Early African Art in Terracotta
Seated Terracotta Figure from a Middle Niger Civilisation. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The early history of Africa is written in terracotta. Clay was once the chosen element employed to shape countless expressions, which are known to us today as the oldest forms of art in Africa.
The use of metals would incite the greed of the smelters who've melted and transformed it. The use of wood would inevitably fall under the pray of termites. Therefore, clay or terracotta, given its low value, was employed on various occasions.
Additionally, clay offered the advantage of being shaped directly by the hands of artists, without the need for extra equipment. As for its cooking, the technique of making pottery for daily use existed in Africa for millennia.
Some terracotta artworks would be left out to dry with the sunlight, while others would be boiled in the ashes of an open oven, at about 300ºC, or at even higher temperatures as a means for creating more resistant figures.
Memories of the Nok Region
As far as we know today, the terracotta figures found near the territory of the Nok, in central Nigeria, are one of the oldest, being dated according to thermoluminescence studies between 500 b. C. and 500 a. C.
Head of Jemaa from Terracotta, 500 b. C. National Museum Lagos.
The artists who worked in the territory of Nok used the same material for their sculpted figures as for their kitchen utensils, the timeless coarse-grained clay.
Some of these artworks could reach up to 1,20 meters, signaling a magistral dominance of the molding and open-air cooking techniques. Many of the sculpted figures are hollow, for which the artist had to sustain the same thickness throughout the figure and empty the parts that perhaps exploded while exposed to heat.
The technical competency, as well as the stylistic dominance, discerned in these artworks, motivates us to believe that the art proceeding from the Nok region represents the early unfolding of a vast artistic tradition in Africa.
In no form or shape does one observe discrepancies. This suggests that the art from the Nok region had an articulately defined identity.
Similar to the Head of Jemaa above, the pupils are often deeply pierced, as were the holes in the nose, the ears, and in instances, the mouth. The lips were well delineated, by an upper lip that closely reached the bottom of the nose. The expression of the whole was quite lively, all the more so since even the hairstyle was faithfully reproduced.
The taste for adornments among the groups inhabiting the region of Nok is indisputable. Some of the statuettes found, depicted small characters that literally crawled under the weight of necklaces and bracelets. Surprisingly, along with them have been found hundreds of quartz beads and other materials from which these adornments were made.
Elephant Head from Terracotta. Photographed by Dirk Bakker at the National Museum Lagos.
While most of the artworks closely resembled reality as far as their form goes, others appeared as if submitted to austere geometrical schemes, based on spheres, cylinders, and cones. The motive for these transformations remains unknown.
Either way, it cannot be due to incompetence, since the artworks of animal heads found in the Nok region demonstrate that the sculptors were capable of creating completely realistic depictions that evoke life.
The reason behind these contrasts could be hypothesized as respective to existing religious traditions in the region.
Some researchers believe that these stylistic variations were due to the fear carried by certain artists, of being accused of sorcery if they created totally realistic human figures. Similarly, others have stated that certain animals were reproduced with greater accuracy because they formed part of the traditional symbols of the community.
During the first millennia after the death of Christ, the art of Nok began to decline, nevertheless the tradition had its continuity. By observing the art of latter groups in the region, such as the Ifé, a group that has given the world some of the most beautiful and early creations of antique Africa, the Nok people contributions remain divine.