Result of the research : 'work'
Exhibition "African Hairstyles"
After the monographic exhibitions devoted to ethnic Mumuye and Bambara, the gallery's eye and the hand begins 2010 with an exhibition on the theme of the often overlooked African hairstyle. Often overlooked as belonging to the sphere of the arts "popular", hair is however of particular importance in Africa, both aesthetically and symbolically.
The hairstyle can both grow its appearance but also to affirm their identity or social status. Some hairstyles are immediately identifiable, such as hairstyling splayed Mangbetu of the Democratic Republic of Congo or the hairstyles solidified ocher Namibia. Others refer to a hierarchical system more complex. Ancient art, hair is also found in modern African art production, through paintings advertising kiosks hairdressers or barbers, or in African-American fashion. Both ornaments and symbols of identity, the hairstyles worn by different ethnic groups are reflected in their art. Although they represent gods or ancestors, masks and statues are the hairstyles of the living.
In Africa the hairstyle is still practiced by family members or trusted friends. In addition to the social aspects of the event, the hair, placed in the hands of enemies, could become an ingredient in the production of dangerous charms or "medicines" that could hurt their owners. Mostly it is women cap the women and men that cap men.
As scarification, hairstyles to identify gender, ethnicity, stage reached by the person in the cycle of life, status and personal taste. Scholars,
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STRENGTH AND MEASUREMENT
The discovery of "primitive art": an art of strength
Shapes and shape functions
Deities and ancestors
The living wood
Force and Measurement
Develop an aesthetic of black Africa is seen as a risky business in many ways. Is it legitimate to isolate these objects, that today we call art, the general framework of their relations and their cultural constraints? Can we submit to a test that has never existed in the minds of their creators? And can we finally see in this art - if we 'take on this term - a uniform phenomenon, despite the wide variety of both regional and local styles we offer this huge continent, following lengthy Historical developments often poorly understood? Finally, remember that this approach excludes large regions, including Africa white, that is to say the Mediterranean area with its ancient history, the eastern and southern Africa whose pastoral peoples have given rise to cultures almost without images, and finally these hunting societies, which, even in our time have not passed the stage of evolution of prehistoric rock paintings which are the main evidence of an artistic production that appears at various points the continent. Similarly, we must exclude from our contribution to the aesthetics of black African art the old feudal societies, including Benin. Our discussion is therefore limited to large areas farmers, the true cradle of
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AFRICAN SCULPTURE
Introduction
Context of African sculpture
Places of traditional African sculpture
Canons of African sculpture
Techniques and creative
Aesthetic
Role of African sculpture in the middle
Universal impact of African sculpture
Bibliographic
Introduction
Never has been written about as much ink as traditional African sculpture. Ever, despite all attempts, the man has managed to evacuate his mental field, much less its history, that is to say of his encounter with the other. It has been a cornerstone to measure the "civilization" of the black man and his ability to create capacity variously appreciated throughout history until early this century, cubism helping, the unanimously begins to make the exceptional nature of African sculpture that was always confused with African art which it is a party, probably the most important, if one were to judge solely by the number Parts created that we have reached.
Context of African sculpture
We can talk about African sculpture in isolation from the rest of the arts of Africa south of Sahara. Every word in this area is responsible not only meaningless but history, and if we chose the term "African art" is to fully assume all we have inherited from the past in
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Study on the sacred
Introduction
The sacred: the real paradigm
The flaw in the anthropological research of the sacred
The position of the African researcher
The inconsistency of the true-false paradigm of the irrational
The crucial importance of the event
Ancestor worship: in search of a definition
The premier event: the phenomenon agrarian
Biological Bases
The neurobiological underpinnings
Astronomical Foundations
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Welcome to this site dedicated to refuting the paradigm of the irrational use explicit about the facts of sacred archaic or traditional societies, and especially African societies.
As a member of these societies, the systematic use of the irrational as ultimate explanation of these facts is offensive and we might seem a lack of rigor in research.
In the approach to ethnology-anthropology there is always explicitly or implicitly begging the question that traditional societies through their culture could not produce something intellectually coherent. This profession of faith explains the systematic irrationality as an explanation of the ultimate sacred facts.
