6. Muslims in front of a mosque in the town of San, Mali, 1971.
Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art,
7. Native folk traditions orally rather than in
writing.
Griots – a special class of professional poet-
historians who preserved the legends of the
past by chanting or singing them from memory.
Sundiata – an epic describing the formative
phase Mali history.
8. Bambara ritual Chi
Wara dance
Mali, imitate the
movements of the
antelope, the totemic
(important tribal object)
figure, honored in this
ritual
Bambara ritual chi wara dance, Mali. Photographic Archives, National Museum of
African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. VIII–58, 4A).
Photo: Eliot Elisofon.
9. meant to function like an
electric circuit; it was the
channel through which
spiritual power might
pass.
Congo nail fetish, 1875-1900. Wood with screws, nails, blades, cowrie shell, and other
material, 3 ft. 10 in. high. Detroit Institute of Arts.
10. heal the sick, communicate
with the spirits of ancestors
holds the bones of an
ancestor and guarded the
dead from evil.
Kota reliquery figure, from Gabon. Wood covered with strips of
copper and brass, 30 3/4 in.
11. ceremonies for the
installation and death of a
ruler,
Songe mask, from Zaire, nineteenth
century, based on earlier models. Wood
and paint, height 17 in.
12. earliest known 3-
dimentional
artworks of African.
Found in 1931, Nok.
Niger River in
Western Sudan.
Head, Nok culture, ca. 500 B.C.E.-200 C.E.
Terracotta, height 14-3/16 in. National
Museum, Lagos/Bridgeman.
13. African sculpture had a
major impact on European
art of the early 20th
century.
Pablo Picasso - “magical
objects”.
14. WILLIE COLE
(American, born
1955)
Speedster tji wara,
2002
Bicycle parts
46 1/2 x 22 1/4 x
15" (118.1 x 56.5 x
38.1 cm.)
Sarah Norton
Goodyear Fund,
2002
Bambara antelope headpiece, from Mali,
nineteenth century, based on earlier
models. Wood, height 35 3/4 in., width 15
3/4 in.
15. •Very few of Africa’s
wooden sculptures date
from before the 19th
century.
•Country of Origin: Democratic Republic of
Congo, Equatorial Africa. Culture: Luba. Date /
Period: probably late 19th C. Place of Origin: Buli
region. Material Size: Wood, h=53.5 cms.
16. Congo (Afrique centrale),
atelier de la Basse Lukuga,
19e siecle
Location: musee du quai
Branly
City: Paris
Country: France
Period/Style: African
Genre: Sculpture
Note: Bois. 35 x 16 x 23 cm,
700 g. Inv.: 70.2004.36.2.
Expose : Afrique
17. Yoruba-Benin Bronze Maternity Figure, Possibly
Origin: Southwestern Nigeria
Circa: 1600 AD to 1800 AD
African Art / Yombe Wooden Pfemba Sculpture
Origin: Northwestern Congo
Date: 20th Century AD
18. African Art / Nok Terracotta Head - PF.576
Origin: Northern Nigeria
Date: 500 BC to 200 AD
African Art / Benin Ivory Head of a Mother Queen - PF.5563
Origin: Benin City, Nigeria
Date: 1600 AD to 1897 th Century AD
19. African Art / Bassa Wooden Sculpture of a Seated Woman - PF.4803
Origin: Central Liberia
Date: 18th Century AD to 19th Century AD
20. African Art / Nupe Bronze Bell - PF.4005
Origin: Central Nigeria
Date: 1500 AD to 1800 AD
African Art / Yoruba / Yoruba Ivory Sculpture of a Kneeling Woman - PF.3955
Origin: Southwestern Nigeria
Date: 20th Century AD
21. African Art / Baule Wooden Mask with Two Face
Origin: Central Ivory Coast
Circa: 20th Century
www.artofancientafrica.com/
Benin Bronze Head of an Oba- LSO.568
Origin: Nigeria
Circa: 18th to 19 th Century AD
22. African Art / Benin Sculpture of a Leopar
Origin: Nigeria
Date: 16 th Century AD to 19 th
Century AD
African Art / Bamun Ivory Sculpture of a Monkey and Child - PF.6132
Origin: Cameroon
Date: 20 th Century AD
33. North America
fashioned their tools and weapons out
of wood, stone, bone, and bits of
volcanic glass.
Wooden poles carved and painted with
totems- heraldic (coat of arms) family
symbols
The Thunderbird House Post, replica totem pole. Stanley Park, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, 1988. Carved and painted wood, 12 ft. high.
34. The largest and most advanced Native American societies were
those of Meso- and South America.
Anasazi seed jar, 1100-1300.
Lacking the potter’s wheel, women hand-
Earthenware and black and
built vessels for domestic and ceremonial
white pigment, 14 1/2 in.
uses.
diameter.
Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park,
Colorado, Anasazi culture, Pueblo period,
c. 1200 CE
36. 1200 b.c.e., Meso-America -
Olmecs.
