Essay on The Art of Benin - 1045 Words

Western attitudes to African people and culture have always affected how their art was appreciated and this has also coloured the response to the art from Benin. Over time concepts of ‘Race’, defined as a distinct group with a common linage, and ‘Primitive’ which pertains to the beginning or origin, , have been inextricably linked with the perception of Africa. The confusion of the two in the minds of people at the end of the 19th centaury, and some of the 20th, caused a sense of superiority amongst the ‘White Races’ that affected every aspect of their interaction with ‘the Black’. The ‘Civilisation’ of Africa by conquest and force was justified by these views. The definition of ‘Negro’ in the Encyclopaedia Britannia just 100 years†¦show more content†¦(Duerden, 1974, p83). In the same way the ruins called Great Zimbabwe, discovered in 1871, were attributed to the Queen of Sheba. The pieces were consigned to such anthropological museums as The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford where objects were often placed in crowded cases and displayed as an indication of how African art could be ‘improved’ by contact with the West. At the turn of the centaury African art was discovered by Western artists hungry for inspiration to react against the status quo. Much as Cezanne had attempted to replace the representational landscape and still life with a more expressionist style so Picasso and other avant-garde painters tried to illustrate ‘basic artistic truths in their work by utilising what they considered to be the very origins of art portrayed in the ‘primitive’ pieces from Africa. Not concerned with the aesthetic or cultural value of what they found, artists were far more interested in what appeared to them to be the fundamental expression of basic emotions. By the 30’s Primitivism had become a major, mainstream movement that included Cubism and Abstract Art and merited major exhibitions such as New York in1936. The definition of the movement in 1938 by Robert Goldwater stated: ‘the assumption that the fu rther one goes back – historically, psychologically or aesthetically – theShow MoreRelatedThe Art of Benin Essay954 Words   |  4 PagesWhy is the ownership of Benin Art so controversial? The ownership of Benin Art could have been so controversial for a number of reasons. Most notably I would say, is due to the Anthropologists seeing it as a cultural insight into the history of Benin however when people were introduced to start looking at the artefacts from also a more artistic approach, this, for the anthropologists was taking the cultural effect away from it. Some people may have felt hostile to how these artefacts were obtainedRead More Benin Art in Museums and Galleries Essay1408 Words   |  6 PagesThe display of Benin art in museum and galleries reflect the attitudes and perceptions of Europeans towards non-western artefacts, especially African. Thus as European attitudes change towards non-western art since the discovery of Benin art in 1897, Benin art has been revaluated and re-categorised. Initially there was a great deal of debate about Benin art and its display, as it did not equate with the perceptions then held about Africa. Until the British conquest of Benin in 1897, little wasRead MoreCultural Encounters : Cultural Encounter, Anthropology And Art1007 Words   |  5 Pages Culture encounters â€Å"Art simply consists of Different points of view† Cultural Encounters focuses on the study of cultural identities interpreting human social costumes, religious practices and symbolic objects of arts such as, statues, masks and bronze plaques as essential part of the human cultural identity. {1}Ethnography is a method of Anthropology which is â€Å"a branch of natural sciences concerned with the study of mankind through a close analysis of human society and through comparison betweenRead MoreHow The Ghana Is Influenced By African Art1493 Words   |  6 Pageshow the Benin is able to concept the uncivilised nature of African societies. We will also look at the relationship between the Benin Bronzes, as African art, rather than modern art in the west. We know that the Benin bronzes are known to be of ‘aesthetic’, ‘spiritual’ and ‘sentimental’ value due to its symbolic appraisal of civilisation. They are also one of the most sophistica ted pieces of art. When looking into the African heritage, we can note it has a vast impact on the modern art world - artistsRead MoreEssay about The Benin Bronzes1663 Words   |  7 PagesThis essay deals with the nature of a cross cultural encounter between the Benin people and Portuguese traders in the 15th and 16th centuries, which resulted in the depiction of Portuguese figures in Benin brass plaques. It will propose that this contact between people with different cultures was on the basis of mutual regard (Woods, K. 2008, p. 16), and although the Portuguese had qualms about idolatry in Benin it will show that assumptions by Europeans up to the 20th century of the primitiveRead MoreRead Carefully the Following Piece of Text. What Does It Tell Us About Cross Cultural Encounters?1128 Words   |  5 Pagesnew vice-consul for the Benin river section Captain Henry Gallwey visited Benin and signed a treaty which made Benin a British protectorate, but as far as the British were concerned the treaty pr oved disappointing and by 1896 many British traders and officials were calling for military intervention, although the foreign office seemed reluctant to do this. On January 2nd 1897 the acting consul-general of the protectorate James Phillips set off without permission for Benin accompanied by a large armedRead MoreVisual and Cultural Art1001 Words   |  4 PagesFor my visual and cultural arts essay I visited the James E Lewis museum at Morgan State University. For my essay I have selected key pieces of art that I believe express the African experience in terms of their social, ethnographical and theological beliefs. This paper will also attempt to draw a comparison to key themes features in the African Creation myths, which will further elucidate the meanings hidden in these various works of art. It is my belief that this paper will not only serve as aRead MoreEssay about Art of Portraiture831 Words   |  4 Pagesart of portraiture The three works that I chose that are art of portraiture are Head of a King, Mask of an Lyoba, and Mother Goddess. The first two portraits are West African Art from two different tribes, Ife, who created the Head of a King and Benin, whom created the Mask of an Lyoba. The Mother Goddess is an Aztec piece. These groups of people are from different cultures, time periods, and share different religious beliefs. The similarity of the groups is the symbolic meaning the Read MoreAfrican Art Collections at Museums: The Bronze Heads of Leaders and King1263 Words   |  5 Pagesunable 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. The bronze head to the upper left is the commemorativeRead MoreAn Essential Part Of Ghana African Culture1301 Words   |  6 Pages Waist pendants were an essential part of the Benin African culture. Benin was located in modern day Nigeria, and they had a very advanced culture with various resources. The Benin Kingdom mainly existed between the years 1440-1897 before the invasion from British soldiers, and is the capitol of the former Edo Kingdom. The city of Benin still exists today. The head of the Benin kingdom was called an oba, which translates to King, and was highly revered.1 Many brass and ivory carvings of the oba