African art by country

The continent of Africa is the second largest on Earth after Asia and comprises more than fifty independent countries being home to more than a thousand ethnic groups with just as many different languages and all the differences in its geography, politics, religion, and economics have shaped its numerous artistic traditions.

Some parts of the continent appear to have had more pervasive artistic traditions than the rest of the continent and this is the case of the central and western part of the continent when compared to the southern and eastern part of the continent. This is most probably due to the fact that better conditions for cultivating crops as well as the existence of large kingdoms and city-states and of course having a fixed population has helped the individuals in the region to focus on creating various items. However, despite this, even the African societies that didn’t benefit from all of those advantages created rich artistic and architectural traditions.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the Senufo people have an initiation ritual that involves a hoeing competition, and it’s meant to initiate young men into adulthood. The one who wins the competition also wins a wooden staff which has a seated female figure carved at the top, symbolizing fertility, both human fertility as well as the fertility of the soil.

In Ghana as well as its neighboring countries, the Akan people are known for wearing their Kente cloth as well as nicely carved wooden stools, gold-plated wood carvings and gold jewelry. In this area it used to be that only the king could wearing any sort of gold implements and it was seen as a sign of how well the kingdom was going; in fact the Akan rulers wore so much gold that they inspired a proverb which says that “Great men move slowly.”

In Nigeria, the Hausa male members of the aristocracy wear a “riga” - a wonderfully embroidered robe of honor. These riga robes are embroidered with stylized Arabic writings that refer to the prophet Dhu l’Fakar of the Muslim faith. The aristocratic Hausa men wear the riga in order to indicate their piety as Muslims as well as their wealth, and their high social status.
Nigeria also boasts some of the oldest pieces of art that Africa has supplied in the form of Nok terracotta fragments. These fragments date from about 500 BC and represent human and animal forms.

Southern Nigeria was home to the ancient kingdom of Benin with its capital in Benin City, a culture which has produced splendid cast bronze sculpture and various works in ivory as well as other art forms, these incredibly skilled bronze casters and ivory carvers were trained on a hereditary basis and it is said they supplied the king of Benin with impressive items.

The Democratic Republic of Congo was home of an elaborate and developed culture, the Kuba, they had wonderful court ceremonials and art which mostly focused on the king. For instance, when the king wasn’t in the capital his wives would rub his statue with oils in order to invoke his royal presence.