Deck 29: Arts of Africa From the Sixteenth Century to the Present

Question 1

Nankani women decorate their adobe architecture with horizontal molded ridges, called yidoor, expressing

A) cultural identity.
B) good wishes for the family.
C) the family's wealth.
D) solidarity in the community.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In the Sakalava language, what does hazo mean?

A) house
B) idol
C) wood
D) blue

Answer 2

C

Question 3

How can the ndop of Mishe miShyaang maMbul be identified?

A) his mouth
B) his forehead
C) his hand
D) his dress

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Until the kings of the Asante were forced into power sharing with the British beginning in the mid-1800s, they ruled from their capital city of

A) Kumasi.
B) Nsheng.
C) Benin.
D) Sirigu.

Question 5

What did European traders look to in the nineteenth century after the trade in human slaves became less profitable and less accepted?

A) traditional sculpture
B) natural resources
C) kente cloth
D) industrial products

Question 6

Which of the following movements arose across Africa after World War I?

A) feminist
B) religious
C) Marxist
D) nationalist

Question 7

Who sacked and burned the Benin Royal Palace in 1897?

A) the Portuguese
B) the British
C) the Swiss
D) the Russians

Question 8

Why is the display of African art in museums problematic?

A) According to tradition, many masks should not be viewed by outsiders.
B) Their full meaning can only be understood in the context of ritual performance.
C) Most masks are made of ephemeral materials and deteriorate rapidly.
D) The works are supposed to be ritually destroyed or disassembled.

Question 9

What does Tshibumba Kanda Matulu use in his painting Tombeau Sans Cercueil (Tomb without a Coffin) (Fig. 29-22) that embodies his African roots?

A) linear perspective
B) hierarchical scale
C) textural variety
D) traditional media

Question 10

Which statement applies to the kente cloth produced by the Asante culture?

A) It is a modern tradition in the culture.
B) It was originally used for trade.
C) It was traditionally woven by males.
D) It is made entirely of gold.

Question 11

The Yoruba Palace Door by Olowe of Ise (Fig. 29-8) depicts

A) a common Yoruba initiation ritual.
B) the king receiving a colonial administrator.
C) portraits of the royal family.
D) the creation story of the Yoruba people.

Question 12

What do the bent knees of the nkisi nkonde suggest?

A) alertness
B) power
C) athleticism
D) fearfulness

Question 13

What media allowed African artists to reclaim their own image from the colonial gaze?

A) collage
B) installation
C) painting
D) photography

Question 14

One aspect of the Bwa initiation ceremony includes instructing the initiates about the world of

A) written history.
B) nature
C) economics.
D) politics.

Question 15

African artists aimed to make their objects convey

A) realistic figures.
B) the intangible.
C) the natural world.
D) colonial themes.

Question 16

What was the last country to be freed from colonial rule?

A) Djibouti
B) Seychelles
C) Angola
D) Ghana

Question 17

Which of the following applies to the black sowei masks worn in Sande initiation rites?

A) It is worn by the initiates as a sign of their transformation.
B) It symbolizes the ideal of masculine beauty in the culture.
C) It is worn by the person responsible for preparing girls for adulthood.
D) It compares the transformation to womanhood to slavery and servitude. .

Question 18

Yoruba palaces had elaborately decorated

A) lintels.
B) cantilevering.
C) corbelling.
D) woodcarvings.

Question 19

Who succeeded the self-proclaimed Bamum king Njoya after his exile by the French?

A) his uncle
B) his brother
C) his wife
D) his son

Question 20

The stillness and pose of the Blolo Bla (Female Spirit Spouse) (Fig. 29-13) suggest that the woman is capable of

A) being rational.
B) reaching the afterlife.
C) expressing remorse.
D) living piously.

Question 21

What culture informs the work of Wangechi Mutu in Le Noble Sauvage (Fig. 29-24)?

A) Egyptian
B) Greek
C) British
D) American

Question 22

Discuss Amir Nour's work Grazing at Shendi (Fig. 29-1) in terms of form, iconography, and style.

Question 23

The Fang people use what type of wooden sculpture as a point of mediation between ancestors and the living?

A) temple shaman
B) twin figure
C) tomb guardian
D) reliquary guardian

Question 24

What significance do Bwa masks have in African art?

Question 25

How were the earliest collections of African art displayed?

Question 26

How has photography and new media influenced African artists?

Question 27

How is modernity defined on the African continent, and what has it meant for the arts there?

Question 28

How does Yinka Shonibare MBE combine European and African imagery into his work Scramble for Africa (Fig. 29-25)?

Question 29

The work of Zanele Muholi has always been part of her political activism, geared toward raising awareness of

A) education reform.
B) global warming.
C) civil rights.
D) animal rights.

Question 30

Describe the aesthetic qualities of Seydou Keïta's photographs.

Question 31

What qualities of Lidded Vessel (Fig. 29-11) seem to be inspired by the burgeoning trade with Europe?

Question 32

Discuss the prominence of the wood figure in African art and its relationship to power. Provide examples.

Question 33

What does the man in Aimé Mpane's Congo: Shadow of a Shadow (Fig. 29-23) personify?

A) the museum
B) the spirit world
C) the colonialists
D) the country

Question 34

How did the women of the Sande society in London adjudicate the Sowei Mask from the Sherbro District (Fig. 29-16) from its colonial history?

A) They named it.
B) They burned it.
C) They cleaned it.
D) They transported it.

Question 35

How does traditional African art differ from Western art of the nineteenth century?

Question 36

How does African art portray the spirits of community leaders and others?

Question 37

How are Nankani adobe homes made?

Question 38

How is contemporary African art different than tradition-based African art?

Question 39

What was the Berlin Conference?