Guide · with sources
African art styles: a guide to 42 cultures
From Nok terracottas to Kongo power figures and contemporary painting: the most important styles of African art, how to recognise them, which objects are typical – and what to watch out for when one turns up in your home.
Africa has thousands of peoples and as many artistic traditions. Collectors and museums usually name a style after a people (Dan, Baule, Fang), a kingdom (Benin, Kuba) or an archaeological site (Nok, Ife). These labels are useful but simplified: neighbouring peoples influenced each other, carvers worked for several patrons, and many objects were made for the trade. Treat every attribution as a working hypothesis.
Each entry below gives the region, typical objects and features, and a short note on the market. Numbers in square brackets refer to the sources at the end of the page.
Ancient and court arts of Nigeria and the Niger
Nok
Central Nigeria, c. 500 BC–200 AD
The oldest known figurative sculpture south of the Sahara, first found in 1943 during tin mining near the village of Nok. Hollow, coil-built terracotta heads and figures with large heads, triangular or D-shaped eyes with pierced pupils and elaborate hairstyles [1]. Genuine pieces are almost always fragmentary. Nok is among the most faked and most illegally excavated styles – see provenance.
Djenné / Inland Niger Delta
Mali, c. 12th–16th century
Terracotta figures from the Middle Niger region around Djenné: seated, kneeling or coiled figures, often with bulging eyes, prominent chins and snakes or pustules on the skin [15]. As with Nok, thermoluminescence tests are often used – and often manipulated. Mali protects these objects; without old documentation they are very hard to sell legally.
Ife
Southwestern Nigeria, flourishing c. 1200–1500
The sacred city of the Yoruba, still the seat of Yoruba kingship. Its artists created strikingly naturalistic heads in terracotta and copper alloy, often with fine vertical striations over the face [2]. Original Ife works are museum pieces; anything on the open market is almost certainly a later copy.
Igbo-Ukwu
Southeastern Nigeria, c. 9th–10th century
Excavated bronzes of astonishing delicacy – vessels, ornaments and regalia covered in fine granulated and insect-like decoration, cast with the lost-wax technique centuries before Benin [18]. Practically nothing authentic exists outside Nigerian and a few museum collections.
Benin Kingdom (Edo)
Southern Nigeria, c. 14th–19th century
Court art of the Oba of Benin: brass plaques that decorated the palace, commemorative heads of kings and queen mothers, ivory tusks and figures [17]. Thousands of works were taken during the British expedition of 1897; restitution is ongoing. Countless modern casts exist – old pieces need a watertight provenance.
Western Sudan: Mali and Burkina Faso
Dogon
Mali, Bandiagara Escarpment
Austere, vertical figures with angular, geometric bodies, often with raised arms, seated couples and ancestors, frequently covered in a thick crusty sacrificial patina. The dry climate has preserved some works for centuries; radiocarbon tests have dated one monumental figure in New York to possibly the 15th century [9][10]. Masks include the kanaga with its double cross. Copies with artificial crusts are widespread.
Bamana (Bambara)
Mali
Best known for the chiwara antelope headdresses, danced in pairs (male and female) to honour farming, and for elegant female figures; also kòmò power masks loaded with horns, quills and sacrificial matter [5][15]. Chiwara are among the most reproduced African objects – old ones show wear at the basketry cap attachment.
Senufo
Northern Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso
Art linked to the Poro society: kpeliye'e face masks with small faces framed by flat 'legs' and horns, monumental rhythm-pounder figures, helmet masks combining animal features, and the hornbill (kalao) [6][16]. Exhibited in New York in 1963, Senufo became one of the defining 'classic' styles – and one of the most copied.
Bwa
Burkina Faso
Spectacular plank masks, sometimes over two metres tall, painted in red, black and white with geometric patterns – checkerboards, triangles, concentric circles – that carry moral teachings [15][23]. Many are still made and danced today, so recent use does not mean great age.
Mossi
Burkina Faso
Tall karanga masks with an oval face divided by a vertical ridge and a thin plank or antelope horns above; and refined female figures associated with chiefs [23]. Old masks are usually covered in a reddish or grey surface from repeated repainting and handling.
Lobi
Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana
Bateba shrine figures with strong, simplified forms – often with a raised arm or a tense posture that expresses their protective role [23]. Many are rough and small; the market values expressive quality and an old, dry, used surface.
Guinea Coast: from Guinea to Nigeria
Baga
Coastal Guinea
The monumental D'mba (nimba) shoulder mask – a great mother with a projecting head, flat breasts and a crested coiffure, worn by a dancer hidden under raffia – and the colourful banda masks [15][24]. Huge numbers of nimba copies exist; old ones are heavy, worn at the shoulder supports and have a deep patina.
