Ancient Civilizations Nok and Jenne Understanding African Art

Ancient Civilizations: Nok and Jenne

Understanding African Art Concepts /ideas/abstraction Perceptive replication of nature Artistic/Aesthetic Canon Relative Mimesis— relative resemblance/photographic likeness (not too real and not too abstract—that is relative naturalism) Generalized entity Ephebism– (Greek: ephebos, an ancient term for youth between 18/20 yrs) Emotional Proportion (emphasis placed on the Head—because it houses the vital sense organs) Social Proportion How hierarchy is reflected/portrayed in the visual art Clarity of Form/relative visibility Clear articulation of formal elements Completeness Lack of ambiguity in compositions

Nok Culture -Found in North central Nigeria off the edge of the Jos Plateau -The oldest known example of terracotta sculpture in Africa south of the Sahara -Dates from 3000 -1000 Before the Present (1000 BC- 1000 AD) --wide diversity of subject matter -With considerable variation in style, treatment and scale -Highly skilled in the creation of full-length human figures --well organized social, political and religious structures -Art depicting images of dignitaries: rulers, priests and heroes -Iron working culture -With fragments of iron and beads recovered from furnaces

Style Elements -elaborate coiffure Cylindrical heads / figures Pierced eyes, nose, mouth, and ears Semi-circular/triangular eyes and lids Ears set back, often low and small Flared nostrils Subtractive/Additive method

Head, 2500 -800 BP (500 BC-200 AD) Terracotta

Composite of man/bird a. k. a birdman Terracotta Nok 1750 BP(250 AD)

Crouching Pendant Statue, Nok Terraccotta 2250 BP(250 BC)

Statue on bended knee with Elephant and Feline, Nok, Terracotta, 2350 BP

Catfish or serpent, Nok, terracotta, 2300 BP

Inland Niger Delta: Djenne, Mali JENNE - JENO 700 -500 BP (13 th-15 th century)

Style Elements: The figurative sculptures have generalized rounded forms; Heads are flattened elongated shapes that are tilted upward with Bulging eyes and everted lips; Some of the figures are clothed, with elaborate decorative patterns and body art sometimes rendered in color They exhibit a broad range of iconographic themes and subject matter Including, maternity figures, equestrians, hunters, warriors and female figures Depicted standing, seating, reclining or mounted on horseback Other zoomorphic imagery include snakes, with or without humans Connected with religious symbolism and agrarian and human fertility. Some of the imagery might have represented legendary heroes, and founding ancestors

Seated figure, (Jenne) Djenne, Mali Terracotta, h. 44. 3 cm 13 th-15 th Cent. (700 -500 BP)

Horse and rider, (Jenne) Djenne, Mali Terracotta H 44 x 17 x 30 cm 13 th-15 th Cent. (700 -500 BP)

Kneeling figure with snake, (Jenne) Djenne, Mali Terracotta, h. 57 cm 13 th-15 th Cent. (700 -500 BP)

Figure, (Jenne) Djenne, Mali Terracotta, h. 29. 5 cm 13 th-15 th Cent. (700 -500 BP)

Ritual pot, (Jenne) Djenne, Mali Terracotta 13 th-15 th Cent. (700 -500 BP)