Australian Aboriginal Art

Who are the Aborigines?• Aborigine means “native”

• Original people of Australia• Traveled in canoes from SE Asia

• Lived there at least 40,000 years as the only people

• Developed unique beliefs about creation• Survived as hunters and observers

What is Aboriginal Art?

• Last traditional art form to be appreciated • To understand Aboriginal Art we first need

to learn about Dreamtime• Dreamtime

• Art is a way to stay in touch with their ancestry and be a part of the natural world

• Passed down through generations by word of mouth

•Artworks depict deep meaning told through dreamtime stories

• Basis of value and belief system, affects their interaction with the land and animals• Land is sacred because it contains their

heritage, history, and powerful ancestors or spirits

Dreamtime Stories

• Unique subject matter and style• Rock paintings, bark paintings, sand (or dot

paintings), and body decoration• Brushes

• fingers or sticks to paint • Used natural ochers (minerals) or clay

• charcoal

How did Aboriginals create art?

Aboriginal Rock Art

• Longest continuously practiced artistic

tradition in the world. • Ubirr, located in North

Australia, has very impressive rock

paintings.

"One old man in Arnhem Land remembered being carried as a child on his father's shoulders as his father climbed up a log

leaning against a rock wall. His father then sprayed his hand

with red ochre against the rock, leaving a stencil he could

still recognize many years later. The main function of the stencils was to record people's presence and association with

a site."

• Developed around 2000 B.C.• Found in shallow caves or rock shelters particularly in Western and

Northern Australia• Simple exterior animal shapes that depict internal organs, bone structure

(ribs, back bone), or baby animal inside• Created by painting the animal’s silhouette in white and using red or

yellow for the inside

X-Ray Style Painting

Body Decoration• Traditional practice for ceremonies• Includes scarring, smeared clay or

ochres on face, wearing ornaments and headdress

• Deep spiritual significance• Geometric designs

• Use respected patterns of an ancestor to take on their living

appearance • Designs may also reflect their role

in the family or important role in their community

Early African ArtKORHOGO MUD CLOTH

PAINTING& other textile styles

What is KORHOGO?‘RITUAL and MAGIC’ are part of Korhogo . Fila is the name of the cloth that the Senufo people of Ivory Coast would wear for ‘protection’It is a white, hand-woven cotton on which black & gray drawings are painted with vegetable juices & mud.The clothing items are worn on certain days of the week.Part of the ritual would require the wearers to observe certain restrictions of food and other obligations.

Mud Cloth Fabric is…Made using ancient and extensive process. Fabric is all hand spun making individual cloth sheets Each strip of cloth is sewed together. Fabric is then dyed in tea made from the Bogalon tree found in Mali, West Africa. The tea acts as a fixative for mud painted designs that are hand painted, using specially prepared mud. Some designs are then bleached after the entire process is complete to give white designs. 

Ivory Coast in part of West Africa.

Korhogo is a village that is known for its weaving

and cloth designs

Korhogo weavers

Guro Shield MaskIvory Coast

Guro Tribe artifact

Rams head mounted on a concave shield.

The head is surmounted

with the usual abstract bird.

African Masks and Sculptures:

What similarities do you see?

Some Modern Artists Influenced by Africa:

-Pablo Picasso-Henri Matisse

-Maurice de Vlaminck-Amedeo Modigliani

-George Braque