Africa in the Modern Era
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Transcript of Africa in the Modern Era
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African Art in the Modern Era
Art and it function
Architecture: Nankani compound
Sculpture:
Yoruba twin figures: style and function
Kongo Power Figure: sculpture and
participation
Performing Arts:Bwa initiation rites
Textiles:
Kente cloths: from traditional textile to
installation art
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- diversity of
cultures,
languages,
religions, political
entities
- destruction of
oral tradition /
history
- Europe:
colonialism,
anthropology,
and primitivism
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Attributedto Kojo
Bonsu,
Finial of a
Spokepers
on Staff,
fromGhana,
Ashanti
ulture,
1960s-70s,
wood and
gold. H. 11
1/4
Art and its functionIconography related to
use
political power is like
an egg: grasp it tootightly and it will
shatter in your hand;
hold it too loosely and
it will slip from your
fingers
Ghana, one of richest
goldfields -> gold =
power
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Painted
architectureEarthen
buildings
Cylindrical
Nankani
Compound,
Ghana, 1972
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Walled compound
one entrance
(each house can
see it)
Fractal structure
Symbolism (life to
death)
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gender roles: squaredbuildings used only by
men, round ones by
women (inner
courtyard)
Men build, women
paint
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Yidoor= horizontal molded ridges
Zalanga = bisected lozenge design
Contrast angular decoration - curved
walls/urban structure
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Twin Figures,
from Nigeria,
Yoruba culture,
early 20th cent.
Wood, h. 7 7/8
Terracotta Sculpture,
Yoruba people 12-
15th Century
Great Yoruba sculpture
tradition
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Sculpture = spirits
dwelling place
Ritual: sculpture
brought home
from the artists
studio
Twin Figures,
from Nigeria,
Yoruba culture,
early 20th cent.
Wood, h. 7 7/8
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Sculpture = spirits
dwelling place
Ritual: sculpture
brought home
from the artists
studio
Placed in shrine +
taken care of
(signs of use)
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Sculpture = spirits
dwelling place
Ritual: sculpture
brought home
from the artists
studio
Placed in shrine +
taken care of
(signs of use)
Iconography:
glossy surface =
health, signs of
adulthood
(hairstyle,
scarification)
Twin Figures,
from Nigeria,
Yoruba culture,
early 20th cent.
Wood, h. 7 7/8
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Power figure (Nkisi),
from the Democratic
Republic of Congo,
Kongo culture, 19th
century. Wood, nails,
pins, blades and other
materials, h. 44
-house specific mystical
forces
-medicines in a hole in
the stomach or on top ofits head
-collaborative creations
-category formerly known
as nail fetishes (nkisi
miloko)
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Male power figure
(Nkisi), wood,
pigment, nails,
cloth, beads,
shells, arrows,leather, nuts,
twine, h. 23 in.
(58.8 cm),
19th20th century
(New York,
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Kongo Power
Figure, Nkisi
N'Kondi:
Mangaaka
Kongo
Peoples;Democratic
Republic of the
Congo or
Angola,
Second half of
the 19th
century. Wood,paint, metal,
resin, ceramic
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Initiation
Passage from pubertyto adulthood
1) kidnapping
(separation from
younger playmates)
2) Isolation and
education (masks,
spirits)
3) Reunionhttp://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/streamingmovie
s/RSTP_files/BwaBoni512K_Stream001
.mov
Masks in performance, Burkina
Faso, Bwa culture, 1984, wood,
mineral pigments, and fiber, h. 7
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fish antelope
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Masks in performance, Burkina
Faso, Bwa culture, 1984, wood,
mineral pigments, and fiber, h. 7
Iconography:
White crescent = quarter moon
(when the rite is held)
White triangles = bull roarer
(sound of spirit voices)
X = initiation scar
Zigzags = path of the ancestors
(difficult to follow)
Beak of the hornbill = bird
intermediary living-dead
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Kente
cloth,
from
Ghana.
Ashanticulture,
20th
century.
Silk, h. 6
10 9/16.
Long Ashanti tradition of KENTE =
woven textiles
Male activity
Strip waving
Famous for bright colors
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El Anatsui, Flag for a
New World Power,
2004. Aluminium bottletops, copper wire. H.
196