East Africa
 Memorial Post, Southern Mijikenda, Kenya
Collection of Roy and Sophia Sieber --->
East Africa is geographically complex, ranging from the mountains of central Ethiopia to coastal plains and offshore islands.
information found at: http://artnetweb.com/guggenheim/africa/east.html
go to < Ethiopian Art SAM FOGG PRESENTS ETHIOPIAN ART
at PaceWildenstein in New York in October 2005
< Art of Ethiopia
It Was Multicultural Before Multicultural Was Cool
< Madagascar
>>
ethiopia
Art of Ethiopia. It Was Multicultural Before Multicultural Was Cool
Farther inland are the great lakes of Africa, forests, and the Rift Valley, the cradle of humankind. Tools and fossil remains of the earliest humans have been found in an area that extends from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and northward into
Ethiopia.
|
Much more recently, eastern Africa has, like much of the continent, witnessed migrations and population displacements, which have created an area that is culturally and linguistically complex. T he incursion of Bantu peoples from the west displaced earlier hunter-gatherers.
Eastern Christianity came to Ethiopia from a base in northern Egypt in the fourth century. Later, through trade and holy wars, Islam conquered much of the Mediterranean littoral, the Nile Valley, and the eastern coastal regions. Like the Christians, the M uslims brought literacy in the combined names of religion and mercantilism.
Still later, explorers, traders, and missionaries-first from Portugal and later from most other European countries-introduced Roman Catholicism and a variety of Protestant faiths to the coast.
In 1884 at the Berlin Conference, Africa was partitioned among the European powers. The colonial period ended in the mid-twentieth century with the independence of most states not only in eastern Africa but throughout the continent.
This complex past is reflected in the arts of eastern Africa. These include the manuscripts and processional crosses of Ethiopian Christianity, as well as objects associated with Islam.
Farther south, along the coast, are architectural forms influenced by Arabic sources via the Indian Ocean trade and adapted for local uses; the unique blend of art forms and ideas that resulted is called Swahili. In southern Sudan, in Kenya, a nd as far south as the island of Madagascar are found memorial statues dedicated to the distinguished dead, ranging in style from extremely abstract renditions of the human body to detailed tomb sculptures.
|
 Skirt, Iraqw, Tanzania, early 20th century (?),
Dressed animal skin, glass beads, sinew thread, and metal bells,
170 x 170 cm. Commonwealth Institute, London.
Many works relate to changes of status, from initiation into adulthood for young women and men to induction into leadership roles.
Each group has its own objects and system of symbols, though some have been shared among several groups .
Within each group, individuals may announce or underscore their status by displaying personal objects, furniture, clothing, or body arts.
see also madagascar
read also
For the last 22 years, a village along Kenya's picturesque coast has
blamed its ill fortune on the theft of two memorial wooden statues known as
vigango.
 Kenya-Vigango
Theft
of sacred Kenya vigango angers Kenyan
villagers The memorial totems are increasingly
being stolen to fuel Western demand for African art.
Outsider art dealer discovers rare
African Vigango totems and will return them to Kenya
| |
Dear African Art Collectors,
Discover the African Art books
I like
African
Antiques is the archive and not growing much anymore but still updated.
Visit African
Art for recent African Art News.
For extended news about Eastern-Africa join our African
Art Club and become an insider, to enter you'll need to pay a small monthly
fee .
And if you are a collector of African Art,
have a look at our exclusive African
Art Collection .
David Norden
--------------------------------------
african art | home
| african art shop
Mail
David Norden
Sint-katelijnevest 27
ANTWERPEN-Belgium
Any questions?
Call us at +32 3 227 35 40
Jean-Paul Barbier-Mueller
In
this section:
Home
Up
Central -Equatorial-Africa
Eastern-Africa
West Africa
Southern African Art
North Africa
african tribe list
partners
:
zemanek | Buy
African Antiques | discussion
group En | groupe
de discussion Fr
Books:
The
Tribal Arts of Africa
Author: Jean-Baptiste Bacquart
African Art books I like
Sites
Roll:
tribal tatoos | mint
robot
African Art Amazon books | African
Art Books
African
Arts news , Oceanic, Pre-Columbian
African
Art Club Join today, be an insider !
Buy
African Art from known collections.
diamonds
news is good news.
|
African
Art David
Norden |Mail|map
Sint Katelijnevest 27. B2000 ANTWERPEN-Belgium. Tel +32
3 227 35 40
Vigango
tribe