1. Central and West African Visual Arts
An Overview
Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle

2. Major Visual Arts of Central and West Africa
Architecture
Sculpture
Painting
Calligraphy
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3. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Mbari House
Time: 20th century CE
Source Culture: Igbo
Purpose: mud houses constructed as sacrifices to major deities, most typically the goddess of the earth, Ala
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4. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Female head
Time: 500 BCE-200 BCE
Source Culture: Nok
Purpose: clay portraits of possibly high-ranking persons or the ancestral dead
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5. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Standing Oni
Time: ca. 950 CE-1400 CE
Source Culture: Ife
Purpose: bronze depiction of an Oni, divine king, which emphasizes the ideal of the head over the body
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6. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Bronze Plaque
Time: ca CE-1680 CE
Source Culture: Benin
Purpose: bronze relief depiction of the Oba, divine king, in which size and location indicates social status
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7. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Akuaba
Time: late 19th and early 20th century CE
Source Culture: Asante
Purpose: a fertility object depicting the ideal baby
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8. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Ere Ibeji
Time: before 1877
Source Culture: Yoruba
Purpose: painted wood statue intended as the vessel for the spirit of a deceased twin child
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9. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Primordial Couple
Time: late 19th and early 20th century CE
Source Culture: Dogon
Purpose: wood and metal statue depicting the primordial couple who created the Dogon people
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10. Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle
Great Mosque at Mopti
Time: 20th century CE
Source Culture: Mali
Purpose: Islamic Mosque
Copyright 2015, Sean William Doyle