Another example of how culture influences art is the painting Spring Morning in the Han Palace by Qui Ying. He was considered to be one of the Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644. This painting depicted many everyday activities that would be done during the early spring time. The work of art done by Qui Ying includes people tending to flowers and playing chess, which are part of the Chinese culture during the spring. African art work and culture is geared towards the religious aspects of life. Terracotta figures that did not interfere with human representation were the first kind of African art. African art’s main focus is expanding the world to decrease the fear of the unknown. For example, a mask that was used for rituals and ceremonies created by Dual God Gulu. The mask brings life and death. This is an example of African art that involves the religious aspect of culture.
Fashion and clothing are most definitely a necessity in life, but also a work of art. What people wore in the past to what we wear today is all inspired by culture. Taking a look at the past Native Americans belonging to over five hundred groups with one of a kind traditions and ways of life dressed according to their belief systems and culture. Some tribes had worshipped the sun and in order for them to show their respects for the sun they wore very bright colored clothing. Whereas other tribes did not worship the sun, instead they worshipped the mountains so they would wear attire
Royal Arts of Africa show traditional work from the most historic tribal civilizations. Throughout centuries, African Art has enriched royal stature, authenticated noble influence, and honored past and present rulers. The Kom of northwest Cameroon, included in these historic tribal civilizations, molded statues symbolizing their very own royal families and prestige attendants of their kings’. The “Royal Figure” is a prime example of this kind of artwork that has lived through the Kom Kingdom’s history. This piece is constructed out of multiple mediums including wood, Indigo beads, raffia cloth, and iron, but beneath these materials lies a much deeper meaning. Symbolism, daily functions, history, and culture were all brought forward when
Dance has always been the focal point in which Africans are able to let free through movements of emotion. In this essay I will discuss the history of African Dance and its importance to the African Culture. Also will be discussing the general information of African dance, the different types of African dance and the ones that I like the most. Dance in the African culture is something that cannot be taken advantage of in the African Culture because it holds such a strong meaningful moment at the time of any occasion.
In conclusion, the way people dress is indeed important. It has been important from the beginning of the ancient times until today. As much as we would like to believe that Hans Christian Andersen’s interpretation of “dress is not what is important,” there is absolutely no way that this is possible for us. We are shallow as a whole. Much like the Emperor was in The Emperor’s New Clothes. Works Cited
On October 9, 2015 I went to the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art along with attending the Million Man March down in Washington D.C. The experiences were wonderful and I was very excited to be at both events. While at the museum I took two tours one at 10 am that was led by a woman named Nkechi Obi. She talked about docent African Arts. The next one was shortly after at11 am that was led by a teen ambassador named Nicholas Stewart, who was very intelligent. He talked about numerous pieces throughout the museum that had some significance to younger minds so I found that very helpful. After the tour I spent some time down at the mall in DC in which faced the Capitol. This was the Million Man March that was a very popular event that brought out many people. I would describe both events as lectures that were powerful and time put to good use.
African Americans always had a great influence in the United States throughout time from the beginning of slavery. African Americans, since the start of slavery, always expressed themselves artistically, where it was through music or art. From making patchwork quilts, slaves used their artistic expression to help conduct the Underground Railroad and escape slavery. To be defined as “illiterate savages” African Americas proved many wrong with their exceptional skills presented in many different styles of artwork. From slavery throughout the 19th century, there were a great number of African Americans whom contributed to the United States through artistic expression, with creating artwork that would either be judged or discredited. For example, Robert S. Duncanson, Edward M. Bannister, Mary Edmonia Lewis, and Henry Ossawa Tanner were all 19th century African American artists who each faced their own individual challenges to achieve acclaim as artists.
1853 there was eighty-six documented galleries, which had women and children working in them, really changed the times. Around this time, there were document African American operators which seems counterproductive, as acrimonious slaves would be photographing and documenting the slave trade as well as high profile crime trials of relevancy. Post mortem portraits became prevalent as well as the documentation of the different interesting landscapes, for instance Niagara Falls was shown in the chapter with a group of folks standing in the foreground enjoying the view. The American Daguerrotypists made the sites commonly unseen by most, available. Such a Hawaii, Mexico, Philippines and South America. They were also able to introduce Photography as it was then known to the people of
Fashion is very important in modern day society, and can be seen all around. Most of what people know about fashion today came from the fashion during the renaissance. From the vibrant fabrics to the spectacular jewels, renaissance fashion has been thoroughly threaded in the fashion of modern society. Modern day women often wear shorty, fun gowns, tightly fitting jeans, and lower cut tops. Popular fashion trends for men in modern society include saggy jeans, V-neck shirts, and stylish watches. “A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months” (Oscar Wilde). Fashion in modern day society is ever changing, but most changes do not stray too far from the original product.
The African art had a major influenced in the west. Artists were encourage to break out from naturalism. In about 1905, the African American art reached Europe. African art was a source of inspiration for artists as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Amedeo Modigliani. The African art inspired these western artists to break the norms. They were allowed to be more creative.
While I was unable to attend the museums in New York I was able to go to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and The Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. While I was at both museums I saw that both African art collections had a number of bronze heads of leaders and kings. I noticed that both museums had almost the identical bronze head of the king, so I decided to dedicate this paper on the bronze heads of the Benin kingdom, and the Edo peoples.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as “among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.” [pg.1] Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” [pg.5]
This sculpture is of a women breast feeding her child. The face of the two people is elongated, as well as the breasts of the mother. This is common to all African Art because they wanted representation of what is being expressed. In this particular sculpture, a supernatural power is being called upon. The power has been asked to protect the mother and child, and to
African art has played an important role in the culture of the world. The sculpture is the most common traditional culture expression for the African art. The different sculptures are shown by their local styles and they serve for the specific functions, such as religion. From some of these old art pieces, we figure out this kind of traditional culture expression already existed in the African for such a long time. In this paper, the art piece I am going to analyze is the Female Figure with Child and it made by Akan-Asante people. The Akan people of Ghana have been recognized for their various and attractive culture and it located in what are today Ivory Coast and the republic of Ghana in Western African. The Akan people are combined by different groups, such as the Anyi, Akawpim, Akyem, Aowin and Asante, and these people have their own dialect, but they share a lingua franca, which called Twi. The sculpture I choose could effectively reflect its own distinctive culture, because of the social connection reflect on the royalty, the comparison with other local art pieces, like Akuaba fertility dolls and its specific art form.
When you think of the word fashion, what do you think? Do you think about outrageous runway outfits? Cocktail dresses? Tracksuits? Whatever your impression of fashion, it is obvious that fashion plays an important role in today's society. We are judged by our clothing and appearance on an everyday basis, so why not make the most of our choices?
In this course we have learned about all of the different cultures and their musical traditions. My favorite so far has had to be the west African music culture. They have a variety of different music, instruments, and dances to contribute to the reasons I liked this music culture so much. So, I have taken it upon myself to further my research on this particular musical group. I will compare and contrast a variety of different videos from the west African music culture and I will analyze how they connect to this culture.
During the mid 19th century up until the Great War of 1914, European countries began to heavily colonize and come into contact with African nations. This was called "new imperialism". During this contact, European culture was influenced by Africa. The influence of the African people can be seen in the European society of the time. In the 19th and 20th centuries, modern artists embraced African art for its lack of pretension or formal qualities.