Mende (Sande)
Sierra Leone, Liberia
Sowei helmet masks of the women's Sande society – one of the rare African masquerades danced by women – with a high, ringed neck, an elaborate coiffure and a small, serene face, coated in shiny black [25]. Neck rings symbolise beauty and health.
Dan
Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire
Face masks with an oval, harmonious face, smooth dark surface and slit or round eyes – the round-eyed type (gunyege) was used in races – plus large feast ladles (wakemia) and portrait figures by named masters such as Zlan of Belewale [15][16][20]. A deep, glossy patina inside and wear at the rim are signs of use.
We (Guéré, Wobé)
Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia
Dramatic, aggressive masks with projecting tubular eyes, tusks, horns and accumulations of cloth, nails, cartridges and fur – a deliberate contrast to the calm Dan masks next door. Copies often look 'too new' at the attachments.
Baule
Central Côte d'Ivoire
Refined, introspective portrait masks (mblo) with elaborate coiffures, standing 'spirit spouse' figures with scarification and carefully detailed hair, figures for trance diviners, and gold-covered ornaments [15][16][19]. Baule carving was produced for the trade from early on, so quality and surface matter enormously.
Guro
Central Côte d'Ivoire
Elegant, elongated face masks with a long nose, high forehead and often an animal or bird on top, frequently polychrome; finely carved heddle pulleys from weaving looms. Neighbours of the Baule, with whom styles overlap.
Akan / Asante
Ghana, eastern Côte d'Ivoire
Court art of gold-rich kingdoms: linguist staffs covered in gold foil, royal stools, silk kente cloth, brass goldweights and terracotta memorial heads; also the flat-headed akuaba fertility figures [15][16][22]. Akuaba and goldweights are mass-produced today; old goldweights show worn, rounded casting.
Fon (Dahomey)
Republic of Benin
Court art of the kingdom of Danhomè – appliqué cloths, metal sculptures by the Hountondji guild of smiths – and bocio, protective figures bound with cord, cloth and other materials [15][16]. Bocio are often small and rough; their power lies in the accumulated materials.
Yoruba
Southwestern Nigeria, Benin
One of Africa's largest artistic traditions: ere ibeji twin figures, gelede masks worn on top of the head, epa helmet masks with tall superstructures, divination trays and veranda posts by named carvers such as Olowe of Ise [2][21]. Ibeji are extremely common; old ones show worn faces from washing and feeding, and traces of camwood or indigo.
Igbo
Southeastern Nigeria
Great variety without one central court style: white-faced maiden spirit masks (agbogho mmuo), dark, horned 'ugly' masks, ikenga shrine figures with horns for personal achievement, and large painted figures. Painted surfaces are often renewed, which makes dating difficult.
Cameroon Grassfields
Bamileke and Bamum
Western Cameroon
Kingdom art of the Grassfields: thrones and stools entirely covered in glass beads and cowries, large buffalo and elephant masks, dramatic figures with puffed cheeks, and beaded calabashes [16]. Beaded thrones are made in quantity today; old beadwork uses older, irregular beads on cloth over carved wood.
Central Africa: Gabon, the Congo basin and Angola
Fang
Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon
Reliquary guardians (eyema byeri) – heads, busts or full figures with a calm, monumental face and an oily, 'seeping' black patina – placed on bark boxes holding ancestral relics, and white kaolin-coated ngil masks [7][13][14][30][32]. Fang sculpture inspired the Paris avant-garde; top pieces are among the most valuable African works, which makes them prime targets for forgers.
Kota
Eastern Gabon, Republic of the Congo
Reliquary figures (mbulu ngulu) reduced to an oval or concave face on a lozenge-shaped base, covered in sheets and strips of copper and brass, set on baskets of ancestral relics [7][11]. Genuine pieces show hand-hammered metal, old iron or copper staples, and wear on the wooden lozenge; modern copies use machine-rolled sheet and new tacks.
Punu
Southern Gabon
White-faced okuyi masks of a young woman with almond eyes, arched brows, a crested coiffure and diamond-shaped scarification on the forehead and temples, often danced on stilts [7]. The type is endlessly copied; old masks show soft wear on the kaolin and wear inside.
Kongo (Yombe, Vili)
DR Congo, Republic of the Congo, Angola (Cabinda)
Minkisi power figures created by a sculptor together with a ritual specialist (nganga): nkisi nkondi bristling with nails and blades, figures with mirror-covered medicine cavities, and refined mother-and-child figures (phemba) [8][12][33]. Nail figures are among the most faked African objects; real ones show nails driven in over time, with rust staining and varied iron.
Teke
Republic of the Congo, DR Congo
Compact power figures with a striated face, beard and a cavity in the torso for a medicine pack (often missing), and the flat, disc-shaped kidumu masks with abstract, symmetrical painting – one of the most 'modern-looking' forms of African art.
