Chapter Twenty

1
Chapter Twenty
Gardner's Art through the Ages, Concise Edition
by Fred Kleiner

• Africa

Prepared by Kelly Donahue-Wallace Randal
Wallace University of North Texas
2
Africa

• Dates and Places
• 500BCE to present
• 52 nations of Africa
• People
• Core beliefs honoring ancestors, worship of
  nature deities, divine rulership

Reliquary guardian figure (mbulu ngulu), 19th or
early 20th century. Fig. 20-10.
3
Africa

• Themes
• Deities
• Rulers
• Animals
• Forms
• Conceptual and optical
• Form varies by culture

WILLIE BESTER, Homage to Steve Biko, 1992. Fig.
20-22.
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Africa
Nok head, ca. 500 BCE200 CE. Fig. 20-2.
5
Africa

• Example
• Nok culture
• Part of full figure
• Large heads, small bodies
• Pierced eyes and mouth for cooling clay sculpture
• Women sculptors?

Nok head, ca. 500 BCE200 CE. Fig. 20-2.
6
Africa
King, 11th to 12th century. Fig. 20-4.
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Africa

• Example
• Ife, Yoruba culture
• Sacred king effigy
• Naturalistic rendering of likeness
• But squat proportions
• Ritual regalia

King, 11th to 12th century. Fig. 20-4.
8
Africa
Great Mosque, Djenne, 19061907. Fig. 20-5.
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Africa
Africa

• Example
• Djenne
• Mosque is oldest example of adobe architecture in
  world
• Courtyard, prayer hall
• Wooden beams project from walls, support roof

Great Mosque, Djenne, 19061907. Fig. 20-5.
10
Africa
Waist pendant of a Queen Mother, ca. 1520. Fig.
20-7.
11
Africa

• Example
• Benin culture
• Pendant hangs on belt
• Images of oba and his courtthis is Queen Mother
• Ritual regalia
• Ivory carving
• Portuguese traders

Waist pendant of a Queen Mother, ca. 1520. Fig.
20-7.
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Africa
Altar to the Hand and Arm (ikegobo), 17th to 18th
century. Fig. 20-8.
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Africa

• Example
• Benin culture
• Cast-brass royal shrine ikegobo
• For oba
• Hierarchical composition and scale
• Emphasize head,
• Hand and arm power

Altar to the Hand and Arm (ikegobo), 17th to 18th
century. Fig. 20-8.
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Africa
MASTER OF THE SYMBOLIC EXECUTION, salt cellar,
Sapi-Portuguese, ca. 14901540. Fig. 20-9.
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Africa

• Example
• Sapi culture
• Salt cellar
• Hybrid art with image of Portuguese and European
  patterns
• Colonial relationship
• Export item from elephant tusk

MASTER OF THE SYMBOLIC EXECUTION, salt cellar,
Sapi-Portuguese, ca. 14901540. Fig. 20-9.
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Africa
Ancestral screen (nduen fobara), Kalabari Ijaw,
late 19th century. Fig. 20-1.
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Africa

• Example
• Kalabari Ijaw culture
• Shrine to honor ancestors
• Wood, fiber screens
• Honors deceased chief of trading company
• Hierarchy of scale and stylized forms common in
  African art

Ancestral screen (nduen fobara), Kalabari Ijaw,
late 19th century. Fig. 20-1.
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Africa
Nail figure (nkisi nkondi), ca. 18751900. Fig.
20-13.
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Africa

• Example
• Kongo culture
• Kongo power figure
• Consecrated by priest
• Healing spirit or harmful force
• Invoke by touch or words
• Assist individual or community

Nail figure (nkisi nkondi), ca. 18751900. Fig.
20-13.
20
Africa
Seated couple, ca. 18001850. Fig. 20-14.
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Africa

• Example
• Dogon culture
• Linked-man-and-woman groups typical
• Part of shrine or altar
• Primordial couple?
• Stylized figures in abstract geometry of body
  parts

Seated couple, ca. 18001850. Fig. 20-14.
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Africa
Female mask, 20th century. Fig. 20-19.
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Africa

• Example
• Mende culture
• Mask for fertility rituals
• Combines with dress and movement for power
• Function as mediators
• Water symbolism
• Idealized beauty

Female mask, 20th century. Fig. 20-19.