African Art: Historical Overview

• In those parts of the continent that are not heavily urbanized, Africa’s geography and climate have especially impacted the development of different artistic traditions. In agricultural communities, seasonal patterns of rainfall and drought affect cultivation and, by extension, their cultural practices. An alternation between rainy and dry seasons is seen throughout much of Africa, in varying degrees. 
• Dry seasons allow opportunities for part-time artisans to create artifacts and for people to organize festivals and other large-scale social events that employ such art forms. Frequent droughts forced populations to migrate often or adopt a nomadic lifestyle. 
• As a result, their artistic expression has focused on relatively personal traditions such as body ornamentation, rather than larger scale wooden sculpture.
• Throughout the continent, there is found a diversity of societies, languages, and cultures; Africans define themselves in many different ways: by occupational caste, village, kinship group, regional origin, and nationality. 

Colonial Era:

• The continent was occupied by France, Belgium, Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy, and Portugal by 1914. 
• The colonial period in Africa brought radical changes, disrupting local political institutions, patterns of trade, and religious and social beliefs. 
• The colonial era also impacted cultural practices in Africa, as artists responded to new forms of patronage and the introduction of new technologies as well as to their changing social and political situations.
• At the same time, many artistic traditions were characterized as “primitive” by Westerners and discouraged or even banned.
• African artifacts were collected as personal souvenirs or ethnographic specimens by military officers, colonial administrators, missionaries, scientists, merchants, and other visitors to the continent.

Today:

• The postcolonial period has been challenging, as many countries struggle to regain stability in the aftermath of colonialism. Political instability, civil unrest, and economic and health crises. 
• In spite of Africa’s political, economic, and environmental challenges, the postcolonial period has been a time of tremendous vigor in the realm of artistic production. Many tradition-based artistic practices continue to thrive or have been revitalized.
• Since the mid-twentieth century, increasing numbers of African artists have engaged local traditions in new ways or embraced a national identity through their visual expression.