African art
Sign in to saveAlso known as art of Africa
modern and historical aesthetic, material, oral/audio and visual culture native to or originating from indigenous Africans or the African continent
Wikidata facts
- Part of
- culture of Africa
- Has part
- contemporary African art
- Continent
- Africa
- Image
- Anthropomorphic bronze head in the Ife style; probably made around 1900 as a cast of a much older figure; Line tattoo on face; Private collection in Northern Germany;.jpg
- Significant event
- art forgery
Show 5 more facts
- facet of
- Africa
- Commons category
- Art of Africa
- topic's main category
- Category:Arts in Africa
- Commons gallery
- African art
- significant person
- El Anatsui
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
African art refers to works of visual art, including works of sculpture, painting, metalwork, and pottery, originating from the various peoples of the African continent and influenced by distinct, indigenous traditions of aesthetic expression.
While the various artistic traditions of such a large and diverse continent display considerable regional and cultural variety, there are consistent artistic themes, recurring motifs, and unifying elements across the broad spectrum of the African visual expression. As is the case for every artistic tradition in human history, African art was created within specific social, political, and religious contexts. Likewise, African art was often created not purely for art's sake, but rather with some practical, spiritual, and/or didactic purpose in mind. In general, African art prioritizes conceptual and symbolic representation over realism, aiming to visualize the subject's spiritual essence.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “African art” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.