14 Jul 2014 African Wood Sculpture

African Handicraft starts and completes itself with the Wooden Sculptures. A tour of African Wooden statue can hold your admiration for a lifetime. So vast and so beautiful the creations are.

The characteristic sculpture of Africa that forms the largest part of primitive art can be seen as early as 500 BC in the Nok culture – named from the village in Nigeria. The Nok statues are mainly of human subjects and combine strong formal elements. Their expressive quality places them unmistakably at the start of the African sculptural tradition. In Africa wood is the natural material for carving and sculpture in wood is very much a living tradition. The popularity of wood is due to the fact that it can be found in abundance. Various woods, especially hardwood, are used including mutanga and ebony.

Africa is renowned for its relics, artifacts, carvings and a myriad of other pieces of art, part of which are crafted for rituals and part of it utilized in everyday life. The African statue is a very significant symbol and forms an integral part of its culture. The statues of Africa typically reflect symbols of their ancient past, as well as the daily activities that the African village people. Kenya is famous for its traditional giraffe statues, ebony elephant and giraffe bookends. The carvings are very popular and the quality is wonderful. Unique wood statues in can also be found in Mali, Cameroon, Ghana and Papua New Guinea. Thinker statues can be found in abundance in Senegal while Ghana boasts in animal wood carvings.

African Animals Sculpture

The African wooden figurines portray the artistic nature of the African people in general. Wood is one of the most popular materials used in African sculpture. Ebony is an exceptionally hard and beautiful wood found only in the Sahara desert regions of Africa. The wood is normally brown on the outside of the tree and black on the inside and hence the carvings often come as a beautiful mixture of black and brown.

Wood Sculpture from Ghana

When a person views African art, several themes seem to come up over and over again. These themes are representations of different things that are significant to African culture and reveal the importance behind some of its most beautiful art. These complex African statues simply express important social, spiritual and moral values for the whole tribe to emulate. Each piece has its own special beauty. Thus, African statues are a wonderful way to bring the spirit of Africa into your home.

Bring home Africa, bring home a sculpture!