Women and art in Africa: A historical view

Africa's art history provides examples of women who were artists, sources of inspiration for artists, patrons of the arts, and entrepreneurs who supported the arts. Several case studies highlight aspects of women's artistic practices on the African continent. The first investigates issues of identity tied to a female artist of the distant past, Helen of Alexandria. A second examines a depiction of Idia, the Iyoba of Benin, in a sixteenth-century artwork. The third, focused on a mask from a Mende community, examines female patronage. The last introduces Chief Afi Ekong, a major figure in midcentury Nigerian modernism, as a model for contemporary curators. A review of the media and techniques that have been associated with women emphasizes their contributions to African art and demonstrates that women in the past have laid the foundation for current artistic practices.