Environment and Object: Recent African Art

African Arts, 1987

... Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: Baldwin, James (b. 1924, d. ----. Author: Weber, Michael John. PUBLISHER: Center for African Art (New York). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1987. PUB TYPE: Book (ISBN 0961458747 ). VOLUME/EDITION: PAGES (INTRO/BODY): 195 p. ...

2020

The term ‘African Art’ is typically used for the classification of the art of Sub-Saharan Africa. It appears casual, amateurish and primitive by the classical proportion of European art, which is the way traditional African art is regarded. Truth be said, the continent comprise ideas from different cultural groups and civilization, each with a unique art tradition, architecture and lifestyle. It is as a result of this, we cannot talk about African Art without reference to the impact of some related disciplines, such as architecture and archaeology. Various Studies have shown that before the advent of Europeans and Americans with their influences on Africa culture, the people have already made significant contribution to develop themselves in the areas of ancient architecture, traditional medicine and technology, the African way of life depicts so many chronologically arranged pattern of operation and such was adhered to fully and passed down from age to age. Existing scholarship add...

African Arts, 2014

International Journal of Multiculturalism, 2021

Arguably Found Object genre represents the most dominant form of contemporary artistic expression with unlimited possibilities of material exploration and conceptual ideation. However, Found Object discourse institutionalized in European art history is exclusively western and dismisses those of other cultures as mimesis and time-lag. This paper aims to prove that the dominant contemporary discourse of "Recyla Art‟ which many African sculptors have been absorbed into, problematically blurs the conceptual and ideological differences in European and African exploration of discarded objects in art creation. Using a triangulation of Formalism, Iconography and Interviews as methodologies, this paper subjects the works of El Anatsui, Delumprizulike, Nnenna Okore, Bright Eke, Olu Amoda and others to formalistic and interpretative analysis to establish the postcolonial context of the found object in contemporary African art. Findings demonstrate that European and African appropriation of discarded objects in art differs according to societal context in form and content. The paper therefore concludes that found object art is culture-specific and defined by unique cultural ramifications, thus, to fully understand the dynamism of this art genre, a culture-specific or localized reading is required because the context of its emergence in Europe stands in contradiction to its conceptualism in contemporary African art-space.

American Anthropologist, 2002

The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 2010

Mediterranean journal of social sciences, 2022

For many years, the history of the arts, crafts and connoisseurship has been determined using the sensory organs; with the introduction of technology, researches in the sciences have found their ways into the study of humanities and the arts. There exists recently additional modern, genuine and acceptable ways of assessing art historical studies other than the traditional sensory means-sight and touch. There is the need for art historical studies now to be more advanced, viewed from a global standard. Apart from formal, iconographic and iconological analyses, art historical studies of the 21st century attends to other pressing evidence and developments with the use of hi-tech and the embrace of scientific approach to studying works of art. Qualitative and evaluative modes of research have been employed for this discourse; it concludes with recommendations to research institutes and African governments to show interest in material compositional information of African art objects for their scientific and historical significance.

1981

Book Review, 2023

hardback. (exclusive of the preface and introductory parts). book reviews UTAFITI 18 (2023) 243-260 comprising those knowledge systems. Under such circumstances, Tengan's book is a must-read for those interested in African cultural studies and the intricacies of the continent's sacred and religious art.