African art: traditions, artists and music

Art form

African masks

What African masks are for, how they are used in masquerade, and the best-known types, from Dogon, Bamana, Dan and Baule to Gelede, Punu, Chokwe and Kuba.

Textile tradition

Kente cloth

Ghana

Kente is the strip-woven cloth of Ghana's Asante and Ewe weavers. How it is made, what its colours and pattern names mean, and its UNESCO recognition in 2024.

Court art

Benin Bronzes

Nigeria

The Benin Bronzes: thousands of brass, bronze and ivory works from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, looted by British troops in 1897. Their history and return.

Textile tradition

Mudcloth (bogolan)

Mali

Bogolan, or mudcloth, is Mali's handmade cotton, dyed with leaves and painted with fermented mud. How it is made, what it meant, and how to spot the real thing.

Art form

African rock art

Africa holds some of the oldest rock art on Earth: the Blombos drawing, Apollo 11 Cave, Tassili n'Ajjer, San paintings, Twyfelfontein and Laas Geel.

Visual tradition

Adinkra symbols

Ghana

Adinkra are Akan symbols from Ghana, each tied to a proverb: Gye Nyame, Sankofa, Dwennimmen and more. What 20 common symbols mean and how adinkra cloth is made.

Sculptor

El Anatsui

Ghana · Nigeria · 1944–

Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui turns thousands of flattened bottle caps into shimmering metal "cloths". His life, his materials and where to see the work.

Painter

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Sudan · 1930–

Ibrahim El-Salahi fused Arabic calligraphy and African forms in the Khartoum School, drew his Prison Notebook in 1975–76 and had a Tate Modern retrospective.

Painter

Chéri Samba

DR Congo · 1956–

Chéri Samba started as a sign painter in Kinshasa and became one of Africa's best-known artists, with comic-strip paintings full of text, humour and politics.

Photographer

Malick Sidibé

Mali · 1935–2016

Malick Sidibé photographed the parties, fashion and freedom of 1960s Bamako. The first photographer to win a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (2007).

Painter

Esther Mahlangu

South Africa · 1935–

Esther Mahlangu took Ndebele wall painting from her village to Paris, a BMW Art Car and the world's museums. Her life, her technique and her legacy.

Painter

Farid Belkahia

Morocco · 1934–2014

Farid Belkahia (1934–2014) led the Casablanca art school, painted with henna on stretched leather and helped give Moroccan modern art its own materials.

National museum

Nigerian National Museum

Nigeria · 1957

The National Museum in Lagos, opened in 1957: Nok terracottas, Ife heads, Benin bronzes and Ben Enwonwu's Anyanwu at the entrance. History and visit.

National museum

Benin City National Museum

Nigeria · 1973

The national museum on King's Square in Benin City, opened in 1973: bronzes, terracottas and cast iron of the Kingdom of Benin, and the return of looted works.

National museum

National Museum of Ghana

Ghana · 1957

Ghana's National Museum in Accra opened the day before independence in 1957. Its domed building, its collections, and its reopening in 2022.

National museum

National Museum of Ethiopia

Ethiopia · 1958

The National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa: Lucy and Selam, archaeology from Aksum, and Ethiopian painting from early parchment to Afewerk Tekle.

National museum

National Museum of Mali

Mali · 1953

The National Museum of Mali in Bamako, founded in 1953: archaeology, ritual art and textiles, a home of the Bamako photography biennale, and a park beside it.

Museum of African art

Théodore Monod Museum

Senegal · 1936

Dakar's IFAN museum, now named after Théodore Monod: about 10,000 masks, figures, textiles and objects from West Africa, on Place Soweto. History and visit.

Art movement

Zaria Art Society

Nigeria · 1958–1962

In 1958 art students in Zaria rebelled against a colonial curriculum and founded the Zaria Art Society. How "natural synthesis" shaped modern Nigerian art.

Art movement

Khartoum School

Sudan · 1960–1975

Founded around 1960 by Ibrahim El-Salahi, Ahmed Shibrain and Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq, the Khartoum School merged Arabic calligraphy with African forms.

Art movement

Casablanca School

Morocco · 1962–1974

From 1962 Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Melehi and Mohamed Chabâa turned Casablanca's art school into a lab for modern art built from Moroccan crafts and signs.

Music genre

Afrobeat

Nigeria · 1970s–

Afrobeat is the long, political, horn-driven music Fela Kuti and Tony Allen created in 1970s Lagos. Its sound, its history and how it differs from Afrobeats.

Music genre

Amapiano

South Africa · 2012–

Amapiano grew out of South Africa's townships around 2012: deep house, jazzy piano and the booming log drum. Its origins, its stars and its global spread.

Music genre

Congolese rumba

DR Congo · Republic of the Congo · 1940s–

Born in 1940s Kinshasa and Brazzaville, Congolese rumba gave Africa Franco, Tabu Ley and Papa Wemba. UNESCO inscribed it as world heritage in 2021.

Music genre

Raï

Algeria · 1920s–

Raï began as rural song around Oran, became the pop of Cheb Khaled and Cheb Mami, and was inscribed by UNESCO as Algeria's popular folk song in 2022.

Music genre

Morna

Cabo Verde · 19th c.–

Morna is Cabo Verde's slow, melancholy song of sodade, made famous by Cesária Évora. Its poets, instruments and UNESCO recognition in 2019.

Music genre

Highlife

Ghana · Nigeria · 1920s–

Highlife grew from Ghana's dance bands and palm-wine guitarists into West Africa's first great pop music. E.T. Mensah, its styles, and its children.

Guide

History of African art

African art from the 73,000-year-old Blombos drawing to Nok, Ife and Benin, masks and textiles, modernist schools and today's artists: a short, linked history.

Guide

Contemporary African art

What contemporary African art is, the exhibitions and curators that put it on the world stage, the artists to know, and the museums and fairs that show it.

Guide

African women artists

Fourteen women artists from Africa who shaped modern and contemporary art, from Baya, Ladi Kwali and Inji Efflatoun to Wangechi Mutu and Zanele Muholi.

Guide

How to buy African art

A practical guide to buying African art: contemporary versus historical works, where to buy, documents to ask for, how fakes work and export rules.

Guide

African art fairs and biennales

The main fairs and biennales for contemporary African art: Dak'Art, the Rencontres de Bamako, 1-54, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, FNB Art Joburg and ART X Lagos.

Guide

Where to see African art

Museums for modern, contemporary and historical African art — from Zeitz MOCAA and the Museum of Black Civilisations to the Smithsonian and Tervuren.

Guide

The Bang-Bang Club

South Africa · 1990–1994

The Bang-Bang Club, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek, Greg Marinovich and João Silva, photographed South Africa's township war of 1990–94. Their story, its cost.