African Art Blog

A vast continent, Africa is home to several diverse cultural and ethnic groups. African figurine design is tribal specific allowing a peek into each tribe’s culture and customs. African figurines are not merely for decoration. Traditionally they were made in the belief that the figurine could bestow certain blessings or in the case of animal figures, they signify certain qualities of character.

Animals are of great importance to African cultures. Certain highly symbolic animals are seen repeatedly in African art. Lions, camels, leopards and elephants each represent important characteristics that the tribal people associate with figurines.

• Lion figurines: The lion is representative of strength, royalty, authority, courage, conquest, wisdom and protection. The lioness symbolizes femininity, the moon and protective motherhood.

• Camel figurines: While the world sees the camel as lazy and bad tempered, Africans see the camel as admirable for its sobriety. For African Christians, the camel is symbolic of temperance when it kneels to receive its burden. The African Christians see the camel as kneeling before God in obedience and humility.

• Leopard figurines: Leopards are symbolic of aggression, courage, ferocity and the Great Watcher.

• Elephant figurines: Elephants are seen as a sign of good luck, especially when the trunk is pointed upwards. They also represent royalty, power and status (symbolic of the past when royalty rode elephants to tower over their people). Other qualities represented by elephants are dignity, patience, longevity, wisdom and happiness

Africa was one of the first continents to be populated by “modern man”. Ancient Africans created figures representing events and beliefs important to them. One of the oldest African figurines unearthed is that of “Mother of All Living” or “Mother”.

This African figure reflects what was important to the people of the time; she is what we could consider to be obese with stocky legs, a large midsection and pendulous breasts. The figure has no face as it was meant to represent all women and the short curly hair characteristic of Africans. This was the template for African figure design for thousands of years; stylized to represent something important to the carver.

Figurines from the Ashanti Tribe

Some of the most desirable modern ebony African figurines come from the West African Ashanti tribe. Ashanti artisans create magnificent figurines of people going about their everyday chores and of highly revered elephants.

The Ashanti people have a long history of brilliant craftsmanship. Throughout history they have been renowned for their iron work and wood work. According to experts, their figurines rival any found in Europe or the Americas. The Ashanti tribe is an agricultural based matriarchal culture. Their figurines reflect a peaceful lifestyle.

Figurines from the Masai Tribe

East African Masai tribal people are normally tall, elegant people and their figurines seem to revel in their physical beauty. The Masai are a great warrior, male dominant culture so it is common to see warrior figurines carrying the well known Masai spear.

Working with wood and sometimes stone resin, the artists create wonderful figurines that celebrate simple everyday life and important events such as the birth of a child. Masai figurines are well known for the wonderful colors used to make the figures look lifelike. The other identifying characteristic of Masai figurines is the plaited hair worn by the human images. The Masai are the only Africans to wear plaited hair.

With around 800 distinct ethnic groups in Africa, it is impossible to discuss the figurines created by craftsmen of all the tribes. Much of the art produced by African artisans is traditional in that it relates to beliefs held by the tribe that date from the dawn of history.

A fine example of this sort of African figurine is the availability of variations of the “Mother” figure. Modern African figurine work is very likely to reflect the way the people live their life today- mother’s carrying their children, women carrying water jugs on their head, men in their finest tribal regalia and children playing in the dirt. Art is a reflection of life and African figurines are no exception to that rule.

African figurines reflect a joy for life and a serenity rarely seen in art from other parts of the world. In recent years there has been a huge international effort to assist African artists by creating markets for their art online. The Internet has given the world a glimpse into everyday African life by making African figurines readily available to anyone.

I’ve been busy exploring some good artists online – I’m going to start linking to some of my more favourite ones soon. I’m still being a lazy ass (ok, and to be fair, it’s also tough to find really great artists tackling the kind of things we’re looking for online). Please be patient, your call will be answered, you are number 5 421 in the queue.

Until next time…

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