Influence of African Art.pdf

Influence of African Art on Black and European Artist Movement of Spirit African Influence Starting from the 1870's, African Sculpture and spiritual objects began to circulate throughout Europe. This was a direct result of the colonial conquests that were spreading across the western hemisphe...

Influence of African Art on Black and European Artist Movement of Spirit African Influence Starting from the 1870's, African Sculpture and spiritual objects began to circulate throughout Europe. This was a direct result of the colonial conquests that were spreading across the western hemisphere These works were placed on view in different countries, but mostly bigger cities such as France, London, and Munich. During the beginning of the 1900's African objects began to catch the eye of artists who were beginning the modernist movement in Europe. For Black artists, African influence has been forever present, from slavery all the way to our contemporary moment. Nigeria: The Yoruba, Ife, and Fang Nigerian cultural objects and spiritual deities have been amongst the most popular influences of African Art on the modernist movement. The Yoruba are amongst the most urban of the traditional civilizations in Africa, and dates back to the middle ages. Their holy city Ife-Ife was a flourishing artistic city who's influence traveled all the way to the west, especially during the 10th – 12th centuries. Continued For the Yoruba religion, worship exists of various spirits under one god, which presents a limitless and variety of moral beings to be used for bringing in energy. Author writes, "They are messengers and embodiments of Ashe, a spiritual command, the power-to-make-things-happen, God's own enabling light rendered accessible to men and women." These moral beings or deities act as a vessel to communicate Ashe to the people. Ashe means "So be it" or "May it happen" The one god, the almighty is names Olorun or master of the skies and is the ultimate embodiment of Ashe Continued The sculptures and artistic spiritual objects created by the Yoruba for their religious purposes are all physical embodiments of Ashe, and the members of the society who hold high regard in return, also have Ashe Author says, "A thing or work of art that has ashe transcends ordinary questions about its makeup and confinements: it is divine force incarnate" For the Yoruba leaders and spiritual guides, not only are these ceremonial works carrying Ashe, but even their words have the power to transmute spirit invoking and predictive experiences. Yoruba kings provide the highest link between the people, the ancestors, the gods. Iwa Rere In addition to ashe, "good character" or iwa rere is another important aspect of Yoruba religion and can be translated in artwork. Good character is synonymous with coolness with gentle generosity of character. "Coolness, then, is a part of character, and character objectifies, proper custom. To the degree that we live generously and discreetly, exhibiting grace under pressure, our appearance and our acts gradually assume virtual royal power. As we become noble, fully realizing the spark of creative goodness God endowed us with-- the shining ororo bird of thought and aspiration-- we find the confidence to cope with all kinds of situations. This IS ashe. This is character. This is mystic coolness. All one paradise is regained, for Yoruba art returns the idea of heaven to mankind wherever the ancient ideal attitudes are genuinely manifested"  The King's Crown We know the Yoruba king is the highest link between god, the people, and the ancestors. The bird is usually always depicted at the top of the crown, and it symbolizes the ashe of the "mother", who are the most powerful elderly women with a force capable of eradicating arrogance, the selfishly rich, or other deserving elements of punishing. So this serves as a sort of protection and cleansing. This signifies"that the king rules by mastering and participating in the divine command personified by them." The veil protects the ordinary men and women from the gaze of the king while he is in ritual with spirit Once the King or spiritual vessel makes contact with the higher power the face of the devotee usually freezes into a mask, a mask which often is held during the entire time possession by the spirit Embodying iwa In addition to good character, iwa also means "custom" or traditional ways of life. The fine posture symbolizes fulfilling the necessities of the land The headgear and positioning of the head exemplies ideal character And hands to the sides gestures spiritual alertness. Kongo Traditional Kongo art encompasses the current day areas of Gabon, Angola, Central Africa, and Republic of the Congo Different from the Yoruba, the religion of the Kongo believes in a God Almighty, and they don't have deities. There are many differing tribes and versions in Kongo and Angolese religion and tradition. They believe in God almighty and their ritual experts or banganga were various Some of these ritual experts worshipped specific immortal spirits, and those who were "chosen" were transformed in initiations to become members of a healing society of Lemba, who are a group of healers who have been around since the 1660's Continued Kongo religion, in addition to Youruba, has successfully traveled across the world alongside African diasporic people and culture. This version of ritual authorities and entities have continued on. Cuban healers have kept the original name to describe themsleves, the banganga. Here in the states, we've named them conjurors or root persons In Brazil, they're known as pae de santo and mae de santo Minkisi or Nkisi There are 4 different interpretations of manifestations of Kongo art and religion. One of those is an Nkisi (singular) or Minkisi (plural) and they've been seen across the americas The minkisi is a sacred medicine that is embodied by a strategic or intentional object that is used to heal a person of sickness. It is an object and artwork which protects the human soul and chases an illness away from the body.  