Although it has still not yet been proven, many scholars think that the rock paintings discovered in the Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria and Libya may have been done by the first African inhabitants. These rock paintings were probably done over 4000 years ago. The more acceptable origin of African art is the cave and rock paintings of South African bushmen that mostly depict men hunting animals. It is notable that the physical illustrations of the men have European and Asian, as well as African, characteristics. In the northern part of Nigeria, archaeologists have found sculpted heads made out with red clay also known as terra cotta. The heads were not in a very good condition, but were tested and found to be originally parts of statues that were about 2000 years old.

A closer look will reveal that there are great gaps in the history of African art, largely because most of its art was done in wood which does not last very long. These wooden pieces of art were easily destroyed when they were used in ceremonies, by rotting, or by termites. However in several areas of Africa, some of their art was done in metal and thus lasted longer. In what is now known as the western region of Nigeria, ancient artists had learned to use metal in the 13th century. They made their statues out of beeswax which they dipped in thick, wet clay. When the clay was dry, the statue was then heated to melt the wax. Then a hot, molten metal was poured into the clay mold where the wax had been. When the metal cooled and hardened, the artist broke the clay mold, leaving a metal statue.

The famous heads and carvings in metal casings and ivory represent as high an artistic achievement as anything done anywhere in the world at that time. These sculptures were very naturalistic (the artwork looked like the actual object it was meant to represent) unlike most other African art. The artist used name animals, birds, leaders, warriors and human heads for subject matter. Ivory was also used frequently, especially in the old kingdom of Benin. Benin art is actually closer to classical Western art than any other art created in Africa. As the Benin kingdom gradually died out, naturalistic art died along with it. It is still unknown what the influences were that resulted in the rapid growth of naturalism during this time, but whatever they were, they had long disappeared.

Toward the end of the 19th century, there had been a sudden surge of interest from the Western world toward African art. European artists discovered that African art had a rhythm, vitality and a unique use of distortion to accent certain elements that had been missing from recent Western art. Pablo Picasso is said to be one of the greatest fans of African art. It has been told that Picasso saw his first piece of African sculpture while dining at the apartment of another great artist, Henri Matisse. Picasso had supposedly been almost hypnotized by the sculpture and held it silently throughout the entire evening. When he went home, he started a painting and worked on it through the whole night and into the next day. In the painting, he used the basic forms of the African sculpture. It was probably at this very moment, if such a moment can be fixed, that African art that was previously called "savage" had begun to influence the art of our century.