African Art and Architecture

I

Introduction

African Art and Architecture, works of art and architecture created on the African continent south of the Sahara. The immense Sahara acts as a natural barrier, separating African cultures to the north from those to the south. Although there has always been some intermingling of peoples on the two sides of the Sahara, differences in history and culture are pronounced. This article primarily discusses the art created south of the Sahara, a region known as sub-Saharan Africa. For information on the art of northern Africa, see Islamic Art and Architecture; Egyptian Art and Architecture; and Coptic Art and Architecture.

The history of African art and architecture spans a vast period, beginning as early as 25,500 bc and continuing to the present. Among the earliest surviving examples of African art are images of animals painted on rock slabs found in caves in Namibia. Animal images painted on or cut into rocks and canyon walls in the Sahara date from 6000 to 4000 bc. Later Saharan rock art depicts ritual activities, herding, and food preparation. The earliest known African sculptures (500 bc to ad 200) are sculpted clay heads and human figures from central Nigeria. Many surviving examples of African art date from the 14th to the 17th century. However, most of the African art known today is relatively recent, from the 19th century or later. Very little earlier African art has survived, primarily because it was made largely of perishable materials such as wood, cloth, and plant fibers, and because it typically met with intensive use in ceremonies and in daily life. Scholars of African art base suppositions about earlier art mainly on art of the last two centuries, but they can only guess at the earlier traditions from which the recent art developed.

African art does not constitute a single tradition. Africa is an enormous continent with hundreds of cultures that have their own languages, religious beliefs, political systems, and ways of doing things. Each culture produces its own distinctive art and architecture, with variations in materials, intentions, and results. Whereas some cultures excel in carving wood, others are known for casting objects in metal. In one culture a decorated pot might be used for cooling water, while in another culture a similar pot is used in ritual ceremonies.

The major types of art produced in Africa are masks, statues, furniture, textiles, pottery, baskets, beadwork, and metalwork. Most objects that are sculpted or shaped—masks and statues, for example—are created chiefly by men and depict human or animal forms. Where two-dimensional art exists, as in textile design or painted decoration on houses, it is generally produced by women.

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II

The Cultural Role of African Art

African art, unlike most European art, generally serves a function. The art may satisfy an everyday household need, adorn the body, or fulfill a social or religious role. These objects of use also have artistic value because skilled artisans have designed and created them with a strong concern for visual beauty and symbolic meaning. Art objects that serve basic household needs include baskets, water vessels, eating utensils, carved headrests, and stools. Ritual objects include masks used in ceremonies and statues that commemorate and guard the remains of important ancestors. Personal adornment may take the form of decorative body scars, jewelry, or staffs and other objects that identify a person’s social status. African art objects rarely serve only one purpose. A piece of jewelry, for example, may adorn the body, indicate prestige, and at the same time be the focal point of a ritual that protects the wearer from negative forces.

A

Art for Everyday Uses

African cultures design many utilitarian objects—such as furniture, dishes, and utensils—with decorative schemes in mind. Among the most common decorative objects made for everyday use in Africa are baskets, handmade pottery, carved wooden vessels, eating utensils, stools, and headrests.

A

1

Baskets, Pottery, and Utensils

Baskets, which serve as useful containers for carrying and storing goods, can be woven or coiled from a number of materials that come from plants. These include sisal from the agave plant, bark, grass, raffia from palm fibers, and reeds. Woven baskets, most often made by men, can hold clothing and personal items such as medicines or makeup. Women usually make baskets by the coil method—winding fibers into coils and then binding the coils together with additional strips of fiber. Some baskets are bound so tightly that they can hold water. Zulu and Ndebele women from southern Africa use binding strips made of colored fiber to create intricate patterns in their coiled baskets. Inspiration for these patterns comes from nature—the joints of sugarcane plants, for example—and from spearheads and other handmade items.

Most pottery is used for storing and serving liquids and other foods, although some is made for ritual use. Making pots is generally a woman’s task, but in western and central Africa there are male potters as well, and who makes what generally depends on the pottery’s purpose. Among some peoples in Nigeria, for example, women make pots that are for household use, while men make pots used in rituals. Both produce delicate, thin-walled pots, but they use different methods. As when making baskets, women usually employ a coil technique, rolling long strips of clay into coils, which they then stack to form the pot. They sometimes shape a pot by stacking the coils around a mold. Men also use molds, but they form their pots from flat slabs of clay rather than from coils. The Igbo people of Nigeria have traditionally decorated both household and ceremonial pots with grooves, bosses (small knobs), and raised designs. Similar decorations appear on double-bowled pots used for offerings in community shrines.

Spoons and other eating utensils are typically made of wood and may carry elaborate, carved decoration. Decorative vessels used as containers for food or water, or as drinking dishes, may be made of wood or clay. Household objects such as these may also impart prestige, indicating their owner’s rank or status. For example, in the 19th century the Kuba of central Africa carved wooden vessels in the shape of human bodies or heads from which they drank palm wine in the palace, in men’s clubhouses, and at funerary rituals. Kings and chiefs distributed these cups to gain the loyalty of their followers.

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