Nok Terracottas

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Nok Art: Early Sculptural Pottery

Nok Art: Early Sculptural Pottery

What we know about Nok civilization is that it was around from about 1500 BCE to 200 CE.  We don't fully know what kind of political structure they had, but we can conclude that the terracottas are a clue as to the lasting stability of the civilization. (1)As we have seen these last couple of weeks, there is very  little information on this culture, therefore we can conclude little about what the people were like. We will instead focus on what these terracottas mean in context to other artifacts that have been found in the area and what these things may tell us.

The absence of stone buildings and structures point to the idea that the people of Nok were building with wood or other natural materials. The findings of pottery and certain animal bones tell us that they were probably cultivating crops alongside the domestication of livestock. These sculptures put forth the question of whether they were participating in trade or not. It is most likely that they were since there were quite a few of these sculptures unearthed, but that does not mean they were not religious or just artistic objects.(1)We simply do not have sufficient evidence to explain their purpose.

These little sculptural pieces were made from rolled coils and sculpted subtractively. This technique is a clue to their society having developed alongside a wood carving tradition since clay is usually sculpted additively. What is most notable in these sculptures is that the head is proportionately larger than the body. Contextually, we gather from nearby cultures,  they may have believed the head was the center of the intellect. The Nok heads all have different features pointing to individual sculpting rather than molding. The hair and jewelry are formed stylistically and elaborately which would have represented the individuals status or stage in life most likely. (2)

I love the abstract quality of the Nok terracottas. I have noticed that many of the ancient civilizations we have studied have this commonality of cubism or expressive minimalism. The cave paintings are a wonderful example of this expressive yet minimalistic approach to representing an animal or person without going into a lot of detail. I think about some of Picasso's later paintings and it looks like his inspiration was ancient cave paintings. It is curious how styles trend throughout time as our definition of what makes great art fluctuates through the ages. 

    Notes

    1. Nok Civilization, Think Africa, accessed November 6, 2020, https://thinkafrica.net/nok-civilization/.

    2. "Nok Terracottas (500 B.C-200 A.D.)," Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2000, accessed November 6, 2020, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nok/hd_nok.htm.