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Tribal Arts of Africa

Tribal arts of Africa is very old and is an umbrella term used to describe artefacts and objects created by the peoples of primitive cultures.It can also be called as folk arts containing religious significance pertaining to the custom of the tribal culture.

Tribal arts is basically a vague term with no precise meaning or defination,which is generally employed to describe the traditional art from tribal societies of Africa.

The characterstic sculpture of Africa,which form the largest part of what is usually considered primitive arts in the 5th century B.C in the NOK culture,which is named from a village of Nigeria where pottery figures of this kind were first found.The Nok statues are mainly of human subjects made of terracotta,they combine strong formal elements with a complete disregard for precise anatomy.One extraordinary group of terracottas is the exception in this west african story,in that they come from South Africa and they are the earliest known sculptures.

African artists tend to favor arts that are three dimensional or that promote some sort of interactions with the art piece,even the beautiful mud clothes are typically meant to be worn as garments and even crafted for home dacorations.African masks are also meant to do much more than just to hang on the wall.These were worn by ceremonial dancers who use the mask as the tool to communicate with the spirits and the ancestors.The lack of archeological excavations restricts knowledge of the antiquity of african art.The value of these works were inseperable from the ritual use.No efforts were made to preserve them as asthetic accomplishments.Wood was one of the most commonly used material often embellished by clay,shells,beads,ivory,metals,feathers and shredded raffia.

The tribal arts of Africa influenced western Sudan and Guinea coast,Nigeria,Cameroon,Gabon and the Congo region.In Africa south of Sahara,wood is the natural material for carving.In the 20th century,sculpture in wood is still very much a living tradiation.It is difficult to imagine how african tribal sculptures have viewed their own work,but hey have not certainly seen it as art in the self-concious western manner of recent centuries.Whatever the reason for the range of the african tribal arts,the result is an unrevalled display of the power of the imagination.The basic subject,as in western sculpture,is the human body.But the tribal sculptor is liberated from the strait jacket of realism.

It is hard to know weather a perticular image may be intended to seem sad or terrifying,for this is a subjective matter.It is not surprising that the most playful genius of the 20th century is inspired from these fragmentations of dull reality to find a new direction of his own in Cubism.Sadly,the vast majority of these tribal arts are perished,or have been bartered away with the European explorers,thus surviving examples are confined mainly to stoneworks,some earthworks or rock art.

About the Author

Manoj Sharma is an freelancer Artist of Paintings and sculpture,he made many paintings on U.S Arts,English Arts,Indian Arts,Egyptian Arts Modern Arts and Fine Arts.He is a member of Saatchi Art Gallery,Australia.

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