African aesthetic
Encyclopedia
While the Africa
n continent is vast and its peoples diverse, certain standards of beauty and correctness in artistic expression and physical appearance are held in common among various African societies.
Taken collectively, these values and standards have been characterised as comprising a generally accepted African aesthetic.
professor Robert Farris Thompson
turns his attention to cool in both the African and African-American contexts:
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n continent is vast and its peoples diverse, certain standards of beauty and correctness in artistic expression and physical appearance are held in common among various African societies.
Taken collectively, these values and standards have been characterised as comprising a generally accepted African aesthetic.
Description
Susan Vogel from the New York Center for African Art described an "African aesthetic" in African artwork as having the following characteristics:- Resemblance to a human being
- Luminosity
- Self-composure
- Youthfulness
- Clarity of form and detail, complexity of composition, balance and symmetry, smoothness of finish
Cool
In African Art in Motion, African art scholar and YaleYALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
professor Robert Farris Thompson
Robert Farris Thompson
Robert Farris Thompson is the Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University....
turns his attention to cool in both the African and African-American contexts:
The mind of an elder within the body of the young is suggested by the striking African custom of dancing "hot" with a "cool" unsmiling face. This quality seems to have haunted Ten Rhyne at the CapeCape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
in 1673 and it struck the imagination of an early observer of strongly African-influenced dancing in LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in the early nineteenth century, who noted "thumping ecstasy" and "intense solemnity of mien." The mask of the cool, or facial serenity, has been noted at many points in Afro-American history:
It is interesting that what remains a spiritual principle in some parts of Africa and the rare African-influenced portions of the modern U.S.A., such as tidewaterTidewaterTidewater may refer to:*Tidewater , a geographic area of southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina*Tidewater , a company providing marine services to the offshore petroleum industry...
GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, becomes in the mainline Afro-AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
urban culture an element of contemporary street behavior:
NegroNegroThe word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
boys…have a 'cool' way of walking in which the upper trunk and pelvis rock fore and aft while the head remains stable with the eyes looking straight ahead. The…walk is quite slow, and the Negroes take it as a way of 'strutting' or 'showing off'....
The…cool style of male walking in the United States is called bopping…. Mystical coolness in Africa has changed in urban African-American assertions of independent power. But the functions, to heal and gather strength, partially remain. And the name cool [kule], remains. And the body is still played in two patterns, one stable, the other active, part energy and part mind.