38

THE ACABUiHC APPROACH TO AFRICAN ART

Dr. Cbukwulozie Anyanwu

How do researchers study African art?  The researchers begin

with the belief that Africa is a continent of diversities and

Varieties, that the North is' different from the South; East from

* 

i 

•

Westt* and every ethnic group from another*  Within each ethnic
group, the researchers find differences between all villages*

To pursue this *bolie.f to its ultimate consequence** one,, must also

emphasize the differences be'tween all families and all individuals•

Thus, we arrive at the uniqueness of all individuals*  In fact, two

twins are never identical due to their fingerprints.

Due to these differences and diversities, the Wester* experts

caution and decree that one should bo "particular" not "general"-

This scepticism arising from the methodology of science does not

refer to or depend on African culture but defeats the power and

authority of reason to know reality.  In other words, in the face

of diversity and differences, reason is powerless.  The idea that

one must be "particular" not "general" has become an "approved

method of science", approved of because the researchers equate

facts with knowledge, neglect epistemoloi^y and rely on observed

facts without the need for reflection.

In pursuit of this napproval method of science", the researchers
have divided Africa into different "zones" or "fields".,  Each expert

observes his or her own field, localizes the art object, the place of

its origin, the data, the author of the art object, the function, etc.

The art object are said to be "sacred", "naturalistic"? "abstract",
"realistic", "symbolic", "moving", "balance between nature and

abstraction", "freedom of expression", etc.  Some art objects are

classified into "pure art"j "religious art", "ceremonial art", etc.

These and similar qualities attributed to African art have no meaning

within the African cultural premise.

39

With their rational methods, the researchers into African

culture embark on a systematic collection and documentation of

data, forbid "general statements" and pay "specific" attention to

"particular" areas*  This method has led to the accumulation of

facts, but the knowledge of African art remains merely popular*

The researchers into African art have not even asked themselves

why no African community wrote on paper.  They have assumed that

culture will illumine the heart of the "Dark Continent".  None has

suspected that science (the V/estern science —  the concepts and

theories derived from the V/estern culture) cannot improve on or

explain the nature of African culture, that the African people did

not write their cultural reality ~-~ beliefs and ideas, meaning and

values of God, man, nature, etc. —  on paper because the African

cultural reality does not fit into the schemes of space*  An a resultj

all the concepts and theories derived from the Western culture have no

validity in the African cultural world.

African art, like all other cultural expressions among the

Africans (the Black Africans) stem from a climate beyond the

experience of the Western people.  In spite of the innumerable facts

exhumed daily, the factual data so far accumulated are very minute.

Archaeologists, ^thhographerE,, anthropologists, etc* have amassed

immense material systematically documented them, but what has come

to be known as the knowledge of African art is African cultural fact

subordinated to Western concepts and theories.  Some experts have

tried to formulate laws from the accumulated data*  Others still call

for detailed observation and study of each village before any attempt

to formulate laws could be possible*  Besieged by fragmentary and

scattered facts which are dubious or incorrect, all researchers into

African culture address themselves to the question of the origin of

African people or of each ethnic group with the purpose of determining

how artistic*works have altered during the course of the migration of

each ethnic group and how the art of each group has been influenced by

40

another*  Follow ing this line of thought, almost all experts in

African culture deny the possibility of any cultural synthesis

until the civilization of every village, ethnic group and nation

has been systematically studied, observed and documented.  Anyone

who questions the "approved method of science" will not be given a

hearing because it violates the dogmas of the "Church of Reason"*

African culture possesses its own assumptions and world~view«

The artistic forms of that culture, its political beliefs, its

ethical and moral norms, etc* depend on the philosophy of African

culture.  Religion, aesthetics, politics, art, music, etc  stem from

a cultural premise and constitute one body of experience. "A study

of African culture reveals almost without question that it is based

upon religion **•— that, in fact, it is' within the religions network

that the entire culture resides.  Furthermore, this entire culture

is an arganic whole.  In traditional Africa, there is no specializa""

tion of disciplines, no dissociation of sensibilities-  In other

words, starting from this particular religious focus, there is no

separation between religion and philosophy, religion and society,

religion end art.  Re.ligion is the form or kernel or the core of

the culture."

