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African Art - Sculpture with a Deeper Meaning
Traditional African art is often unusual and abstract. Sculptures
of human figures may have out of proportion elements such as an
over-sized head coupled with a tiny body form. To understand the
art, it must be remembered that the majority was made for religious
purposes. The artist was not interested in the beauty of the subject
in a Western European sense but instead the work would have a
deeper meaning that was based on a religious belief.
Most traditional African tribal religions are based on one all-powerful
God and ancestor worship being a major part of the belief. As
God could not be represented in an artistic work then statues
and carvings were made of ancestors. Realism was not an important
factor or even a consideration.
The most important aspect to the work would be the artists ability
to bring a life-force into the sculpture that came direct from
God. In this way the spirits of the ancestors could occupy the
statues and only then would the artist have created a successful
sculpture.
In addition to the ancestral figure sculptures another important
African art form is the mask. Again, the mask was carved for religious
purposes and usually destroyed after use. This is one of the reasons
why so little ancient African art has survived. Of course another
reaons is due to the nature of the materials that were used in
the sculptures. Clay and wood were the most common and unlikely
to survive over a long period of time.
The earliest known African sculptures come from Nigeria. Between
the years 1100 AD and 1300AD Nigerian civilization flourished
and many beautiful terrocotta sculptures have been discovered
and are suprisingly lifelike.
African Art has had a considerable influence on Western Art.
Most notable would be the work of Picasso. The inspiration of
African masks and sculptures and the shapes partly inspired 'cubism'
and other abstact art forms.
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