African
Masks - The African Tribal Artist
The
African tribal artist's training, which may last many
years, involves the knowledge of traditional carving techniques
and how these apply to the social and religious objects
he creates. His craft can be learned as an apprentice
in the workshop of a master carver, or sometimes these
skills are passed down from father to son through many
generations of his family.
The
artist holds a respected position in African tribal society.
It is his job to provide the various masks and sculptures
for use in ritual ceremonies. His work is valued for its
spiritual, rather than its aesthetic qualities.
When
artists and collectors in the West first took an interest
in African Art, they did not appreciate its social or
spiritual function. African art was simply viewed as a
naive genre with a strong visual impact.
At
the dawn of the 20th century, European artists were looking
for new forms of expression that challenged, rather than
simply illustrated, their rapidly changing world of ideas
and technology. The traditional techniques of realism
and perspective seemed overworked and predictable.
Their
solution was to draw on images from other cultures and
fuse them with European influences to refresh the tired
traditions of Western art. The new perspectives that these
cultures offered opened many doors of development which
led to the cross-fertilisation of ideas and styles that
constitute our art world today.
The
expressive power of African art was fundamental to this
revolution and to the development of the first modernist
styles: Cubism, Fauvism and Expressionism.
Today,
the finer qualities of African tribal art, like the qualities
of good art from any continent, are more clearly understood
and have assumed their true position in the art of mankind.
Sadly
however, most traditional African artworks are now produced
for the tourist trade. Although some of these objects
are examples of skilled craftsmanship, collectors suggest
that many lack the character that is generated by a spiritual,
as opposed to a profit motive.
Art
without a 'spiritual dimension', in the broadest sense
of the term, never transcends the level of mere craftsmanship
and is unable to communicate those elevated emotions that
are born from a deeper mystical inspiration. |
