FAA 311
African Art History
2
Course Description
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. understand African art history;
2. its relevance to cultural production;
3. symbolic icons of the African art world;
4. explore its iconographies;
5. interpret forms in African art;
6. appreciate form in African art;
7. master its historical timelines;
8. compare its historical timeline with the options of anthropology; and
9. develop a scrapbook for relevant artworks and notes on the period.
Course Outline
A chronological survey of art in Africa beginning with the rock art traditions in Southern Africa
dated 70,000 BC typified among others in the Blombos Stone to the Saharan frescos in North
Africa, the art of pharaonic Egypt and ancillary traditions of Nubians (Kushite kingdom), Meroe
and Axium, Bantu and Sudanese kingdoms and city-states in Africa south of the Sahara to
1,700 AD. The focus shall be on the stylistic progression of forms, symbolism, and the social
value of works as metaphors that bear pan-continental identities.