They were called “Olmecs”
(“rubber people”) by the
Aztecs, because of the trees
that flourished in their region.
37.
38.
39. Between 250-900 C.E.
Blood sacrifice and
bloodletting
The only known Native
American culture to
produce a written language.
Castillo, with Chacmool in the foreground, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Maya,
9th-13th centuries. AKG Images/Erich Lessing.
41. Reconstruction drawing of post-classic Mayan fortress city of Chutixtiox,
Quiche, Guatemala. (from Richard Adams, Prehistoric Mesoamerica,
42. late 15th century -
mightiest power
in South America.
Machu Picchu, Inca culture, near Cuzco, Peru, 15th-16th centuries.
43. Peruvian cultures noted for
their fine pottery, richly
woven textiles, and
sophisticated metalwork.
Ceremonial knife, from the Lambayeque
valley, Peru, ninth to eleventh centuries.
Hammered gold with turquoise inlay, 13 x 5
1/8 in
44. During the 15th century, the art
of monumental stone
sculpture.
terrifying icons of their gods
and goddesses.
Coatlique, Mother of the Gods, Aztec,
1487-1520. Andesite, height 8 ft. 3 1/4 in.
45. They produced the
“Calendar Stone,” a huge
votive object that functioned
not as an actual calendar,
but as a symbol of the Aztec
cosmos.
Sun disk, known as the "Calendar
Stone," Aztec, fifteenth century.
Diameter 13 ft., weight 24 1/2 tons.
46. The Spanish in the
Americas
Cortes (1485-1547)
overcame the Aztec
armies in 1521.
The Spanish completely
demolished the island city,
from whose ruins Mexico
City would eventually rise.
Theodore de Bry (1528–1598), Spanish Cruelties Cause the Indians to Despair, from
Grands Voyages. Frankfurt, 1594. Woodcut.
48. “The most important of these idols, and the
ones in whom they have most faith, I had taken
from their places and thrown down the steps;
and I had those chapels where they were
cleansed for they were full of blood sacrifices’
and I had images of Our Lady and of other
saints put there, which caused Mutezuma an
the other naives some sorrow.”
Notas del editor
Marco Polo (1254-1324) China’s emperor, Kubliai Khan proved to be an enthusiastic patron of cross-cultural dialogue. Marco Polo served the Chinese ruler for 17 years before returning to Italy, where he eventually narrated the details of his travels to a fellow prisoner of war in Genoa. The “best selling book” gave Marco Polo instant fameThe brought instant fame for Marco Polo. His stories were exaggerated but historical details were correct.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) Italian in the employ of Spain, sailed west in search of an all-water route to China. His discovery of the Americas –whose existence no Europeans had ever suspected-was to change the course of world history
Different tribes shared some distinct cultural characteristics, a kinship system that emphasizes the importance and well-being of the group as essential to that of the individual. Africa, long known to Europeans as the “Dark Continent,” was unaffected by the civilizations of both Asia and the West for thousands of years. 5. In African tradition, kinship extended to all of the following EXCEPT a. the living. b. the dead. c. the unborn. d. all African peoples. Answer: d 9. The image of the oba of Benin (Figure 9.4) is a landmark that a. illustrates the African mastery of casting metal. b. is probably a portrait. c. may demonstrate the effects of tribal scarification rituals. d. All these answers are correct. Answer: d
10. When the Europeans arrived in Africa a. b. slaves were already being traded between African and Muslim dealers.
The hallmarks of Islamic culture – its great mosques and libraries and the Arabic language itself – did not penetrate deeply into the vast interior of Africa 7. Which city was the greatest of the early West African trading centers and the seat of a Muslim university? a. Tangier b. Ghana c. Niger d. Timbuktu Answer: d . Before the fifteenth-century, the West African elite was most heavily influenced by a. Christianity. b. Islam. c. Judaism. d. Hinduism. Answer: b
The “Lion-Child” Sundiata performs extraordinary deeds that bring honor and glory to himself and peace and prosperity to his people. 8. In African cultural history, the griot was a. a poet-historian.
Mali, In the ceremony depicted here, dance movements performed to drum rhythms imitate the movements of the antelope, the totemic figure, honored in this ritual 10. Which of the following is NOT a distinctive feature of African music? a. use of percussion instruments b. polyrhythmic structure c. call-and-response motifs d. melodic lyrics Answer: d 7. The dominant element in African music is a. rhythm.
This nail figure was used by healer-priests in rituals that protected against evil spirits, cured illness, or inflicted evil on enemies.
The power holding object channeled potent forces that might heal the sick, communicate with the spirits of ancestors, or bring forth some desirable state. This figure held the bones of an ancestor and guarded the dead from evil.
the artist has distorted and exaggerated the facial features so as to compress energy and render the image dynamic and foribidding.
These portrait like heads are the earliest known 3-dimentional artworks of sub-Saharan African. Found in 1931 near a farming village called Nok located along the Niger River in western SudanWestern parts of the continent were not fully investigated by modern archaeologists until the mid 20 th century.
