The Arts and Crafts of Africa
Africa is the second largest continent in the world and a land of great geographical and cultural diversity. The northern part is divided from the southern part by the Sahara Desert, while Southern Africa is a vast plateau with narrow coastal strips. First human settlement has been recorded from 2.1 million years ago at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. It is estimated that at one time there were 3,000 tribal groups and 1,000 distinct languages. Over the centuries, many different types of societies flourished, from small nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers to the powerful and wealthy societies of Timbuktu, Ghana, Benin and Great Zimbabwe.
Throughout the centuries, African artists and craft workers have produced utensils, textiles, personal ornament, weaponry and ritual objects used in everyday life. Working in a great variety of materials readily available in the natural world, such as wood, vegetable fibres, animal skins, bone, clay, stone and metal, they have created artefacts which exhibit the highest artistry and technical skill.
All the African arts have influenced western society. African painters and sculptors are now entering their works in the world art market, the fashion world has been quick to assimilate African textile and jewellery designs, and African music and dancing have had a profound effect on popular western culture.
The Ulster Museum's collection is the result of trading, missionary, military and diplomatic activities, as well as the activities of the private individual during the 19th and 20th centuries, although there are some more recent pieces. It does not contain works from every part of Africa, nor does it represent the works of every group, but it does have a sufficiently broad selection of examples to give us some idea of the objects which were being made and used. There are certainly some of particular interest, both from the quality of the objects themselves in addition to the historical information attached to them.