Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Art and Religion in Africa: Some Observations and Reflections

Art and Religion in Africa: Some Observations and Reflections ART AND RELIGION IN AFRICA: SOME OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS BY ROSALIND I.J. HACKETT (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) Preamble Africa's artistic and religious traditions offer primary evidence of the expressive and intellectual vitality of a vast and fascinating con- tinent (cf. McNaughton 1988:50). Art objects, whether sculpted figures, textiles, paintings or pots, are generally enjoyed, critiqued and used by communities or groups, rather than being the prerogative of individuals alone. Hence they provide important points of entry into people's conceptual worlds. African art is held to be successful at evoking and abstracting the powers which are central to human life because artists are not bound to produce , forms that resemble or portray individual humans. Yet, despite this and the obvious ritual significance of many artistic objects, the interactive relationship between art and religion in the African con- text remains remarkably understudied and misunderstood. Few monographic studies exist which explore this relationship in any systematic or comparative way. There exist a number of localized case studies of the range of ritual art forms in a particular culture, which are undeniably valuable in that they permit the reader to compare the range of artistic techniques and forms employed by a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Religion in Africa Brill

Art and Religion in Africa: Some Observations and Reflections

Hackett, Rosalind I.J.
Journal of Religion in Africa , Volume 24 (1-4): 294 – Jan 1, 1994
Download PDF
15 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/art-and-religion-in-africa-some-observations-and-reflections-sSL8VAC2WG

References (21)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1994 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0022-4200
eISSN
1570-0666
DOI
10.1163/157006694X00165
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ART AND RELIGION IN AFRICA: SOME OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS BY ROSALIND I.J. HACKETT (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) Preamble Africa's artistic and religious traditions offer primary evidence of the expressive and intellectual vitality of a vast and fascinating con- tinent (cf. McNaughton 1988:50). Art objects, whether sculpted figures, textiles, paintings or pots, are generally enjoyed, critiqued and used by communities or groups, rather than being the prerogative of individuals alone. Hence they provide important points of entry into people's conceptual worlds. African art is held to be successful at evoking and abstracting the powers which are central to human life because artists are not bound to produce , forms that resemble or portray individual humans. Yet, despite this and the obvious ritual significance of many artistic objects, the interactive relationship between art and religion in the African con- text remains remarkably understudied and misunderstood. Few monographic studies exist which explore this relationship in any systematic or comparative way. There exist a number of localized case studies of the range of ritual art forms in a particular culture, which are undeniably valuable in that they permit the reader to compare the range of artistic techniques and forms employed by a

Journal

Journal of Religion in Africa – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1994

There are no references for this article.