"Art plays an essential role in the lives of the African people and their communities. It serves a much more vital purpose than merely to beautify the human environment, as art is usually employed in contemporary Western societies.
The beauty of African art is simply an element of its function, for these objects would not be effective if they were not aesthetically pleasing. Its beauty and its content thus combine to make art the vehicle that ensures the survival of traditions, protects the community and the individual, and tells much of the person or persons who use it."
Tribal Art is rapidly growing in popularity. An even broader audience has been able to enjoy ‘Tribal Art’ thanks to major exhibitions in recent years in London, Paris, Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf.
At the start of the 20th century, however, Tribal Art was already arousing great excitement among artists and art collectors. At a time when “Negro Art” was still looked upon as the innocent product of primitive peoples, cubists such as Picasso, Braque or Gris were already drawing inspiration from the strikingly new qualities of form; expressionists such as Kirchner, Nolde or Schmidt-Rottluff were captivated by the elementary power of this native art and Gauguin was painting scenes from his travels to countries of the South Pacific. Non-European art greatly influenced the work of these great artists as it continues to influence modern art of the present day.
Over the course of the decades, great art lovers such as von der Heydt (Rietberg Museum, Zurich) or Mueller (Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva) have established significant art collections, which alongside the “colonial legacy” provide the mainstay of the museums’ inventories all over the world. Today it is artists and art enthusiasts such as Baselitz, Arman or Fritz Koenig who discover the unique qualities of tribal art and assemble special collections which they make available to the public in exhibitions.
We have now understood that this art form cannot be referred to as “primitive art”. It is a fact that this art speaks to us, and as it does so it draws us into the world of those who created it. Even when using the term ‘tribal art’ one must remember that it derives from a rich diversity of cultures which finds expression in the wonderful works of this extraordinary art."
(source www.andre-kirbach.de 2007)
"In a strange way I seem to have become addicted to your web pages, not only because they are the best but because they are the only ones of their kind. An unparalleled source."
H.R. 2009.
"In age, variety and beauty, art from Africa is second to none. Africa had traditions of abstract art, performance art, installation art and conceptual art centuries before the West ever dreamed up the names."
Holland Cotter, New York Times
puissance plastique
de gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum
Masks and headdresses in the African art collection
Statues, sculptures, fetishes, dolls, figures in the African art collection
Textiles in the African art collection
Masks and other pieces / objects available from the African art collection
Motivations for studying and collecting African art
Links to other WWW sites on tribal, ethnic African art
Books published on tribal, ethnic African art
Some books available for sale or by exchangehttp://afrosculptures.250x.com/
http://artesafricanae.forumcommunity.net/?t=33973327
http://astralsite.com/Art/SculptingPresentations09.pdf
http://condor.depaul.edu/~jmessmer/survey/webliogr.html http://faculty.spokanefalls.edu/InetShare/AutoWebs/maryn/african.art.myths.complete.10.08.pdf
http://garamond.stanford.edu/africa/art.html http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maschere_tradizionali_africane
http://lewerik.jove.prohosting.com/lewerik.html
http://lulef.free.fr/html/liens.html
http://obizi.de/4957.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*
http://sjp.ithsnyc.org/aledes/wafrica.html
http://sma.nebo.edu/files/pages/jadifihl.pdf
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/art.html
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/africa/art.html
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-34473478_ITM
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/About_African/ww_art.html
http://www.africaandmore.com/links.asp
http://www.africarte.it/links/links.htm
http://www.aniso.com/inspiration.html
http://www.antique-arts-asia.com/catalog/Other+Arts/Masks/-+African
http://africanartcollection.blogspot.com/
http://www.artifact.ac.uk/displayoai.php?id=7726 http://www.artsandactivities.com/AA0508.html
http://www.centraldaceramica.com.br/Central/web/links/body.htm
http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Links%20African%20Art.htm
http://www.genuineafrica.com/african_art_resources.htm
http://www.hanszell.co.uk/google/chapter4.shtml
http://www.intute.ac.uk/
http://www.lib.msu.edu/limb/a-z/az.html
http://www.msdoors.ru/article/article_10
http://www.randafricanart.com/Favorite_Links.html
http://www.paleobree.com/page7.htm
http://www.tribalartsdirectory.com/
http://www.tribal-explorer.com/african_tribes/dan.htm
http://www.tribal-explorer.com/bytype_5.html
http://www.uni-weimar.de/gestaltung/cms/struktur/wissenschaftliche-lehrgebiete/dr-thomas-fuchs/kunstgeschichte-web/
http://www.vvetnografica.nl/OverigeLinks2.htm
http://www.webzinemaker.net/africans-art/index.php3?action=galerie
http://www5.geometry.net/basic_b/bamana_indigenous_peoples_africa.html