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African Aesthetic

An explication of an African aesthetic requires an operative definition of aesthetic. Admittedly, the term evolved out of the Greek word aesthetikos, which means merely “perceptive,” but the term aesthetic is widely held to connote a philosophy of beauty. We normally speak of an aesthetic as representing the standards by which a society assigns value to their cultural productions, especially their expressive art forms, such as music, dance, theater, and the visual arts (e.g., painting and sculpture). Although many African ethnic groups do not have a specific word or term similar to the word aesthetic, the value that they place on their artistic productions—music, dance, sculpture, and masked spiritual entities—is equal to the value that other societies place on similar art forms, and thus an African aesthetic exists in practice if not in name.

The Expressive Nature of the Aesthetic

Melodic speech that comes down to us as song is probably as old as speech itself, and movement to music— dance—may well be synchronous in inception with speech and song. Visual expression reaches at least as far back as the Paleolithic age, and it is through this early recorded art form that one can plausibly point to ritual dance scenes that would also, no doubt, involve incantations or song. Furthermore, Africa's expressive arts can be identified because their character is distinctive from that of other cultures' artistic modalities. Although no exact formal philosophy of African art exists, when the practice of African art is scrutinized over time and space, it speaks volumes. Black Studies scholars have investigated ways of developing an aesthetic construct that encompasses one African art form and can also be applied to other African art forms. What follows is an examination of African artistic productions and how the many artistic practices, from the Paleolithic period on, express, represent, or signify a predilection for the unique and valued multiplicity of what is commonly held as African art.

The magnitude and diversity of prehistoric rock and cave art in Africa are staggering and almost beyond belief. The sites in North Africa, which include the Tassili Plateau, the Atlas Mountains, and others, number in the tens of thousands. In the southern portion of Africa, there are at least 100,000 sites. The oldest among the different sites date back to between 26,000 and 30,000 B.C.E. Anthropologist Mary Leaky discovered prehistoric art in Kenya and Tanzania that she assigned dates back to at least 15,000 B.C.E.; the finds at Tassili date back to at least 30,000 years. All of the investigators of prehistoric African art have expressed their amazement at its variety and distinctiveness. The Paleolithic art of different areas in Africa, whether carved into rocks and caves' walls or painted on them, reveals depictions of realistic images as well as abstracted versions. Such a variety of early expressions of art portends the multiplicity of traditional and present-day African art.

The Significant Elements

An examination of African art from this early period down through the ages reveals the embodiment of three significant elements: craftedness, originality, and spirituality. The fact that at different sites different types of images are identifiable reveals that certain stylistic norms were being practiced even during the Paleolithic period. Such adherence to an acceptable mode of creating images or scenes is a communicable craftedness. Within the various identifiable types, subtle variations appear to have been permissible, allowing for a certain amount of originality. While specific religious intentions cannot be proven or corroborated, most paleontologists and art historians agree that some, if not most, of the human images with symbols connoting natural or celestial concepts represent some form of spirituality or spiritual ritual. Thus the ability to craft the images to meet specific group criteria, but with individual variation, and yet have the image exude or suggest a certain spiritual aura follows African art's evolution and metamorphosis down through the ages. A close study of Paleolithic African art therefore establishes that even in this early age a predilection for particular expression, a predisposition for specific icons, a propensity for symbolic images with religious implications, an “aesthetic” is indisputable.

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