Art for Coming-of-Age
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Coming-of-age is an event in the life cycle that is formally acknowledged and celebrated throughout the world. In the United States, coming-of-age rites take various forms according to ethnic or socio-religious patterns.
African Masks
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Almost all peoples have used masks to disguise themselves. Prehistoric rock paintings suggest that masking may have been part of magico-religious ceremonies. An image of an African mask first appeared in the central Sahara thousands of years ago.
Masquerades (African Masks)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Masquerades are multimedia events that often include not one but several masked dancers embodying various spirits. For example, annual Egungun masquerades bring the ancestors back to town dressed in sumptuous cloths. Families own the masquerades, so as many as possible who can afford the cost of the elaborate costumes and other requirements for participating are represented in the week-long festival.
Art to Aid Conception and Birth
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
"Children are better than riches," declares an African proverb. Children obviously represent continuity from one generation to the next, but they are crucial for other reasons. Most importantly, they fulfill the biological roles of males and females, demonstrating their sexual identity, virility, and fertility.
Icons and Symbols of Leadership and Status
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Governance in pre-colonial sub-Saharan societies was either centralized or decentralized. Centralized societies, such as the Yoruba and Edo in West Africa and the Chokwe and Kuba in Central Africa, were ruled by kings and chiefs who presided over complex political structures. These paramount rulers were considered political leaders as well as religious personages endowed with extraordinary powers and authority.
African Art in Context
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Tradition-based African art is often characterized as “art for life’s sake” or “art as a matter of life and death” in contrast to “art for art’s sake”—an inherited 19th-century Western notion that art is self-sufficient, requiring no justification from a belief system outside of itself. Traditional African art served a purpose (and does still in some cultures)
West Mexico (West Coast Mesoamerican Style)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The culture area of West Mexico encompasses two major style areas, the modern state of Guerrero in the south, particularly in the middle reaches of the Balsas River, and the states of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit to the north. Most of the objects associated with these areas were made during the period 500 BCE to 500 CE.
Heaven and earth in Southeast Moluccan Art
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In pre-Christian times on almost all of the islands of Southeast Molucca, the cosmos was conceived of as a system of two entities, which were usually called “above” or “heaven” and “below” or “earth.” Although the cosmic divide was interpreted differently on different islands, “above” and “below” were generally thought of as persons.
The Art of the Southeast Moluccas
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Between New Guinea and Timor, spread throughout the Banda Sea, lie the islands of Maluku Tenggara, also known as the Southeast Moluccas. For the most part the area is made up of uplifted coral islands—small and barren in the west, somewhat larger and more wooded in the east—where the standard of living is low.
Olmec Masks
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Olmec masks with human features are among the most beautiful sculptures of jade and serpentine produced by Olmec lapidaries.