''Itutu'', a

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

word that is translatable as " cool", has been used by the

and more recently by Africanist art historians to describe the aesthetic that characterizes much Yoruba and some

African-American art African-American art is a broad term describing visual art created by African Americans — Americans who also identify as Black. The range of art they have created, and are continuing to create, over more than two centuries is as varied as the ...

. An ''Itutu'' aesthetic includes the appearance of physical or sexual beauty whilst having a humble, calm, collected face that is found in much Yoruba sculpture. It has been suggested by

Robert Farris Thompson Robert Farris Thompson (December 30, 1932 – November 29, 2021) was an American art historian and writer who specialized in Africa and the Afro-Atlantic world. He was a member of the faculty at Yale University from 1965 to his retirement more ...

of Yale University that Itutu is the origin of the American idea of the "cool". His 1973 article "An Aesthetic of the Cool" traces the idea of ''Itutu'' from the Yoruba to several other African civilizations and finally to the Americas, where the descendants of Africans perpetuated the importance of being "cool".

References

Yoruba culture Beninese culture Nigerian culture {{Nigeria-stub