The minds of the Vies tern researchers are accustomed to

fragment into isolated and independent pieces that which is a whole*

Religion, art, politics, economics, music, etc. are seen as different

activities or expressions, hence this mode of thought will never grasp

the nature, meaning and expressions of African culture*  Religion

constitutes the basis of all African cultural expressions*  What does

religion mean in the African culture?  "In spite of an enormous

literature," Professor Bastide v/rote: "we have only a very poor

knowledge of African religions.... Religion is seen from the outside

as a thin*; and not from within as experienced reality.••• Books

1*  Edward Kamau Brathwaite, "The African Presence in Carribbean
Literature", Daedalus$ Journal of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences.  Spring 197a; page* 7a •

41

concerning the African religion are basically no more than an

immense gallery of mirrors which only reflect the image of our-

selves, our ideas, our dreams, or our passions.  Will ye  ever

be able to break these mirrors which deform?"  African religions

2

are studied, as matters of empirical facts, through interviews,

questionnaires, the description of rituals and ceremonies, etc*

All these appear "magical", "superstitious" and "undeveloped"'

because the researchers have completely no knowledge of where and

how to start the study of African art and religion.  No knowledge

of any cultural expression is possible without the knowledge of

the cultural premise and of the nature of experience within that

culture*  Every culture possesses its own science, that is, the

standard which the mind must adopt or follow in order to arrive at

what that culture believes to be valid knowledge of reality.  The

method by which any culture arrives at its belief of true and valid

knowledge necessarily determines its approach to God, Man, Nature,

Social facts, etc.  To know what that method is, one must know the

nature of experience within that culture.  One of the greatest errors

committed by the Western researchers was the application of the

"approved method of science" to African cultural expressions hence

they bring a priori assumptions, hypotheses, concepts, theories

suggested by the Western culture to bear on African culture.

The most essential and ultimate goal in the study of African

cultural expression is the understanding of the assumptions, concepts

and theories through which the African people explain their activities

and behaviour*  The Western experts think that they will arrive at

that understanding by interviewing the Africans in market places as if

the common people in any culture know the ideas, principles and assump*

tions governing their cultural activities and behaviour*  African

elites, aware solely of the Western ideas, theories and concepts, have

no knowledge of their own cultural ideas.  As a result, they confuse

42

the identity of wards in the Western and African cultures with

the identity of meaning*  The western experts do not want to

accept the judgement of the few Africans who have insight into

both the African and Western cultures and who call for a completely

new approach to the? -study of African culture.  Again, the Western

experts want to confirm the judgements of those few Africans

empirically by interviewing the common people in Africa.  Did Hume,

Kant, Descartes, Spinoza, Newton, Hegel, etc. distribute questionnaires

to the Western populace prior to the formulation of their ideas?  Have

the Western empirical researchers questioned the common people in

the- West to confirm or refute the ideas of the Western thinkers?

Perhaps the Western people believe that their cultures depend on

reason while that of the African people depend on individual opinions.

Spencer's sociology, the theories of Comte, Weber, Durkheim, Malinowski,

etc. have no hold on African cultural reality.  The Western social

scientists have developed certain conceptual tools in the light of

their own culture and analyze the African culture with such tools.

An appeal to factual knowledge as the basis for the confirmation

of African normative theory is absurd.  The accumulated facts could

as well refer to any culture nor is the normative theory a material

thing to be known through the method of natural science-  Any study

of African cultural expression which fails to grasp or ignores the

understanding of the nature of.experience in African culture, the

concepts and theories of that culture, the standard which the mind

must adopt to arrive at the knowledge of Afridan cultural reality,

the premise of African culture, has no meaning and no"knowledge of

culture.

43

EXPERIENCE IN AFRICAN CULTURE

Culture is a response to human experience.  Experience

shows or reveals the duality of the Ego and the world.  The

opposition between the Ego and the World in spite of their

mutual dependence constitutes the basis of all contradictions. With-

out  resolving the contradiction between the Ego and the World,

there will be a split in human consciousness which militates

against the unit of the individual and the selfhood.  The duality

of the Ego and the World further reveals the duality of the body

and mind, individuality and universality, oneness and manifoldness^

time and eternity, etc.  Cultural activities or responses are

attempts to resolve the duality of experience.

How did the African culture respond to the duality of

experience?  The African cultural spirit saw the World as centered

on the Self hence it made no distinction between the Ego and the

World.  This led to the belief, as a personally experienced reality,

that Nature is alive not a dead thing*  Consequently, the Self

animates the World.  The Self and the V/orld order become identical.

The 'World which has no reference to the Self has no meaning within

this cultural context.  Consequently, the World possesses order and

unity through the living experience of the Self.  The Self and the

World are one, and both proclaim the unity and solidarity of Life.

Living, therefore, in a world of aesthetic continuum which admits

of no duality of thought, a world of aesthetic continuum where the

Ego and the World are one4 the dualistic and analystical modes of

thought in the West have no validity in the African culture.  In

the world of aesthetic continuum, it is possible to discern anything

"specific", "concrete", "clearcut", "objective", "subjective",

"religious", "secular", etc-  Rather, one is confronted by a world

of events where everything is in every other thing and where there is

no isolated thing or individual.

