African Textiles (Artwork Review)

excepts from my homework aka a load of bs

...The figures on the piece are highly stylized; a strong sense of tribal culture is reflected by its simplified body rendering. Angular figures may look animated but textures of the clothing and animal furs are carefully depicted demonstrating the effort on observation. The amazing feature of the piece is that viewers can define the simplified figures as well as those from a Michelangelo’s and be led by the direct creativity into more of the artists’ spirit...

...There is no designer cutting and there are no lavishing adornments, the wrapper from Mali is improvised and spontaneous, embedded with some of the natural characteristics also found in other African art forms such as music...

Visual interpretations are sometimes not enough to better understand these foreign cultures. What we regard here in America as art may not be so in Africa, the defined social functions from their works may be lost if the works are merely displayed in exhibitions, the original context must be taken into consideration so as to truly appreciate these textiles. One will be surprised to find out the functions behind these beautifully produced textiles are to trivially serve as daily clothing, blankets, tent dividers, and even rugs. But art and lifestyle are not two separate entities in the African culture; the way they pursue life is already art.