Nkisi The most common iteration of an Nkisi is seen here. The eyes will sparkle with their glass or a mirror, and the medicine has been inserted at the abdomen and if applicable, the horn. The glass signifies mystic vision. The nails are what ignite the healing, the person using an nkisi would put a nail in the figure in order to ignite its power. They are considered to LIVING ENTITIES. Europe, Modernism, and African inspiration In the early 1900's, Western artists began exploring moving away from a naturalistic style of painting, to a more expressive style, one with more movement and emotion. The School of Paris was a huge catalyst for this movement, with young artists, who had the means to learn, explore, travel, be exposed to different styles of art through museum culture. The style Gaugin and Cezanne were painting which originally influenced the next wave of artists such as Picasso and Matisse is POST IMPRESSIONISM Impressionism Small thin brush stokes, they often can resemble small dots or marks they make up a larger image. Open composition. Composition is the structure of the painting, sort of landscape of how the painting presents. Impressionism highlights a more open composition or story Movement. Impressionists start beginning to explore what more movement and emotion looks like in a painting. Usually depicting nature, landscape, everyday life More muted, darker, mono chromatic tones (not always)  Impression, sunrise, 1872 Claude Monet Oil on canvas, 48 x 63 cm | 18.8 x 24.8 in  Post- Impressionism Arearea Paul Gauguin1892 Thicker brush strokes Bolder more vivid colors Real life subjects, not of every day life from a nature perspective More emotion Inclusion of cultures  Friendship Pablo Picasso, Two Nudes The new movement pioneered (in the western art world) by Picasso and Matisse was called Avant Garde "avant-garde artists, their dealers, and leading critics of the era were among the first Europeans to collect African sculptures for their aesthetic value." "In The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1913), Stein wrote an account of Matisse’s fall 1906 purchase of a small African sculpture, now identified as a Vili figure from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at a curio shop on his way to visit her home. Since Picasso was present, she recalled, Matisse showed the sculpture to him. Picasso later told curators and writers of the pivotal visits he subsequently made, beginning in June 1907, to the African collections at the Trocadéro, famously describing his revulsion at the dimly lit, musty galleries but also his inability to turn away from his study of the objects’ inventive and elegant figural composition. The African sculptures, he said, had helped him to understand his purpose as a painter, which was not to entertain with decorative images, but to mediate between perceived reality and the creativity of the human mind—to be freed, or “exorcised,” from fear of the unknown by giving form to it. " continued "In 1905, the American artist Max Weber moved to Paris and studied painting with Matisse. By 1908, Weber, a frequent guest at the Sunday evening salons hosted by Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo, had visited Picasso in his studio, where he may have viewed Picasso’s extensive collection of African art. After returning to the United States, Weber wrote to photographer Alfred Stieglitz about the African influences that he had observed in the work of Picasso and other Paris-based modernists; and Weber’s own paintings featured mask forms rendered in an increasingly abstract style. Stieglitz later presented the first Picasso exhibition in the United States at his small gallery, named “291” for its Fifth Avenue address... A 1923 exhibit at the Whitney Studio Club, a precursor of the Whitney Museum in New York, was among the earliest to present Picasso’s paintings together with African sculptures." What did we learned happened in 1927? https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aima/hd_aima.html#:~:text=The%20Stylistic%20Influences%20of%20 African,by%20a%20Mbete%20artist%20(2002.456. Black Art and African Influence Romare Bearden, The Conjour Woman, Printed Paper and guoache on cardboard, 1964 The Prevalence of Ritual, Baptism, printed paper, acrylic paint ink and graphite 1964  Timothy Washington (United States, California, Los Angeles, 1946) United States, 1970 Prints; engravings Engraving on aluminum with added color *Read quote from Flash of the Spirit* Betye Saar Sedrick Huckaby https://www.bridgeprojects.com/artists/sedrick-huckaby Lanise Howard https://lanisehoward.com/450855438 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1956- 27-270 The Yoruba The Yoruba remain the Yoruba precisely because their culture provides them with ample philosophic means for comprehending, and ultimately transcending, the powers that periodically threaten to dissolve them.