African art: history, manifestations and contemporary art

It is considered African art or set of cultural manifestations, two povos present in different ways. countries of the African continent, with highlights for the regions below the desert of Saara, Africa Subsaarian.

As is to be expected, each time it has different cultures, with its own languages, clothes, costumes and art. Dessa form, it is not possible to draw generalizations when it is faulted in "African art".

In addition, it is possible to select some characteristics and languages ​​that are assembled, also carrying different symbols and objectives, depending on the society in question.

As different artistic manifestations dos povos da Africa

African masks

These masks are artifacts produced by a large part of African tribal societies. Also like other manifestations, elas, em geral, had as an objective to create an elo between materiality and collective spirituality.

These dressings are used in various rites and ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals, celebrations and other events. As masks are seen by African hairs as mystical artifacts, they should be used only by some people who have permission for such.

Normally, the masks are used together with their own clothing, or that collaborates with others. for the characterization of the individual and the representation of spiritual beings, animais and other entities.

For making two objects, normally it is used in wood, but it can also be produced with color, metal, ceramics and other materials.

To know more about or subject, read: African masks and serious meanings

African body painting

Painting is also present in African societies, through patterns applied to ceramics and other objects, or to body painting.

Like the indigenous Brazilian populations, the povos of Africa also manifest themselves artistically through the application of natural inks on their bodies.

These paintings are considered as ways of connecting with superior forces in ritual, or even as a way of demonstrating the hierarchical positions of the tribes.

As the populations present in the Vale do Rio Omo, in Ethiopia, it still preserves these traditions, producing quite rich body paintings combined with feitous head ornaments with vegetative elements.

African sculpture

A sculpture is another linguagem widely used on the African continent. We can cite as an example the small terracotta sculptures of Povo Nok (North of Nigeria), dating from the first millennium BC. C. Nelas, the olhos in the mouth are normally shaped and with a head with a cylindrical, spherical or conical format.

It is a striking characteristic of its manifestation and its position, usually frontal and symmetrical, showing heads that are higher than that or the rest of two bodies.

A curiosity is that the beautiful statues of hair by Fang (Gabão), as feições são de crianças, show that they have the greatest link as the spiritual world.

A majority of these objects are used as spiritual and collective instruments. Meanwhile, there are cultures that create art with no defined objectives, such as the Fons (Republic of Benin) with their bronze sculptures portraying people working and animating.

African dances

This dance is part of an important part of the cultural expression of African societies. In the same way that other manifestations, they are present in ceremonial events of serious povos.

O corpo, for the Africans, generally constituted, a elo between the earthly and divine world, being its movimentação uma maneira de homagem aos spiritos, além de uma form of unloading tensions and energies.

Many times these dances are performed in circles with communities of drums and other percussion instruments.

History of traditional African art

Traditional African art is very rich in meanings and symbols, as well as imaginative aesthetic content. Meanwhile, unfortunately, these manifestations are many times difficult to understand, due to the lack of existing information.

Isso is given because many African artistic objects have been removed from the continent. colonizers and leavers for European countries, in order to integrate museums and galleries as curious artifacts and "exotic".

By default, a large part of them was drawn from their original contexts. Many povos foram destroyed (populações inteiras dizimadas) and the meanings of his arts have become enigmatic.

Currently, there is an African movement that demands the return of its enormous cultural heritage to its original locations.

The influences of African art in the vanguard of Europe

No Ocidente, the art of African cultures reverberated at the end of the XIX century through the contact of artists from European vanguard such as African artifacts such as masks and sculptures.

Also, many artists (such as Pablo Picasso, Matisse and Braque) will be aesthetically inspired by the art of two Africans as the objective of recreating Western artistic concepts.

In the meantime, I will hear curious and Eurocentric around such fez objects that they are seen as "primitive" and "eccentric", or that I see being rethinking our days from now on.

Contemporary African art

When thinking about African art, I usually see that produced by tribal communities in pre-colonial periods. It is important to note that, as well as the rest of the planet, the nations of the African continent continue to produce art.

São artists who use as a tool for communication, questioning and reflections atuais, deepening-se critical and creative olhar around issues pertinent to certain locations of origin and their relationships as the world globalized.

Also, there are several languages ​​that these artists use, such as photography, painting, video-art, installation and other existing structures.

As an example, we can cite photographer Aida Mulunef, from Ethiopia, as well as Zanele Muholi, from Africa do Sul, Romuald Hazoumè, do Benim, or photographer Seydou Keïta, from Mali and many others.

Afro-Brazilian art

Or Brazil is a country that receives a huge contingent of people kidnapped from Africa in colonial times. Traced as a handicraft of works, these populations are part of the Brazilian identity, contributing to the formation of our intrinsic culture.

Also, art and culture of various African societies mix up other cultures present here.

Therefore, art from Africa manifests itself intensely not on the Brazilian territory. We can cite as examples capoeira, various styles of music and dance, such as samba, maracatu, ijexá, carimbó, maxixe, among others.

Follow below a video of Afro dance teacher Luciane Ramos, who traced some teachings and reflections on African culture in our country.

Suggestions of bibliography to study more about or subject:

• African Artby Frank Willett, from Sesc São Paulo editor
• Africa in Art, by Juliana Ribeiro da Silva Bevilacqua and Renato Araújo da Silva, do acquis Museu Afro Brasil

You can also be interested:

• Commented African Counts
• Indigenous art: types of art and characteristics
• Body painting: ancestrality da years leaf days