13-+Art+of+Ancient+Africa

Art of Ancient Africa Africa is located right below Europe and has been regarded as primitive, or undeveloped for most of history. This would mean that the civilizations of Ancient Africa were basic and more barbaric or heathen than European civilizations, however the civilizations of ancient Africa created great cities, had written records, forged iron and even mastered the craft of making steel, on top of creating beautiful, lasting artistic works through complex techniques used in ancient Central America, and Greece such as **LOST WAX CASTING**.

Many Ancient African civilizations created art, such as the people **of Nok, Ife, Yoruba, Benin Mali** and **The Great Zimbabwe.** · Ancient African art comes from civilizations from c. 2500BC-1500CE · All of the civilizations had some from of witchcraft, used for various things from prayer for appeasement from the gods to healing sickness · Huge cities such as Mali and Benin were created, that rivaled the European cities such as Rome in size and urban planning · Ancient African children would gather in the center of the cities in the evening to listen to the story tellers and hear the oral traditions of their culture as a form of school · Many festivals were held, to the point were three or four days of every month all workers took off for a major holiday celebration.

** Key Terms **** : ** · ** Fetish ** : an object of extreme reverence that can be regarded as even magical. · ** Cire Perdue ** (lost wax casting): A method by which sculptures can be made of bronze of brass. · ** Scarification: ** Decorations made by scarring the medium · ** Battered: ** Walls of a building that are built so that they intentionally slope inward towards the top. · ** Adobe: ** Type of mud brick made of dried clay and straw used by South-Western Native Americans, and the people of Djenné to build. ** Architectural Works: ** · ** Great Friday Mosque ** : After converting to Islam King Koi Konboro of Djenné had his palace converted into a lavish Mosque (the first of 3 that would be built on the site). The Mosque was made out of **adobe** bricks, which even boasted a market place within it’s walls. Ostrich eggs were made part of each finial (crowning decoration) as a symbol of fertility and purity. Torons (small wooden protruding pieces that were used to attach scaffolds every year for replastering) jut out from the walls on all sides of West African mosques, such as this one making them truly unique. · ** Great Zimbabwe ** : The city of Great Zimbabwe had many great buildings which al had some key features. **Battered** walls made of mortar and dressed stones (smoothly finished stones), which were used to build finely leveled courses. In some cases conical structures were even built using the same techniques.

** Figurative works ** · ** Seated Couple ** : This sculpture depicts a man and woman sitting side by side in similar positions with neither figure dominating the other… giving us a view into Dogon society, showing that men and women had similar responsibilities. The only thing that joins the couple together is his arm; representing that in Dogon society marriage was vi ewed as a partnership of independent equals. · ** Benin Heads ** : The Benin people went three periods, early, middle and late, which can be characterized by their increasing size and stylization. The later heads are more stylized and larger than the earlier ones. Despite variations in size and depictions over time the purpose of the heads remained that same. The Benin Heads were used to memorialize the kings and nobles forever even in death. · ** Kongo Nail Figure ** : Small stylized human figures that were placed in villages for protection and luck. They would be created without any nails and a new nail would be placed in the figure after an occasion when the power of the figure was invoked. The power was used in the event that someone needed to be healed, an agreement needed to be made, protection was needed, basically anytime that godly power would be needed. ** 2D Art ** · ** Cattle Being Tended ** : An early cave painting done at Tassili-n-Ajjer, depicting villagers working with a herd of cattle in the field. This shows women working with the kids and making food while the men are with the cattle demonstrating the advanced gender typing that occurred even in 2500 BCE. · ** General and Officers ** : Besides the Benin Heads, Benin artists also created relief plaques during the middle period. These plaques were usually about 2ft squares and depicted court life. This one shows a general in an elaborate uniform flanked by 2 officers and less important smaller figures in the background, who were presumably in attendance at the court, but are smaller based on hierarchy of scale.

african art outline

media type="youtube" key="9my92uFcG40" height="510" width="640"