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Most African sculpture was historically in wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than at most a few centuries ago; older pottery figures are found from a number of areas. Masks are important elements in the art of many peoples, along with human figures, often highly stylized. There is a vast variety of styles, often varying within the same context of origin depending on the use of the object, but wide regional trends are apparent; sculpture is most common among "groups of settled cultivators in the areas drained by the Niger and Congo rivers" in West Africa.〔Honour & Fleming, 557〕 Direct images of deities are relatively infrequent, but masks in particular are or were often made for religious ceremonies; today many are made for tourists as "airport art".〔Honour & Fleming, 559–561〕 African masks were an influence on European Modernist art, which was inspired by their lack of concern for naturalistic depiction. ==By region== The Nubian Kingdom of Kush in modern Sudan was in close and often hostile contact with Egypt, and produced monumental sculpture mostly derivative of styles to the north. In West Africa, the earliest known sculptures are from the Nok culture which thrived between 500 BC and 500 AD in modern Nigeria, with clay figures typically with elongated bodies and angular shapes.〔Breunig, P. 2015. (Nok. African Sculpture in Archaeological Context. ) Africa Magna, Frankfurt a. M.〕 Later West African cultures developed bronze casting for reliefs to decorate palaces like the famous Benin Bronzes, and very fine naturalistic royal heads from around the Yoruba town of Ife in terracotta and metal from the 12th–14th centuries. Akan goldweights are a form of small metal sculptures produced over the period 1400–1900, some apparently representing proverbs and so with a narrative element rare in African sculpture, and royal regalia included impressive gold sculptured elements.〔Honour & Fleming, 556–561〕 Many West African figures are used in religious rituals and are often coated with materials placed on them for ceremonial offerings. The Mande-speaking peoples of the same region make pieces of wood with broad, flat surfaces and arms and legs are shaped like cylinders. In Central Africa, however, the main distinguishing characteristics include heart-shaped faces that are curved inward and display patterns of circles and dots. Eastern Africans are not known for their sculpture,〔Honour & Fleming, 557〕 but one style from the region is pole sculptures, carved in human shapes and decorated with geometric forms, while the tops are carved with figures of animals, people, and various objects. These poles are, then, placed next to graves and are associated with death and the ancestral world. The culture known from Great Zimbabwe left more impressive buildings than sculpture but the eight soapstone Zimbabwe Birds appear to have had a special significance and were mounted on monoliths. Modern Zimbabwean sculptors in soapstone have achieved considerable international success. Southern Africa’s oldest known clay figures date from 400 to 600 AD and have cylindrical heads with a mixture of human and animal features. File:Nok sculpture Louvre 70-1998-11-1.jpg|Nok terracotta, 6th century BC–6th century CE File:Ife sculpture Inv.A96-1-4.jpg|Ife head, terracotta, probably 12–14th centuries CE File:Yoruba-bronze-head.jpg|Yoruba bronze head sculpture, Ife, Nigeria c. 12th century File:Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 29.JPG|Sculpture of a 'Queen Mother' from Benin, 16th century. File:African Art, Yombe sculpture, Louvre.jpg|Yombe-sculpture, 19th century File:Edo ivory mask 18472.jpg|16th century ivory mask from Benin File:Benin kingdom Louvre A97-4-1.jpg|One of the Benin Bronzes, 16th–18th century, Nigeria. File:Masque probablement Bobo-Burkina Faso (2).jpg|Mask from Burkina Faso, 19th century File:Statuette Mambia Nigéria.jpg|Mambila figure, Nigeria File:Waga 01.jpg|Waga sculptures from Ethiopia 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「African sculpture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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