The Visual Arts of Subsaharan Africa

The Aesthetics of African Art

• African Attitudes toward Art Objects: the BaLega
• Civilizing Scars
• Strength, Health, Fecundity, and Beauty
• Wealth, Health, and Beauty
• Yoruba Aesthetics: Theories and Attitudes
• Mask Sculpture and Social Practice
• African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning -- Benjamin C. Ray, University of Virginia

Architecture

• Introduction
• Pre-Colonial Architecture: Great Zimbabwe
• Rhodeian Colonial Architecture: Columns and White Walls
• Since Independence: Modern and Postmodern [coming soon]
• An Overview of Zimbabwean Architecture
• Online Forum & Database for World Architecture [Outside the Postcolonial Web]

Sculpture in Stone and Wood

• An Overview of Sculpture in Zimbabwe
• Mask Sculpture and Social Practice
• Mothers and Children
• Yoruba Wood Sculpture -- Michael Conner, Indiana University

Ceramics

• The Earth Transformed: Ceramic Arts of Africa
• The Virtual Research Center for African Ceramics
• African Pottery Forming and Firing Techniques: A Virtual Slide Show
• West African Pottery Forming and Firing -- 1975 MA thesis, University of Iowa
• Earthen Spirits: Ceramic Power Vessels of Lower Zaire -- 1995 MA thesis by Barbara Thompson, University of Iowa

Painting

• Rock and Cave Paintings in Zimbabwe
• Ancestral Bushman Rock Art

Weaving and other Fabric Arts

• Adire African Textiles
• The Art of African Textiles: Technology, Tradition, and Lurex -- Part of the "African Odyssey Interactive", Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts website.

Art and the African Diaspora

• African Voices -- Explores the global reach and influence of African art and culture. Website run by the Smithsonian Institution

General Online Resources

• The Virtual Museum of Contemporary African Art (Netherlands)
• Africancolours.com -- Showcases a large number of African artists and their works. Also has extensive references to other resources
• Contemporary African Artist Database at the Cornell University library
• Modern African Art -- Reading list compiled by Janet L. Stanley, National Museum of African Art Library
• AfricanCritic.com -- On line periodical featuring articles on African culture
• Traditional and Contemporary African Art

This website contains links to both source material as well as articles that are broadly related to African art. A number of these are external links and are likely to change. We would greatly appreciate it if users could report outdated links to us. We are also constantly looking for material to add to this page. Please send your suggestions, URLs, essays, and other materials to [email protected].

Last Modified: 11 March 2003