1. All You Ever Wanted to Learn About African Art Part II
Exploration, Colonization, and Independence
By: Liz, Jack, and Brandon
Wood and Child in Tow
By: Cyprian Ogambi
(modern day, Kenya)

2. A Little Review Nok head, terra cotta, Nigeria, 5th century BCE
King, from Ife, Nigeria, 11th-12th century, zinc-brass alloy
Saltcellar by: Master of the Symbolic Execution, Sapi-Portugese, from Sierra Leone, 15-16th century

3. European Contact First: Portugal, late 15th Century
Early Contact Period: 15th-19th century
Slave Trade
Islam vs. Christianity
Imperialism/Colonialism- Africa divided into pie slices

4. Context and Meaning Many African pieces taken out of context
Important to remember original function and location of piece
Where you view a piece of African art, from what angle, and who you are plays a huge role in interpretation (similar to modern art)
Functionality depends on place

5. Example of Functionality and Importance of Context
Samburu Kenya
Costumes, hairstyles, jewelry- gender specific, age specific, status specific
Each part of their outfit is symbolic of their background

6. Conventionalization and Gender Roles
Ceramic Ancestral Portrait, created by a woman
Each group had strict artistic conventions
Men are ironsmiths, architects, carver; Women are wall and body painters, potters, sculptors
Some art is collaborative
(ex) Akan peoples of Ghana
Two shrine figures (akua mma), Asante, Ghana, Wood

7. Themes Veneration of Ancestors Power of Kings “Aesthetic Overload”
Spirituality of Art
Education of Youth
Aiding the Community
Continuity of Life

8. Veneration of Ancestors
Royal Ancestor Altar, Benin, Nigeria 
Finest materials used
King’s head- symbolic
Hierarchal Positioning

9. Primordial Dogon Ancestors
Dogon- Mali
Man and Woman on common base
Depiction of Gender roles
Simplified body structure
Fertility gestures
Symbolic and spiritual function

10. Igbo Houses for the Gods
Nature Gods demanded houses to be made
Mbari house- made of Adobe, spiritual purpose
Thunder god Amadioha and his wife
Fusion of modernity and tradition
Mbari houses return to the earth

11. Male Figures (ndop)
Representing King Kot a-Ntshey Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Artistic tradition
Figures placed next to an ailing king near death to absorb life essence
Kept in wives’ quarters

12. Nail Figure Kongo Embodied specific spirits to heal or harm
Power shown in symbolic cowrie shell
Villagers held figures in awe
Purpose: evoke ancestors for guidance and help

13. Masquerades Crucial to African society
Masks held power and societal status
Usually used for education and entertainment
Masquerades- strongly ritualized dramas
Men control masks in most societies
Administrated justice in some societies

14. Satimbe Mask Dogon, Mali Creation story illustrated
Used every 3-6 years
Dama ceremony- commemorate those who had died since the last Dama

16. Female headdress (D’amba dance) and Male Mask
Baga Sitemu, Guinea
D’amba mask shows ideal Baga woman (bears many healthy children)
Male Banda mask embodies power symbols representative of males

17. Female Mask Mende, Sierra Leone Ideal feminine characteristics
Unusual preference for female maskers in this society
Maskers are teachers, mentors, initiators

18. Three horned bush-spirit mask (Bo nun amuin)
Baule, Cote d’Ivoire
Animal imagery
Spiritual power
Male-oriented bush life
Costume usually made of raffia- a bush material (wild over civilized)

19. African Art Today
Colonial governments caused erosion of leadership arts in African culture
Increased secularization
Traditional values still present, not as relevant in modern society
Art reflects societal changes

20. Coffin in shape of hen with chicks
By: Kane Kwei
Ghana, 1989
Functionality
Wooden Caskets for the Ga people
Coffin is for a senior woman with a large family
Decorated other objects

22. Ta Tele By: Trigo Piula Democratic Republic of the Congo 1988
International style
Fuses Western and Congolese cultures
Traditional Kongo power figure (nkisi nduda) stands in front
Television has deadened contemporary Congolese peoples’ minds with the need for modern commodities

23. African Art Transforms Europe
Runner Mask from The Dan
(Ivory Coast)
Henri Matisse’s The Young Sailor
1906

24. African Art Transforms Europe
Pablo Picasso’s Pregnant Woman
1950
Ancestral figure, Kongo, nineteenth
and twentieth centuries

25. African Art Transforms Modern Artists
Romare Bearden’s The Woodshed
1963
Reliquary Guardian Figure (Mbulu-Ngulu),
Kota, from Gabon, 19-20th century

26. Vocabulary
Masquerade- A ritualized drama performed by several masked dancers, embodying ancestors or nature spirits
Akua ba- small wooden fertility figures carved by Asante men in Ghana
Ndop- A male figure commemorating a living or dead King, carved by the Kuba people of the Congo
Genetrix- a legendary founding Clan mother
Bo nun Amuin- Composite imagery animal masks created by the Baule people of the Cote D’Ivoire. Represents the spirit power of the bush