Art & Design / Geography / Citizenship:
Cultural References

Many modern European artists in the early twentieth century were inspired by African and other non-western sculpture. Today art and design can be influenced by many different ideas and often refers to other cultures.

• Look at a range of images from non-Western cultures and make links with images or objects in magazines, TV or in your everyday life.
• Using a photocopy of a map of the world make a diagram linking your objects and images to the part or parts of the world it was influenced by.
• Write notes on this diagram about the objects.

African sculpture, photograph of Fang sculpture from Gabon, Africa, 19thth century. With respect to 1978.412.441 African, Gamon, Fang. Woodwork. 19th -20th century, Reliquary Figure (Nlo Byeri) wood, metal, oil patina, h.25-1/5in. (64cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller,1965. (1978.412.441)

Photograph © 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art