The Art of Africa

Discover the diverse arts of Africa from select cultures and time periods on the world’s second largest continent.

Benin ivory mask, HENI talks — […]

Benin ivory mask (Edo peoples)

Asafo flags - HENI talks — […]

Asafo Flags: Stitches Through Time

Seated Figure, terracotta, 13th century, Mali, Inland Niger Delta region, Djenné peoples, 25/4 x 29.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Lost History: the terracotta sculpture of Djenne ...

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Kente cloth

Origins of rock art in Africa — […]

Origins of rock art in Africa

Christian Ethiopian art — […]

Christian Ethiopian art

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African art and the effects of European ...

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The Reception of African Art in the ...

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Ere Ibeji Figures (Yoruba peoples)

Akua’ba Female Figure (Akan peoples) — […]

Akua’ba Female Figure (Akan peoples)

Map of North Africa — […]

About North Africa

Map of Southern Africa — […]

About Southern Africa

Map of Central Africa — […]

About Central Africa

About West Africa — […]

About West Africa

Map of East Africa — […]

About East Africa

Figure from a Reliquary Ensemble: Seated Female, 19th–early 20th century, Fang peoples, Okak group, Gabon or Equatorial Guinea, wood, metal, 64 x 20 x 16.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Western appreciation of African art

One figure from a Pair of Diviner's Figures, Côte d'Ivoire, central Côte d'Ivoire, Baule peoples, wood, pigment, beads and iron, 55.4 x 10.2 x 10.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Art and the individual

Headdress, 19th–20th century, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yaka peoples, wood, cane, raffia, pigment, 45.1 x 61 x 54.6 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Rites of passage

Head of an Oba, Nigeria, Court of Benin, 16th century, brass, 23.5 x 21.9 c 22.9 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Art and politics

Dogon Couple, 18th-early 19th century (Dogon peoples), Mali, wood and metal, 73 x 23.7 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — […]

Religion and the Spiritual Realm