44

In the African cultural world of aesthetic continuum, a

world of art, of pure sound and pure sensation, the whole is the

real*  In this universe of aesthetics, there is no impersonal

experience*  God, person, man, ancestor, spirit, man, etc. are

personally experienced realities*•• As a result, the African culture

is extremely vital, sensitive, musical^ dynamic, emotional in nature,

and rich in human living.  Art, therefore, permeates the African life,

religion, thought, because it is the art of living.  Art and life are

inseparable and religion is the "mechanism" for its expression*  The

Western anthropologists, ignorant of the nature of African cultural

experience, term African religion "animism", "superstition", etc.

The African artistic solution to the antinomy of experience —  the

duality between the Ego and the World —  unifies the Ego and the

World, individuality and universality, time and eternity, oneness

and manifoldness*  The African ancestral figures proclaim the unity

of life; past, present and future•

Since Mature is alive and not dead, the African mind sees in

plants, stones, rivers, etc. certain living but invisible forces

which must be approached with caution.  In other words, "material

things" are not merely "material" but co-exist with indivisible forces.

Material and spiritual, sacred and profane, etc  express the duality

of analytic thought which the African cultural premise forbids.  Thus,

instead of the material or the spiritual, the African mind sees a

vital-force*  The universe is a web of vital-forces and all forces

are .in constant interaction.  The masks meant to harbour the spirits

of the dead express the attempt of the African mind to restore the

unity of vital-forces fragmented by death*  The African does not

claim to possess a conscious knowledge of the invisible forces

residing in "things" or a complete mastery over it though he possesses

the method by which he can gain contact with it — t he  magical power

of words*  The African realizes that form determines the function

of every vital "-force.  Bows, arrows, domestic implements., etc* are

45

not merely "material things" but embody living and invisible

forces.  Through incantation, rituals, adherence to certain

strict rules, he approaches the invisible forces*  The African

idea of Nature and its qualities have led to the adherence to

certain permanent, not static, expressions in artistic forms,

rituals, ceremonies, etc.  The African people, approaching

"Objects" as living forces, do not behave illogically*  Personal

experience has shown them that "empirical objects" embody invisible

forces.  Contemporary physics has confirmed what the African intui-

tively knew.

Experience, in African culture, is immediate and personal as

*ell as transcedental.  The African grasps reality through personal

experience.  Science, in the Western culture, cannot explain, observe

or improve on African, cultural experience*  Of what God, man, person,

spirit, ancestors, family, the living~dead, etc. mean in African

culture; scientific observation and theory can never explain.  There

is no separation from experience and the self who experiences hence

African art from African life*

THE VIESTERN CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

How does the Western culture approach the duality of experience;

the duality between the Ego and the world.  No culture is as contra" '

dictory as the Western culture, not only within its systems of ideas

but with reference to observed facts.  The West makes the I/or Id the •

object of rational knowledge and believes that the World exists

independent of the Ego.  The World.is seen as Objective -and the Ego,

Subjective.  'To know the World objectively has been the aim of the

Western culture.  In pursuit of this goal, the l/estern science

removes the Ego from the WDrld*  The world, as a result, is regarded

as the object of knowledge*  But the relationship between the mind

and the world in the Western culture is rational or intellectual. :

Experience, in the West, means scientific and impersonal experience*

46

The West believes that the real is the material process in time,

that which can be measured and quantified.  This knowledge •"""

scientific knowledge —  is said to be "objective".  But it is an

artificial thing.  In other v/ords, "objective truth" belongs to

the artificial v/orld of mathematics, to abstract concepts and

abstract relations, not the truth of life and the heart.  To

grasp the truth of the heart, one must not only feel and experience

its relations but must be moved by them.

Believing that reality can be grasped by reason, the West

looks low on emotions as inferior qualities associated with lower

animals.  As a result, the West underrates everything "subjective"

as an individual opinion.  Reality and truth, for the V/est, must be

"objective" and "public"•  This is expressed in figures and formulae;

but figures and formulae are neither things nor realities.  The

"objective" view of the V/orld' led to intellectualism and rationalism.

The Western theory of knowledge —  the Western philosophy ""- is

marked by the conflict between rationalism and naturalism, between

rationalism and voluntarism.  The division of reality into "subjective"

and "objective" was the basis of rationalism, materialism *uid analytic

thought.  Since the method by which any culture arrives at what it

considers a true knowledge determines its approach to the Other:

God, Man, Society, art, etc., the V/est believing that that method

is rational or mathematical created rational theology, rational

psychology, rational politics, rational art, rational aesthetics,

rational .sociology, etc.  Knowledge, in the Western culture, means

a systematic and logical knowledge deduced from postulated concepts

and their abstract relations.  The meanings of such concepts depend

on their definitions within the systems of scientific theories. 

.

