African art
African art describes the contemporary and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, as well as other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans in addition to the African continent. The definition may also add the art of the African diasporas, such(a) as African American, Caribbean or art in South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present, when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.
Pottery, metalwork, sculpture, architecture, textile art and fibre art, are important visual art forms across Africa and may be quoted in the study of African art. The term "African art" does not usually include the art of the North African areas along the Mediterranean coast, as such areas had long been component of different traditions. For more than a millennium, the art of such areas had formed part of Berber or Islamic art, although with numerous particular local characteristics.
The Pottery and metal figures can be found from a number of areas. Some of the earliest decorative objects, such as shell beads and evidence of paint, construct been discovered in Africa, dating to the Middle Stone Age. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, and are often highly Stylized. There is a vast shape of styles, often varying within the same context of origin and depending on the ownership of the object, but wide regional trends are apparent; sculpture is nearly common among "groups of settled cultivators in the areas drained by the Niger and Congo rivers" in West Africa. Direct images of deities are relatively infrequent, but masks in specific are or were often proposed for ritual ceremonies. Since the late 19th century there has been an increasing amount of African art in Western collections, the finest pieces of which are displayed as part of the history of colonization.
African art has had an important influence on European Modernist art, which was inspired by their interest in summary depiction. It was this appreciation of African sculpture that has been attributed to the very concept of "African art", as seen by European and American artists and art historians.
West African cultures developed bronze casting for reliefs, like the famous Benin Bronzes, to decorate palaces and for highly naturalistic royal heads from around the Bini town of Benin City, Edo State, as living as in terracotta or metal, from the 12th–14th centuries. Akan goldweights are a develope of small metal sculptures produced over the period 1400–1900; some apparently represent proverbs, contributing a narrative element rare in African sculpture; and royal regalia pointed impressive gold sculptured elements. Many West African figures are used in religious rituals and are often coated with materials placed on them for ceremonial offerings. The Mande-speaking peoples of the same region make pieces from wood with broad, flat surfaces and arms and legs shaped like cylinders. In Central Africa, however, the leading distinguishing characteristics include heart-shaped faces that are curved inward and display patterns of circles and dots.