In summary, you have discovered:

  • Colonization and slavery
  • The theft of the boli
  • Demands for restitution
  • Aimé Césaire
  • Wax fabrics
  • Contemporary art
  • Chéri Samba
To train

How many Africans were slaves, according to our estimations, between the 6th and 20th centuries?

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“Wax” fabrics arrived on the African continent via …

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Which painter from the Democratic Republic of Congo is especially known for his colourful paintings?

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You have opened the final quiz on African Arts, on your way to your Art Explora certificate.

Final Quiz

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Answer these 12 questions to check your knowledge. You need to get 10 correct answers to receive your badge.

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7
Chéri Samba
WHAT A SHARK!

To finish on a high note, here’s a short focus on one of them:  This painter from the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most sought-after African artists on the contemporary art market!

Cheri Samba, The real map of the World (No.1),
2011, acrylic on canvas, 53 x 79 inches © Chéri Samba Courtesy of the MAGNIN-A Gallery, Paris.

How can his works be recognized?

 

In a nutshell

Chéri Samba’s works are meeting with great success on the international art market.

6
Contemporary art
WHAT A SHARK!
Olowe d’Ise, Trône du Chef,
20th century, Yoruba culture, wood and pigment, 56 x 23 x 19.68 inches, Institute of Art, Detroit. Photo: Bridgeman Images

Who are the African artists of today? 

Some of them continue to create traditional African art. The best-known example is Olowe d’Ise (who died in 1938), one of the most famous African artists.

 

There are also artists who, on the contrary, have totally broken with the past! These contemporary artists play with traditional codes to hijack them more effectively. Today, the African art world is incredibly dynamic and varied. Here are just a few examples:

Malick Sidibé, Untitled (Group)

around 1960, only print run of the period, Magnin-A Gallery © Estate of Malick Sidibé

Mary Sibande, I’m a Lady,

2009, photograph, 35 x 23.62 inches. Photo: DR

El Anatsui, 19th,

2015, Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire. Photo: Eric Sander, DR

In a nutshell

Contemporary African artists, some of whom have broken away from tradition and some of whom have not, make up a dynamic art scene.

5
Wax fabrics
WHAT A SHARK!

In the streets of our big cities this brightly coloured fabric is everywhere. In West Africa these fabrics are known as waxes, from the English word, because this material is used in the technique used to print them.

 

Is this fabric really African? In reality,  the technique came from Indonesian fabrics, which the Dutch copied in their factories during the 19th century. In the face of African enthusiasm for it, Europeans sold kilometers of this industrial fabric on the continent’s markets. On the other hand, the motifs are often African creations, with very codified meanings!

Today, waxes are still all the rage in Africa, but also in Europe!

Stalls displaying wax fabric in West Africa, 2009.
Photo: Alexander Sarlay, CC BY-SA 3.0
Women wearing clothes made from wax fabrics in Mali,
2009. Photo: Alexander Sarlay, CC BY-SA 3.0
What are the production stages of wax fabrics ?

The patterns are outlined using the wax

An initial monochrome (one colour only) print is made: the dye does not penetrate the fabric in the places that have been waxed

If the fabric is to be dyed in several colours, one print run is done per colour

The fabric is ready to be sewn!

In a nutshell

Wax fabrics, which are associated with Africa, come from Holland and were sold on the African market by Europeans during the 19th century.

4
Aimé Césaire
WHAT A SHARK!
Aimé Césaire, 1982.
Photo : © Sophie Bassouls / Bridgeman Images
« I am of the race of those that are oppressed. »
Aimé Césaire
In a nutshell

Aimé Césaire, a politician and committed writer from Martinique, defended the idea of “negritude”.

3
Demands for restitution
WHAT A SHARK!

Although some of the African objects in Europe were acquired legally, others arrived under much murkier circumstances. For several years now, Africans have been organising themselves to demand the restitution of certain items.

 

In 2016, Benin demanded the restitution of King Behanzin’s treasures, which were kept in the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac museum, for a very good reason: they had been pillaged by French colonial troops in 1892 during the looting of Abomey. 

 

In 2020, the French National Assembly passed a law providing for the restitution of around twenty items to Benin and Senegal. They were returned to Benin in November 2021.

3 of 26 works returned to the Republic of Benin by France in 2021
From left to right: Royal statute, half-human, half-lion of King Glele,
Royal statue, half-human, half-bird of King Ghezo,
Royal statue, half-human, half-shark of King Behanzin,
Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0
In a nutshell

African countries are today demanding the restitution of objects pillaged or taken illegally by Europeans.

2
The theft of the boli
WHAT A SHARK!

What they were doing was not just taking natural and human resources for themselves but also cultural objects…

In 1931, the “Dakar-Djibouti Mission”, a French scientific expedition, crossed the African continent. What was their aim? To collect objects and documentation on the populations they met.

When they stopped in a village in Mali, the French explorers discovered a boli. This religious object is known as a fetish. It is extremely sacred to the Bamana people, who use it to capture and control vital energy.

They tried to acquire it, but the villagers were firmly opposed. Griaule and Leiris decided to steal the boli, which is still conserved today in a French museum.

Boli
19th century, Bamana population, wood, wax, sacrificial material; 17.32 x 23 x 9.44 inches, Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum, Paris. Photo: © musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrick Gries
« We left quickly, to the general astonishment, with an aura of demons or particularly powerful, daring thugs. »
Michel Leiris
In a nutshell

In 1931, two members of a scientific expedition stole a sacred boli in a village in Mali.

1
Colonization and slavery
WHAT A SHARK!

Slavery has made an indelible mark on African history. Between the sixth and 20th centuries, an estimated 25 million Africans were treated as goods and sold.

 

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to send slaves to the American continent, but it was the English and the French who made slavery into a terribly efficient machine, ortriangular trade.”

Not content with simply trading slaves, Europeans explored the African continent, looking for raw materials such as rubber, and conquering these territories in the name of their colonial empires.

The African continent at the beginning of the 20th century
In a nutshell

Europeans conquered and exploited the African continent, sending many Africans to America as slaves.

In summary, you have discovered:

  • Portuguese in Africa
  • Afro-Portuguese ivory articles
  • “Iyoba” Idia, the Queen
  • Kongo crosses
  • The French conquest of Dahomey
  • King Behanzin
To train

The first Europeans who left to explore the African continent were …

You have to choose an answer

Which king of Dahomey fiercely resisted the European Colonisers?

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During the 16th century, the title “lyoba” meant that Idia was the …

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You have unlocked the next chapter in your course African Arts.

CHAPTER 4

From Colonisation to Today

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6
King Behanzin
WHAT A SHARK!

King Behanzin was not easygoing, and he had himself portrayed in the form of a man with a shark’s head. Watch out, anyone who threatened his State!

 

Just before the French arrived in the capital, he set his palace on fire, but faced with the military supremacy of the French, he finally decided to surrender in 1894. The French, afraid that he would lead another revolt, exiled him to Martinique, where he lived until his death …

Credited to Sossa Dede, Royal Statue, half-human half-shark, of King Behanzin,
between 1890 and 1892, wood, pigments, metal, 66 x 40 x 36 inches, Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum, Paris. Photo: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 3.0
In a nutshell

King Behanzin, portrayed in art with a shark’s head, had to surrender to the French in 1894.