As a result, such terms as God, man, spirit, soul, immortality, love

of God, etc. found in the religious treatises,of the Western philo-

sophers are not personally experienced and immediate realities but

47

'purely logical constructs.  They are defined concepts not given to

personal experience.  Body, mind, idea, mental substance (man or

person), substance, lav; of nature, etc. as found in the Western

culture are postulated concepts, logically defined concepts,

unobservable "entities"*  Being theoretically postulated concepts,

their meanings can never be found in personal experience*  In

African culture, on the other hand, in a world of aesthetic continuum,

all African cultural concepts axe intuitive and imaginative!  As

concepts by intuition and imagination, they have personal references*

Scientific knowledge is not the knowledge of Personal God, persons,

personal meaning, institution, etc  Since the African cultural con""

cepts .are not theoretically postulated and defined, no social scientist

can find any "specific", "concrete" and "clear-cut" fact in experience

to confirm such concepts.  Such terms.as space, time, individual,

knowledge, art, etc* do not have the same meaning in the African and

Western culture*  To call for "specific", ".particular" "concrete" and

"clear~cut" cultural expression in; Africa is to impose the intellec""
tualism, the rationalism, the cold and impersonal objectivity o£.the

Western culture on the living reality of African culture*

Contemporary, physics has shown that "clear-cut", "concrete"' and

"objective" observations and knowledge are impossible. -Contemporary

physics has shown that reality cannot be known rationally, that physics

cannot give an "exact" picture of the world, that Mature is alive, that

no distinction exists between subject and object, that the indivisible

coexists with the actual, that analysis into subject and object destroys

reality.  Contemporary science has discovered the mysterious, the

magical, the non-logical, in the realm of Nature.  Contemporary science

has shown that we live in a world of aesthetic continuum, a religious

not a rational world.  These discoveries have destroyed the theories

of materialism and mechanism, rationalism and naturalism*  The Theory

of Relativity showed for the first time in the Western scientific

culture, the importance of the observer, of consciousness, "in the

world.  The Principle of Indeterminacy emphasizes the non-objectivity

48

of the world.  With the collapse of the concepts of postulation

the western scientific attitude comes to an end.  Reality is not

impersonal but must in some way be related to person and personal

experience.  Consequently, the Western rational theology, sociology,

psychology, politics, art, aesthetics, philosophy, etc. have no

meaning, validity and application in the light of the world of

aesthetic continuum.  It is not the African cultural expression

that should be subordinated to. the concepts of rationalism —  to

the 19th Century Westery theories —  but the V/estern concepts that

must be re""defined in the context of the African 'cultural concepts.

Anybody who speaks of science today speaks of religion not reason-

Consequently, all that the V/estern people call God, man, mind,

person, knowledge, observation, thought, body, society, emperical,

etc. must undergo radical changes.

THE AFRICAN APPROACH TO THE OTHER

How does the African know the other: God, man, society, events?

This will determine his approach to art.  "Let us, therefore, con-

sider attitude of the Negro-African towards the Object to be known,

towards the Other: God, Man, animal, tree or pebble, natural fact

or social fact.  Contrary to the classical European, the Negro-

African makes no distinction between himself and the Object; he

does not hold it away from himself to be examined or analysed; or

rather, after having examined it, if not actually analysed it, he

takes it in his hands, alive as it is, careful not to kill it and

pin it clown like a specimen.  He touches it-, he feels it, he is

conscious of it.  The Negro-African.••is a field of pure sensation.

....It is his subjectivity, with the tips of his sensory organs^

with his insects antennae, that Ire discovers the Other.  We see him

excited, moving centrifugally from subject to object on the waves of

the Other.  ....Here we see the Negro-African sympathising^ leaving

49

his ego to identify himself with the Other, dying to himself to

be born again in the Other*  He does not absorb, he is absorbed.

He lives a common life with the Other•••he has cognition of the

Other. ...Subject and Object are here compared dialectically in
the very act of cognition* •••.The Negro~African could say: !I
sense the Other; I dance the Other: I am*1  Now, to dance is to
discover and to recreate, particularly if the dance is a dance of

love.  It is in any case the best means of knowing.  So that

cognition is at the same time discovery and creation or rather

re "-creation, and re-creation is the image of God. ' (Leopold

Senghor)*

A good Western rationalist v/ould laugh at the African mode

of knowledge with contempt because it is not "objective",

"systematic", "rigorous", etc  Instead of the formally con-

structed and logically reasoned doctrines of the V/estern culture,

one notices that the African dances his religion, expresses it in

intuitive poetry, proverbs, myths, because there is no other way

to express the personally experienced reality.  The V/estern people

love definition of terms as if everything can be defined.  What 'will

the V/estern man call the reality which admits of no distinction

between subject and object or the aesthetic continuum termed mind

and matter?

