African art in pre-colonial times

[Afro Dynasty]

Post picture of art from black Africa. so lets start with the elephants in the room

Yourba/Ife

When the Ife heads first appeared in the Western World in the first half of the twentieth century, many experts compared them to the highest achievements of ancient Roman or Greek art. When Leo Frobenius discovered the first example of a similar head it undermined existing Western understanding of African civilization. Experts could not believe that Africa had ever had a civilization capable of creating artifacts of this quality. Attempting to explain what was thought an anomaly, Frobenius offered his theory that these had been cast by a colony of ancient Greeks established in the thirteenth century BC. He made a claim, widely circulated in the popular press, that his hypothesized ancient Greek colony could be the origin of the ancient legend of the lost civilization of Atlantis.
It is now recognized that these statues represent an indigenous African tradition that attained an unusually high level of realism and refinement.

Benin Empire

The Benin Bronzes are a collection of more than a thousand commemorative pieces that originated in the royal palace of the Benin Empire. They were created by the Edo people starting in the thirteenth century.

In 1897, the British appropriated most of them. Two hundred of the pieces were taken to the British Museum in London, while the rest were split among other museums. Today, a large number are held by the British Museum and are on display in hall 25 (in the Africa wing). Other Benin pieces are in Germany and the United States, among other countries.

The Benin Bronzes led to a greater appreciation in Europe of African culture. Initially and naively, it appeared incredible to the discoverers that people 'supposedly so primitive and savage' were responsible for such highly developed objects. Some even concluded that Benin knowledge of metallurgy came from the Portuguese. Today, it is clear that the bronzes were made in Benin from an indigenous culture. Many of these dramatic sculptures date to the thirteenth century and a large part of the collection dates to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is believed that two 'golden ages' in Benin metal workmanship occurred during the reigns of Esigie (c. 1550) and of Eresoyen (1735-1750), when their workmanship achieved its highest qualities.

While the collection is known as the Benin Bronzes, not all the pieces are made of bronze: there are also pieces made of brass, of a mixture of bronze and brass, of wood, of ceramic, and of ivory, among other materials.

The metal pieces were made using lost-wax casting and are considered the best sculptures made using this technique