The Art of Sculpture in Africa

In Ancient Egypt they used more durable materials, such as stone. They came to make highly perfected sculptures, which remained unchanged for many centuries.49 In them, they represented divinities, pharaohs and other important figures, although they also made small pieces of figures in which domestic work was reflected. Many of these works have been found in the sepulchral chambers. African sculpture has essentially been of a religious nature, of the animism type and therefore its veneration has been in the belief of nature spirits and veneration of its dead, death does not represent its end but lives in the realm of spirits. This belief in the presence of spirits causes rituals to be carried out, where works of art act as a medium. These works are generally masks, free-standing anthropomorphic sculptures or other objects of worship. Wooden objects were made from a tree trunk or branch with the direct carving technique, that is, from a cylindrical piece that was lowered and carved with primitive tools. Clay has also been used in Nigeria by the Nok culture, around 500 BC. C., stone or ivory. Masks are made in almost the entire continent; the "Baga" who occupy the part of Guinea use a mask with a crocodile head and long striped horns. There are masks covered with a crust formed by dried blood, earth and crushed seed juice, masks with a large nose that elongates to form a beak; There are decorations of shells and crystals. In Ife and Benin, the Yoruba worked terracotta and bronze for their kings since the 13th century, in relief plates or life-size heads. In the Ivory Coast, the Baulé, in addition to free-standing sculptures and masks, carved the lintels of the doors of their houses with geometric motifs.