“he Art of Benin. Read carefully Reading 2.4 Negro in Book 3, Chapter 2, and look closely at Plate 3.2.17 in the illustration Book, Plate showing pencil drawing of Benin Bronze sculpture. With close attention to both, discuss if and how art from Africa affected stereotypes in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Europe.”

Looking firstly at Plate 3.2.17 in illustration book and then comparing it to the actually Benin Bronze plaque (Plate 3.2.18), there are definite similarities in the crude pencil composition and the bronze plaque. Although in Ernst Ludwig Kirchners rough pencil sketch a lot of detail and definition appears to have been lost and left out, in as much as he is trying to primitives it, loose some of its technique and skill produced by the early Benin craftsman and deter away from the fact they were a highly skilled culture. Europeans of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century could not believe early Africans could possess such skill and knowledge. The pencil sketch appears more two dimensional than the actual three dimensional plaque, very much as if it were a primitive carving (Wood, 2008, p68). The pencil lines are crude and rough in interpretation, leaving a lot of the …(short extract)