Jegede on African art - slide 1 Dele Jegede. “Art for Life’s Sake: African Art as a Reflection of an Afrocentric Cosmology.” The African Aesthetic. Ed. Kariamu Welsh-Asante. Greenwood Press, 1993. In Wartenberg. Jegede tells stories about his youth in Nigeria. Jegede: This is seeing African art through Western eyes. Jegede on African art - slide 1

Jegede on African art - slide 2 His conclusion to these stories: African art is not meaningful outside of its cultural context. African art must be studies “Afrocentrically.” Art does not have a universal meaning. In the “traditional societies” of Africa, art is integral to life. Compare this to the Western idea of art for art’s sake. Jegede on African art - slide 2

Jegede on African art - slide 3 Ashanti doll (southern Ghana) - dolls with disk-shaped heads are carried by women who want to become pregnant & to deliver a beautiful child. The figurine is worn by women in the back of the waistcloth. It has two main functions: first, to insure a good birth & also to impart the beauty of the statue to the child and, second, to help a woman become pregnant. Jegede on African art - slide 3

Jegede on African art - slide 4 Nail Figure (nkisi nkondi) (en-KEE-see en-KAHN-dee), 19th century Africa, Zaire, Kongo Wood, vegetable fibers, and metal H. 15 inches Jegede on African art - slide 4

Jegede on African art - slide 5 In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many European artists used elements of African art in their artworks. And African artifacts were brought to the West & displayed in decontextualized settings. Jegede: This is seeing African art through Western eyes. Jegede on African art - slide 5

Jegede on African art - slide 6 And what is wrong with this? Jegede: It robs these objects of their meaning and significance. African art is tied to life; it is religious, cosmological, & social significance. If these objects are taken out of their context, they become dead objects. Jegede on African art - slide 6

Jegede on African art - slide 7 Is there some value in displaying these objects in Western museums? Yes -- they can help us make contacts with African culture. They can serve as “tools in stemming the marginalization of the blacks’ contributions to world civilization” (303). Jegede on African art - slide 7

Jegede on African art - slide 8 Comments Is Jegede denying that Westerners can view African art for its aesthetic qualities? Or if they do, they should not? One can admit that the meaning of African art, like much Chinese & Japanese, when taken out of its context is transformed. But so what? Jegede on African art - slide 8

Jegede on African art - slide 9 Wartenberg (in his introduction to Jegede’s essay) asks whether Jegede has taken the notion of art from the West & used it for his analysis of African art? After all, why call these African objects, works of art at all. Jegede on African art - slide 9