Song and dance, for
example, were involved in the African's daily experience of work,
play, love, and worship. In sculpture, painting and pottery, the
African used his art to decorate the objects of his daily life
rather than to make art objects for their own sake. The African
could not have imagined going to an art gallery or to a musical
concert. Art was produced by artisans rather than by artists.
This meant that slave artisans in America could cotinue to
produce decorative work, and slave laborers in the field could
continue to sing. Art and life could still be combined, though
in a restricted manner.
However, while the African brought his feeling for art with him,
the content of his art was actually changed as the result of his
American slave experience. The dominant African arts were
sculpture, metal-working, and weaving. in America, the Afro-
American created song, dance, music, and, later, poetry. The skills
displayed in African art were technical, rigid, control
disciplined. They were characteristically sober, restrained and
heavily conventionalized.
In contrast, the Afro-American cultural spirit became
emotional, exuberant, and sentimental.
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