Unlike much of the ancient Western art, African Art is much more difficult to study, historically. The sheer fact that much of the material used perish quickly, for instance, wood and grass. In addition, African art was usually produced upon an object, which normally had a use of some kind. Western art was rarely produced for domestic use. Because of this, much of the African art that has been rediscovered, is a relatively recent production. That is, in comparison to much of the ancient Western art, we might see on display at museums, or in gallery exhibitions.

Most of the early African Art on display today, lacks historical information, although it is relatively recent work. The earliest piece of African Art, within any Western collection, is owned by a Portuguese collector. It is dated around 1470, and was produced in the Kongo Kingdom. Much of the African Art owned by collectors today has little known about it, or who produced it. Early anthropologists were wholly concerned with the study of African culture (also known as ethnographers). Because of this, they looked upon African Art as artefacts, not works of art. They did not wrap themselves up in the details of who produced the artefact, why they produced it, or even when. Nor did the anthropologists pay any consideration to what the aesthetics of those artefacts meant. Not to the people, or to the African artists who produced them. Therefore, the chronological development of African Art was never available to western art historians.

In 1897, a British expedition brought back African artefacts from the city of Benin. Throughout the beginning of the nineteen hundreds, there would be many more similar expeditions. By which, many more objects would be removed from central Africa, especially from around the Sub Sahara, and brought back to the West. They were placed in ethnographic museums as artefacts, not in the Art galleries. Nevertheless, these collections promoted a greater cultural understanding, between Westerners and the African people. It also gave western Artists the opportunity to understand and study the aesthetics, and abstract forms of African Art.

Before the twentieth century, the West had always looked upon African Art, simply as objects of archaeological interest, with little or no artistic merit at all. Obviously, this is why it failed to have any impact on the development of Western Art, before then. However, at the turn of the twentieth century, Western artists were looking for new perspectives. Seeking to liberate themselves from the confines of the more established artistic conventions. The twentieth century saw the development of many highly influential art movements, such as Cubism and Expressionism. The non representational forms, abstract patterning, and underlying aesthetics of African Art fitted well with these new concepts. Modern Art pioneers of the twentieth century, such as Picasso, were extremely enthusiastic and greatly inspired by the free form and abstract styling of African Art. Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was produced in 1907, and clearly shows his new found enthusiasm for African Art. The large, angular faces of the group of women look similar to African Masks.

The main thing, which differentiates African Art and Western Art, is the Artists. Modern art, produced by Western Artists, takes on a form and style that is reflective of their own personal expression. Or, it is an imitation of the natural world around them. African Artists base their forms and style upon their cultural traditions and beliefs. African Art was created to please the spirits. It was an intermediary, between this world and the spirit world. This was it’s function. The way for it to be accepted by those spirits was to be beautiful, and without doubt, African Art is just that.