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African-Negro Aesthetics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Extract

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The twentieth century will be known as the period of the discovery of African-Negro civilization. At first it was the sculpture alone that provoked amazement, shock, and finally admiration. But soon Europe discovered stories, poetry, music, painting, and philosophy, in turn.

Now that the first surprise has had its effect, we must define the spirit of the civilization; that is to say, of African-Negro culture. There is nothing more revealing in this regard than the literature and the art of this singularly “machineless civilization.” Philosophical reflection on art, by which aesthetics is defined, is all the more necessary, since the admiration of certain European intellectuals for African-Negro literature and art is not devoid of confusion; it often consists of misconceptions, if not of contradictions in terms.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1956 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

1. José Rédinha, Paredes pintadas da lunda, Estampa 17 (Lisbon, 1953).

2. Cf. "Langage et poésie nègre-africaine" in Poésie et langage (Brussels, Editions de la Maison du Poète).

3. Aimé Césaire, Cahier d'un retour au Pays natal.