1. Tribal Wisdom Modern World
Influences of African Art on the Modern Art Movement
Valarie Woods
College of Southern Nevada
2. The term modern art sounds like it means art that is popular at the moment, but in fact, modern art is a style
that originated over 150 years ago, and the movement was considered revolutionary and even scandalous at
the time, was inspired largely by an object of a traditional and ancient design.
As far back as the Renaissance, the primary European art movements emphasized conventional representation
and adherence to classical forms.
Soon, a movement arose that sought to create an entirely new style of art, and one way of doing so was to
look beyond Western civilization. Most influential inspiration would come from Sub-Saharan Africa.
As European empires expanded deeper into the African continent, its artifacts and artworks made their way
into the hands of museums and collectors.
Modern artist who were briefly influenced by tribal art forms were Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Constantin
Brancusi, Max Ernst, and Paul Klee
3. Portrait of Madame Matisse, 1913. Oil on Canvas
Henri Matisse • Fauvism • Impressionism
Portrait of Madame Matisse of 1913
In this painting there is a striking similarity between these two. The oval shaped faces with an
opaque chalk likeness of both radiates the feeling of transitioning from life to after death.
4. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff - Expressionist painter
Sitzender Mann.
(Seated Man)
Madchen aus Kowno’,
1918 (woodcut)
Fang Reliquary
Figure
Mask Punu, Gabon
Sitzender Mann’s influence from the Fang reliquary figure is striking in it’s linear pose and the emoting of strength
and wisdom that draws you in as though communicating with an ancient ancestor.
Madchen as Kowno is a wood carving. The hashing cuts into the wood matches the same in the mask. The linear
nose and oval faces give a sense of peace.
5. Max Ernst •Surrealism • Dada
Bird-Head
The earliest of these is the bronze Oiseau-tête (Bird-
head), which consists of a flat face on ‘legs’ – a
cephalopod, in other words. Projecting from its
forehead is the head of a bird with an open beak. The
work resembles a bizarre hybrid creature from the
realm of fantasy that has suddenly materialized in
front of us. Ernst was acquainted with such visitors
from ‘beyond’ and frequently kept company with a
bird figure called Loplop, which he described as his
‘private phantom’. In combining a flat base panel with
a face in low relief and a three-dimensional bird’s
head, Oiseau-tête describes the transition from the
flat surface of the picture to the spatial volume of
sculpture and thereby highlights the process by which
the creature assumes increasing form.
Tusayan Mask
6. Constantin Brancusi • Modernism • Modern art
The Little French GirlMadame L.R.
• Little French Girl and Madame L. R.
were made during the same time period
is discernable by the five-part
composition and geometrical forms.
The sculptures are composed of thin,
elongated cylinders intercepted with
oval and square forms that represent
parts of the body like the head, feet,
and chest.
• The Little French Girl lacks the square
block of wood that is placed at the
center of Madame L. R. The block
represents the chest of a woman and
symbolizes the femininity of Madame L.
R.
Tribal art, with “their form and spirit”, directed Brancusi in a new, abstract phase of his art, folk art remained in the
background, pushing Brancusi’s interest toward wood carvings of tribal art.
7. Mask of Fear
Paul Klee • Cubism • Expressionism
• Klee’s involvement with Der Blaue Reiter had
an enormous impact on his style and
approach to his art, as well as his
appropriation of tribal masks. Not only was
this art movement influenced by a wide
variety of tribal and primitive art, but they
also regarded tribal art as an expression of
spirituality
• Der Blaue Reiter appropriated masks and
tribal art to create their own form of art
that was based on ideas .of spirituality
and abstraction
Mask with the Little Red Flag
8. • African Period lasted from 1907 to 1909
• Later in his life, Picasso would deny he had been inspired by
African art, while making the Demoiselles (partly because of
political, patriotic reasons - Picasso preferred to emphasize
the Iberian nature of the painting), but there seems to be
ample evidence that he was familiar with, and was already
collecting African art while making the Demoiselles.
• Throughout Picasso's work you can see references to some
of the African masks
• After visiting the Trocadero Museum of Ethnology(Musee de
l’Homme), Pablo Picasso was greatly influenced by African art.
As Picasso examined the masks and their sacred, magical
purpose they served. There were unexplainable hostile forces
that intrigued him.
Pablo Picasso • Cubism • Surrealism • Modern art • Analytic cubism
Pictured with collection of Masks
9. Picasso's first masterpiece. The painting depicts five naked women with figures composed of flat, triangular shapes and
faces inspired by Iberian sculpture and African masks from the Congo. In this painting, Picasso moves away from a
traditional European painting by studying Primitivism (African Art) and chooses to paint two-dimensionally. This new
technique led to Cubism.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
10. The Guitar
Picasso’s Masks
Grebo Mask, Ivory Coast or Liberia
The second phase of cubism was called Synthetic Cubism. During this period, Picasso continued to draw inspiration from
African Art, but more of a summary and concept than use of a specific style.
11. http://www.pablopicasso.org/africanperiod.jsp
Bibliography
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