African Influences in Modern Art

African Influences in Modern Art
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African Influences in Modern Art
Introduction
Art, in general, has evolved. In the process of evolution, several artistic elements have played significant roles in developing modern architecture. Some of the aesthetic aspects that influenced contemporary art were obtained from the African artworks. It is after the incorporation of the African artistic elements that cubism got a place in artwork. One of the significant characteristics of African art that influenced European modernist artwork was the primitivism nature that was common on most African artworks, especially the masks. To expound on how European modernist artwork was influenced by African artwork, this paper shall compare the African mask and Les Demoiselles d'Avignon artwork by Picasso, which is believed to be the genesis of the Cubist era.
Description of African Nimba Mask
An element of the African mask artwork that stood out was its primitive nature (Meldrum, 2006). To start with, most of the Africa masks had non-naturalistic features. So is the case with the Nimba mask of Guinea. These unnatural patterns on the mask represent permittivity in terms of ignorance and knowledge. Secondly, the Nimba mask has enlarged facial features. The mask is also symmetrical. The fourth feature that can be observed in the Nimba mask artwork is the zigzag lines that flank the face mask. It is also important to note that though African artworks influenced the European modernist artworks, most of the European modernist artists did not understand the meaning of the artistic elements.
Description of the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is an art that was created by Pablo Picasso in 1907. This artwork is a representation of five naked prostitutes. However, the features of the artwork are the incorporation of both natural and non-natural elements of an artwork. For instance, the faces of the three women on the left side of the artwork are a representation of the naturalistic aspect of the artwork. The other two women on the artwork represent primitivism, especially on their faces. This can be seen due to the enlarged facial features and as well as the use of color abstraction. With the incorporation of both African and European artistic elements, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon artwork does seem to be representing cubism and surrealistic nature characteristics of art (Picasso, 2010).
Comparison of the two Nimba Mask and Les Demoiselles d&r...