They first started gathering African masks in the early 1920s because they felt a certain affinity towards these masks and they reminds them of archetypal human shapes and figures which, according to the known physiologist Carl Jung, still lurks deep in our unconscious mind. African art expresses a traditional, cultural and mystical message. The display of natural bright colours. Paranormal artistic prowess in shapes and forms. How stages have been represented and the African heritage being maintained is also what characterizes African art.
Colours have a lot to express to the eyes and soul.
Shapes that evokes the mind and brings out the true human concept from within and this has first being evident in typical African masks leading to Picasso's style called cubism. Root, source, origin, etc expressed in tangible vivid shape forms and figures are what African art has to convey. African art cuts through the conventional art aesthetics and expose that layer that when understood, can express human nature outside our accustomed lifestyle. Modern contemporary African Art is relatively new in the African art spectrum. African Art maintains the cultural, traditional and spiritual aspects of old whiles transforming the shapes, styles, patterns and adding new colours into the arena.