By irrational, what is heard is indeed something wrong, incoherent, that defies logic, in
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THE WAY OF THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE
Text from the "diplomatic world" in October 1998
In economic terms, Africa figure of poor and marginalized continent. Since the end of the Cold War, it appears as an area that declassified no longer a geopolitical and diplomatic challenge for the major powers. Outside of emergencies that require humanitarian intervention, nobody is really interested in the fate of 700 million men and women who live in this part of the world. "Bankruptcy of development"? "Retard"? Or, rather, strength of African societies, refusing to be trapped neoliberal, and the emergence of alternatives to the Western model of development?
Few studies of the continent really leave room for hope: it keeps repeating that it "Africa sinks" and becomes "a repository of humanity's ills." The image of a "continent wrecked," repeated ad nauseam, seems to summarize all the perceptions of Africa that tend to be synonymous with poverty, corruption and fraud would be the home of violence, conflict and genocide. Images are projected onto Apocalypse "an impoverished Africa in the spiral of conflict." In the late twentieth century, "no continent offers such a spectacle of desolation, war and famine as Africa. (...) Slowly, the place is going to drift. "
The paradigm of "bankruptcy" is the same analytical framework of economic and social
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Présence Africaine
a forum, a movement, a network
Mezzanine East
Tuesday 10 November 2009 to Sunday, January 31, 2010
curated by Sarah-Frioux Salgas
African presence is the literary and cultural journal founded by Alioune Diop, the Senegalese intellectual in 1947, also became a publishing house from 1949. It was an outreach tool that has enabled black writers and intellectuals to assert their cultural identities and historical context that the colonial or denied "exoticizing.
This exhibition presents numerous books and archival documents, photographs and some objects. Sound recordings and audiovisual also occupy an important place: historical documents and interviews conducted specifically for this exhibition punctuate the route.
These give to see the emergence and influence of a movement, a forum for thought and demands of the black world at a time when much of the West had a distorted view, or derogatory.
route of exposure
The exhibition will feature four sections, preceded by an introductory sequence.
Exhibition opening
It is an object Dogon who happens to be the symbol of the journal, which will open the exhibition. It will present a brief review and the publishing house Présence Africaine, and to recall the relevance of such an exhibition today.
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Artists Abomey
dialogue on an African Kingdom
Mezzanine East
Tuesday 10 November 2009 to Sunday, January 31, 2010
Commission: Gaëlle Beaujean, head of collections Africa Branly
with the collaboration of Joseph Adande, art historian at the University of Abomey and Ahonon Leonard, manager and curator of the site of the royal palaces of Abomey
This exhibition presents 82 works through graphics and 8 elders, artists of the kingdom of Dahomey (1600-1894), in present-day Benin.
Its purpose is to present their works but also to question their role and status within society danhoméenne, and more specifically in the capital Abomey. Indeed, the artists chosen by the king, enjoyed great privileges while being constrained by their allegiance. The exhibition will explore their creations through the different functions of art in Abomey.
It is also to involve artists and families of artists in each type of objects presented. This new approach is the result of a research conducted by the research team, which resulted in an award-sometimes very finely certain objects.
The exhibition will last a double look at the works presented: the country of origin (through the participation of two scientists from Benin) and the French commissioner.
route of exposure
After an introductory space with an old map and a genealogy of the kings
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Work of art
A work of art, artwork, work or art object is a creation, such as an art object, design, architectural piece, musical work, literary composition, performance, film, conceptual art piece, or even computer program that is made and or valued primarily for an "artistic" rather than practical function. This article is concerned with the concept in the visual arts rather than music or literature, although similar issues arise in those fields.
Traditional media for visual works of art include: calligraphy, photography, carvings, gardens, ceramics, painting, prints, sculpture, drawings, photography or buildings. Since modernism, the field of fine art has expanded to include film, performance art, conceptual art, and video art.
What is perceived as a work of art differs between cultures and eras and by the meaning of the term "art" itself. From the Renaissance until the twentieth century, and to some extent still, Western art critics and the general western public tended not to define applied art or decorative art as works of art, or at least to accord them lower status than works, like paintings, with no practical use, according to the hierarchy of genres. Other cultures, for example Chinese and Islamic art have not made this distinction so strongly.
