Viewing and Appreciating African Art

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Viewing and AppreciatingAfrican Art

• World Cultures
• Period Six, 2006 2007
• Ripley-Moffitt

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• Mask with Headdress
• Slide 4
• Côte d'Ivoire/Liberia
• 20th century

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Slide 4Mask With Headdress

• African Artalways used for something.
• Shows a sign of celebration when boys graduate.
• Must be part of a certain society to have
  privilege to use masks.
• Must go through training before using masks.
• Serena Advani

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Slide 5 Baule
Masking Performance Cote DIvorie,1980
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• The mask is made of raffia palm fibers which
  symbolize the bush and all the animals that live
  there
• It is important that no one knows who is under
  the mask because the wearer is no longer
  themselves they are the sprit of the mask
• There are several elements in the masquerade
  which is the Boule masking ceremony. Those
  elements are the maskers movements, his words,
  the lighting and the crowd

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The Maiden Spirit MaskSlide 6Igbo/Nsukka,
Nigeria12/8/06
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Slide 6The Maiden Spirit Mask

• Spirit Masks-Made to help deceased spirits to
  pass on to the afterlife
• Used in funerary ceremonies, and made to honor
  ancestors
• Teaches the Igbo thought everything would be
  opposite in afterlife
• Teaches they thought even after someone died,
  still part of family
• Hornbill- Dedication to family life- Model for
  human behavior

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• Slide 7
• Drum
• Senufo, Côte d'Ivoire/Mali, 20th century

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Slide 7Drum

• Used for making a beat
• To tell the dancers when to change their steps
• Cosmology - system of beliefs that deal with how
  the universe was created and how it works.
• Horn-bill - believed to be first animal on earth,
  acts as a messenger from gods.
• Used in masking ceremonies and communication with
  other villages
• Brittany Hatt

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• Nail and Blade Oath-Taking Figure,
• Nkisi nkondi, Kongo,
• Coastal Zaire, 19th century
• Slide 8

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Nail and Blade Oath-Taking FigureSlide 8

• Figure used in drought, famine, or personal
  arguments. Many pieces of African art used for
  settling disputes, teaching, or everyday uses.
• Has hands on hips and feet apart which symbolizes
  aggressiveness and power.
• Power is protected in shrine and only one in each
  town. Only ritual expert is aloud to touch it.
• Rabiya Syed

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Ibeji, Yoruba, Nigeria, 20th century Slide 9
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Ibeji Slide 9

• Nine inch ibeji.
• Carved to commemorate the death of twin child.
• It was made for a mother she will feed it, dress
  it and rubs it with special oils.
• Parents hope that by taking care of the ibeji it
  will bring them good luck.
• Power can provide a place for dead twin's soul.
• Yoruba people believed that the twin's soul
  splits in to when they are born.
• Demonstrates that its owner was wealthy by the
  gown it wore and the beads and cowry shells
• Jason Franklin and Andy Neiswender

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• Ivory Figurines,
• Slide 10
• Lega, caster Zaire, l9th-20th century

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Slide 10 Ivory Figurines

• small ivory figures.
• Figures- symbols
• they were used in initiation ceremonies when an
  important male member community gained a higher
  status.
• teach moral and ethical values
• Julia, Taz, Patrick, and Sahil

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• Helmet Mask with Vertical Ladder Extension,
• Slide 13
• Bobo, Burkina Faso, 20th century.

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Slide 13 Helmet Mask with Vertical Ladder
Extension

• Does not look like person, animal, or thing
• it is an abstract mask
• several different elements of this mask
• human/antelope elements in the face
• bird-like form that protrudes from the forehead
• ladder like shape coming from the top of the head
• geometric patterns and colors refer to moral
  values
• Julia and Taz

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• Standing Male Figure
• Slide 14
• Ibeji, Nigeria, 20th Century

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Slide 14Standing Male Figure

• Creator belonged to Yoruba
• Ewa means character
• Body parts empahsized this fact
• Some characters are ages are in the middle, mark
  of a knife, look human, and reflect light.

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• Slide 15 Chief's Ceremonial Caryatid Stool,
  Kihona, Luba/Hemba, Kasongo-Niembo Chiefdom,
  Zaire, 20th century, wood. Gift of Janine and
  Michael Heymann to the Fine Arts Museums of San
  Francisco. (1991.71.1)

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Chiefs Ceremonial Stool Slide Piece 15

• Scarification is a body decoration they are
  pattern cuts usually on your back
• Scarification is a very common body decoration
  all through Africa
• The figure's Elaborate hairstyle and
  scarification marks tell us that this woman was
  of high status
• The artist who made this object emphasized the
  figure's arms to show that it was a strong part
  of the body
• The whole purpose of this stool is for a chief to
  sit on during a ceremony

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Antelope Headdress Slide 16 Chiwara,
Bamana/Bamako, Mali 20th century
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Slide 16Antelope Headdress

• Animal features meant to give an object power or
  authority of the animal it resembles
• Bamana believe that antelope taught their
  ancestors farming
• Antelopes symbolize good farming and plentiful
  harvesting
• Headdress worn in harvest festivals
• The artists were more interested in qualities of
  the antelope like speed, grace, and power
• The extra horns may have been added to resemble
  power
• Ruchi

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• Elephant Mask with Leopard Crest
• Slide 17
• Bamileke, Cameroon, 20th century

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Slide 17Elephant Mask with Leopard Crest

• Three animals on it- elephant, leopard, frog
• Represent important qualities
• Elephant- strength, intelligence
• Leopard- gracefulness, cunning, speed, power of
  chief
• Frog- fertility (ability to produce offspring)
• Triangular white bead patterns- represent
  leopards coat, royalty
• With these animals on one mask, tells that wearer
  had high social status
• Mask also brings prosperity to users
• Alexandre Pauwels Joseph Cornett