African Art in the Modern Era

Art and it function

Architecture: Nankani compound

Sculpture:

Yoruba twin figures: style and function

Kongo Power Figure: sculpture and

participation

Performing Arts:

Bwa initiation rites

Textiles:

Kente cloths: from traditional textile to

installation art

- diversity of

cultures,

languages,

religions, political

entities

- destruction of

oral tradition /

history

- Europe:

colonialism,

anthropology,

and primitivism

Attributed

to Kojo

Bonsu,

Finial of a

Spokepers

on Staff,

from

Ghana,

Ashanti

ulture,

1960s-70s,

wood and

gold. H. 11

1/4 “

Art and its function

Iconography related to

use

“political power is like

an egg: grasp it too

tightly and it will

shatter in your hand;

hold it too loosely and

it will slip from your

fingers”

Ghana, one of richest

goldfields -> gold =

power

Painted

architecture

Earthen

buildings

Cylindrical

Nankani

Compound,

Ghana, 1972

Walled compound

one entrance

(each house can

see it)

Fractal structure

Symbolism (life to

death)

gender roles: squared

buildings used only by

men, round ones by

women (inner

courtyard)

Men build, women

paint

Yidoor= horizontal molded ridges

Zalanga = bisected lozenge design

Contrast angular decoration - curved

walls/urban structure

Twin Figures,

from Nigeria,

Yoruba culture,

early 20th cent.

Wood, h. 7 7/8”

Terracotta Sculpture,

Yoruba people 12-

15th Century

Great Yoruba sculpture

tradition

Sculpture = spirit’s

dwelling place

Ritual: sculpture

brought home

from the artist’s

studio

Twin Figures,

from Nigeria,

Yoruba culture,

early 20th cent.

Wood, h. 7 7/8”

Sculpture = spirit’s

dwelling place

Ritual: sculpture

brought home

from the artist’s

studio

Placed in shrine +

taken care of

(signs of use)

Sculpture = spirit’s

dwelling place

Ritual: sculpture

brought home

from the artist’s

studio

Placed in shrine +

taken care of

(signs of use)

Iconography:

glossy surface =

health, signs of

adulthood

(hairstyle,

scarification)

Twin Figures,

from Nigeria,

Yoruba culture,

early 20th cent.

Wood, h. 7 7/8”

Power figure (Nkisi),

from the Democratic

Republic of Congo,

Kongo culture, 19th

century. Wood, nails,

pins, blades and other

materials, h. 44”

-house specific mystical

forces

-medicines in a hole in

the stomach or on top of

its head

-collaborative creations

-category formerly known

as ‘nail fetishes’ (nkisi

miloko)

Male power figure

(Nkisi), wood,

pigment, nails,

cloth, beads,

shells, arrows,

leather, nuts,

twine, h. 23 in.

(58.8 cm),

19th–20th century

(New York,

Metropolitan

Museum of Art

Kongo Power

Figure, Nkisi

N'Kondi:

Mangaaka

Kongo

Peoples;

Democratic

Republic of the

Congo or

Angola,

Second half of

the 19th

century. Wood,

paint, metal,

resin, ceramic

Initiation

Passage from puberty

to adulthood

1) “kidnapping”

(separation from

younger playmates)

2) Isolation and

education (masks,

spirits)

3) Reunionhttp://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/streamingmovie

s/RSTP_files/BwaBoni512K_Stream001

.mov

Masks in performance, Burkina

Faso, Bwa culture, 1984, wood,

mineral pigments, and fiber, h. 7’

fish antelope

Masks in performance, Burkina

Faso, Bwa culture, 1984, wood,

mineral pigments, and fiber, h. 7’

Iconography:

White crescent = quarter moon

(when the rite is held)

White triangles = bull roarer

(sound of spirit voices)

X = initiation scar

Zigzags = path of the ancestors

(difficult to follow)

Beak of the hornbill = bird

intermediary living-dead

Kente

cloth,

from

Ghana.

Ashanti

culture,

20th

century.

Silk, h. 6’

10 9/16”.

Long Ashanti tradition of KENTE =

woven textiles

Male activity

Strip waving

Famous for bright colors

El Anatsui, Flag for a

New World Power,

2004. Aluminium bottle

tops, copper wire. H.

196”