The related terms artwork and art object, used especially in American English, came into use in the 20th century, especially to describe modern and post-modern art, especially in works without significant skill or craft in creating the physical object. Some contemporary
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Mythology
The term "mythology" sometimes refers to the study of myths and sometimes refers to a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;[4][5] however, the academic use of the term generally does not refer to truth or falsity.In the field of folkloristics, a myth is conventionally defined as a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form.Many scholars in other academic fields use the term "myth" in somewhat different ways. In a very broad sense, the term can refer to any traditional story.
Nature of myths
Typical characteristics
The main characters in myths are usually gods or supernatural heroes. As sacred stories, myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and closely linked to religion. In the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the remote past.[14][17][18][15] In fact, many societies have two categories of traditional narrative—(1) "true stories", or myths, and (2) "false stories", or fables.Myths generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form.[14] They explain how the world gained its current form and how customs, institutions, and taboos were established.
Related
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Culture
Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate")[1] is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. However, the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:
* excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture
* an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning
* the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
When the concept first emerged in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, it connoted a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the nineteenth century, it came to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the mid-nineteenth century, some scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity.
In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology, encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics.
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Ethnology
Ethnology (from the Greek ἔθνος, ethnos meaning "habit, custom, convention") is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.
Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct contact with the culture, ethnology takes the research that ethnographers have compiled and then compares and contrasts different cultures. The term ethnology is credited to Adam Franz Kollár who used and defined it in his Historiae ivrisqve pvblici Regni Vngariae amoenitates published in Vienna in 1783. Kollár's interest in linguistic and cultural diversity was aroused by the situation in his native multi-lingual Kingdom of Hungary and his roots among its Slovaks, and by the shifts that began to emerge after the gradual retreat of the Ottoman Empire in the more distant Balkans.
Among the goals of ethnology have been the reconstruction of human history, and the formulation of cultural invariants, such as the incest taboo and culture change, and the formulation of generalizations about "human nature", a concept which has been criticized since the 19th century by various philosophers (Hegel, Marx, structuralism, etc.). In some parts of the world ethnology has developed along independent paths of investigation and pedagogical doctrine, with cultural anthropology becoming dominant especially in the United States, and social anthropology in Great Britain. The distinction between the three terms is increasingly blurry. Ethnology has been
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Primitive arts: political nomenclature or singular art?
Eugene Berg
Diplomat, former ambassador to Namibia, Botswana and Fiji. Author of 'Non-alignment and
New World Order '(PUF, 1980),' The International Politics since 1955 '(Economica, 1990) and' Chronology
internati''o''nale: 1945-1997 '(PUF, "Que sais-je?", 4th ed, 1997). Works since No. 19-20 to review work
made in the journal 'The Banquet'.
The inauguration of the Musée du Quai Branly, just as the opening
second France-Oceania summit, was a highlight of the cultural
quinquennium of Jacques Chirac. He will no doubt what would have been the Centre
Beaubourg Georges Pompidou, Musée d'Orsay for Valery Giscard
d'Estaing and Francois Mitterand National Library for. Expresses this
place that has done since its opening subject to real and sustained enthusiasm
People and challenges no less significant part of the community
scientific and museum? As written immediately Berenice
Geoffroy-Schneiter, this is "no accident that our west in search of
Spirituality landmarks and turns to these desperate travelers
the invisible. "
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“Africa Remix” featured the work of over 100 African artists in a
2,200-sq.m exhibition space. With paintings by Chéri Samba,
installations by Barthélémy Toguo, drawings by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
and photographs by Guy Tillim, “Africa Remix” revealed the varied
facets of Africa’s contemporary arts scene.
The
exhibition examined contemporary African art not only from an aesthetic
angle but also from historical, political and ideological perspectives.
- Total pledges support for African art with the ”Africa Remix” exhibition in Paris -
So
near, and yet so far: Africa is an enigma that continues to exert a
strange fascination for many. “Africa Remix” was an invitation to
reflect on what Africa really means – to explore and rediscover it by
straying from the beaten path of commonplace ideas and platitudes. As
Total has a strong presence in Africa, we are all too aware of the
difficulties affecting the continent, but we’re also committed to
bringing African culture the recognition it deserves.
Africa Remix
Under the artistic direction of Simon Njami (photo), an international team of curators (see dates and facts as well as the photo) has assembled this overview of the artistic production in Africa and the African diaspora. 88 artists show works from the last 10 years, among them several specially
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African art
African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of peoples, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The definition also includes the art of the African Diasporas, such as the art of African Americans. Despite this diversity, there are some unifying artistic themes when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.
