Non-Western Art of Africa, Oceana, South America and Asia

Visual Art II 2013

African Art

African Art: Kente• Kente is one of many original fabric designs created by

African artists.• Fabric is an important part of African culture because

clothing can express social status, ethnic identity. Colors are also used to tell stories and represent spiritual symbols.

• Kente originated in Ghana in the twelfth century, and was worn by kinds queens and important figures during ceremonial events.

• Today Kente is often worn in the US to represent African-American heritage and it is printed worldwide.

African Art: Kente

Ashanti king in Kente cloth

One of many unique Kente cloth designs

African Art: Adire• Adire fabric was originally made by the Yoruba

women in Nigeria.• Adire patterns are characterized by squared

grids, with solid, flat, organic shapes.

African Art: Mud Cloth

• Unlike royal Kente cloth mud cloth designs were originally created by poor, rural craftsmen in Mali.

• Mud cloth is now considered a symbol of national identity for Mali.

• The fabric is called mud cloth because patterns were originally made by painting cloth with iron rich mud.

African Art: Mud Cloth

African Art: Bamileke• The Bamileke people immortalize images of

Africa’s past through their ceremonial art and masks.

• In traditional ceremonies a dancer wears an elephant mask to symbolize strength and energy.

• Beaded Bamileke animal masks are stylized but maintain organic natural forms.

African Art: Bamileke

African Influence• Faith Ringgold is an

African-American artist who’s art is heavily influenced by African art and fabrics. They share as stylized form and medium. Like a lot of African art, her quits tell stories through images.

Faith Ringgold

John Biggers

Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal Art• Aborigines are the native people of Australia.• Their art is characterized by interlocking

shapes and stylized images. • Aboriginal art is very different from western

art styles. It involves different perspectives, shapes, and methods.

• Despite European settlement in the region, Aboriginal art has survived into modern times.

Aboriginal Art: Natural MediumsNatural pigments used to dye and paint natural surfaces

Aboriginal Art: Patterns

• Aboriginal art of ten is characterized by earth tones, images shown from above or in profile, and simple organic shapes.

• They also often involve repeated patterns, with concentric circles and horizontal lines. These patterns represent different symbols of the aboriginal culture and history.

• Images are often hidden within the seemingly simple shapes.

Aboriginal Art: Patterns

Aboriginal Art: X-Ray Style• X-Ray style of Aboriginal art was developed to

show the every aspect of the artist subject. In addition to outlining the basic shape inner parts of animals and people may also be included in the image.

Aboriginal Art: Journeys• Aboriginal Art often depicts a journey or acts as a sort of map. • Multiple focal points, and overhead point of view are used to

act as a guide.

Aboriginal Influence

• Keith Haring is an American artist that was heavily influenced by Aboriginal art. His work uses similar shapes and repeated patterns to create symbolic images.

Chinese Art

Chinese Art• Chinese art is one of the oldest and most unique

types of non-western art. Its influence has been shown throughout many centuries around the world.

• Sculpture was the earliest of the Chinese art forms, however, during the Han dynasty when paper was invented paining became more prominent.

• During the early Tang dynasty paintings were mostly lifelike, realistic, detailed figures depicting royal life in what was called court style

Chinese Art: Court Style

Chinese Art: Subject Matter• By the end of the Tang Dynasty the subject

matter of most Chinese paintings had been narrowed to three main groups: figure, landscape, and bird/flower paintings.

Chinese Art: Natural Influence• Later, Chinese Art was more centrally focused on landscape

as a subject matter.• The popularity of vast landscapes came about after the

Tang Dynasty with the rise of Daoism. Daoism considers humans to be a small part in the workings of a complex and interactive natural world.

• These Dao influenced paintings are characterized by intricate and large elements of nature, small figures, open negative space, and flowing movement.

• Figures are often still a part of these paintings but are fairly small and insignificant to highlight that humans are a small part of a vast and ever-changing universe;

Chinese Art: Natural Influence

Chinese Art: Trends• Chinese painting is fairly stylized in that most

paintings include vertical format, negative space, repeated curves, eye-level point of view, few lines and limited color schemes.

• These similarities give Chinese art a unique look that has survived through ancient times into the modern art world and characterized a staple in Chinese culture.

Chinese Influence• Huang Yan paints

faces in the style of ancient Chinese paintings. The work contains the traditional linear landscape elements in a contemporary medium.

Islamic Art

Islamic Art• Islam is not only a religion, but a way of life. Nearly

one in every four people in the world is Muslim. Almost every work of a traditional Muslim artist is an example of Islamic beliefs.

• Most Islamic art contains some sort of calligraphy. Calligraphy is considered an are form in itself since it expressed the word of Allah(Arabic word for God).

• Islamic art is characterized by abstracted patterns, flat geometric shapes contrasted by organic curves, repetition and variation of patters and a focal point.

Islamic Art: Architecture

Islamic Art: Patterns• Almost all Islamic art is made up of complex

abstract patterns that create a sense of unending repetition, another reminder that Allah’s world is infinite.

• There are three main types of Islamic patterns: geometric patterns, plaint-like patterns, and calligraphy.

• The massage of Islam is spread through Arabic writing making calligraphy one of the most important types of patterns in Islamic art and culture

Islamic Art: Patterns

Mexican Art

Mexican Art