The Cameroon Grasslands are known for their different styles of art that represent different social statuses. One significant style of art that indicates status is dedicated to royalty. Royal art not only represents the supremacy of the nation’s ruling family, but also of its people. Masks, such as the Elephant Mask, are used to represent kings and their power throughout funerals. The Elephant Mask of the Cameroon people is valuable not only for its place in funerary practices, but it also represents the importance of the kings and their power in society.
The Elephant Mask is made by the Cameroon people of Africa. This particular Elephant Mask is a part of the Stanely Collection found at the University of Iowa Museum of Art. The mask as a whole is made of wood. The majority of the mask has a dark brown, almost black color, with an accent of a light tan brown color throughout. The wood looks as if it was sanded down to give it a smooth appearance along the head and trunk. The mask appears to be in good
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The most commonly name used to refer to a king is fon. Ruling across the lands by fons are not given by showing they are tough, powerful, or able to rule, but it is passed along through blood lineages from generations to generations. Since kingship is passed down through a family, these families often have many royal ancestors. Fon’s are the ones who take care of the whole kingdom. He not only takes care of them, but he watches out for every person’s safety. The fon always has a Kan Mfomungwi, otherwise known as the queen. He is allowed to have as many wives as he pleases. Most importantly though, the female who has his first child is called the First Wife. This is an idolized position because you prove the fon is fertile. Having several children is considered successful to the fon upon his death. This ensures that the family will still hold the royal crown when the fon
In conclusion, the portrayal of ancient rulers is dependent not only on the style of art popular during the era, but also on the evolution of the political climate. The portrayal of Menkaure, a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt, is of complete authority, control and power. His face does not show concern or grief over his people, because he is not challenged politically, the image of control coincides with his sole power over the kingdom. While the depiction of Alexander the Great, in ancient Greek coins is deified. Alexander’s leadership ended with world domination; therefore, his deified portrayal on monetary funds is particularly appropriate. By contrast, Philip the Arab’s portrait sculpture almost resembles a present day photograph with its capture of fleeting expression. This expression of anxiety and sadness is a representation of the political turmoil during the time period of his rule. Taking the progress of ancient cultures into account, how does the art of sculpting improve in the manipulation of the medium used?
There have many King and Queens throughout the centuries of the world. Some even still remain today, like Queen Elizabeth of England. Rulers, as some people would call them were seen as a public figure as in some cases even as gods. Some even were considered cruel beyond all belief, one ruler was even nicknamed Bloody Mary because of how cruel she was. The Ruler I’m going to talk about is cousins to that ruler but her name is Queen Mary of the Scotts
Crooked Beak of Heaven Mask is a big bird-figure mask from late nineteenth century made by Kwakwaka’wakw tribe. Black is a broad color over the entire mask. Red and white are used partially around its eyes, mouth, nose, and beak. Its beak and mouth are made to be opened, and this leads us to the important fact in both formal analysis and historical or cultural understanding: Transformation theme. Keeping that in mind, I would like to state formal analysis that I concluded from the artwork itself without connecting to cultural background. Then I would go further analysis relating artistic features to social, historical, and cultural background and figure out what this art meant to those people.
Many African cultures see life as a cycle we are born, we grow and mature, enter adulthood, and one day we will eventually die but the cycle continues long after death. In Africa art is used as a way to express many things in their society, in this paper I will focus on different ways traditional African art are used to describe the cycle of one’s life. Since Africa is such a large continent it is important to keep in mind that every country and tribe has different rituals and views when it comes to the cycle of life. It is estimated to be well over a thousand different ethnic groups and cultures in Africa today. Thousands of cultures in Africa see the stages of life bound together in a continuous cycle; a cycle of birth, growth, maturity,
Western attitudes to African people and culture have always affected how their art was appreciated and this has also coloured the response to the art from Benin.
The Egyptian culture was a culture that lasted about 3,000 years and was located near the Nile River. The Nile River provided most of the resources for the Egyptians; therefore, a lot of the artwork was based on representing these bountiful resources. Another major influence of the artwork that was created was the kings and gods that were held at such high standards (Stokstad and Cothren, 50). There is one king in particular that was known in history for his great accomplishments, this king was King Narmer. The Egyptian’s expressed their respect for this king through a palette known as The Palette of Narmer. This piece is one of the firsts of Egyptian times that sets the morals for Egyptian artwork; it was created in the Early Dynastic time period. The Palette of Narmer tells a vast political story of the history of Egypt and the king, King Narmer.
