Benin Art in Museums and Galleries Essay

"Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach, 5th Edition. "Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach: Margaret Lazzari, Dona Schlesier: 9781285858166: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

A group called the benin artists created a masterpiece that symbolizes royal authority and power. It’s a sculpture of 2 leopards designed as water vessels, used for when the oba washes his hands before ceremonies.

9. “Benin lost their faith in gods, their art deteriorated, and human sacrifice became more common.” (page 330)

In the contemplation of art, or rather the conceptually intangible definition it currently possess, it is imperative to be mindful that “art” has been utilized as a promotional device, ceremonial item, aesthetically purposed article or perhaps none of these or all. It is because of this vague term that Carolyn Dean, in her text, “The Trouble with (The Term) Art”, makes a case for the consequences of applying the term “art” in societies that lacked such a notion which also accounts for the Western-centric lens the field intrinsically utilizes when viewing non-Western art. The claim is deftly supported by the utilization of expert accounts in the subject, alternative perspectives for what is considered the current norm, and self-examining questions,

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Fourteenth Edition, Volume II.

In museums today various pieces are displayed in such a way as to show people that these pieces are what they are and to explain their original uses etc. In Paris for example, a new museum was built in 2006 called Quai Branly and it displayed a collection of Benin pieces including

While the exhibition had its fair share of people who supported it, a large group of individuals did not, and they were not afraid to make their voices heard. The issue at hand was the way the objects had historically been possessed and controlled. The artefacts had been collected through the military; they were responsible for stripping African countries of anything and everything they deemed valuable, even religious idol and sacred objects. ‘Collectively, they left nothing in Africa which struck them as valuable’. And so since the artefacts remained in the possession of the more dominant peoples, the objects were not able to tell the true story, they were being limited as it was being told through the lens of Dr. David Livingstone, a

In a freezing class, two brilliant minds unlocked the fiery passion that is their talent one an artist the other a writer. Bringing to light a history long forgotten creating abstract thoughts arbitrary to our own. Komi Olaf the artist and Okey Ndibe the writer not only enlightening the class but also the world with each brush stroke and each word. Every creation stemming from the hands of these masters tell of issues at the heart of Africa from colonialism to existential dilemmas. Thru spoken word, hip-hop, art, music, poems and literature issues close at heart to the artists and to Africa are portrayed. This paper will focus on the art exhibit by Komi Olaf and Foreign Gods inc by Okey Ndibe as spoken by them during their discussion in the class on October 13th. Where the talks focused on the key course objectives being stereotypes, post-colonialism, youth culture, and resistance.

It is proposed to show that the ethos of European colonial expansion largely defined and classified Benin art and dictated how it should be interpreted and displayed when first seen in European

African Art does not have specific date to which it evolved because most early African Art was carved in wood, which perished quickly. This is why most art dates from the 19th and early 20th century. Many 20th century artists admired and collected pieces of African Art. They enjoyed the bold color, expression, and form that produced a new beginning in art history. African Art was mostly dedicated to life affirming activities such as healing, pleasure, protection, and transformation.

This chapter in Africans and Their History by Joseph Harris presents some of the roots of the stereotypes and myths about Africa in the past and for the most part are still held today. Harris discusses how the “greats” of history, geography, and literature starting a path of devaluation of Africans that writers after their time followed. Harris also denounced the language that these “greats” used to describe and talk about Africans. He asserts that this language inherently painted Africans as inferior and subhuman.

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.

In “Social Space and the Genesis of Groups”, Bourdieu (1982) discusses how habitus, as well as different kinds of capital, can combine to determine an individual’s place in society (Bourdieu, 1982 as cited in Applerouth & Edles, 2016). In “Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception”, Bourdieu (1968) discusses “art” and how it is that those with greater capital are able to engage with art (Bourdieu, 1968 as cited in Applerouth & Edles, 2016). Although the greater narrative implies that those with greater capital can engage “art” because of innate qualities, the reality is that through their continued exposure to art (which stems from their economic capital), they can develop an understanding of it (Applerouth & Edles, 2016). In Edward Said’s (1978) Orientalism, Said (1978) discusses “orientalism”, the areas of study that focus on the areas “east” of Europe (Said, 1978 as cited in Applerouth & Edles, 2016). Said’s (1978) point is that “western” scholars have created this idea of the “orient” to create a distinction between themselves and those from areas that were part of the “oriental” umbrella (Said, 1978 as cited in Applerouth & Edles,

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.