Western and African Art Response Term Paper

Response 2

It is true that African art seems to show greater respect for cultural tradition than Western art. In the West, if someone wants to say that they are not an artist, often they say 'I'm not creative.' Innovation rather than replication is valued. But in Africa, if someone was frustrated with a work of art they were attempting to create, the African would likely be upset at the work's lack of resemblance to previous pieces of art. African art is about perfecting a craft and a technique to make something with a societal purpose, like the Ngady Mwaash mask, which is used in a religious ritual, not as an object to be admired in a museum.African art makes no distinction between art and crafts, as is common in Western culture. Arts and crafts are synonymous. In Africa, a practical craft like a piece of pottery designed to hold water can have artistic value in the terms of the society. A mask which might simply be decorative in the West is a useful part of the tribe's ritual language......