Joel Elgin. Influences: Art of the Yoruba people.

Art of the Yoruba people.

The Yoruba are one of the largest African ethnic groups south of the Sahara Desert. They are, in fact, not a single group, but rather a collection of diverse people bound together by a common language, history, and culture. 

Yoruba mythology holds that all Yoruba people descended from a hero called Odua or Oduduwa. Today there are over fifty individuals who claim kingship as descendants of Odua. During the four centuries of the slave trade, Yoruba territory was known as the Slave Coast. Uncounted numbers of Yoruba were abducted and carried to the Americas. 

Portuguese explorers "discovered" (We SUAVE types know, they didn’t discover it, right?) the Yoruba cities and kingdoms in the fifteenth century, but cities such as Ife and Benin, among others, had been standing at their present sites for at least five hundred years before the European arrival. Archeological evidence indicates that a technologically and artistically advanced, proto-Yoruba (Nok), were living somewhat north of the Niger in the first millennium B.C., and they were then already working with iron.

Let’s begin by examining the artwork of the Nok people:

Nok Civilization: 500 BCE to 200

Male Head. Unidentified Nok culture artist,

Found in north central Nigeria off the edge of the Jos plateau.

The Nok produced the oldest known examples of terracotta sculpture in Africa, south of the Sahara. The created  lifelike terra cotta sculptures, probably portraits of religious and political leaders.

Most of the Nok sculpture found consists of what appear to be portrait heads and bodies fragmented by damage and age. The recovered portions of the baked clay bodies that have survived show that they were sculpted in standing, sitting, and genuflecting postures.

Nok head fragments were once part of entire bodies. The remaining “heads” are the most well known examples of Nok art.

Each Nok head is unique, but certain stylistic traits are found throughout the known sculpture. Triangular eyes and perforated pupils, noses, mouths, and ears combine to depict men and women with bold, abstracted features. Nok sculptures have elaborately detailed hairstyles and jewelry that adorn many of the figures. 

Portrait head

Nok culture, Jos Plateau, Northern Nigeria

Terra cotta 13-1/2" (34 cm) high 4th century B.C

Portrait head 2

Nok culture, Jos Plateau, Northern Nigeria

Terra cotta 13-1/2" (34 cm) high 4th century B.C

Nok 5

9" (22.9cm) high x 5.75" (14.6cm) wide

Interestingly enough, the Nok were not restricted to idealized health and beauty. Some sculptural figures appear to depict subjects suffering from ailments such as elephantiasis and facial paralysis. These "diseased" figures may have been intended to protect against illness but, we don’t know for sure, their meaning and the significance of Nok sculpture in general are still unknown.

I'm pretty sure that image up there is a "diseased" figure, but I can't prove it. The work of the Nok, like much of the sculpture of Africa, has weathered and suffered from age since it was made and since it was discovered.  

Want to know more about discovery? Of course you do or you wouldn't have read this far...

So here’s more.

ARCHEOLOGY

The Nok of Nigeria

Volume 64 Number 4, July/August 2011

by Roger Atwood

http://archive.archaeology.org/1107/features/nok_nigeria_africa_terracotta.html (Links to an external site.)

Enough for this day. More Yoruba to follow. Thanks for reading!

Joel Elgin. Influences from Non Western Art: Ancient Egypt

Joel Elgin. Influences from Non Western Art: Ancient Egypt

“…it is believed by scholars that, for the San, the rock surface functioned as a veil between this world and the spiritual one. Filled with supernatural energy, the images are depicted on this veil, on the very liminal space between two worlds...”

Did you catch this huge point (above) from the last post (thanks Geoffrey Blundell)? Of course you did! The rock surface functioned as a veil between this world and the spiritual one. Shouldn’t every surface we artists use, copper, canvas, paper etc., function in this way?

Are you interested in Rock Art? Of course you are and I'm so proud of you.

I could write the entire blog on it, but, again - it's a big world of art influence and since you continue to read, I will continue to write and swear not to bore you to tears.

So if you want more rock art go here:

http://africanrockart.org (Links to an external site.)

Let's continue with the Ancient but move into Egypt. To do this, I will break the art down into chronological periods (I know, it is stuff you’ve studied before but, it’s important to look at the history to see the growth of influence)

Ancient Egypt: Predynastic Period

(5500 -- 3100 BCE

This period corresponds to the Late Neolithic (Stone Age), and covers the cultural and social changes which occurred between the late Palaeolithic period (hunter gatherers) and the early Pharaonic era (the Early Dynastic Period).

The Predynastic Period is divided into four separate phases: the Early Predynastic which ranges from the 6th to 5th millennium BCE (approximately 5500 - 4000 BCE), the Old Predynastic which ranges form 4500 to 3500 BCE (the time overlap is due to diversity along the length of the Nile), the Middle Predynastic which roughly goes form 3500 - 3200 BCE, and the Late Predynastic which takes us up to the First Dynasty at around 3100 BCE.

The Early Predynastic is otherwise known as the Badrian Phase. During this phase pottery was being made, often with highly sophisticated designs.

