Tribal Art
Tribal Art
African Tribal Art – a Rich Heritage of Fascinating Diversity
Tribal art has been part of African culture for more than 6,000 year. There are hundreds of tribes in Africa and each one of them has their own unique style of art forms adding wide diversity to African tribal art. The best known of the forms of African tribal art are:
1. Sculpture
Most of the African sculptures are done in wood. Often in these wooden sculptures, artists depict the spirits of deceased people. Features like the symmetric facial expressions, strong, unmoving posture, and portrayal of humans in the prime of life, large heads, and prominent navels can be noticed in the wooden human sculptures.
2. Pottery
The beauty of the African artwork can also be noticed in the traditional utensils and various pottery items. Hand made vases, pots, plates and bowls made of clay were further painted by artists to make each of the items more appealing. Along with wood and clay, some terracotta pieces of genuine antiquity have also been found which tell us about the ingenuity of these ancient people.
3. Jewellery
Items like earrings, neck pieces, bracelets or other jewelry pieces of African tribal society are one of a kind and have a genuine ceremonial or daily usage background. Hand crafted jewelleries, made from elephant hair, giraffe hair, lion claw, ivory, bones of animals, are not only beautiful but also unique in their own way.
4. Masks
Now let's move on to masks. Who does not know about African masks? In most of the traditional dance forms, dancers wear masks. In fact ritual African costumes remain incomplete without masks. Face masks are used during processions, local festivals and other celebrations and even at funerals. There are even tribal masks of African animals such as elephants, zebras and antelopes.
5. Paintings
African painters use highly abstracted and regimented visual canons along with different shades of colors to represent the qualities and characteristics of any subject. Nature is the most common subject in African paintings.
In many of the African tribal art forms, artists try to capture the various forms of animals and plant life. However, the unifying theme is the fascination with the human figure. There are some famous painters of the Western world who were highly influenced by African paintings such as Gauguin, Modigliani, Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso.
About the Author
Tony Chalmers is a travel journalist who has written many insightful articles on African tribal art forms which have been published in newspapers, magazines and web mags. He is also a collector and is a proud owner of some beautiful African paintings.
 |
US $20.00
|
|
Tribal Art 2 $10 Tribal Art 2 |
|
|
Tribal Art 3 $10 Tribal Art 3 |
|
|
Tribal Art 4 $10 Tribal Art 4 |
|
|
Tribal Art 9 $10 Tribal Art 9 |
|
|
Tribal Art 5 $10 Tribal Art 5 |
|
|
Tribal Art 6 $10 Tribal Art 6 |
|
|
Tribal Art 7 $10 Tribal Art 7 |
|
|
Tribal Art 8 $10 Tribal Art 8 |
|
|
Tribal Art 1 $10 Tribal Art 1 |
|
|
Tribal Art 10 $10 Tribal Art 10 |
|
|
Tribal Fusions-the Exotic Art of Tribal Bellydance $21.59 Tribal Fusions-the Exotic Art of Tribal Bellydance |
|
|
Tribal II $54.99 Tribal II - Art Print |
|
|
Tribal III $54.99 Tribal III - Art Print |
|
|
Tribal Mask $159.99 Dominique Gaudin Tribal Mask - Framed Art Print |
|
|
Tribal Times $129.99 Michael Brey Tribal Times - Framed Art Print |
|
|
Tribal Africa $179.99 Marc Lacaze Tribal Africa - Framed Art Print |
