Comments on: African art

African art

nickyskye — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:18:15 -0800

Much of the extraordinary variety of traditional art from Africa comes from the countries in West and Central Africa, because of the availability of wood (often called exotic woods) and metal. Hamill Gallery has organized their excellent site to show the materials, including textiles, metals, beads used, as well as the names of the many tribes and categories, such as animals. The images are accompanied by information about the art. The Yale University Art Gallery also has a nice selection of African art with information. The Africa Image Library offers an archive of images, which give a little backdrop to the lives and environment of the artists and artisans in various parts of Africa.

African Wood Figures / Fetishes / Dolls and Puppets Google book: African Sculpture By the late Ladislas Segy, who was a pioneer among Westerners writing about the meanings and ritual uses of West African art and gallery owner Traditional African art created before 1955 is considered "old", and usually quite costly, because many of the materials used, such as wood or barkcloth, were subject to decay by weather and bugs. [This was told to me by Merton Simpson.] African Art history resources on the web

By: netbros

netbros — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:34:38 -0800

Another exceptional African wood artist: Charles Bies Thank you for another wonderful post, as always, nicky.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:35:44 -0800

Often "African art" is associated with the kind of "folk art" we see from any small community with limited materials and technical tools. Today, this vast continent has produced many fine examples of contemporary art, as one might expect from a continent that has more large cities than the United States.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:56:13 -0800

wow, that Africa Image Library is great. here's one of my favourite African countries.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:11:31 -0800

ah Mali. Have you been there Ubu? I love the art from that neck of the woods, so elegantly lean and geometric. The Ghanaian art too, which has a very different feel, gentler, rounder.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:50:03 -0800

sure have. the mud mosques are stunning. djenne is probably the most famous.