The following is our list of the most famous pieces of work about Africa, cutting across:
- literature
- politics
- poetry
- painting
- and sculpture.
Africa has great pieces of creative work that surprisingly even many Africans have never seen or heard of; this is due to Africa’s wide geographical spread, multilingual barrier, and very few Afro-focused media. With that said, let’s jump right into it, shall we?
Things Fall Apart
Novel, By Chinua Achebe – Nigeria This is a literary piece of work written by one of the best African writers of all time – Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe hails from Nigeria. Things Fall Apart is a piece of work that focuses on a clash of traditions during Africa’s transition period from the colonial rule.
It is at this period that Africa’s traditional values were in a violent clash with those values of their colonial subjugators.
Even though the Western culture brought profound positive effects on Africa – including modern industrialization and infrastructure, it nonetheless caused tremendous destruction in terms of Africa’s authentic traditional values that held families together and defined the gender roles.
Things Fall Apart is a theme about characterization and demonstration of Africa’s torn socio-cultural fabric as different forces fight for their own domain.
An African Thunderstorm
Poem, By David Rubadiri – Malawi David Rubadiri is a great poet, writer, novelist, diplomat, and playwright from Malawi. Like most early African writers, he ran afoul with his country’s government under dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda and ran into exile in Uganda.
While in Uganda, Obote’s government was overthrown, forcing him again to run into exile in Kenya. He served twice as his country’s diplomat, first has Malawi’s first ambassador to the US.
After Kamuzu Banda ceased to be president, he returned to the country and later became his country’s Ambassador to the UN. The following poetry extract is one of his great pieces of work, An African Thunderstorm:
Pregnant clouds Ride stately on its back, Gathering to perch on hills Like sinister dark wings; The wind whistles by And trees bend to let it pass.
And like most writers of his time, he was critical of poor governance and leadership in Africa. Some of his work was critical of Africa’s despotic regimes
Burger’s Daughter
Novel, By Nadine Gordimer – South Africa This is a historical and political novel by Nadine Gordimer, one of Africa’s earliest literary Nobel Laureates.
This piece of work focuses on the criticism of the era of the draconian Apartheid regime of South Africa. Burger’s Daughter was billed by the New York Times as Gordimer ’s most political and most moving novel.
Bahora Girl
Painting, by Irma Stern – South Africa This is a great painting that fetched one of the highest auction bids for such a piece of art in Africa.
Bohari Girl was painted by Irma Stern, one of South Africa’s most renowned personalities and a leading figure in the art scene. Apart from this masterpiece, Stern has painted many other pieces of art that have etched their place in the international art scene.
Daily Mirror
Sculpture, by Ben Enwonwu – Nigeria Billed as Africa’s most influential artist of the 20th Century, Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu, popularly knowns as Ben Enwonwu, is an artist and sculptor. One of his most famous piece of work is the ‘Daily Mirror’ sculpture, which he created in May 2013.
Senufo Female
Sculpture, by Master of Sinasso – Ivory Coast Senufo Female is a sculpture created by one of the most celebrated Ivory Coast artists by the name Master of Sinasso. It is a sculpture representing a traditional female body of the Senufo people of Ivory Coast. This piece of work fetched $12 million at its auction, bought by Sothebys.
Construction of the Suez Canal
Painting, by Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar – Egypt Construction of the Suez Canal is one of the best modern masterpieces from Egypt that depicts its topic. It is a painting drawn by Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar, one of Egypt’s most celebrated artists of modern times.
Egypt is a famous ancient civilization characterized by great artwork, science, engineering, and construction. Pyramids, paintings, sculptures, and religious edicts define this great land of the Pharaohs. This masterpiece was able to fetch $1 million at an auction in Dubai in 2014.