* Emphasis on the human figure: The human figure has always been a the primary subject matter for most African art, and this emphasis even influenced certain European traditions. For example in the fifteenth century Portugal traded with the Sapi culture near the Ivory Coast in West Africa, who created elaborate ivory saltcellars that were hybrids of African and European designs, most notably in the addition of the human figure (the human figure typically did not appear in Portuguese saltcellars). The human figure may symbolize the living or the dead, may reference chiefs, dancers, or various trades such as drummers or hunters, or even may be an anthropomorphic representation of a god or have other votive function. Another common theme is the inter-morphosis of human and animal.
Yoruba bronze head sculpture, Ife, Nigeria c. 12th century A.D.
* Visual abstraction: African artworks tend to favor visual abstraction over naturalistic representation. This is because many African artworks generalize stylistic norms. Ancient Egyptian art, also usually thought of as naturalistically depictive, makes use of highly abstracted and regimented visual canons, especially in painting, as well as the use of different colors to represent the qualities and characteristics of an individual being depicted.
* Emphasis on sculpture: African artists
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Art contemporain africainL’Art contemporain africain est très dynamique. Il s'inspire aussi bien des traditions du continent que, et c'est de plus en plus le cas, des réalités urbaines contemporaines d'une Afrique en mutation, qui se cherche encore une identité. Les techniques et les supports sont variés, allant de la simple peinture aux installations avec projection vidéo, en passant par des sculptures faites en matériaux de récupération...En 1989, l'exposition « Les magiciens de la terre » (Centre Pompidou, 1989) présentait des œuvres d'art africain contemporain (d'artistes vivants) pour la première fois en Europe, mode de monstration mettant en valeur un certain primitiviste et exotique. En 2005, l’exposition « Africa Remix » qui a été présentée en Allemagne, en Angleterre, en France et au Japon peut être considérée comme la première à présenter un panorama important de l'art contemporain spécifiquement africain, montrant surtout la richesse de l'art africain sub-saharien. Mais l'Afrique elle-même s'est dotée de centres d'art contemporain, de festivals ou biennales sont régulièrement organisés sur le continent pour mettre en valeur le talent des artistes d'aujourd'hui. Quelques artistesAfrique du Sud
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Africa, Oceania and the Indigenous Americas | |
The Department oversees four separate collection segments: the arts of
Africa, Egypt, the South Pacific and the Indigenous Americas.
Reflecting current scholarship and geography, Egyptian art is now a
sub-section of this department. African art thus consists of works from
the rest of Africa other than Egypt.
 African ArtThe
DIA’s African art collection ranks among the finest in the United
States. It comprises some rare world-class works from nearly one
hundred African cultures, predominantly from regions south of the
Sahara desert. A diverse collection, ranging from sculpture to textiles
to exquisite utilitarian wares, religious paraphernalia and bodily
ornaments, it is heavily weighted toward the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. African art collecting is
inextricably tied to the founding of the Detroit Institute of Arts at
the turn of 20th century and remains one of the institution’s important
hallmarks. From the late 1800s through the 1930s, generous
contributions from some of Detroit’s first collectors, such as
Frederick Stearns and Robert Tannahill, helped to develop the core
collection. This included priceless works, such as several Benin royal
brass sculptures, an exquisite 16th century Kongo Afro-Portuguese ivory
knife container, a 17th century Owo ivory bracelet, a Kongo steatite
funerary figure (ntadi) and a finely crafted Asante royal gold
soul-washer’s badge recovered from the chamber of the nineteenth
century Asante King, Kofi Karikari. Support from the City of Detroit
has since aided the purchase of additional works of |
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Masks
The viewing of masks is often restricted to certain peoples or places,
even when used in performance, or masquerade. African masks manifest
spirits of ancestors or nature as well as characters that are spiritual
and social forces. During a masquerade, which is performed during
ceremonial occasions such as agricultural, initiation, leadership and
funerary rites, the mask becomes the otherworld being. When collected
by Western cultures, masks are often displayed without their costume
ensemble and lack the words, music and movement, or dance, that are
integral to the context of African masquerades.
Visually, masks are often a combination of human and animal traits.
