specific 4 Flashcards
kente was originally created for and worn solely by
the king in
ceremonial contexts
kente has a historical connection
to ideas of
Asante pride and leadership
would have visually reinforced the elaborate
gold regalia worn and carried by the ruler as well
The liberal use of gold and yellow
tones
Large
swaths of kente cloth were traditionally used as
highly sculptural costuming for the king in Asante
culture.
the first kente cloths were made from black and white , but today
kente cloth is associated with a very bright
color palette
kente cloth – Color was first introduced through
the use of
natural dyes
kente cloth – Today’s textiles are often
created using __ to __
synthetic compounds to achieve the
broader range of color we have come to expect from
modern kente cloth.
In addition to its distinctive color palette, kente
cloth is characterized by its
geometric patterning
4 types of geometric patterning exhibited by kente decor
squares, rectangles,
diamonds, and zig-zag patterns
describe kente cloth weaving process
vertical
threads (warp) are interlaced with horizontal
ones (weft) on a wooden loom
The
double weave technique allows for ____
how??
greater variation
in color, as a second strand is added horizontally
to the weaving process
Kente is traditionally produced
in
four-inch narrow strips, with geometric
shapes woven along their entire length
While the first kente cloth was made of raffia,
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it
was produced solely in silk
kente cloth – Silk was a highly precious
import material, and so it served as
an appropriate
symbol of the king’s status
Today kente is
made in a variety of natural and synthetic materials,
including
cotton and rayon
the __ and __ centuries in Africa
were largely concerned with issues of colonialism,
the __ and beginnings of the __
centuries have predominantly been characterized
by those of postcolonialism
18
19
20
21
The main period of decolonization was long,
from the
early 1950s through the 1970s
Apartheid was the systemic enforcement of racial
segregation and oppression in South Africa from [ years ]
1948 to 1994.
apartheid – black South Africans
were ruled by a white minority government
under the
National Party
Apartheid was only abolished after many
years of political negotiations and maneuvering by
then President
President Frederik Willem de Klerk
south africa – Free and
fair elections in 1994 led to the presidency of __ under __
Nelson Mandela,
African National Congress
apartheid was legally abolished by
1991
William Kentridge was born in
1955
will kentridge grew up in
johannesburg
alhtough will kentridge did not experience racial
oppression himself, he identified with black South
Africans as
he lived as a Jew in a largely Christian
society
Felix in Exile is a short film that is __ in length
8:43
kentridge’s majors
politics and African studies
where was kentridge educated
- University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, - printmaking
at the Johannesburg Art Foundation
kentridge moved to __ to study __ and __ at __
paris
mime and theater at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq
Through his
work, Kentridge is largely concerned with issues of
ssocial justice
the version of felix in exile held by __ is a ___
Guggenheim
Museum in New York City,
later transfer
to color video
felix in exile originally recorded on
35mm film
felix in exile is part of a series of short animations,
called
drawings for projection
kentridge’s series of short animations feature
two principal characters, who function as the artist’s
alter egos
describe kentridge’s 2 main characters
Soho Eckstein, an avaricious South
African mining magnate in a pinstriped suit and tie,
and Felix Teitlebaum, shown naked and vulnerable
to apartheid’s devastating acts
Felix in Exile is the __ film in the __-film series
5th, 9
felix in exile focuss on
Felix’s love affair with
a young black woman identified as Nand
in felix in exile, felix
looks very
much like the artist himself, is isolated in a hotel
room, looking over drawings created by his lover
the room in felix in exile looks very much like
a famous photograph
of Kazimir Malevich’s 1916 exhibition in St. Petersburg,
The Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings “0-10”
(Zero-Ten)
how is the space in felix in exile msysterious?
Felix and Nandi interact with
each other and her sketches
describe how the sketches in felix in exile are loaded w/ meaning
They are “historical documents,
as figures and structures are subsumed into
the landscape or night sky, allegories for how the
land can bear the scars of crimes against humanity.
Kentridge’s films reveal traces of their
making, just as the narratives invoke
memories of an historic time. how?
For each
scene, Kentridge films a large charcoal and
pastel drawing, which he partially erases
and redraws, recording each sheet up
to 500 times.
how is the texture of kentridge’s charcoal drawing emphasized?
“ghosts” oflines visible both on the walls of the
room and across the bodies of the figures.
the overwhelming sense of felix in exile is
relatively bleak
effect of color elements in felix in exile?
bring visual
variety to the image, but do not “brighten” it in an
emotive way.
While the meaning of Kentridge’s narrative is
somewhat obscure, the overwhelming feeling of
__ and __ is present, even in this single
frame.
longing and disconnect
Early travel photographers in Africa,
such as __ and __, captured
images of African peoples, animals, and landscapes
that captivated people in the West and reinforced a
Western perception of the continent as “dark” and
“primitive” in nature.
charles livingstone,
john kirk
Perhaps
the most famous (and possible infamous) photographic
documentation of Africa was undertaken by
the national geographic society
nat geo soc established in what yr
1888
name one of nat geo’s special books
Scenes from Every Land (1909)
While
often influenced by Western conventions, such as
those relating to __, for example,
African artists increasingly used identifiably African
__ and __.
portrait photography,
backdrops, costumes
Official African photography
agencies, such as __ and __, were founded in order to __
AMAP in Mali; A Foto
in Angola;
communicate
governmental propaganda to the people
Press photography
began to emerge via organizations such as
the __
Progressive Photographic Society in South Africa.
