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1- Write a report on "ART ANALYSIS" with references to art in 1250 words .
The people of Asante and Ewe wear the Kente cloth, which took a bit of an inspiration from the web of a spider. In West Africa, Asante, in the land of Ghana, the people there relate the stories to the two young men whose name were KwakuAmeyaw and his friend Ota Karaban who learnt this art form of handicrafts or textiles by getting inspiration from the spider’s web. The story begins like, those two friends went out into the woods at night, to confirm their traps, and they were startled by seeing the beautifully woven spider web being sparked by the ray of the moon. It is their belief that the spider named Ananse helped those two men with the weaving process, but in exchange with some benefits. After learning that and returning the favour to the spider, those two friends returned to their place in Bonwire, which is located in the Asante region of Ghana. The first ruler of the Asante kingdom, AsanteheneOsei Tutu, was reported with this incident of those two friends. The royal king of Asantehene adopted their creation and named them as kente, which is a royal attire mainly worn on special occasions and festivals. This type of cloth is also worm by the people of Ewe, those who were there under the rule of the kingdom of Asante in the late eighteenth century. Thereafter, Bonwire became the hub for the weaving centre in asantehene kingdom.
The second picture shows the sculpture of Nisroch, who was an eagle headed god who was considered as an idol for protection. It is also considered to be the classical Assyrian kind of spirit of magic. This sculpture is basically an eagle headed genie who is wearing a kilt and it can be seen that the log tassel like structure is hanging from it. He is also wearing a skirt like robe while carrying two daggers in his shoulder bag and a whetstone in his hand. The cone which he is carrying in his right hand is presumed to be a purifier stone which is covered with the purifying water out from the bucket which he is holding in his left hand. This sculpture has got a biblical reference from the Noah’s Ark, where the reference of the dove is given. But this sculpture is taken as the god of agriculture in the Assyrian culture.
The purpose of this essay is to figure out the history, timing and meaning of both the art and textile and will provide a thorough analysis of both of them. To develop the traditionalism and culture in the life style of the Assyrian people and also of the people who belong to the Akan region of West Africa this writing have been formulated. The maintenance of the art and craft value is very relevant nowadays. So, this whole essay has been formulated in showing the reading of the concepts of art and culture.
The study and research of the historians showed that the culture of Kente clothes has been existed before the advent of the Kingdom of Asante in the Western Africa. This textile style went through several networks just like other trade networks like the Italian and French silk trade which became prevalent in the eighteenth century and these kentes were formulated with the help of both cotton and wool (Asibey et al., 200-217). This type of cloth is also worm by the people of Ewe, those who were there under the rule of the kingdom of Asante in the late eighteenth century. According to the belief it is known that the people of Ewe adopted the style of Kente textile after their own horizontal style of weaving, which they used to wear before the advent of Asante in the Western Africa. The textile is moreover associated with the social standards in the Asante Kingdom (Boateng, Henry., 102-108). This type of textiles were usually worn out by the royal people of the Asante kingdom but there were larger varieties of this textile patterns which helped the people of Ewe to wear this in their daily life styles providing a method of living standards and showing how wealthy one is.
Eagle headed genie is considered to be a very sacred figure which envisaged with a body of genie and a head of an eagle. This sculpture is basically an eagle headed genie who is wearing a kilt and it can be seen that the log tassel like structure is hanging from it. He is also wearing a skirt like robe while carrying two daggers in his shoulder bag and a whetstone in his hand(Donkor et al., 213). The cone which he is carrying in his right hand is presumed to be a purifier stone which is covered with the purifying water out from the bucket which he is holding in his left hand. The cone in his hand signifies the male date spathe which is used to fertilise the female date palms. The right hand of the figure signifies the Sacred Tree which is considered to be the great and important symbol in Assyria. The trunk of the tree has a huge kind of palmed at the top and there are several palmed which is surrounding the whole tree where only half of the palmed could be preserved for this artwork. The trunk of the tree has created a horizontal boundary have a supporting kind of structure which creates a hornlike structure in maintaining the growth creating a chevron pattern on the top.Nisroch is meant to the deity for the people of Assyria, where he is treated as the agricultural god (Frederick, Katharine, 110-115).
There are several other elements which derive from the Akan culture which includes Andikra, Sankofa, Gold weights, Akan names, Akan Chieftaincy, Calendar, religion, Oware, Adamorobe sign language and obviously their art (Halls et al., 236-254).
The artist of the sculpture Nisroch can’t be found as there is no evidence belonging to it. But the culture of this sculpture is belonging to the Assyrian Empire and it is believed that the derivation of this art work is from the Palace of Sargon III, Lot of the people believe that the sculpture of Nisroch have relation with the Bible which is related with the king Sennacherib (Kusi, Albert Mensah, 112-165). This is a simple art form where the whole structure is made with the gypsum material. There are several other elements which are discovered from the Neo-Assyrian period which is from 1000 BC to 612 BC, where Nimrud was discovered by Austen Henry Layard in the year 1849.
These two popular works of art have been known from several ages and centuries. The historical evidences of this art form create an astonishing ground for the researchers and historians to create a new scape in the history of mankind. One of the artworks which are the Kente textile shows the pure form of culture and tradition that is laid by the people of Ewe in the Western Africa. Moreover, there is a story or what is known as tale which is underlying the core traditionalism of the African Akan culture. This Akan culture even exists today in the Western Africa. There are several other stories which follow the traditional diversity in the Western Africa like the Anasesem which is the spider story, which is also known as the tales of the travellers. The sculpture of Eagle headed genie is considered to be the Assyrian deity of agriculture, as it has the biblical reference concerning the whole story of the evil god. This is how the people of West Africa and Assyria have maintained the craft and art value of their own regions.
Asibey, Michael Osei, KwasiOseiAgyeman, and Vivian Yeboah. "The Impact of Cultural Values on the Development of the Cultural Industry: Case of the Kente Textile Industry in Adanwomase of the Kwabre East District, Ghana." Journal of Human Values 23.3 (2017): 200-217.
Boateng, Henry. Knowledge creation and knowledge flow within Ghana's Kente industry: a social capital perspective. Diss. 2018.
Donkor, Godfried. "The Currency of Ntoma (Fabric)." TEXTILE16.2 (2018): 200-213.
Frederick, Katharine. Deindustrialization in East Africa: textile production in an era of globalization and colonization, c. 1830-1940. Diss. Wageningen University, 2018.
Halls, Julie, and Allison Martino. "Cloth, Copyright, and Cultural Exchange: Textile Designs for Export to Africa at The National Archives of the UK." Journal of Design History 31.3 (2018): 236-254.
Kusi, Albert Mensah. Valuing intangible cultural heritage: a contingent valuation study of preserving kente weaving in Ghana. MS thesis. Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, 2018.