Let us examine the Western approach to music and the African

attitude towards it.  "Some Western authorities," Fela Sowande wrote,

"subscribe to the idea that music is an aspect of human behaviour;

that music has many facets, for its aspects include the historical,

social—psychological, structural, functional, physical, psychological,

cultural, aesthetic, symbolic, and others; and that therefore music

can and must be studied from many standpoints, for  cle.urly no single

&•  Fenner Brockway, African Socialism,  The Bodley Head;

London, 1963; pp» 33~3o-»

kind of study can be successfully substituted for the whole*

But were we to attempt to sell this idea to traditional man in

Nigeria, he would either tell us to get lost, or his reply v/ould be

couched in such language that his vocabulary would be of considerable

interest to Dictionaries that have space for hitherto unprintable,

quadriliteral Anglo-Saxon words.

"Our Nigerian traditional man would tell us that Sound was

evocative; not that it 'could' be, but that by its very nature
it was evocative; he could point to his 'words of power1 or. his
'mantraras1, which he has used time and again to produce tangible
results; if he happens to be a Yoruba, he would refer to-those
vocal forms handed to him by his forefathers, such as the Assan,
the Ogede, or the Ofo, patterns of Pure Sound, the like of which
Elisha used in the Bible to call down fire on the soldiers sent
to arrest him, or Jesus used to command the storm to be still.
Nigerian traditional man knew —  at least in Ycruba land
•••that through the medium of Sound, he can evoke and handle
Psychic Forces of tremendous potencies, which his will could
then direct as it suited his purpose.  He knew'thisj not as a
theory, but as experienced fact.

"We shall never penetrate beneath the surface of Nigerian

music, until and unless we adopt this view of traditional man,
who is likely to reject, out of hand, our present day of
•studying1 traditional music through the meticulous cataloguing
of styles, etc.; and is more likely than not to support Spengler's
views that 'more would be revealed to us, if we were to write '
history of musical intruments, not ~"*~ as it always is —  from
the technical standpoint of tone production, but as a study of
the deep spiritual bases of the tone —  colours and tone-effects
aimed at"5, 

.

The Western researchers would not only be reluctant to start

from tfhere they ought to —  religion as experienced reality -— in

the. study of African cultural expressions, they do not believe that

one approach is adequate*  But the multiplicity of viewpoints so

much admired by the West in the study of events, has no validity in

African culture.  Like music, African .art stems from a world of

Fela Sowande; Composer 19, Sept. 1966; pp.28, 29-

51

aesthetic continuum where "Sound is evocative* or creative in

its own right, and as itself".  Music, as well -as art, is "the

organization of the raw material of Sound into formal structural

patterns that are meaningful and generally acceptable to that

Society in which the organization has taken place, patterns that

relate in a. most intimate manner to life-experiences of that

Society, viewed as a homogeneous whole, and are accepted as such

by that Society"*  Music like art must be regarded as "functional"

in at root, because it enabled its creators and practitioners to

bridge the gulf between the visible and invisible worlds, thus

aligning Kan with God and Mature, in one and" tho same hierarchy,

in which Nature is part of Society, and Society itself consists of

(l) the Ancestors and heroes, (2) the present generation, and

(.3) the next generation, all three regarded as forming one unit.

The claims of the next generation explains in part, why in

traditional society, property was defined in terms of family
7
community or village, not in terms of individual ownership."

Thust  the African notion of art does net refer solely to empirically
observed facts in space but to the invisible forces which intuition

and imagination alone can contemplate.

Having examined the African approach to the Object to be known

and to music, let us" examine his attitude towards a physical event.

"Think of a house falling on someone who in passing by,"  Dr.

Oruwariyo wrote*  "From the European point of view, the explanation

is simple, the house is old; maybe there is an earthquake, or a

breeze blows, and the house fallsj the African does not leave it at

that.  He wants to know why that man, why that day, why that parti-

cular hour, and why that particular house out of so many houses,

is involved.  For practical purposes, for engineering, the

European would reduce all the unknowns to a few, which would help

him to make a prediction.  All he has done is to simplify things.

6»  Idem, p. 29>

7.  Idem, p.29

The African views the whole as a compact systent; honce you will

not be able to understand his activities, unless you take his way

o

of thinking into account."  The African is not interested solely

in the "how" an  event behaves but why it behaves so.  As a result,

he is aware of the event as well as the psychic state of the

observer*

The African, living in a universe of forces, does not create

"things" but "living-forces".  Nature as understood by the West

(as a dead thing to be known rationally 'and mathematically).was

not the theme of African art.  The Renaissance art in the West made

landscape  a theme of monumental art.  In the 19th Century impres-

sionism, the Renaissance art reached its lowest level.  The African

uses mythology, stories, etc. to creat art.  Words are forces,

creative, significant, meaningful, powerful and magical because they

can transform and arouse other forced to action.  But imitating or

copying a "dead" Nature, the Western artists laid emphasis on

technique so that those who copied Nature mechanically and effecti-

vely were called good artists.  The Renaissance art was essentially

mathematical and rational as the works of Leonardo de Vince, Puero

della Francesa, etc. would show*  With the .destruction of form by

Occam, followed the devaluation and impoverishment of vision and

perception.  Mere seeing, even till today, took the place of

vision^ imagination, perception, intuition.  If form does not exist,

then painted objects are realities*  That was the logic of the artist.

