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African  Art  and  European  Contact   Reading:   H.  Gene  Blocker,  “Is  Primi=ve  Art   Art?”  pp.  87-­‐97.       Range:   500  BCE-­‐1500  CE   Nok,  Ife,  Benin,  Sapi     Terms/Concepts:   lost-­‐wax  cas=ng,  primi=ve,   primi=vism,  othering,  savannah,   living  rock,  cruciform,  toron,  Oba,   ama,  manilla,  Olokun,  saltcellar     Monument  List:     TerracoQa  Head,  Nok  Culture,   Lagos,  Nigeria,  c.  500  BCE-­‐200   BCE.     Crowned  Head  of  a  King  (Oni),   Ife,  Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th  Century   CE     Hip  Mask  Represen=ng  an   Iyoba  (“Queen  Mother”),   Benin,  Middle  Period,  c.  1550   CE     Master  of  the  Symbolic   Execu=on,  saltcellar,  Sapi-­‐ Portuguese,  from  Sierra   Leone,  ca.  1490-­‐1540.  

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Erg  Chebbi  Sand  Dunes,  Sahara  Desert,   Morocco.   Makgadikgadi  Pans,  Dry  Savannah,   Botswana.   Congo  Basin,  Tropical  Forest,  Republic  of   Congo  

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c.  5000  BCE   Today  

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Nok  Culture:  500  BCE  –  200  CE  

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Nok  Culture:  500  BCE  –  200  CE  

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View  across  the  leb  bank  of  the  river   Kaduna,  near  Kagara,  central  Nigeria.  

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Jos  Plateau  during  the  rainy  season,  near   Nok,  Nigeria.  

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TerracoQa  Head,  Nok   Culture,  Lagos,  Nigeria,  c.   500  BCE-­‐200  BCE.  

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Women  using  open  clamp  oven,  village  of  Oka  outside   of  Ibadan,  Nigeria,  1991.   Air-­‐dried  pots  are  placed  in  a  pit   over  a  fire.  

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Pit  kiln  or  open  clamp  oven,  Central  Nigeria,  2006.   The  kiln  reaches  over  1300°  F  to   harden  the  clay.  

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TerracoQa  Head,  Nok  Culture,   Lagos,  Nigeria,  c.  500  BCE-­‐200   BCE.  

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TerracoQa  Head,  Nok  Culture,   Lagos,  Nigeria,  c.  500  BCE-­‐200  BCE.  

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TerracoQa  Heads,  Nok  Culture,  Lagos,  Nigeria,  c.  500   BCE-­‐200  BCE.  

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Seated  Dignitary,  Nok  Culture,   Africa,  Nok  Plateau,  Nigeria,  c.   250  B.C.  

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Seated  Dignitary,  Nok  Culture,   Africa,  Nok  Plateau,  Nigeria,  c.   250  B.C.  

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Ife  

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Ife  

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Forests  and  Rivers,  Osun  Grove,  Near  Ife,  Southern   Nigeria.  

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Its  residents  oben  referred  to  Ife  as  the   “Navel  of  the  World.”   Figure  of  the  Oni,  Ita   Yemoo,  Ife,  late  13th-­‐15th   century.  

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Pavement  Era  Begins  in  1000  CE  

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Symbol  of  the  Inner  Head   (ibori),  western  Yoruba,  c.   19th-­‐20th  century.   Cache  of  Bronze  Heads  found  under  the  floor  of  the   Wunmonije  Compound,  near  the  palace  of  the  Oni,  1938.  

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So-­‐called  “Ori  Olokun,”  likely  a  crowned   head  of  a  King  (Oni),  Ife,  Yoruba,  early   20th  century  copy  of  14th-­‐15th  Century   original.  

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Archaeologist  and  anthropologist  Leo   Frobenius,  c.1910.     So-­‐called  “Ori  Olokun,”  likely  a  crowned  head   of  a  King  (Oni),  Ife,  Yoruba,  early  20th  century   copy  of  14th-­‐15th  Century  original.    “It  [Ori  Olokun]  is  en=rely  devoid  of  Negro   characteris=cs  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it   cannot  have  been  made  of  local  cas=ng…[I]   discovered  indisputable  proofs  of  the  existence   of  Plato’s  legendary  Con=nent  of  Atlan=s”  

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Crowned  Head  of  a  King   (Oni),  Ife,  Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th   Century  CE   “May  Obatala  fashion  for   us  a  good  work  of  art.”  

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Crowned  Head  of  a  King   (Oni),  Ife,  Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th   Century  CE   Yoruba  Aesthe=cs:   •  Ifarahon  (visibility)   •  Didon  (luminosity)   •  Gigun  (straight)     •  Odo  (“in  the  prime  of  life”)   •  Tut  (coolness)     •  Didogba  (symmetry)   •  Ogbogba  (balance)   •  Ohun  Eso  (ornamenta=on)   •  Jihora  (likeness)  

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TerracoQa  Head,  Ife,   Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th  Century   CE   Embodiment  in  Portraiture   •  Ashe:  Life  Force   •  Iwa:  Crea=vity   •  Ara:  Evoca=ve  Power  

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TerracoQa  Head,  Ife,   Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th  Century   CE   Scarifica=on  is  s=ll  prac=ced  in  western  Africa   today.  