University College London.

The Old Predynastic is also known as the Amratian or Naqada - further examples of clay pottery - most notably terracotta sculptures.

 Female Figurine. Egypt, from Ma’mariya. Predynastic Period, Naqada II, circa 3500–3400 B.C.E. Terracotta, painted,

11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505

The Middle Predynastic is also known as the Gerzean Phase -- named for Darb el-Gerza on the Nile to the east of Fayum in Lower Egypt. Pottery from this phase is often decorated with depictions of birds and animals as well as more abstracted symbols for gods.

Met Museum of Art

Decorated Ware Jar Depicting Ungulates and Boats with Human Figures

Period: Predynastic, Late Naqada II

Date: ca. 3500–3300 B.C.

Medium: Pottery, paint

Dimensions: h. 30 x w. 31 cm (11 13/16 x 12 3/16 in.) diam (of rim): 17 cm (6 11/16 in.) diam (of opening): 14 cm (5 1/2 in.)

The Late Predynastic, which blends into the 1st Dynastic Period, is also known as the Protodynistic phase developed into two distinct kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Nile Valley and Nile Delta areas respectively.

An acacia wood statue of an unknown couple from the Louvre

I am confident that you have spent countless hours studying Egyptian art in your academic past so I will stop here. Of course we could continue because the development of art in Egypt in important, but so much new stuff to see, so little time…

Stay tuned for the…

Art of the Yoruba people.

Influences:

All contemporary artists owe a debt to the past. We borrow, we steal, we build upon the foundation created by countless artists and civilizations that came before us. 

To pay homage to those who have influenced me I will begin with a section that will focus on selected works of art produced world-wide, relating them to their historical context.

But, plan on focusing on the artistic traditions of non-Western cultures around the world.

If you want to read about the Mona Lisa as influence it’s not going to happen here. But come on, you’ve been learning about Western Art all your lives. I do promise to eventually honor the west but not before I’ve thanked the Non Western world thoroughly.

So, as we travel the Non – Western art world, you will be exposed to a number of issues and if you wish, spend countless hours learning how to:

 Analyze fundamental concepts in the history of world art

Apply knowledge of the specific artistic styles and modes of cultural expression exemplified in South and East Asian, Native North and South American, African, and Oceanic art.

Evaluate cultural and historical issues through the lens of artistic expression as understood from a variety of global perspectives.

Analyze and critique works of world art on aesthetic and cultural grounds.

Analyze aesthetic values, power relationships, and diversity issues as they relate to the field of art history and criticism.

Let’s go to Africa first. But here’s a warning. I’m going to present much of this information in a more “bulleted” format. Meaning the words will be arranged in a dry, yet organized manner that spits out facts. I hate doing this, because I like to ramble on, but remember how little time we have. And, if I reduce the words, you get to see more stuff, more artwork.

II.        Africa

            Ancient 70,000 to 100,000 years ago

            Medieval (1000–1400 A.D.)

            Colonial

            Contemporary

Ancient

Rock Art, Paintings and engraved images.

Rock paintings and engravings are Africa's oldest continuously practiced art form. Depictions of elegant human figures, richly hued animals, and figures combining human and animal features—called therianthropes (often associated with shamanism).

The actual dates of the earliest art works are constantly debated as new evidence/sites are discovered.

According to some experts, the earliest evidence of geometric art was dated from 70,000 to 100,000 years ago.

Most experts now believe that the rock art tradition in Africa may go back at least 50,000 years. Unlike the rock paintings of Europe which are typically found in deep limestone caves most of Africa’s rock paintings are exposed to the elements in shallow shelters. 

Rock paintings found in southern Namibia in 1969 were carbon-dated to 30,000 years old.

Southern African San rock art:

Aboriginal San hunter-gatherers made most of these paintings and engravings.

Lonyana Rock, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

Image courtesy of Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Kasama Hills, Northern Province, Zambia.

Courtesy of the Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

The eland is often depicted:

eland

 

... as well as a variety of human figures. The depictions of magical animals/people I create are influenced in my graduate school exploration of tribal African art including the San.

“... scholars began to read about San beliefs and practices. They were fortunate in that a German linguist, Wilhelm Bleek, and his sister-in-law Lucy Lloyd had collected some 12,000 pages of /Xam San beliefs, folklore, and ritual practices in the 1870s. These were written down in the /Xam language in the orthography developed by Bleek and translated verbatim.

Alongside the numerous images of eland are ubiquitous depictions of healing or trance dances and the various experiences that the shaman-dancers have when they enter the other world, such as transformation into animal form. These images often interact with the rock surface; they appear to enter or leave cracks, steps, and other openings in the rock surface. For this reason, it is believed by scholars that, for the San, the rock surface functioned as a veil between this world and the spiritual one. Filled with supernatural energy, the images are depicted on this veil, on the very liminal space between two worlds. It is now thought by some scholars that, for the San, these images were more than just representational—they were the actual inhabitants of the spirit world.”

Geoffrey Blundell (Links to an external site.)

Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

stay tuned for more....