The Boli, or altar, figure from the Bamana peoples of Mali is a unique piece of art not based on what an individual knows about the figure, but rather what it doesn’t. The Boli has a secretive quality that harness energy from the community and peoples reactions to the Boli can fluctuate based on their interpretations on the object. The Boli is made of materials ranging from human bodily fluid to sticks and string. The figure is generally made to resemble an animal, typically a hippopotamus or cow, but over time with sacrificial material covering the figure it can become somewhat unclear. The Bamana peoples have an obscure relationship with the Boli for many reasons that could sprout from the materials it is made from, its uses in the society, and its extremely secretive nature.
The ancient Egyptians are known for many of the incredible aspects of their culture and everything they have produced. Some of the well known ancient Egyptian relics are the ones like the ancient pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza, mummies, and their many forms of art. Ancient Egyptian art is one of the most recognized styles of art. The most commonly known types of ancient Egyptian art are types like paintings, ceramics, and sculptures. Not only is Egyptian art beautiful, but it carries a huge deal of value and significance with it. A great portion of the time, the art has some kind of religious meaning to it. Consequently it is very difficult to discuss the art itself without delving into the various gods and goddesses presented in it. Something that particularly struck me about ancient Egyptian art was their proneness to use animals in their art. Not only do they use the animal’s full figure, but they also put individual parts on human bodies. This intrigued me because not many cultures have art that embrace animals to this extent. I will be exploring why the ancient Egyptians depict animals in their art repeatedly, and considering what they meant to them.
In the essay "Elephants, Ivory, and an indelible Experience", the author experienced a humbling experience that caused him to burn his ivory collection. Ultimately, his near death experience of being chased by the bull and the other elephants changed the authors view point about the animal itself. Hrishikesh Unni's view point changed because he realized the cruelty elephants go to in obtaining the ivory from their tusks. He also changed his view point from positive to negative on the ivory collection itself. Instead of looking at the collection from the standpoint of money value, Hrisikesh views it in the amount of life
The attitudes towards the display of Benin Art, adopted by European museums and galleries have dramatically changed over the 112 year period since their initial acquisition. This has been for a number of reasons including the societal transition from accepting colonialism to acknowledging cultural diversity, the gradual integration and cross-fertilisation across the academic fields of anthropology, ethnography and art history and the ongoing debate regarding provenance and repatriation.
The common name is the African Elephant, the scientific name is Loxodonta Africana, the phylum is Vertebrata, the class is Mammalia, the order is Proboscidea, and the family is Elephantidae. The Closest Relatives to the African Elephant are: the Asian Elephant, mammoths, primitive proboscidean (mastodons), sea cows, and hyraxes. Scientists believe that the African Elephant evolved from one of its closest relatives, the Sea Cow. The geographical location and range of the African elephant covers all of central and southern Africa. In Ethiopia there are isolated populations that exist around Lake Chad in Mali and Mauritania. Also in Kenya, Rhodesia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Zaire, and in National parks located in South Africa, as well as several other countries. African Elephants, originally, were found in all of the Sub-Saharan African habitats except desert steppes. Elephants still occupy diverse habitats such as: temperate grassland, tropical savanna and grass lands, temperate forest and rainforest, tropical rainforest, tropical scrub forest, and tropical deciduous forest despite their drastic decline in numbers. However, their migratory patterns and habitat use have changed, due to the fact that they are restricted to protected areas. The elephant can exist in many types of environments but it prefers places that have many trees and bushes, which the elephant needs both for food and shade. They also like warm areas that have plenty of rainfall.
Carved with the image of kings, queen mothers, leopards and warrior, the carved ivory tusk is from the kingdom Benin in Nigeria. It is an object recorded the supreme power and achievement of former kings. In the kingdom of Benin, after a king died, his son will inherit his throne. Then the new king will choose motifs that can represent his father and his kingdom and carved it on tusks to remind people of him. These tusks are always put in the altar of former kings established by his son and supported by the brass heads of kings and queen mothers (Dark
It is essential in representing the strong african heritage and it 's importance can be seen in many aspects of culture (Gaines 1).
Based on the advice given by his father, King Merong Mahapudisat ruled his eldest son to be the King of Siam, the middle prince as King of Perak and his third son, a princess, as
Most art has some sort of reason or purpose behind it. It might be religious, symbolic, literal, traditional, customary, or just a preference by the artist. Most African art has a symbolic reason. Masks, pottery, figures, portraits, jewelry, baskets and clothing reflect the religious belief of the different tribes. Africans believed that everything in nature is alive. For example: rocks, grass, plants, trees, rivers and mountains. African art was not popular and was looked down upon until recently. In Nigeria, people were tattooed as a test of courage. The figure- “Portrait Head of a King (Oni)” reflects this. The King has this tattooing on his entire face. The King has big slanted eyes, a prominent nose, and big full lips. All these things represented something to the Nigerian people; the King...