They can be made of wood, natural or man-made fibers, cloth and animal
skin. Masks are usually worn with costumes and can, to some extent, be
categorized by form, which includes face masks, crest masks, cap masks,
helmet masks, shoulder masks, and fiber and body masks. Maskettes,
which are shaped like masks, are smaller and are not worn on or over
the face. They may be worn on an individual’s arm or hip or hung on a
fence or other structure near the performance area.
Sculpture
The cultures of Africa have created a world-renowned tradition of
three-dimensional and relief sculpture. Everyday and ceremonial works
of great delicacy and surface detail are fashioned by artists using
carving, modeling, smithing and casting techniques. Masks, figures,
musical instruments, containers, furniture, tools and equipment are all
part of the sculptor’s repertoire.
The human figure is perhaps the most prominent sculptural form in
Africa, as it has been for millennia. Male and female images in wood,
ivory, bone, stone, earth, fired clay, iron and copper alloy embody
cultural values, depict the ideal and represent spirits, ancestors and
deities. Used in a broad range of contexts--initiation, healing,
divination,
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Throughout
the centuries, African artists have created artworks in various media
that underscore the dynamic quality of Africa's visual traditions.
The categories presented here represent the breadth of the collection
and are intended as a guide. The
NMAfA collection includes tradition-based and contemporary
works of art. Both address important issues of identity, history
and aesthetics, demonstrate dynamism and reflect change as African
artists respond to new ideas, materials and sources of inspiration.
Tradition-based arts
help shape and reflect established formal, functional and aesthetic
canons. These artworks, which are used in everyday and ceremonial
settings, address individual and community needs and serve social,
religious and political ends. Humans and animals, the primary subjects
in African art, depict desirable and undesirable aspects of human
behavior. Deities, ancestors and other spiritual beings that are
portrayed embody the breadth of African religious beliefs and practices. The creators of tradition-based
African art are known and respected members of their communities.
Unfortunately, those who created many of the exquisite works now
found in museum collections remain unknown because their names were
not recorded when the objects were collected many decades ago. In
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Artful Animals
July 1, 2009--February 21, 2010
Artful Animals, an exhibition dedicated to
young audiences, explores how African artists create striking works of
art using images from an array of domestic and untamed animals. From
rock art to contemporary painting, audiences will discover animals used
as symbols of royal arts, in masquerades for the ancestors and others
rarely seen. Many of the elements of design are derived through direct
observation of the animals in their natural habitat. It is the animal's
conduct and distinct behaviors that carry the messages in performances,
stories and proverbs. The approximately 125 works capture not only the
physical characteristics of animals but also the many ways that
animals, from spiders to leopards, act out our human shortcomings and
successes. Themes include notions of nurturing, power, wisdom,
transformation, beauty and aggression.
The National Museum of African Art is collaborating with Smithsonian
education units at the National Zoological Park, National Postal
Museum, National Museum of Natural History and Discovery Theater. Each
partner site will feature a host of multidisciplinary activities.
The programming project has been supported by the Smithsonian School Programming
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At once beautiful, protective, seductive, and dangerous, the water
spirit Mami Wata (Mother Water) is celebrated throughout much of Africa
and the African Atlantic. A rich array of arts surrounds her, as well
as a host of other aquatic spirits--all honoring the essential, sacred
nature of water. Mami Wata is often portrayed as a mermaid, a snake
charmer, or a combination of both. She is widely believed to have
"overseas" origins, and her depictions have been profoundly influenced
by representations of ancient, indigenous African water spirits,
European mermaids, Hindu gods and goddesses, and Christian and Muslim
saints. She is not only sexy, jealous, and beguiling but also exists in
the plural, as the mami watas and papi watas who comprise part of the vast and uncountable "school" of African water spirits.
Mami Wata's presence is pervasive partly because she can bring good
fortune in the form of money. As a "capitalist" deity par excellence,
her persona developed between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries,
the era of growing trade between Africa and the rest of the world. Her
very name, which may be translated as "Mother Water," is pidgin
English, a language developed to facilitate trade. Countless enslaved
Africans forcibly brought to the Americas as part of this "trade"
carried with them their beliefs, practices, and arts honoring water
spirits such as Mami Wata. Reestablished, revisualized, and revitalized
in the African Atlantic, Mami Wata emerged in new communities and under
different guises, among them Lasirèn, Yemanja, Santa Marta la
Dominadora, and Oxum. African--based
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