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Bronze  Mask  Head,  Ife,   Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th  Century  CE   Masquerader  wearing  beaded  veil  at  a   ceremony  honoring  his  ancestors,  Ijebu,   Nigeria,  1986.  

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Early  Trade  Routes  

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African  Slave  Trade  

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Slave  Trade  Map  

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Benin:  c.  1440-­‐1897   Benin  City  

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Benin  City   Ife  sent  Benin  a  new  dynas=c  king   in  1170.    

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Memorial  Head  of  an  Oba,  Benin,   Early  Period,  16th  Century  CE   Crowned  Head  of  a  King  (Oni),  Ife,   Yoruba,  12th-­‐15th  Century  CE  

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Walls  of  Benin  City  before  1897  raid.  

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Memorial  Head  of  an   Oba,  Benin,  Early   Period,  16th  Century  CE  

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Altar  dedicated  to  Oba  Ovonramwen,  Benin  peoples,   Benin  City,  Nigeria,  c.  1914.    

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Head  of  King  (Oba),  Benin,  Nigeria,  Edo,  17th  century.  

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Head  of  King  (Oba),  Benin,   Nigeria,  Edo,  17th  century.   Oba  Akenzua  II  in  beaded   regalia,  1958.  

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Head  of  King  (Oba),  Benin,   Nigeria,  Edo,  17th  century.   High-­‐ranking  Benin  chiefs  in   the  “pangolin”  costume,  1997.  

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Corselet,  cap,  and  flywhisk,  Coral  and  agate   beads,  18th-­‐19th  century.  

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High-­‐ranking  Benin  chiefs  in  the   “pangolin”  costume,  1997.   Plaque  (ama)  with  the  Royal  Triad,  Benin,  16th-­‐17th  century.  

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Procession  of  the  Oba,  Benin  City,  from  Descrip8on  of  Africa,   published  in  Amsterdam  in  1668.    

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Benin  City,  from  Descrip8on  of  Africa,  published  in   Amsterdam  in  1668.    

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Hip  Mask  Represen=ng  an  Iyoba   (“Queen  Mother”),  Benin,   Middle  Period,  c.  1550  CE   Woman  with  facial  scarifica=on,  Benin,  2010  

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Hip  Mask  Represen=ng   an  Iyoba  (“Queen   Mother”),  Benin,  Middle   Period,  c.  1550  CE  

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Alterna=ng  PaQern  of  Olokun  and  Portuguese  Merchants,  Hip   Mask  Represen=ng  an  Iyoba  (“Queen  Mother”),  Benin,   Middle  Period,  c.  1550  CE   Olokun   Olokun   Merchant  

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Olokun,  Hip  Mask  Represen=ng  an   Iyoba  (“Queen  Mother”),  Benin,   Middle  Period,  c.  1550  CE   Bronze  Statue  of  Olokun,    Ebo-­‐ Olokun,  Nigeria,  c.  12th-­‐15th   centuries.  

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Members  of  the  Bri=sh  Puni=ve  Raid,  Benin  Palace,   1897.   Members  of  the  Bri=sh  Puni=ve  Raid  with  spoils,   Benin  Palace,  1897.  

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Coloniza=on  Map   “He  became  a  Chris=an  and  at   school  was  my  fellow  scholar  in   learning  to  read  and  write.     When  he  leb  he  could  write  very   well,  because  the  Sapes  have  a   talent  and  skill  at  everything   they  learn.”  (Andre  Donelha  on   Beca  Bore,  a  Sapi  royal,  in   1570s).    

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Master  of  the  Symbolic  Execu=on,  saltcellar,  Sapi-­‐Portuguese,   from  Sierra  Leone,  ca.  1490-­‐1540.  

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Benvenuto  Cellini,  Salt  Cellar  for  Francis  I,   1540-­‐1543.  

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Pieter  Claesz,  S8ll  Life   with  Wine,  1643.   Detail:  Saltcellar  

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Master  of  the  Symbolic  Execu=on,  saltcellar,  Sapi-­‐Portuguese,   from  Sierra  Leone,  ca.  1490-­‐1540.  

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Master  of  the  Symbolic  Execu=on,  saltcellar,  Sapi-­‐Portuguese,   from  Sierra  Leone,  ca.  1490-­‐1540.   “This  is  how  they  mete  out   jus=ce…they  cut  off  the  heads   and  throw  the  bodies  to  the  wild   animals.”  (Alvarez  de  Almada,   17th  century).    

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Master  of  the  Symbolic  Execu=on,  saltcellar,  Sapi-­‐Portuguese,   from  Sierra  Leone,  ca.  1490-­‐1540.   Mende  (Mande)  Stool,  Sierra  Leone.  

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The  Danish  naturalist  Ole  Worm's  cabinet  of  curiosi=es,  This   is  the  fron=spiece  to  Worm's  1655  Museum  Wormianium.