Wednesday Edition

To embark on a journey through the world of African portrait art is to agree to set aside a familiar map. The Western definition of a portrait, honed over centuries of humanism and realism, has taught us to look for a likeness—a recognisable, faithful depiction of an individual’s physical features. It is a tradition that prizes the artist’s ability to capture a fleeting expression, the precise curve of a lip, the unique geography of a face. But to apply this single lens to the vast and varied artistic traditions of the African continent is to miss the point entirely. African portraiture, in its most profound and enduring forms, is not primarily about what a person looks like; it is about who and what they are.

From the inky blackness of a pharaoh’s tomb to the shimmering glow of a modern storefront, the allure of gold is elemental and eternal. It is a material that is both incorruptibly permanent and infinitely malleable, capable of being hammered into sheets so thin they become translucent.1 This unique duality has captivated humanity for millennia, making gold not just a measure of wealth, but a medium of meaning. Its application in art, a practice spanning thousands of years, tells a story of devotion, power, innovation, and beauty.

Foundations – Defining and Understanding African Art

Introduction: Beyond a Single Story

To speak of “African art” is to invoke a concept of breathtaking complexity and profound diversity. It is a term that attempts to contain the artistic expressions of a continent with over 50 nations, thousands of distinct cultures, and a history of human creativity stretching back to the very dawn of our species. The pervasive, often colonial-era notion of a single, monolithic “African art”—typically imagined as a collection of “tribal” masks and sculptures—is not just a simplification; it is a fundamental misreading of one of the world’s richest and most varied artistic legacies. The art of Africa is not one story, but a library of them, written in wood, stone, metal, clay, fibre, and pigment.

Calligraphy, More Than Just Beautiful Writing

In our fast-paced, digital age, where communication is instantaneous and fonts are uniform, the act of creating something beautiful by hand feels profound, almost rebellious. To sit down with pen, ink, and paper is to engage in a slow, deliberate practice that connects us to centuries of human history. This practice, in its most refined form, is calligraphy. But what is the enduring appeal of this ancient art?

Patachitra, a term derived from the Sanskrit words ‘Patta’ meaning cloth and ‘Chitra’ signifying an image, picture, or painting, represents far more than its literal translation of “cloth-picture”. It is a generalised term for a venerable style of cloth-based scroll painting, an art form that transcends mere decoration to become a powerful medium for storytelling. This ancient narrative art, particularly vibrant in the eastern Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal, has historically served as a visual accompaniment to sung performances, especially in the Bengali tradition.

Paubha: A Sacred Canvas of the Kathmandu Valley

A. Defining Paubha: More Than Just a Painting

Paubhā (Devanagari: पौभा) is a traditional form of religious painting created by the Newar people of Nepal, indigenous to the historic Kathmandu Valley. These intricate artworks typically depict deities, mandalas, or sacred monuments and are primarily intended to aid practitioners in their meditation and spiritual observances. The very name “Paubhā” is believed to be a derivative of the Sanskrit term ‘Patrabhattaraka,’ where ‘Patra’ signifies sheets or paper, and ‘Bhattaraka’ represents gods and goddesses. Together, this translates to “divine in flat form,” underscoring the profound belief that these paintings are not mere representations but are imbued with the sacred presence of the depicted divinities. This etymology offers a direct window into the core function and esteemed status of Paubha: it is conceived as a tangible manifestation of the divine on a two-dimensional plane, transforming the artwork into a holy object in its own right.