Easy Guide To African Art Sculpture

African art sculpture has fine extended and angular shapes that represent an ideal rather then a normal individual. African art sculpture was usually used in African ceremonial functions but nowadays Art connoisseurs collect them from the galleries with the same eagerness as any other art piece.

Art of Central Africa

Here the art form is a bit unusual where you get to see heart shaped faces with inward curving along with occasional circle and dot patterns. Materials which are used to make these art structures mostly include stone, metal, ivory, clay and bone. Such forms of arts are very striking and unusual and when you see them you can say which area they usually belong to.

Eastern African art sculpture

East Africa is not so popular for art and sculptures, excepting one variety of art, which is generally referred to as the pole sculpture. The pole sculpture is all about a human shape decorated with geometrical forms while the upper part of the art is neatly curved with animal figures and impressions of people and various other objects. The pole sculpture has a close association with death and they are usually kept beside the graves.

The oldest art and sculpture of South Africa

These are referred to as the clay figures and they date between 400 and 600 AD. The South African art sculpture has cylindrical shapes with mixed animal and human figures. Most of these figures were made of clay and some even had wooden headrests which were usually buried along with the owners.

The style of the art sculpture differed according to region and sect. The material used for the sculpture represents the region to where it belongs.

Historical significance of African art sculpture

In Niger you will find the African Rock Art (6000 years old carvings). History says that the earliest sculptures of Africa come from the Nok culture of Nigeria and they are presumed to be produced around 500 BCE.

What does African art sculpture portray?

They portray both animals and people in realistic and abstract forms. All the pieces look similar though they have been curved with a variety of stones such as serpentine, verdite, springstone, African butter jade and rapoko. The colors of the stones greatly vary from creamy white to black.

African art sculpture has much influenced art and artists from the West. This happened immediately after the artists were able to recognize the aesthetic value of the African art sculpture. In the United States, lots of tourists flock to have a glance of the African art styles in several museums.

Use of wood in African art sculpture

Wood has been popularly used in several forms of African art and sculptures as the African artists did not made use of very developed and sharp carving implements, wood was the perfect material for them to handle.

All African art sculpture forms are unique in their particular ways. Moreover, these are not just forms, but are cultural representations as well.