Yaka and Suku
Southwestern DR Congo
Initiation masks with an upturned nose, a painted face framed by a raffia ruff and tall superstructures of cloth, raffia and wood; helmet masks with animal figures among the Suku. Fragile, painted and often made for single use – survival of old examples is rare.
Pende
DR Congo, Kasai
Expressive masks with heavy, half-closed eyelids, joined brows and a fibre coiffure (mbuya), and small ivory or bone pendants (ikhoko) in the form of a mask [3]. Ivory pendants raise the questions explained under provenance and the law.
Kuba
DR Congo, Kasai
A court culture that covered everything in pattern: raffia cut-pile 'Kasai velvet' cloths, carved cups and boxes, ndop king figures, and the royal masks Mwaash aMbooy, Ngady aMwaash and Bwoom, decorated with cowries, beads and cloth [3][26]. Kuba textiles are widely available; old ones are softer, with natural dyes and irregular, evolving patterns.
Luba
Southeastern DR Congo
Royal art of a kingdom that flourished from the 17th century: caryatid stools, headrests, staffs and bow stands in which a woman with scarification, often holding her breasts, supports the object; lukasa memory boards; works attributed to named masters such as the Buli Master (Ngongo ya Chintu) [3][4][27]. Luba art is serene and curvilinear; stiff, angular copies are common.
Hemba
Southeastern DR Congo
Singiti ancestor figures: standing male chiefs with a calm, meditative face, hands on the belly and an elaborate cross-shaped coiffure at the back – related to Luba style [3][15]. Real ones have a dense, often reddish-brown patina and worn feet.
Songye
DR Congo
Kifwebe masks covered in parallel carved grooves, painted white, red and black, with a crest for male masks; and powerful nkishi figures with horns, metal, beads and medicine loads [3]. Kifwebe and nkishi are produced in huge numbers today – look for wear, old pigments and authentic, weathered materials.
Chokwe
Angola, DR Congo, Zambia
Mwana pwo masks of an idealised young woman with scarification and a fibre coiffure, chiefs' chairs and stools carved with scenes, and dynamic figures of the hero Chibinda Ilunga [3][28]. Chokwe artists also worked for Lunda chiefs. Good old masks have fine, crisp scarification and a glossy, worn surface.
Lega
Eastern DR Congo
Small masks and figures in wood, bone and ivory owned by members of the Bwami association, often with a heart-shaped, concave face coated in white kaolin, and a smooth, honey-coloured patina on ivory [29]. Ivory examples are legally sensitive.
Mangbetu and Zande
Northeastern DR Congo
Elegant objects with the elongated head and fan-shaped coiffure of Mangbetu nobility: anthropomorphic pots, harps and knives, many made around 1900 for chiefs and European visitors alike. [31] Zande figures (yanda) are small and stylised.
East and Southern Africa
Makonde
Tanzania, Mozambique
Naturalistic helmet masks (lipiko) with real hair and scarification, and body masks – then, from the mid-20th century, the famous ebony carvings ('tree of life', shetani spirits) made for sale. Modern Makonde carving is a genre of its own; masks used in dances are much rarer.
Headrests of Southern Africa (Shona, Tsonga, Zulu)
Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa
Carved headrests that protected elaborate hairstyles and connected sleepers with their ancestors – geometric Shona forms with concentric circles, Tsonga headrests with a pair of supports, and Zulu examples with stylised animals. Honest wear on the top and base is a key sign of use.
Beadwork (Maasai, Zulu, Ndebele)
Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa
Colour-coded glass-bead collars, aprons, dolls and panels whose colours and patterns signal age, status and origin. Old beadwork uses smaller, irregular 19th- and early 20th-century beads on leather or sinew; newer work uses uniform beads on synthetic thread.
Ethiopian Christian art
Ethiopia
Painted icons, diptychs and triptychs, illuminated manuscripts, processional and hand crosses in brass, silver or wood – a Christian tradition going back to the 4th century. Many crosses and icons are made today in traditional style; age shows in worn edges, softened details and old repairs.
Modern and contemporary African art
Tingatinga
Tanzania, from the late 1960s
Brightly coloured paintings in enamel paint, usually on board or canvas, with animals and decorative patterns, named after Edward Saidi Tingatinga. Produced in large numbers for tourists; works by early, named painters are sought after.
Modern and contemporary artists
Whole continent and diaspora
Painting, sculpture and installation by individual artists – from modernists such as Gerard Sekoto (South Africa) or Iba Ndiaye (Senegal) to Congolese popular painting and global stars such as El Anatsui (Ghana), known for hangings made of flattened bottle caps [16]. Here the value depends on the artist, the period, documentation and the auction record, as with any modern art.
