AP® Art History—Semester B

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 10.03: Stone Houses, Wooden Posts, & Brass Plaques

You know you've made some bad choices when your foreign policy can be summed up with an image of a guy sporting a hitlerstache and gleefully straddling an African map.
(Source)

When you think of the striking manmade structures of Africa, you probably think of the great pyramids of Egypt. And while these buildings are certainly African in terms of geography and style, they by themselves don't do justice to the range of art and architecture exhibited by the continent at large. Not only is Africa gigantic, but it was also populated through the centuries by a variety of ethnic groups, each of which had its own distinct forms of art and architecture, according to what the area it inhabited had to offer, and the demands of its culture.

For example, the Kalabari Ijaw people of modern-day Nigeria were hunters and fishers who used local woods and fibers to create ancestor shrines that honored the role that fishing and trading played in their lives. Meanwhile, the San people of Namibia and Botswana created rock paintings depicting hunting and other elements of their daily life. Still other groups, like the Senufo people of present-day Ivory Coast, carved wooden masks to be worn by dancers at important social functions such as initiation rites and funerals.

In case you don't have the locations of all 54 African countries (or 55, depending on who you ask) memorized, and are having trouble keeping track of all the names we're throwing at you, keep this map on hand as we explore the wonderful world of Nigerian sculpture, a palace in the old kingdom of Benin (found in modern Nigeria, actually, and not in the modern Republic of Benin—just in case you were starting to feel a little less confused), and the ruins of a city in Zimbabwe. All of that and more comin' right up.

According to legend, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, located in what is southeastern Zimbabwe today, was the capital of the Queen of Sheba. At least that's what Portuguese traders believed when they first encountered it; other Europeans thought it to be of Egyptian or even Phoenician origin until two British archaeologists verified in the early 20th century that it was, indeed, of African origin.

Unfortunately, Great Zimbabwe is not the only African structure to be surrounded by controversy and instances of mistaken (or not-so-mistaken) identity. For too many years, the visiting Europeans simply refused to believe that anyone other than fellow Europeans could ever create something so cool. Sorry, Europeans-of-old. You don't get a cookie for close-mindedness.

Our next stop after the Great Zimbabwe will be the Oba's (King's) Palace of Benin (again, old Benin, not new Benin…we know, we know, it's tricky), which is cool because, besides being a palace, it was decorated with nearly a thousand wall plaques depicting various elements of life from the 16th century. Many of these plaques show off the Oba and his vast amounts of wealth, as well as the status he gained from being heavily involved in trade with the Europeans (who, of course, assumed that the plaques were European-made. #thatssoeurope)

Lastly, we'll head on over to another part of Nigeria to look at a much more modern piece of artwork—a 20th century veranda post from the palace of the ogoga (king) of Ikere in the Ekiti region. The mastermind behind this sculpture is renowned Yoruba artist Olowe of Ise. Remember that name, because we won't be encountering a lot of specific artist names over the course of the unit—that's because African art has been traditionally collected by people from outside of Africa (mostly Europeans), and many of these collectors didn't bother learning the names of individual artists, attributing their artistry more to their wider ethnic group. This doesn't mean that artistry wasn't a valued part of African culture—just that outside cultures were pretty ignorant of the actual ins-and-outs of African art and artistry. Boy, we do like the word "artistry" a lot.

Let's take a closer look at the art and architecture of each of these places, as well as the controversy surrounding them, because while "finders keepers" doesn't really work past the age of ten for most people, somehow that concept escaped many of the people involved in Africa's history.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 10.10.03: Trust Us, It's Not European

You've probably heard of the Great Wall of China, but have you ever heard of the Wall of Great Zimbabwe? Though not as old as the Great Wall of China (which was started in the 400s BC), the Wall of Great Zimbabwe was started in the 11th century and built over the next 300 years (i.e. not nearly as long as the 2,000 years it took to finish China's wall).

Check out the ruins of Great Zimbabwe here. Although they may not be much to look at now, they mark some pretty significant architectural design work, admired today for its fluid curves, and thought once to be of "mystical origins" by visiting Europeans in the 1800s (anything to avoid actually giving credit to kickbutt African artists, obvs). While some of the other structures we've seen so far are perhaps more impressive, one of Great Zimbabwe's buildings, appropriately named the Great Enclosure, is the tallest ancient structure of Southern Africa, coming in around 820 feet. Not too shabby.