Thus, colour took the place of form.  Thus, technique became the

basis of art, science and even of life.  As a result, art in the

West was merely intellectual and mechanical because reality was

believed to be mechanical and rational.

53

THE 'ARTISTIC SYNTHESIS

No writer  on African art has delved into tnc most  important
goal and nature of African art: the synthesis of human'experience
and the understanding, of ...the .world and to, resolve,,}; he. duality...of .
experience*  But.science, fails to achieve its purpose because
Nature, • its ob.jt5ct of knowledge, does not embrace  the whole world.
The knowledge  it offers consists.in  the unification of  empirical
data with the general laws;ofrthe mind.  It brings Nature •~r
material. things T~ under . general; laws, but Nature; is not the whole,,
world*, As a result, the worldvconstructed  by science is partial
and,.fragmented.  .The 'men: of science subordinate particular  facts,
to general laws and,;as laws ..of Nature^ do not offer universal
knowledge.; By. subordinating the particular to general laws, science
ignores the question of individuality  and universality.  In. other
words, the subordination  of the multiplicity  of. empirical data to,
general laws termed "the laws of Nature: "fails to explain the
problem of One and Many.  Since in the world of Nature, everything
obeys mechanical lav/s, freedom does not exist*  Consequently, science
fails to solve the duality of the Self and:the World.  It merely
strives to subordinate the Self to Nature, to' a thing said to be
dead and mathematicale  It may even strive to eliminate  the Self
from the world  or even objectivize  the self as* !'.a mental substance"•
By eliminating or objectivizing the Self, science becomes impersonal*
Nature marks the limit of science.  In the realm  of the Self and its
reality, science is mute  and powerless.  In trying to explain the
actual world, science goes beyond  the actual and returns-to verify
its postulated  concepts in the actual world of experience.  It does
not mean that the results and concepts conform with the actual v/orld.

Science reduces facts to general laws, but general laws are

not facts in the world nor has nature any compulsion to obey them*
Where do laws of Nature exist?  If in the world, then they are
natural facts hence subject to temporal order*  But they belong to

54

a postulated world hence the truth of the actual world which

science wants to know cannot be eternally valid*  That which

cannot be subordinated to general laws do not fail within the

domain of science.  The whole man, the Self, the whole individual,

etc  cannot be known scientifically but culturally.  The particular

is merely a fragmented aspect of the whole hence should not be con-

fused with the individual who is a whole world.  The end of scienti-

fic attitude came from the encounter with the whole individual beyond

subordination to general laws —  laws of the mind.

The African mind x^anted to understand the world through art.

It sees the universe as one field of force, of aesthetic continuum,

dynamic and rhythmical.  Art transforms the forces.  In the world of

art, all polarities are synthesized.  Science strives to offer abstract

and logical knowledge; but does not delve into meaning, individuality,

universality, eternity, etc.  African culture has its own logic of

aesthetics: the whole is the real.  It offers a delightful knowledge

and unifies the individual and the universal, time and eternity, one

and many, freedom and necessity.  The world of art is not fragmented

like that of science.  It offers a whole image of the world which

science cannot achieve.  As a result, the scepticism of science does

not govern the optimism of. art. By unifying all opposites, art expresses

unity in multiplicity.  Thus^ one is forbidden to call one aspect of

art "naturalistic" and another "abstract"; one "sacred", another

"profane"; one "religious", another "secular"; one "traditional" and

another "modern", etc.  These dualistic concepts ignore the unitary

process of vital-force*  The African art embodies a whole experience

—sensuous, logical, personal, spiritual, divine, etc  All these are

intrinsically one and vital*  The African culture follows the logic

of the co-ordination of the individual with the universal; not the

subordination of the particular to the general.  Intuition and

imagination transform the sensuous and the intellectual into one

vital continuum.  Any analysis of these elements into separate and

55

independent categories destroys the unity of African cultural

reality*  African art appeals to the senses, mind, imagination,

spirit, all at the same time*  As a result, it gives greater

satisfaction than scientific knowledge which appeals solely to

the intellect not to the whole man.  Because it offers living

realities, not figures and formulae or heaps of dead ideas,

African art creates meaning and significance.  The individual,

seen in the light of the whole, belongs to the whole and the whole

to the individual*  Every art work is complete in itself as a whole

world.^ The so-called scientific progress is the accumulation of

facts upon facts, but science can never possess complete or.sufficient

facts to offer a complete image of the world.  -Its truth ist there"*
fore,- partial and rational*  African art reconciles body and mind,

self and the world, human and the divine, hence its world of art

is not one of dull uniformity but rich in the possibilities of human

living.  Art and history do not speak particular or general but

universal language.  The African art, therefore, is the art of living

not of conquest.  In the West, with its art of conquest, rational

knowledge shows the relationship between natural force and power*

As a result, all the reasoned knowledge in the West is the organiza*"

tion of force for conquest not for eoexietence —  conquest of Nature

and alien peoples as the products of Nature.