African sculpture had a major impact on European art of the early 20 th century. Pablo Picasso was among the first to recognize the aesthetic power of African masks, which he referred to “magical objects”. When artists and collectors in the West first took an interest in African Art, they did not appreciate its social or spiritual function. African art was simply viewed as a naive genre with a strong visual impact. At the dawn of the 20th century, European artists were looking for new forms of expression that challenged, rather than simply illustrated, their rapidly changing world of ideas and technology. The traditional techniques of realism and perspective seemed overworked and predictable. Their solution was to draw on images from other cultures and fuse them with European influences to refresh the tired traditions of Western art. The new perspectives that these cultures offered opened many doors of development which led to the cross-polination of ideas and styles that constitute our art world today. The expressive power of African art was fundamental to this revolution and to the development of the first modernist styles: Cubism , Fauvism and Expressionism . http://www.artyfactory.com/africanmasks/context/artist.htm
The simplification and abstraction of visual elements in the art of the African Mask emphasize its expressive power. When we look at Expressionist art of the 20th century, we tend to think of it as a European style. One look at elements of African art shows you where this visual vocabulary was born.
Very few of Africa’s wooden sculptures date from before the 19 th century, but the rich tradition of wood sculpture reaches far back into earlier African history. Chief's stool supported by kneeling woman. A number of works have been identified and attributed to the same master carver or his workshop, known to some scholars as the 'Master of Buli‘
Artists hold a respected position in the community Masks are valued for their spiritual quality Part of a ceremonial costume During ceremonies the masks come to life through music and dancing Represents spirits of ancestors and controls the balance between good and evil Use materials from the Earth such as wood, terracotta clay pottery, raffia and textiles. They are often decorated with cowrie shells, colored beads, bone, animal skins and vegetable fibers. Sometimes metals such as bronze, copper and brass are also used. Even the tools used for carving have spiritual qualities.
In Africa masks can be traced back to well past Paleolithic times. These art objects were, and are still made of various materials, included are leather, metal, fabric and various types of wood. During celebrations, initiations, crop harvesting, war preparation, peace and trouble times, African masks are worn by a chosen or initiated dancer. It can be worn in three different ways: vertically covering the face: as helmets, encasing the entire head, and as crest, resting upon the head, which was commonly covered by material as part of the disguise. African masks often represent a spirit and it is strongly believed that the spirit of the ancestors possesses the wearer.
Native Americans fashioned their tools and weapons out of wood, stone, bone, and bits of volcanic glass. They had no draft animals and no wheeled vehicles. Wooden poles carved and painted with totems (heraldic family symbols) (heraldic family symbols) served the Southern Kwakuitl people of British Colombias powerful expressions of social status, spiritual authority, and ancestral pride. These facts make all the more remarkable the material achievements of Maya, Inka, and Aztec civilizations, all three of which developed into empires of considerable authority in the pre-Columbian era.
Meso –america 1. the area extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua in which diverse pre-Columbian civilizations flourished 2. (loosely) Central America
Around 1200 b.c.e., Meso-America was the site of one of the largest and most advanced cultures: that of the Olmecs. They were called “Olmecs” (“rubber people”) by the Aztecs, because of the trees that flourished in their regionProbably to honor their rulers, the Olmecs carved colossal stone heads weighing some 20 tons . Because they wore helmets it was once theorized to be ballplayers, it is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rules, perhaps dressed a s ballplayers. 12. The earliest of the Meso-American societies was the a. Maya. b. Inka. c. Olmec. d. Navaho. Answer: c
Southern Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya constructed fortified cities and elaborate religious complexes.
The sculpture depicts a sacred blood-letting ritual which took place on 26 October 709. King "Shield Jaguar" is shown holding a torch, while Queen "Lady Xoc" draws a barbed rope through her pierced tongue. The blood soaked rope runs from the queen’s tongue into a basket a basket filled with slips of paper that absorb the royal blood. These would have been burned in a large sacrificial vessel so that its smoke cold lure the gods 9. Which of the following was characteristic of the religious rituals of the Maya and Aztecs? a. human sacrifice
During the 15 th century, the aztecs raised to new heights the art of monumental stone sculpture. They fabricated great statues that ranged from austere, realistic portraits to ornately carved, terrifying icons of their gods and goddesses.
Cortes: destroying aztec “idols” “The most important of these idols, and the ones in whom they have most faith, I had taken from their places and thrown down the steps; and I had those chapels where they were cleansed for they were full of blood sacrifices’ and I had images of Our Lady and of other saints put there, which caused Mutezuma an the other naives some sorrow.” 13. The Spanish troops led by Cortés were most critical of Aztec a. economic traditions. b. engineering techniques. c. religious practices. d. kinship systems. Answer: c
13. The Spanish troops led by Cortés were most critical of Aztec a. economic traditions. b. engineering techniques. c. religious practices. d. kinship systems. Answer: c