African Art --

The arts and material culture of the African continent constitute one of the most diverse and innovative legacies on the planet. Though many casual observers tend to generalize traditional African art, the continent is actually full of a multitude of peoples, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual culture. African artists tend to favor three-dimensional artworks over two-dimensional works, as reflected in the prolific carvings from the tribal peoples. Even many African paintings or cloth works were meant to be experienced three-dimensionally. African artworks tend to favor visual abstraction over naturalistic representation, and carry a multiplicity of meaning, a fact that can be very confusing to many Western observers.