinka Shonibare created spectacular installations employing textiles made in so-called traditional styles. It should be noted that the art that was considered “traditional”-masks, sculpture, ceramics, and the like-continued to be made in Africa at the beginning of the 21st century.
African Plural Art Gallery
Janine B Castillo describes Mlle Mallet’s African Plural Art Gallery as a space that showcases African art and artifacts, providing a certain narrative that ties her diverse pieces together.
Through her carefully chosen objets d’art, tribal artifacts, and exquisite hand crafted items show-cased in her gallery, we are invited to experience the beauty of Africa, specifically West Africa, where magnificent Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) is located.
The gallery space evokes a warmth and sensitivity of spirit, a sense of cultural community. Mlle Mallet shares her love for African art, journey, hopes, and ideals, emphasizing the importance of character, emotion, symbolism, and craftsmanship in the art pieces she selects.
Mlle Mallet established a trusted network of contacts in West Africa. In her travels back and forth to Africa, she visit local artists, villages and collectives, with each item being personally chosen either by herself or by a carefully chosen network of knowledgeable, trusted colleagues.
Mlle Mallet highlights the importance of character, emotion, symbolism, and craftsmanship in the art pieces she selects. She looks for art that has character, and that invokes a visceral reaction and emotion. Much of African art is rich in symbolism - from the rituals and ceremonies that take place in villages where people come together and celebrate.
Mlle Mallet admires Ousmane Sow, a talented sculptor from Senegal. She also mentions Musee du quai Branly and Musee Rodin in Paris and Musee national du costume de Grand-Bassam, in my home town, the Ivory Coast as her favorite museums.
The Kifwebe Mask at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
The PMA’s kifwebe mask, part of a private collection donated to the museum in the 1950s, exemplifies how colonialism continues to define and limit what we can learn about African art produced during the first half of the twentieth century. This type of carved wooden mask is associated with kifwebe associations in central Africa, specifically what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
This work’s tricolor striations, projecting and abstracted facial features, and distinctive crest are characteristic of masks from the Kalebwe region of the DRC. We can only date this kifwebe to the first half of the 1900s, as no documentation for the work exists prior to its donation to the museum in 1957 by Samuel S. White III and Vera White.
