top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

Africa

1100-1980 CE

MAJOR CIVILIZATIONS

  • Nok (500 BCE-200 CE)         Nigeria

  • Great Zimbabwe (11th- 15th c.)    Zimbabwe

  • Ife Culture (11th-12th c.)       Nigeria

  • Aksum (1200-1527)               Ethiopia

  • Benin (13th-19th c.)               Nigeria

  • Mende (19th-20th c.)            Sierra Leone

  • Kongo (19th-20th c.)             Congo


KEY IDEAS

  • Centered around spirituality, the spirit world, and the role of ancestors is huge to incorporate into artworks

  • Fertility of man and of the land is key

  • Most common materials are wood, ivory, and metal

  • Mostly utilitarian, usually for ceremonies

  • Architecture is predominately mud brick, rarely stone

  • Stone used in Zimbabwe and Ethiopian churches

Artworks: 1100-1980 C.E.
​

175. Bundu mask 

173. Female (Pwo) Mask 

178. Aka elephant mask 

174. Portrait mask (Mblo) 

169. Wall plaque, from Oba's palace 

171. Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul 

180. Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)

170. Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool) 

177. Lukasa (memory board) 

172. Nkisi n’kondi 

179. Reliquary figure (byeri) 

176. Ikenga (shrine figure) 

167. Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe 

bottom of page