THE ROOT OF AFRICAN ART

The study -of African art must go to the root - to the myth,

religion, world—view — w h i ch  inspired the artistic expressions.

There can never be any separation of African art from African

religion, philosophy, world-view, state of mind, faculties and life.

To speak of African culture means the recognition of African religion,

the religion of inspriation not institution, the religion of life

not of conquest*  The beauty of African art is essentially the

African religion, thought and life.  The West is good at detachment;

but the African cultural world forbids this mode of knowledge*

Having seen that "objects" are "living forces", attention must be paid

to the laws governing the interaction of forces, the power of words

which transform forces, gestures which are associated with words,

spontaneous expressions which are even beyond language and "logic.

African art has meaning, value and significance only within the

vital and dynamic universe of aesthetic continuum.  As a result,

art objects cannot be separated from the mental process of the

African people*  Vital force is active throughout the whole universe*

This force can increase or decrease but never annihilated*  The norm

of good conduct is the strengthening of vital force, of relationships

and of the whole life*  The vital force at the direction of man

(vital force with conscience, feelings, emotions, thought, will, etc-)

forms the basis of artistic creativity.

Thus, one must know the theory of vital force both in its,

universal and individual nature, the theory of man, person, soul

and .the unity of the soul with ancestors, the living~dead; the

individual and the collective soul or community, the position of

individual soul id thin the collective soul, how the individual

establishes contact with and expresses the invisible force, etc*

The individual expresses the whole just as the whole is in the

individual*  Every art object is a vital force which contains the

whole class or species of that force.  Images may represent series

of "natural" beings —  all are forces —  to proclaim the solidarity

of vital force, the unity of living forces, humour, etc.  Through

acts of consecration and the magical power of words, art objects

represent the ancestors*  Masks refer to invisible forces ~"~ death,

ancestors, etc.  As the dwelling places of ancestral spirits, they

constitute the media through which the living generations gain

57

contact with the whole vital ""force which establishes the unity

of human community.  In this way, the African can imaginatively .

and intuitively see and hear the silent but eloquent language of

life*  Thus, the most important thing in African art is the

mythological role of vital forces and the interaction of those

forces.  The art objects are alive, not only in the universe of  ;
forces but in the minds of their creators and owners*  The minds,

being cultural products and vital forces too, produce "objects" which

conform with the forms of belief*  The ability of the artist to

represent in art objects the forms of beliefs opens up an inquiry
into the interaction of Mmind" and "matter"•  In the African case,
the problem does not exist because there is no duality between mind

and matter*  Masks, images, art objects, ate* represent the forms

of experience reality*  In pursuit of this goal, the -artist explains

solely the essentials*  The essentials are not "style", "balance", etc.

but the belief which is general for the whole community, the belief

which unifies feelings, emotions, integrates all individuals and

elevates their minds and emotions to ideals even beyond conscious

understanding*  Even when the individual freely expresses himself

or herself in art or music, the general rule still prevails*  In

other words, individuals conform with the norms of their artistic

expressions within their groups or communities in spite of innovations.