The city of Great Zimbabwe was built by one of the many Bantu-speaking ethnic groups of Africa, on a site that had previously been home to their ancestors, the Shona, way back during the Iron Age. Btdubs, the word "Zimbabwe" roughly translates to "big house of stone" or "ruler's house." About 18,000 people lived in the city at its height—both filthy rich royals (thanks to nearby gold mines and ample trade with Europe), as well as the, well, not-royals.

For a long time, historians thought the city had been abandoned around 1450. Then a piece of Ming china dating from the end of the 15th century or early 16th century was discovered tucked into the wall of a mud hut. It all still remains a bit of a mystery since Portuguese traders had described the city as a ruin by the 1530s. So where'd that Ming china come from, huh?

Today, you can still see the ruins of some of the individual clay buildings that housed the city's people, making Great Zimbabwe an unusually large city for its area and time period. Here is a general idea of how the different sections of the city were laid out.

Great Walls

Now that you have an idea of the place as a whole, let's get back to that wall, which is one of two structures at the Great Zimbabwe site you'll need to know about for the AP test.

Circular wall of Great Zimbabwe, Outside View. Southeastern Zimbabwe. Shona peoples. c. 1000 – 1400 C.E. Coursed granite blocks.
(Source)

Here's a close-up image that might show up on the exam.

Here's the wall again from the inside, along with a look at the Conical Tower.
Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe, Inside View. Southeastern Zimbabwe. Shona peoples. c. 1000 – 1400 C.E. Coursed granite blocks.
(Source)

Here's the circular wall and conical tower again, from a different side.

The walls of Great Zimbabwe are notable first of all because they're made of granite taken from the nearby hillsides. No wonder archaeologists never find ancient weight rooms, because that's a whole lot of heavy lifting. Now, you may be familiar with granite on your kitchen countertops or from bad puns on Disneyland's Jungle Cruise like "the tribesmen took it for gran-ite" (oof), but you may not know that granite splits easily into shapes that can then be fitted together like a gigantic, ridiculously heavy puzzle.

Even though the walls of Great Zimbabwe didn't have any kind of mortar or adhesive to hold the pieces of granite together, the Big Bad Wolf would still have a hard time blowing this house down—the granite pieces were fitted together into a sloping wall that provides stability; the wall even incorporated existing natural features like other big rocks.

For a while, some historians thought that the walls, over 30 feet high in some places, were built for defense. This theory doesn't really hold up any more, though (unlike the walls—ba dum cha), since even though these walls are pretty study, a lack of mortar suggests that they weren't made for defense. Plus, there are some stylized gaps in the wall that definitely wouldn't make for good defense, either, so most historians today believe the wall was more of a status and power symbol.

Cool Tower, Bro

Part of the status of the Great Zimbabwe site, even today, is that nowhere else on the continent do buildings like this exist. The Great Enclosure, which is built entirely of granite, just like the walls, is also entirely circular. In fact, the whole place takes advantage of curves rather than straight lines, marking the craftsmanship and construction methods as unique to this site. Of particular note is the conical tower within the Great Enclosure. Here's a close-up:

Feeling Small.
Conical tower of Great Zimbabwe. Southeastern Zimbabwe. Shona peoples. c. 1000–1400 C.E. Coursed granite blocks.
(Source)

This tower, which stands within the Great Enclosure, is thought to have been a granary (that's just a fancy word for a building used to store grain, btdubs). Seems like a lot of work just to build a place to hold wheat, but there was some symbolism to the building, too, in that the ruler would give out grain to his people as a sign of his generosity, and as a symbol of his protection over them.

To see a few more images of this unique site, check out this CNN article and scroll through the slideshow at the top of the page. You can also go back to the UNESCO site you checked out earlier. The images should mean more to you now that you have some background; there's also some pretty good info in there about why the place was made a National Monument, if you're curious.

In any case, the ruins are significant today as a testament to Africa's struggle for identity and recognition within the artistic (and political) world. Following in the tradition of early explorers, who were convinced that Great Zimbabwe was actually built by Europeans, the Rhodesian government as late as the 1980s tried to suppress the fact that these awesome ruins were once a thriving African trade center. C'mon, people—give credit where it's due.

