Early Art of Africa: Rock Wall Painting and Terracotta Sculpture - Coursework Example

Early African Art The African Art provide one of the most fascinating and diverse legacies in the world. The continent of Africa is constituted with different diverse groups of communities and societies with different collection of Arts that denotes various phenomenons in the society. The concept of African Art is construed to embrace African in the Diaspora, which in this case include the African American. Despite the diversity in art, a strong unifying factor embodies the different societies in Africa concerning the art industry. Most of the African sculptures were curved from either wood or other organic materials, these sculptures were a reflection of certain societal issues, which includes and not limited to the deities. In this relation, this paper considers the following collection of the African Arts; I. Early Art of Africa Rock Wall Painting and Terracotta Sculpture. Of all the continents, Africa is one that is much infested with the art of rock painting than all the continents that constitute the world. In addition, rock painting in Africa remains not only the oldest but also one that has been continuously been practiced through generations. Among the features that are shown in the Africans rock painting includes human figures, animals, and a combination of the animals and futures that are related to human beings. These features were collectively referred to as therianthropes normally associated with the shamanism (Abiodun, Henry, and John, 88). The African rock painting can be categorized in three domains, the southern, central, and the northern. The demarcation considers the regional and the similarity in the trend of the rock painting. It is urged that the rock painting of the three domains indicate reasonable degree of resemblance that even untrained eyes would find it easy to recognize and differentiate. It is worth noting that not all the rock painting demonstrates pre-historical existence since most of the rock painting thrived in the nineteenth century and continues to grow today. In South Africa, Drakensberg, the roc painting in the areas simply depicted the confrontation between the European and the San who were considered the Bushmen. The paintings mostly demonstrate the European solders riding o horses and rifles hanging on their shoulders. In is interesting to note that some of the paintings demonstrates three dimensional using a special painting material called the polychrome shading (Bodrogi, 67). What is considered the southern zone in the African rock painting stretches from Cape Town in South Africa and cuts right through Zimbabwe and the Zambezi River in Zambia. The San hunter-gatherers carried out most of the paintings in this zone. The paintings in this region significantly differ with those in the central and the northern zone in that they are not homologous. There exist a great diversity in the rock painting in Zimbabwe, Matopo hill and those of Brandberg in Namibia as well as those of South African Drakensberg (Willett, 69). In the central Zone, it constitutes the zone that is not well understood since it is least studied. It stretches from Zambezi River and extends to the Sahara Desert. This zone strikes a difference in the rock painting of the North and South in that animal and human paintings do not dominates the art. Instead, the paintings simply demonstrates the geometric images of finger-paints. These paintings are associated with the Khoi of Southern Zone (Willett, 75). The Art of the Northern Zone is equally not well documented given its diversity and is believed to have taken place in four phases; the Bubaline, Bovidine, Cabalinne, and Camelline in that order (Grunne, 101). The paintings were marked with animal and human paintings. The picture above illustrate a rock painting in the African continent The Terracotta Sculpture The terracotta sculptures were made of earthenware and were usually glazed or unglazed materials predominantly made of clay. The materials that were made from the clay included vessels like pots, septic and aseptic water pipes, surface embellishment in the building construction and bricks. The term terracotta is thus used to refer to the items made of clay materials and their characteristic orange color. The terracotta materials have given the archeologist new information with reference to the earliest Chinese life from the military to art. It has opened new frontiers in which the historical account of the ancient Chinese life and historians are having a more comprehensible account of the Chinese history. Thorough the discovery of the terracotta materials have been used by the historians to estimate that by the time the emperor died, there was a total of about 8,000 soldiers, 700 horses, and about 100 chariots (Visona, 156). All this information is courtesy of the then unearthed statues of the components described above. Terracotta sculptures have also been used to understand the African ancient life and religious inclination based on the evidenced collected by the archeologist. Africans also used clay work for the purpose of sculptures and art. Igbo and the Ife of Yoruba art The Igbo and the Yoruba of Nigeria have also perfected the art of sculpture and carvings. The Yoruba occupies the South Western Nigeria and largely made use of the terracotta in their sculptures. In their sculptures, they demonstrated various features in their art that included animals and human features. Within the Ife clan in Nigeria, the terracotta have taken a different perspective since most of their terracotta are not found in the shrines as has been the case with many other areas. The terracotta found in the secondary places has demonstrated consistent relations to show that there are ritual cases associated religious issues (Visona, 98). This image illustrates the image Ife’s sculpture. The Igbo of Nigeria have also excelled in the art of sculpture and made several unique features. Most of the sculptures in this clan in Nigeria were used to appease the spirits of the dead and those of gods. Most of the sculptures in this case were painted chalk white and this is a characteristic way of identifying the Igbo’s sculpture. The Igbo also used bronze and copper for sculpture purposes. Images of ritual and kingship: Benin art Located in the Southern region of Nigeria, Benin country had one of the most peculiar artwork in West Africa. The Benin art was mostly associated with the Edo Empire also known as the Kingdom of Benin. The artwork were majorly used by the Oba of Benin-this is believed to be a divine ruler in the region for which the craftsmen were dedicated to produce several objects for ceremonial purpose. In addition to the promotion of the religious piety and the theological relevance, The Benin artwork also covered a range figurine, plaques, busts, and the animal heads (Quellec, 134). A typical material for the Benin art engaged the use of brass, bronze, terracotta, wood, clay, and ivory. One of the characteristic effects of the kingdom of Benin in the artwork is the alteration of artwork form the careful treatment associated with thin casting to that of generalized thick and undefined castings. One of the most conspicuous and synonymous objects with Benin art was the Ikegobo-this was a cylindrical artwork used to celebrate the individual success in the kingdom. The evidence from the historians indicates that the artwork of Benin served the purpose of narrating the mythical or actual achievements and events that were unique to the kingdom. The artwork had a strong grounding in the religious as well as the traditional values, which invariably denoted the iconographic affinities. Even though the Benin artwork became popular in the 19th century after the punitive Expedition, the artwork has been in existence since 500 BCE (Kerchache, Jean, Lucien, and Francoise, 123). The artwork in Benin was accelerated by the fact that their religious sentiments and beliefs could be best captured and portrayed in the industry. The mythical stories associated with the then rulers (kings) also promoted the artwork in the kingdom. It can be concluded that in Benin, the artwork was motivated and defined by the ruling class; this is because most of the arts rotated about the kings and the religious beliefs just as the traditions. In that regard, the following images shows artwork of the Benin features. The diagrams above shows some of the art images related to Benin kingdom. Works Cited Abiodun, Rowland, Henry John Drewal, and John Pemberton. The Yoruba artist: new theoretical perspectives on African arts. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. Print. Bodrogi, Tibor. Art in Africa. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Print. Grunne, Bernard de.. The birth of art in Africa: Nok statuary in Nigeria. Paris: A. Biro ;, 1998. Print. Kerchache, Jacques, Jean Louis Paudrat, Lucien Stephan, and Francoise Marin. Art of Africa. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1999. Print. Quellec, Jean. Rock art in Africa: mythology and legend. English-language ed. Paris: Flammarion ;, 2004. Print. Visona, Monica Blackmun. A history of art in Africa. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. Print. Visona, Monica Blackmun, Robin Poynor, and Herbert M. Cole. A history of art in Africa. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Willett, Frank. Ife in the history of West African sculpture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print. Read More