Incised Ochre Plaque

70,000 years ago

30,000 years before anything like it in Europe.

First sign of decorating/ design. Long before journalism.

Bimbos Cave

Badarian Culture

Simbo dance

1)they created art and wanted to create records/ copies for their collections. 2)created and used tools 3)Likely worshiped and saw power in animal spirits. 4)Likely danced and had social organization 5)Beleived they could channel spirits 6) saw themselves as different from the animal world, but attempted to connect 7)associated fertility with power.

Tending Cattle (Cattle Period) 3500-1500 BCE

Saharan

Not a desert at the time

Nok Head -500 BCE Terracotta

Could smelt ore and create iron

Close to life-sized, holes in scalp, made separate from bodies. Head holds spiritual essence and personality.

Yoruba Ritual Vessel 1250 CE Terracotta

Animism. Fill with liquid, rack and bury so fluid goes into earth. Three heads and altar. Middle head, king. Other two are assistants. Snake above is regeneration.

Oba from 1500 CE. Portuguese involved, so later has more coral beads, larger crown and scarification.

Indicative of trade with the portugese

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba

16th century

Edo, Court of Benin

Nigeria

Ivory, iron, copper

Bone/Ivory-Sculpture

Royal Bird (Great Zimbabwe)

One of the Birds of Prey. Thought birds could bring lighting- symbolized communication between gods and the earth.

Ethiopian Gospel (Christ In Glory)

Tewhado church

Not part of standardized Bible, had 80 books.

Kenyan Funerary Post

For someone who has died or for someone whom is believed to be dead. The dead are honored and appeased till the funerary post deteriorates. The figure is clearly abstract to ensure that no spirits take hold of the post. 

4 feet tall

Nkisi Nkondi Hunter Figure

Used by the local preist to communicate with the spirit world to "hunt for solutions" for the villages crisis' as well as seek out wrong doers. A contract is made with the spirits by hammering a nail into it and awakening the spirit. 

Sacred herbs and relics are often placed in the figures belly. 

1905

wod metal and glass 

Congo

Troh Night Society Mask

16 inches tall 

wood with patina

Bangwa Poeple 

Camaroon

Troh is a mens group who ensures the enthronement of the apprpriate new king after a royal death. They organize the proper rites for the previous king and they maintain the special order 

worn on the shoulder because these masks are so powerful, and only used during funerals and coronations. 

They are considered watchers and witnesses 

they are usually locked up and hidden for fear of the spirits inside them 

Bobo (Bwa) Bush Masks 

20th century 

painted wood and paint fibers (Burkino faso)

Bobos perform bi yearly ceremonies to chase away evil in order to purify the community 

The masks symbolize the nature spirit "do" who are mediators between earth and their creator God Wuro

sometimes worn at iniciations and funerals 

Only the members of the secret society may make or wear these masks. 

Finial of Spokesperson’s Staff    (Stokstad image 28-1)

 Man holding egg. King=Power. Egg=Wisdom

Ashanti 20th Century

Biiga Doll (Stokstad image 28-3)

Bigga Doll Carry around for fertility. Ideal beautiful woman. enlongated breast, given birth and fed lots of children.

Akua Mma

Ashanti Differnt ideal of beauty. If broken, needs to be buried deeper than a Kennedy family secret.

 Kente Cloth (know all symbolism)
Oyokomon ogya da mu "there is a between two factions of the Oyoko clan"
black -- maturation, intensified spiritual energy
green -- vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, spiritual renewal
gold -- royalty, wealth, high status, glory, spiritual purity
red -- political and spiritual moods; bloodshed; sacrificial rites and death.
yellow -- preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility

Throne of King Nsa’ngu (O’Riley image 7.24)

man falloc, woman chalice. fertility, father of the people. Double headed snake= strength in battle. People below are advisors

Men Loving. Clive Van Den Burg.

White/ Black male heads. End of Aparteid. Putting to rest homosexual and racial violence. Show=Faultlines

When Muhammad enters it he claims it for all Muslims in 630 year 8 in the Muslim calendar

The actual Ka'ba is older than Islam likely considered some kind of sanctuary 

Inside is a black rock that fell from heaven 

origianlly held hundreds of idols 

630 CE was about 15 feet high but has since been built to about 43 feet high

cleaning the ka'ba is the equivlant of the golden calf in the old testament breaking old polythiesm towards new monotheism 

Under Muhammad the  Ka'ba became associated with Abraham who built it and Ishmael who was buried there.

Haji: pilgrimage to mecca to circumambulate it

white wraps everyones is equal

year 1 of muslim calender or 638

Dome of the Rock (know dates)

Built in the Byzantine style

occupied an octagonal style church

Tomb shrine where christians venerate the christian martyrs

Mosaic decoration and Corinthian column 

Isaac and Abraham and believe to be were Adam was created as well as where the Temple of Solomon resided

Believe to be where the Night journey was taken

Muhammad was taken by angel Gabriel to Allah

First known use of Koran as art inside the dome of the rock

The octagon shape just like the church of set simian as well as shrines to Christian maurders

Have Corinthian columns

Mosaics are influences from the Roman Empire

It is in Jerusalem 

Umayyad Lion Frieze, Mshatta palace, Jordan (740 CE)

Tree of life that holds sacred water from Allah himself and giving the lions rights to power 

built extravagant buildings setting a precedent for future Islamic structure 

Umayyad Dynasty 660-750 CE 38-128 muslim calender 

Mosque of the Prophet

The first mosque set my Muhammad when he arrived in medina in 622 

Medina

Place of prostration

Quibla

The Nich in the wall is called a mehrab – sacred space and spiritual place

The different styles are

Centrally planned mosques are designed like the Hagia Sophia

Hyper style

Iwan mask – coming from Persian cultures 

The Lion & the Bull (Kalila & Dimna)

1429 Ishtanbul 

Ink on color paper

from animal fabric

Jackles are the kings advisors and tell him to kill the bull and he kills him so this teaches him a lesson

Mirrors for princes

Kalila and dimhna 

Bihzad, Sa'di’s Bustan, “The Seduction of Yusuf” 1488

Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād

Illustrates a story of a man literally being seduced by Zulaykha, but running away at the last moment as she reaches for him. The illustration is based on the poem "Zulaykha and Yusuf"

Rebellious Silence, 1994.

From Women of Allah series.

Shirin Neshat

Was about her disgust with western influence and philosophy and ideas we have.

Her poetry would be considered fundamentalist for Islam

Used her poetry as a political message

Many of the Muslim women who wear it se it as faith and modesty 

Pleasure Pillars

Shahzia Sikander, Mixes Islamic and Hindu images. Often element of humor in her works. Wasili paper

No art belongs to one culture

No stories