Afasd

Art from Home

My art from home is an African mask which was given to me by my sister-in-law who was born and raised in East Africa. I have it hanging in my home office where I have several other works of art from Africa. The reason I have so many is because my nieces (my sister-in-law’s daughter’s), recently traveled to Kenya, Africa and brought back many souvenirs. I chose this particular piece because I personally have never liked it, mainly because it looks scary but also because I do not understand the significance behind it. With this in mind, I decided to explore the purpose behind these masks and why they are so popular.

The function of an African mask, as quoted by the website artyfactory.com, is that they are generally used in religious ceremonies and social events in order to represent the spirits of ancestors or to control good and evil forces in the community. Some of the masks try to combine human and animal features like the one from my home. This is used to unite man with his natural environment. This bond with nature is very important to Africans and therefore masks have been used to express this relationship.

According to the web site artyfactory.com, artists like Pablo Picasso and Andre Derain were inspired by the bold abstract designs that they discovered in African tribal masks. They collected and used these works of art to influence their own style.

Cubism, which is the first style of abstract art, was influenced by African art. The website oneafricanow.com explains that the Cubists believed the traditions of western art had become exhausted. As a result they decided to draw on the expressive energy of art from other cultures especially African art. They valued them for their expressive style. A good example of this is from the paintings, Head of a Woman and Dan Mask, by Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas, 1907.

When I look at my art work from home, it looks very unique. On the back of the piece it says that it was hand...