My idea of African art was a very basic perception of the disproportionate features of the human to their actual body size. I would remember briefly seeing heads far too small for their bodies and breasts far too large for the woman. That was merely how I remembered African art and our trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a great way for me to rediscover and understand the meaning behind the art. It served as an opportunity for me to realize that there is so much more to it than disproportionate subjects.
Our entrance into the exhibit led to a sharp understanding of what encompassed African art. It displayed the focus on specific features and aspects of life that made the pieces more appealing, and explained my previous perception of disproportionate body parts. Some pieces would have a strong emphasis on the teeth, by pushing out the jaw and creating a deep imprint around each individual tooth.
One piece that stood out to me was the Maiden Mask. As I previously mentioned, it too put an emphasis on the teeth and pushed out the jaw, however, there was so much more to its beauty. The elongated nose created a sleek feeling to it, adding some contemporary beauty, which appeals to the modern taste. There were essentially two main colors on the mask: beige and brown. Both match well and were used to appeal aesthetically. Though the main highlight of the Maiden Mask was on the elegant and intricately made headwear. The mask was a representation of woman, yet men wore it to dance with. The headwear held small little containers, which in my opinion stand as symbols of water containers which women used to carry on their heads (the museums text didn’t specify). It was so well made that when I reminded myself it was from a far older era, in a place with scarce resources, I was left speechless.
Credits to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
After the African exhibit we went directly to the Matisse exhibit. In all honesty, I have never been a fan of French art, or European paintings in general. I see people look into the subjects and I feel sometimes they look too far and misinterpret something which should just be appreciated at face value. Now that I have made my confession, it will allow me to better explain how I saw Matisse’s work. The pieces were great, not because of the subject matter, but because of the technique. I can’t even recall some of the subjects which he attempted to portray, but the way the colors were used is still fresh in my mind. It was different from other artists, because he painted each color as a dot and constantly pressed them around the painting, making it seem as a constant stroke from far. I saw the genius when he would place colors side by side to create the illusion of another color. The work was interesting to me because I truly hadn’t seen anything like it and I wondered how revolutionary it must have been for his time. Below is an example of the style which I was referring to:
Credits to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