How to use this guide
A matching style does not make a piece old or valuable: every famous type is copied today. Use the style to ask the right questions – then check signs of age and use, mask types and provenance. For a quick first opinion, upload photos for a free estimate.
Sources and further reading
Museum essays and catalogues used for this page. Information on age and function follows these sources; market notes reflect general experience in the trade.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: “Nok Terracottas (500 B.C.–200 A.D.)”, 2000 – www.metmuseum.org
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: “Ife (from ca. 6th Century)”, 2000, rev. 2014 – www.metmuseum.org
- Alexander Ives Bortolot: “Kingdoms of the Savanna: The Luba and Lunda Empires”, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Met, 2003 – metmuseum.org
- Alexander Ives Bortolot: “Portraits of African Leadership: Royal Ancestors”, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Met, 2003 – www.metmuseum.org
- The Met, Heilbrunn Timeline: “Antelopes and Queens: Bambara Sculpture from the Western Sudan” – www.metmuseum.org
- The Met, Heilbrunn Timeline: “Senufo Sculpture from West Africa: An Influential Exhibition at the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1963” – www.metmuseum.org
- The Met: Eternal Ancestors – The Art of the Central African Reliquary, exhibition 2007 – www.metmuseum.org
- The Met: Kongo – Power and Majesty, exhibition 2015–2016 – www.metmuseum.org
- The Met, collection: Priest with raised arms, Dogon, 14th–17th century (1978.412.322) – www.metmuseum.org
- Kate Ezra: Art of the Dogon. Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988 – metmuseum.org
- Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch, Steven Zucker: “Kota reliquary (mbulu ngulu)”, Smarthistory, 2018 – smarthistory.org
- Brooklyn Museum: Power Figure (Nkisi Nkondi), Kakongo artist, 19th century – brooklynmuseum.org
- Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Donation Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière: “Gardien de reliquaire eyema byeri, Fang” – collection-lacharriere.quaibranly.fr
- Centre Pompidou: Masque Fang (ancienne collection Vlaminck / Derain) – www.centrepompidou.fr
- Christa Clarke, Rebecca Arkenberg: The Art of Africa – A Resource for Educators. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006 – metmuseum.org
- The Met: Arts of Africa – objects in the special installation (Michael C. Rockefeller Wing) – www.metmuseum.org
- Digital Benin – online platform for objects from the Kingdom of Benin – digitalbenin.org
- Thurstan Shaw: Igbo-Ukwu. An Account of Archaeological Discoveries in Eastern Nigeria. London: Faber and Faber, 1970
- Susan Mullin Vogel: Baule – African Art, Western Eyes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997
- Eberhard Fischer, Hans Himmelheber: The Arts of the Dan in West Africa. Zurich: Museum Rietberg, 1984
- Henry John Drewal, John Pemberton III, Rowland Abiodun: Yoruba – Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. New York: Center for African Art, 1989
- Herbert M. Cole, Doran H. Ross: The Arts of Ghana. Los Angeles: UCLA Museum of Cultural History, 1977
- Christopher D. Roy: Art of the Upper Volta Rivers. Meudon: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1987
- Frederick Lamp: Art of the Baga – A Drama of Cultural Reinvention. New York: Museum for African Art, 1996
- Ruth B. Phillips: Representing Woman – Sande Masquerades of the Mende of Sierra Leone. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum, 1995
- Joseph Cornet: Art royal kuba. Milan: Edizioni Sipiel, 1982
- Mary Nooter Roberts, Allen F. Roberts (eds.): Memory – Luba Art and the Making of History. New York: Museum for African Art, 1996
- Marie-Louise Bastin: La sculpture tshokwe. Meudon: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1982
- Daniel P. Biebuyck: Lega Culture – Art, Initiation, and Moral Philosophy among a Central African People. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973
- Louis Perrois: La statuaire fang, Gabon. Paris: ORSTOM, 1972
- Enid Schildkrout, Curtis A. Keim: African Reflections – Art from Northeastern Zaire. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1990
- Alisa LaGamma: Eternal Ancestors – The Art of the Central African Reliquary. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007
- Alisa LaGamma: Kongo – Power and Majesty. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015
Frequently asked questions
How many African art styles are there?
There is no fixed number. Museums distinguish hundreds of regional styles and sub-styles; this guide covers 42 of the most important for collectors and heirs.
Can I identify the style of my piece from a photo?
Often roughly, yes – many styles have very distinctive features. But identifying the style does not tell you whether the piece is old, used or made for the trade.
Which African art styles are most valuable?
Top prices are paid for exceptional, early and well-documented works, for example Fang, Kota, Luba, Songye or Dogon sculpture. But every one of these styles also exists as inexpensive copies.
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