Progressive Photographic Society in South Africa.’s magazine called
Drum, founded in Johaneesburg in 1950s
African women first expressed feminist activism
around concerns for
economic independence
Aida Muluneh was born in
ethiopia 1974
muluneh spent her childhood in
yemen and england
muluneh moved to __ for HS
canada
when did muluneh first take up phogotraphy
canada, HS
where did muluneh go to college
Howard University in Washington,
D.C., earning a BA in Film, Radio, and Television in
2001
muluneh worked as ____ before beginning to focus more
seriously on art photography
freelance photographer for
the Washington Post
Muluneh first gained recognition in the mid-
2000s, with
black and white documentary photographs
depicting everyday life in Ethiopia
what award did muluneh win
2008, when
she won the European Union Prize for works she
presented at the Seventh Annual African Photography
Biennial
muluneh lives and works in __ today
addis ababa
muluneh – In addition to her successful exhibition record,
her activity includes work to support
D.E.S.T.A.
FOR AFRICA (Developing and Educating Society
Through Art). This non-profit organization, which
she founded in 2008, seeks to provide opportunities
in the global art community for African artists from
throughout the diaspora.
Spirit of Sisterhood is a black and white __
print measuring approximately 40 x 30
inches
Cibachrome
spirit of sisterhood – The women share a __
single, black diaphanous veil.
spirit of sishterhood – We can assume, based on the interests
of the artist, that we are looking at
women from
contemporary Ethiopia
Traditional Ghanaian funerary practice largely
centered on the creation of __, which served to represent __
terracotta heads or figurative
statues;
the ruler
and the members of his court
Islam and Christianity are practiced by many contemporary
Ghanaians today. but within the _______, ancestor worship is still quite strong
Ga
community, the dominant ethnic group in the region
surrounding the capital of Accra
The fantasy coffin tradition in Ghana is relatively
recent, dating only from the
early 1950s
Teshi
small village outside Accra
how did the Ghanaian fantasy coffin tradition begin?
At that
time, a chief from the Ga tribe in Teshi commissioned local carpenter
Ata Owoo to build him a palanquin in the form of
a cocoa pod. The chief had made his fortune in the
cocoa trade and wanted his ceremonial sedan chair
to reference this success. When the chief died before
the completion of the project, the carved cocoa pod
became his funerary casket.
Kane Kwei
was inspired
by this unusual casket and decided to carve one for
his grandmother after her death in 1951. One of her
greatest dreams was to fly in an airplane. Though
she never achieved this in life, her grandson helpedher to do so in death – he carved her a coffin in the
shape of a jet. Kane Kwei quickly became known for
his coffins, and by the time of his own death in 1992
he was producing approximately thirty per year.
wawa
light, white wood
that is easy to work
ghana fantasy coffins typically made from
six to eight planks of wawa
ghana fantasy coffins – chiefs often buried in
eagle coffins
ghana fantasy coffins – farmers often buried in
vegetable and agricultural product coffins
ghana fantasy coffins – women w/ many children often buried in
hen-shaped coffins
services which use fantasy coffins typically occur in front of
the deceased’s own house. why?
such coffins are not allowed in Ghanaian churches
paa joe relatives
kane kwei’s nephew
In thanks for his education, Paa
Joe “paid” for his apprenticeship by offering Kane
Kwei which 8 items?
- gin
- whisky
- Adinkra cloth
- beer
- sandals
- goat
- cedis
- work for 2 additional years w/o pay
what did paa joe do after he and kane kwei had a falling out?
left the workshop to take a position at
the nearby Yao Yartel shipyard building boats, then after several years returned to Teschi to make coffins full time
This fantasy coffin is fairly typical in its representation
of an important status symbol in Ghanaian
and many other cultures:
a Mercedes Benz sedan
COFFIN: The coffin is an almost __ representation
of the car, though it incorporates enough detail to
make it immediately identifiable as to make and
model.
cartoonish
According to the British Museum, which owns
the work, the license plate reads “R.I.P. 2000.”125
Generally, this detail would be a reference to the
date of death and thus the work’s creation. however,
most fantasy coffins held by museums were commissioned
or purchased for collection.
A form of collage in three dimensions, we might
see the concept of assemblage in a work we have already
examined in our Resource Guide, the
Kongo
nkondi figure
The idea of “assemblage” as an identifiable form
of artistic production dates from
a 1961 exhibition
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Art
of Assemblage
el anatsui — While his earlier sculptural production
was known in Africa and by a handful of art enthusiasts
elsewhere, the works which eventually brought
him renown were
the wall hanging pieces like the
example we will examine here
anatsui born in
ghana 1944
anatsui education
University of Science and Technology in Kumasi,
Ghana, where he received his BA and graduated
with a Postgraduate Diploma in Art Education in
1969
anatsui began working at which university in 1975?
university of nigeria at nsukka
before anatsui’s career took off, he worked
primarily in wood and clay and producing
objects reflective of traditional Ghanaian art
Anatsui started working with metal when?
early
1990s when he began looking for a new medium and
sculptural process.
what is “non fixed form”
creating wall hangings on boards that he allowed
others to arrange
anatsui is identieid with what form of art?
massive wall hangings constructed of
flattened bottle tops woven together to create textile-like
patterns and surfaces
what started anatsui’s metal working phase?
metal cassava graters
btwn earth and heaven is neither exactly a painting nor a sculpture.
how?
It hangs on the wall, much like a traditional
two-dimensional work of art, but it is architectural
in scale, with a colorful, shimmering surface that
undulates and projects into space.
btwn earth and heaven has a visual connection to what?
kente cloth
Between Earth and Heaven is owned by
the Metropolitan
Museum in New York City, which has an
extensive collection of traditional African art.
el anatsui – first permanent display of his work – which work and where?
Hovor II,
de Young Museum
in San Francisco
el anatsui – first major single-person show outside
Africa was presented
in 1995 at the October Gallery
in London
Anatsui’s work was first seen in the United States
in
1990 at the Studio Museum in Harlem, in the exhibition
Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition