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you may recognize the term Rhodesian from the "Rhodesian Ridgeback," which, to our knowledge didn't actually exist (sadface). But Rhodesia did. Sort of. It was an unrecognized republic from about 1965 – 1979 created when a British guy named Cecil Rhodes decided to continue Britain's colonization of Africa. (Ever heard of the prestigious Rhodes scholarship? Yep, it's named for this guy, and is actually the source of a bit of a controversy considering what a white supremacist Rhodes was.)

Despite the Rhodesian government's best efforts, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1986, a testament to its cultural, archaeological, and social significance. For more deets on the sordid history of all the people who "discovered" Great Zimbabwe, check out this PBS article. As you read, consider: what's the significance of this archaeological site being shrouded in racism? What about the attempts to subvert its identity and origins?

Now, go ahead and crack open your textbook to page 548, and read through page 550 about the architecture and art that make Great Zimbabwe a big deal. Pay special attention to the function of the Great Enclosure and the Conical Tower:

• Why were they built?
• What purposes did they serve?
• Why were they essential to the city and its people?

Before we move on to the kingdom of Benin, Shmoop wants to take you a little bit deeper into the eight soapstone birds that were discovered among the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.

Carved from gray-green soapstone, each bird is just around a foot tall, and is perched at the end of a pillar about a yard or so tall. Three of the birds have their wings wrapped around them, and five of them have wings folded back over a sloped body. Ornithologists (read: people who study birds) agree that all eight represent birds of prey, and they're often thought to represent the bateleur eagle. This part is up for dispute, though, because ornithologists like to argue.

Since the birds incorporate human features as well, some historians believe we can't tell exactly what kinds of birds they are. Nevertheless, these birds are now represented on Zimbabwe's flag, demonstrating the importance of this site to the people of Zimbabwe, even today.

Ever Been In Benin?

The kingdom of Benin was a major powerhouse for the Edo peoples of western Africa for several hundred years, up until the end of the 1800s when the British wanted more trade and got tired of having to compete for it. The result? The British Punitive Expedition of 1897, when the British invaded Benin, kidnapped the oba (king), destroyed the palace, and stole most of its artifacts, effectively ending the kingdom formerly known as Benin. (By the way, the oba's son managed to kick-start the kingdom again in 1914; though he was still under British rule, he was able to revive some of the old ways of life.)

Our focus, naturally, is on some of the artwork—a collection of over nine hundred brass plaques that decorated the Oba's Palace before being stolen away by the British placed in a variety of museums throughout the world. Although the Oba's Palace is now known primarily for these plaques, at the time it was considered a sacred place because it housed generations of Benin rulers, the first of whom was descended from a guy named Oronmiyan.

17th century Dutch geographer Olfert Dapper, in an early account of the palace, wrote:

"It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries…resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles."
(Source)

While the wall and artwork of Great Zimbabwe were created entirely from indigenous building materials, the 16th century plaques that make famous the Oba's Palace in Benin were crafted from what were originally brass bracelets called manila brought by the Portuguese traders and used as money in the slave trade (shown here with a foreign trader in one of the plaques). This was Benin's first exposure to brass, and the nation's artists quickly found a way to put it to good use. By the way, these plaques are often erroneously referred to as "Benin bronze," but as your chemistry buff friends will tell you, bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, while brass is actually an alloy of copper and zinc. Womp womp.

Anyway, the technique of sculpting these brass plaques involved a process known as the "lost wax casting" method. In this method, an artist makes a version of the plaque using wax. The wax is then covered with clay and fired, so that the clay hardens. At this point, the wax of course melts away, and a mold is left into which molten brass can be poured to create the final plaque.

Because this was a technique popular in Europe until the 19th century—and because they like to take credit where credit is not due—the Europeans assumed they were the only ones who knew this method. This error in thinking led them to assume that the Oba's plaques were European in origin. Booo.

Take a look at a few more of the plaques here. You'll see that they depict a number of different figures and creatures: the Portuguese traders (to show the wealth and status Benin gained through trading), Mudfish (critters that can live both on land and sea, demonstrating the Oba's mastery over both), and Leopards (they were sort of the Oba's unofficial mascot, since most of Benin—and therefore the Oba's domain—used to be tropical forest). Nowhere, however, will you see any women depicted—or children, for that matter—which is pretty unfair, but hey, them's the times.

In fact, you'll pretty much just see the Oba and what's going on with him. Unlike other cultures that would depict the day-to-day in their artwork (like the San people we mentioned in this unit's intro), these plaques thoroughly neglect to mention any of the craftsmen, artisans, or farmers who really made the kingdom run. Now, what does that say about the Oba and his priorities?

One plaque of particular note to AP Art History students everywhere depicts, you guessed it, the Oba, and is generally (but not always) referred to as Equestrian Oba and Attendants. Here are a couple of images you'll need to be able to identify on the exam, along with the full citation:

Wall plaque, from Oba's palace. Edo peoples, Benin (Nigeria). 16th century C.E. Cast brass
Here's a contextual photograph, depicting a recent Oba of Benin. Y'know, an actual oba, not an oba plaque.

Read a bit about the wall plaque here. Specifically, scroll down past the Ivory Mask to "Royal History Rendered in Brass" and read through the end of the page. As you read, consider the following questions.

• Have we encountered any other examples of "hierarchic scale" (a.k.a. "hieratic scale") in our course so far? If so, where? What artists have used it and why?
• This plaque was one of nine hundred-ish found, so which is it of particular significance? What does it shows us about this culture, and how does the artist create the piece to show this?

Next, head on over to Gardner's to read up more on these plaques, as well as a few other African sculptures that use the lost wax method. Read pages 539 – 547, up to "Djenné and Lalibela," which you already read last lesson. While you read, consider the following questions:

• What other sculptures using the lost wax method have been found in Africa? When were they found, and how are they similar to/different from the brass plaques from Oba's palace?
• What do these similarities/differences reveal about the different ethnic groups responsible for these works, and their respective beliefs and customs?
• Why do you think art and leadership had such a strong relationship in African cultures?
• What formal principles characterized art depicting African leaders/rulers, and what set them apart from the arts of ordinary Africans?
• How are leaders' arts in a centralized society like the Benin kingdom different from/similar to leaders' arts in less centralized communities?
• What role did royal portraits serve in these cultures? What connections can we draw between these portraits and royal portraits in Western cultures?

Kick Back with an Iced Tea and Enjoy the Veranda

If we fast-forward a couple of hundred years, we'll find another palace in present-day Nigeria also decorated with sculptures honoring royal leaders. This palace is in Ikere, a small town that dates back to the 13th century, back when a second-born son usurped the Benin kingdom's throne and forced his older brother to leave and found the Ikere palace instead.

The palace and its politics were modeled after the Benin system, but the place never quite rose to the same kind of acclaim as the Oba's palace (probably because it didn't have any fancy plaques). Nevertheless, a set of original palace doors found its way into the British Museum (traded by the ogoga, or king, of Ikere for a throne), while a couple of sculptures remain significant to any study of African art.

Of special note among these sculptures is the Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife, created by Olowe of Ise, the most prominent Yoruba sculptor of the 20th century. He was so good, in fact, that oriki (Yoruba poems praising people) were written in his honor.

Check out an image of the Veranda post below, along with a full citation:

Veranda Post of Enthroned King and Senior Wife (Opo Ogoga). Olowe of Ise (Yoruba peoples). c. 1910 – 1914 C.E. Wood and pigment.

You'll see a warrior sitting on a small horse, holding a revolver and a spear. A woman kneels at the front of the base, flanked by two smaller attendants. Notice the proportions in the piece: the heads are disproportionately large and the eyes are wide, perhaps to symbolize awareness and control. Unlike many pieces we've seen where women are not depicted at all, in this sculpture, the woman is slightly larger than the warrior, demonstrating the importance her support is, and exhibiting the Yoruba belief that women should be honored for being the foundation of life.

For more details, read this quick description of the Veranda Post, which is one of four sculpted for the palace between 1910 – 1914. As you read, consider

• How does the ruler depicted in this piece compare to how the Oba is depicted in the plaques?
• What is emphasized in this post? What can we learn about the Yoruba people and their culture from this post?
• What is the purpose behind this post? Is it purely decorative, or does it have a symbolic purpose as well?
• Can you see any similarities between this post (in aesthetics or function) and the soapstone birds found in Great Zimbabwe? For example, how were the pieces sculpted, using what materials were available? How did the artist play with dimensioning, scale, and subject matter in order to get his point across? What is the point of each to its respective culture?
• How might this post still be significant today? How does this significance compare to that of the works found in Benin and Great Zimbabwe? Does the fact that the post is more modern make it more significant (or less because it has less history)?

Now that you have an overview of the post and have considered some of the important issues surrounding it, please head over to your textbook for your last bit of reading for this lesson.

Read pages 1127 – 1131, which will take you further in depth into this post as well as a few other wood sculptures venerating their artists' rulers. As always, here are some questions to keep you awake as you read:

• What are some examples of African pieces created to be emblems of leadership?
• Why were these pieces important?
• What role did women play in African art production? How might this be different than art production in other cultures you've learned about?

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 10.03a: Graphic Organizer Time

Phew. You just read a lot of information about three pretty different places at three different time periods, so there may be a few things that didn't quite stick. Unfortunately, since the AP test will be coming up in a few short months, we really do need you to keep all these deets firmly stored in your noggin. Thank goodness for graphic organizers to help you organize new information.

We have for you here a delightful graphic organizer that asks you to sift back through all the information you just gleaned about Great Zimbabwe, the Wall plaque from the Oba's Palace in Benin, and the Yoruba Veranda post by Olowe of Ise.

Take some time to fill it out thoroughly, and don't be afraid to go back and re-read whatever material you need to in order to cover all the parts. (Hint: Some of it does require you to make some educated inferences too, in which case the answer may not be spelled out for you on the page…sorry.)

Some key deets:

• We've put in some information in the graphic organizer already, to help you get started. You're welcome. Please use these deets as a model going forward.
• You'll find word counts/sentence counts for each section on the graphic organizer itself.
• When you're talking about one of the artworks, don't be afraid to talk about and draw connections to the wider set of artworks that the piece is a part of (if it is, in fact, a part of a wider set). E.g. the wall plaque from Oba's palace is one of many; the Veranda post is one of four).
• When you're talking about a broader artwork of piece of architecture that's made up of several key parts (e.g. a conical tower, a circular wall, some soapstone birds—you know what we're talking about), make sure to show some love to each of them.

Once you've completed the organizer, upload it below.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 10.03b: You Know the Drill

It's amazing how difficult MCQs can be, especially since the FRQs are what tend to strike fear into the hearts of AP Art students everywhere. Given, however, that Shmoop can barely decide between chocolate or vanilla ice cream (fine, we usually go chocolate…with extra chocolate sauce on top), maybe it makes sense after all that multiple choice is hard—especially since the test writers are trying to trick you.

Why don't we take a look at a sample MCQ, to help get you into the MCQ groove?

1. In Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew, the outstretched hand the figure on the right is paying homage to an iconic painting by

A. Giotto
B. Michelangelo
C. Leonardo
D. Raphael

The good news is that on the test, you may get an image of the painting to help you see the figure and hand in question. (The bad news is that on the test you may also need to identify the work and artist yourself. We're just helping you out here.)

So, let's take another look at this question:

1. In Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew, the outstretched hand the figure on the right is paying homage to an iconic painting by

Is the answer (A)? Nope. Taking a look at the image you'll see the figure pointing with a hand slightly curled under, which looks nothing like the stiff, rigid figures Giotto was painting in the 13th century.

Is it (B)? Well, the hand definitely reminds us of Adam's hand reaching for God painted on the Sistine Chapel. Hmmm, was that Michelangelo? We think so, but let's look at the other options to be sure.

Is it (C)? Don't think so. The main iconic paintings we can think of by Leonardo are the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, and neither have outstretched hands.

What about (D)? Same thing. Raphael had some iconic works like The School of Athens, but no famous hand there.

So we can rule out the rest, and arrive at the correct answer, (B). Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel almost a hundred years before Caravaggio (whose full name was Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, btdubs) honored the outstretched hand of Adam with his own version of an outstretched hand here.

On test day, use the process of elimination and walk through all possible answers. If you don't know the answer right away, you may be able to get there logically and methodically.

Got it? Head over to Shmoop's AP Art History Test Prep page to see how you do on Africa Drill 2.