Thus, the African pays more attention to the- form and nature of vital

force not to "material things" and their details.  African art as well

as aesthetics do not depend on the analysis of art objects into concepts,

theories, etc  suggested by the Western culture.  The nature and form

of the vital force determines the whole artistic expression*  The

study of individual artists the context of African community, general

beliefs, the world of aesthetic continuum would suggest that the

'individual lives and creates in an isolated world of his own.  In other

words, the personality of the artist is not as significant as the work

of art because the artist  is the  secretary  of his  community  —

the beliefs, mythology, religion, experience  of the people-  It

is not  the individuality  of the- artist but the universality  of

the belief  and  collective  soul that are vit.il in the  artistic

work*  Consequently,  an artist, is not questioned  whether  lie is

an expect or an authority  or not.  It is sufficient  to nay atten-

tion  to the religion, mythology, beliefs of  the people  and see

whether the norms, principles, customs, e tc  are embodied  in the

art work*  Consequently,  the essential  is the  content not the

analysis of the appearance  of art objects.  The  content  is not the

expression  or creation cf an individual but of the  collective

belief, experience and unconscious*  The reality  or  content is

collectively known*  The  artist expresses it according  to generally

accepted rules, words, rites, etc*  As a result, African art and

aesthetic are expressions  of profound  belief;; and  faith which are

enduring"  In spite of social  changes, the enduring; form -and quality

of .art remain because they stem from religion*  Beliefs .and ideas

rise aru.1 decay, but not  the  creative spirit which is religion.  It

is meaningless  to insist  that Africa has become "modern" or  to trace

African activities solely to Christian, Islamic and Western influences*

In reality, such influences have never aided the development  of African

art, religion, world-view, etc*

African  art is African religion.  It goes beyond  isolated  indivi-

duals, beyond  death, beyond what  eyes can only  see, to  capture the

vital force, a living reality, which  must be strengthened.  Thus,

African art is at the .service of life, not  only to unify  the whole

man with  collective life but to  create qualitative  enrichment  of life*

The African mind  penetrates into the mystery of  the universe with

imagination and  feels the vital presence  of the world  in  the  form of

myth.  As a result, African art symbolizes the mystery  of personally

experienced reality.  Ultimate reality is not grasped  by the external

senses but  symbolically and  imaginatively.  Art objects, therefore,

59

enable the African to perceive reality, a reality which is beyond
measurement, analysis and classification into its component.parts
• and sets of rules*  As personal reality, it can only be grasped in
the realm-of religion and of profound living*  Thus, one must feel
and sympathetically put oneself in the African cultural premise,
accept its concepts .and theories, and the; .way it generalizes its
activity'in order to grasp the nature of African cultural activities.
Art, therefore,'is essentially that of living meaningfully.and
significantly*  All vital activities are rhythmical because the
world of aesthetic continuum has rhythmical order.  Dancing, as
Leopold Senghor pointed out, is an act of creation, union, knowledge
and endurance*' 

: 

•

Art and music are the intensification of the human living, of

••;

ordered relationships", of human experience of a.living reality-  To
die in the Other so as to be reborn is an act of transcendence. 
To arrive at the eternal order of reality, a timeless region, the
power of symbolism is'essential*  Thus,"the symbolic act expresses
the inwardness of life hence the African artistic values spring from
the depth of the soul or vital-force.  In the timeless order, time
ceases to exist*  As*a result, the experienced reality absorbs the
African mind and integrates all individuals*  The African art.  .  •
expressed the unity of life-, environment^ constitutes the sources of
discipline; and touches on.all levels of r-eality.  Collective knowledge,
•expectations, hopes, fears, memory, conscience, etc. are embodied
by art and music.  This unity of life and purpose can only by symboli-
cally: expressed:. '  masks, ancestral figures, figurines, etc*  All

the,symbols; ambody the African belief about life, its process,
relationship,; order and transcendence*  They summarize African emotions,
thought^ perceptions, ideals*  Since African art touches on all African
activities •a*i&< are inseparable from life, one must not isolate .art
objects to define them in terms of aesthetic norms of technique, style,
etc*

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61

that is, on mutual exploitations of individuals*

Art is now a' commodity, a"value whose significance-depends

on money.  As a result, "art is robbed of vision and imagination

and no sooner is it produced than it grows old*  With no enduring

value and quality, people crave, for: the new,, novelty, believing

that the latest is the best*  Myths, community, life, etc* cannot

support culture any longer but museums*  Thus, all sources of

inspiration have dried*  Empirical facts replace'reflection*

Visual aid replaces imagination*  A community is the expression of

reality and all individuals live"and die in it*  Today, people live

and die lonely and in isolation*  Life is not a "good time" but the

supreme value and reality which require discipline, imagination,

insight and beliefs to live it meaningfully*  Without the unitary

view of life, the world and the eternal, the study of African art

will have no meaning*  All African cultural activities must be

approached as events in the world of aesthetic continuum and as

vital forces in constant interactions.  Art is religion and religion

in art*

REFERENCES

Fagg, Willian 

1967 

The Art of Central Africa:
Sculptures and Tribal Maska;
The Mew American Library,
New York*

1967 

The Art of Western Africa:
Sculptures and Tribal Masks;
Tudor Publishing Company,
New York*

~* 

1966 

African Tribal Sculptures,
(1) The Niger Basin Tribesj
Tudor Publishing Company,
New York*

fagg, William,

1966

Odita, E» Okechukwu,  ' 19?1

Parrinde'»  Geoffrey, 

.1967

African  Tribal__&^cul£tures,
T2)TheCongo  Basin  Tribes}
Tudor  Publishing  Company
New  York*

The  Ohio  State  University,
Columbus1  Ohio*

London*

CTj  Paul  Hamlyn,

Willett,  Frank, 

19?1

African  Art;  Thames  and  Hudson,
London*