If you are not an artist, it can be a quite hard to judge between a good and bad African tribal art. You can take the help of art experts in this regard but the ultimate decision has to be made by you. For buying a good quality tribal art piece, look for these basic characteristics:
Beauty:
In the eye of the beholder, any tribal art piece must be first of all a piece of beauty. Lacking in this regard means a particular art piece is not worth buying. The beauty aspect depends on a lot of factors such as the shape, pattern, colour, texture, composition, presentation, framing and a lot more things.
Skill:
For crafting any African tribal art piece, be it the original oil paintings, masks or sculptures, a high level of creativity and technique is required. As you begin to analyse an African tribal oil painting, the first thing that strikes you is how skilfully it has been created. By comparing a painting with other paintings, you can get a fair idea about how much effort, skill and creativity has gone into making it and whether it is qualifies as an example of good art.
Inherent meaning:
Tribal art is a powerful medium for various tribal groups to put forward their ideas. Every work of African tribal art might not be thought-provoking, but still there must be some reason behind its creation. There are many tribal artists who accurately portray a theme or express an emotion with their creations. In other words, good artwork must be able to express its concept and idea clearly.