Art, Painted houses of Africa

THE PAINTED HOUSES OF AFRICA

This is something I have had sat around on my hard drive in a half finished state for a month or so. I don’t even remember why I started it but the intent was always that it would end up here in a state that could pass as finished. When I first saw these pictures my immediate thought was ………wow………….quick find me a paint brush. Can you imagine getting up in the morning and doing a few more squares or patterns of some sort all over the front of your house!!

 

The art of decorating houses is known throughout Africa, but although some of the civilisations are ancient this art, practised in the form it is today is probably only a couple of hundred years old. Some academics believe what is practised today is the altered remains of an ancient tradition. Some decorative patterns seen more commonly on pottery and textiles today may have originated as traditional and even ceremonial   decorations on their ancestors houses. The idea that a regional style of decoration could be transferred from buildings to fabrics and then back is not such an outlandish idea. It would be one way of ensuring the continuation of a traditional culture, possibly in times when it was difficult for the people to paint directly onto their homes. This could have been in times of occupation or [possibly during a nomadic period of a peoples history. For example, among the Ndebele, the same type of brightly coloured and patterned ornamentation is found in clothing and house painting, but not usually on both through out the same period. Another reason for the recent popularity in painted houses could be to keep a tradition alive that was previously kept alive in traditional costume. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many African people began to wear western clothing which in preference over the traditional dress which had incorporated many cultural and   symbolic patterns.  

 

‘’ Research conducted by art historians Van Wyk and Mathews in the late-1980's and mid-1990's (culminating in two photographically-illustrated books titled African Painted Houses: Basotho Dwellings of Southern Africa (Van Wyk, 1998) and The African Mural (Chanquion & Matthews, 1989)), concludes that the art of Litema cannot be understood in purely aesthetic terms. According to these researchers decorations have symbolic meaning and religious connotations, specifically relating to the Basotho life and ancestors.’’

 

Van Wyk states

‘’ Basotho murals are a form of religious art relating to the beliefs concerning Basotho ancestors, the realm of the Basotho woman, earth, creation, beauty and fertility (both in the fields and in the home). Furthermore, he suggests that the colours of decorations themselves, have strong symbolic relevance and religious meaning, in some instances even making feminist and political statements’’

Once you start reading you realise there is quite a lot out there on these painted houses, I can really recommend you do a bit of research, it’s fascinating. One thing I must mention though, and it’s a bit sad, apparently this is now done in some cases just to attract the tourists and not for the joy of doing it. How sad.

 

SOURCES:

"House Decoration in Lower Nubia," Terence Walz. African Images: Essays in African Iconology. Daniel F. McCall, Edna G. Bay, eds. NY: Africana Publ Co, 1975. 190-222.

Ndebele: A People and Their Art. Ivor Powell. NY: Cross River Press, 1995.

African Painted Houses: Basotho Dwellings of Southern Africa. Gary N. Van Wyk. NY: Abrams, 1998

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rbarris/paintedhouses.htm

http://www.africancraftsmarket.com/Ndebele-people.htm

THE PHOTOS ARE HERE

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/83/african_painted_houses



and this is the book to look out for.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Aug 5, '08 nice blog in Egypt so many houses are painted up in this fashion fun I think

delete reply flamingoette wrote on Aug 5, '08 wow!

delete reply ruraldiva wrote on Aug 5, '08 Beautiful post.....I would love to be able to do this on my house.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 5, '08 Hi frank...............just re-read your comments thanks, funny thing about the Caribbean, I have recently been reading about language. Did you know that English is the first Language of UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand AND..................the Caribbean!!. Now for some reason I was very surprised to find the Caribbean amongst those countries. All the other countries I expect English to be the first language........but the Caribbean??, totally unexpected and it doesn't seem to fit at all with the others.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 5, '08 just realised the links don't work, no idea why I've checked them, may be you could just copy paste/ if you want to visit the sites. Sorry about that, and my pictures are easy enough to find they are all in the photo album here on my site.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Aug 5, '08 Thank you very much for posting this. I have had a curiosity about the beautifully painted houses found in the Caribbean Islands and their beginnings. I believe that this would be the place to start my search. Many escaped slaves settled in those islands in the 19th Century.