Collecting African Art

African art has been collected since the early 17th century. The term generally refers to art created by historical or contemporary artist living south of the Sahara. These artists represent a variety of African cultures having their own language, traditions and artistic forms. Ancient trade routes helped to influence African Art of the sub Saharan artist with artist from the North & East including Egypt.

African art also influenced and inspired European artist such as Matisse, Picasso, Derain,and others. For example, in the summer of 1906, during his stay in Gosol, Spain, Picassos work entered a new phase marked by the influence of Greek, Iberian, and African art. His celebrated protrait of Gertrude Stein (1905-1906, Metropolitan Museum of New York http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/modern_art/Gertrude_Stein/viewObject.aspx?&OID=210008443&PgSz=1 reveals a masklike treatment of her face. Moreover, Western artist of this century have admired both the African artists' emphasis on abstraction and freedom from naturalism.

The most ancient representations of African Art are the rock paintings and engravings from Tassilli and Ennedi in the Sahara (6,000 BC-1st Century AD). Other examples include Terra-Cotta sculptures produced by Nok artists in Central Nigeria between 500 BC and AD 200, (Metopolitan Museum of New York) http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nok/hd_nok.htm and the Bronze works of Igbo Ukwu (9th-10th Century AD).

Materials

The most common materials included wood, fiber, metal (including Bronze, Iron & Gold), Ivory, Clay, Earth, Glass Beads, and Stone.
-Mzee