How to Learn African Art

Explore the earliest African artistic traditions: Saharan rock art at Tassili n'Ajjer, the rock paintings of the San people, Nok terracottas, ancient Egyptian visual culture, and the stone architecture of Great Zimbabwe and Aksum. Understand the deep time depth of African artistic achievement.

Study the major sculptural and masquerade traditions of West and Central Africa: Yoruba, Benin, Dogon, Baule, Kongo, and Fang traditions. Learn how art objects function within ceremonies, initiation rites, and governance. Understand the concepts of activation, agency, and the role of the artist.

Explore the rich textile traditions of Africa including Kente, Bogolanfini, Adire, and Kanga. Study beadwork (Zulu, Maasai), body arts (scarification, henna), metalwork (Ashanti gold weights), and Ndebele mural painting. Understand the communicative and symbolic dimensions of these art forms.

Examine how African art influenced European modernism, particularly Cubism and Expressionism. Critically analyze the problematic concept of 'primitivism.' Study how African objects entered Western collections through colonialism and the ethical implications of this history.

Study the emergence of modern art movements across Africa in the twentieth century: the Zaria Art Society and Nsukka school in Nigeria, the Ecole de Dakar in Senegal, the Polly Street Art Centre in South Africa, and Ethiopian modernism. Understand how artists negotiated tradition, modernity, and postcolonial identity.

Explore contemporary African art from the 1990s to the present: major artists (El Anatsui, Wangechi Mutu, William Kentridge, Njideka Akunyili Crosby), key biennales (Dak'Art, Johannesburg), influential galleries and institutions, and the growing role of African art in the global market.

Engage with current debates: repatriation of colonial-era collections, the Sarr-Savoy Report, decolonization of museums, digital access and documentation, the African art market, and the building of new museums on the continent such as the Edo Museum of West African Art.