Art
Art is the process of intentionally arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a varied range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature. The most common usage of the word "art," which rose to prominence after 1750, is understood to denote skill used to produce an artistic result.
FORMS OF ART means the type of artwork such as drawing, painting, sculpture (carving, modeling, assemblage and construction) architecture, printmaking, electronic media such as computer and digital graphics, ceramics, Visual Design, Graphic Design, collage, photography and Post Modern appropriation.
African art has one of the most diverse legacies in the world. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of peoples, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. African art can be defined as the art of the African Diasporas, such as the art of African Americans. Despite this diversity, there are some unifying artistic themes when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa
- The human figure: The human figure has always been the primary subject matter for most African art, and this emphasis even influenced certain European traditions. For example in the fifteenth century Portugal traded with the Sapi culture near the Ivory Coast in West Africa, who created elaborate ivory saltcellars that were hybrids of African and European designs, most notably in the addition of the human figure (the human figure typically did not appear in Portuguese saltcellars). The human figure could represent the living or the dead, may reference chiefs, dancers, or various trades such as drummers or hunters, or even may be an anthropomorphic representation of a god or have other votive function.
- Visual abstraction: African artworks tend to prefer visual abstraction over naturalistic representation. This is because many African artworks generalize stylistic norms. Ancient Egyptian art, also usually thought of as naturally depictive, uses a lot of highly abstracted and structured visual canons, especially in painting, as well as the use of different colors to represent the qualities and characteristics of an individual being depicted.
- Emphasis on sculpture: African artists like to use three-dimensional artworks over two-dimensional works. Even many African paintings or cloth works were meant to be three-dimensionally. House paintings are often seen as a continuous design wrapped around a house, forcing the viewer to walk around the work to experience it fully; while decorated cloths are worn as decorative or ceremonial garments, transforming the wearer into a living sculpture.
- Emphasis on performance art: An extension of the classes and three-dimensionality of traditional African art is the fact that much of it is forged for use in performance contexts, rather than in static ones. For example, masks and costumes very often are used in communal, ceremonial contexts, where they are "danced." Most societies in Africa have names for their masks, but this single name includes not only the sculpture, but also the meanings of the mask, the dance related with it, and the spirits that reside within.
Yoruba bronze head sculpture, Ife, Nigeria c. 12th century A.D.
Makonde carving c.1974
