African aesthetic influences refer to the artistic and cultural principles that originated from African traditions and practices, shaping various forms of art, music, dance, and literature. These influences highlight the interconnectedness of art and life, emphasizing rhythm, community, and spirituality, while also adapting and transforming in different contexts across the African diaspora.
An explication of an African aesthetic requires an operative definition of aesthetic. Admittedly, the term evolved out of the Greek word aesthetikos, which means merely “perceptive,” but the term aesthetic is widely held to connote a philosophy of beauty. We normally speak of an aesthetic as representing the standards by which a society assigns value to their cultural productions, especially their expressive art forms, such as music, dance, theater, and the visual arts (e.g., painting and sculpture).
Although many African ethnic groups do not have a specific word or term similar to the word aesthetic, the value that they place on their artistic productions-music, dance, sculpture, and masked spiritual entities-is equal to the value that other societies place on similar art forms, and thus an African aesthetic exists in practice if not in name.
Key Characteristics of African Aesthetic Influences
African aesthetic influences are deeply rooted in the social and spiritual life of African communities, reflecting communal values rather than individualism. Artworks influenced by African aesthetics often feature vibrant colors, bold patterns, and a strong emphasis on rhythm and movement. The impact of African aesthetics extends beyond visual arts to include performance arts such as dance and storytelling, which are integral to cultural expression.
The Expressive Nature of the Aesthetic
Melodic speech that comes down to us as song is probably as old as speech itself, and movement to music- dance-may well be synchronous in inception with speech and song. Visual expression reaches at least as far back as the Paleolithic age, and it is through this early recorded art form that one can plausibly point to ritual dance scenes that would also, no doubt, involve incantations or song.
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Furthermore, Africa's expressive arts can be identified because their character is distinctive from that of other cultures' artistic modalities. Although no exact formal philosophy of African art exists, when the practice of African art is scrutinized over time and space, it speaks volumes. Black Studies scholars have investigated ways of developing an aesthetic construct that encompasses one African art form and can also be applied to other African art forms.
What follows is an examination of African artistic productions and how the many artistic practices, from the Paleolithic period on, express, represent, or signify a predilection for the unique and valued multiplicity of what is commonly held as African art.
Prehistoric Art in Africa
The magnitude and diversity of prehistoric rock and cave art in Africa are staggering and almost beyond belief. The sites in North Africa, which include the Tassili Plateau, the Atlas Mountains, and others, number in the tens of thousands. In the southern portion of Africa, there are at least 100,000 sites. The oldest among the different sites date back to between 26,000 and 30,000 B.C.E. Anthropologist Mary Leaky discovered prehistoric art in Kenya and Tanzania that she assigned dates back to at least 15,000 B.C.E.; the finds at Tassili date back to at least 30,000 years. All of the investigators of prehistoric African art have expressed their amazement at its variety and distinctiveness.
The Paleolithic art of different areas in Africa, whether carved into rocks and caves' walls or painted on them, reveals depictions of realistic images as well as abstracted versions. Such a variety of early expressions of art portends the multiplicity of traditional and present-day African art.
Significant Elements
An examination of African art from this early period down through the ages reveals the embodiment of three significant elements: craftedness, originality, and spirituality. The fact that at different sites different types of images are identifiable reveals that certain stylistic norms were being practiced even during the Paleolithic period. Such adherence to an acceptable mode of creating images or scenes is a communicable craftedness. Within the various identifiable types, subtle variations appear to have been permissible, allowing for a certain amount of originality. While specific religious intentions cannot be proven or corroborated, most paleontologists and art historians agree that some, if not most, of the human images with symbols connoting natural or celestial concepts represent some form of spirituality or spiritual ritual.
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Thus the ability to craft the images to meet specific group criteria, but with individual variation, and yet have the image exude or suggest a certain spiritual aura follows African art's evolution and metamorphosis down through the ages.
Communal Values
African aesthetic influences embody communal values by prioritizing collective experiences over individual expression. Art and cultural practices emphasize community participation, spirituality, and shared histories. This focus on togetherness is reflected in the rhythmic elements found in music and dance, which often involve group participation that strengthens social bonds within the community.
Adaptation in Contemporary Music
African aesthetic influences have profoundly shaped contemporary music genres like jazz and hip-hop by incorporating rhythms, call-and-response patterns, and improvisation techniques. Jazz musicians draw on African drumming traditions to create complex rhythms while hip-hop artists often use storytelling rooted in oral traditions. Both genres highlight the importance of community narrative and cultural expression, demonstrating how these influences continue to evolve within new contexts.
Rhythms of the Motherland: The Evolution of African Music
These influences have been adapted and transformed in various forms of African American culture, including music genres like jazz and hip-hop. African aesthetic influences have also found their way into contemporary global art scenes, demonstrating their lasting legacy and adaptability.
The Black Aesthetic
The Black Arts Movement, also known as the Black Aesthetics Movement, is often regarded as the artistic and cultural sister movement of the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Leroi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka, moved to Harlem to establish the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School. Artists involved in the the Black Arts Movement were adamant in their aim to reveal the particularities-struggles, strengths, and celebrations of African Americans through the creation of poetry, novels, visual art, and theater.
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Literary groups such as Umbra Workshop of Manhattan and Third World Press of Chicago were born out of the movement and were the source of radical and progressive literature that was distributed around the United States. “Black Aesthetic” was used to describe works of art, literature, poetry, music, and theater that centralized black life and culture.
Significance in the African Diaspora
African aesthetic influences are vital for understanding broader cultural identities within the African diaspora because they illustrate how ancestral traditions have been preserved and transformed. These influences not only connect individuals to their heritage but also shape their contemporary cultural expressions across various mediums.
The African aesthetic encompasses shared principles of beauty, artistic expression, and visual culture that emerge across diverse African societies and communities.
The mind of an elder within the body of the young is suggested by the striking African custom of dancing "hot" with a "cool" unsmiling face. Negro boys…have a 'cool' way of walking in which the upper trunk and pelvis rock fore and aft while the head remains stable with the eyes looking straight ahead. The cool style of male walking in the United States is called bopping ... Mystical coolness in Africa has changed in urban African-American assertions of independent power. But the functions, to heal and gather strength, partially remain. And the name cool [kule], remains.
