African art -- with its powerful forms, complex symbolism, and formal inventiveness -- has only recently come to be recognized as one of the great artistic traditions of mankind. This rich tradition is showcased here in a remarkable selection of outstanding works. Nearly 1,600 objects are illustrated, each accompanied by scholarly information on style, usage, meaning, and cultural origin. Featured individually by section are the styles of Western Sudan, the West African Coastal Region, West Central Africa, Central Africa, and Eastern and Southern Africa. A thought-provoking introduction helps readers understand the significance of African art as a form of human creative expression, its relationships to contemporary Western art, and the controversies surrounding it in the world's museums. Newcomers to the field as well as professionals will find many questions answered in the text and captions. FThis comprehensive survey of some 230 styles of African art is an essential reference for scholars, teachers, students, curators, collectors, and dealers.

Published to accompany exhibition held at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY, 14/3 - 27/9 1998 and travelling.

Bamana masks and headdresses, Lega ivories, Dogon sculpture, and Benue bronzes are among the many exquisite African artifacts found in the renowned Menil Collection. This stunning book--the first comprehensive catalogue on the de Menils' collection of African art--features 115 of the museum's finest pieces. Dating primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries, these works come from North Africa and the Sahel, Coastal West Africa, and Central and East Africa. An essay by scholar Kristina Van Dyke discusses the formation of the collection, which was inspired in part by its relationship to modernist works and by the couple's interest in human rights. This insightful text also explains how the de Menils' visionary spirit was influenced by African art and places those objects within the context of the whole of the de Menils' collection, in which works from ancient, Byzantine, medieval, modern, Oceanic, and Native American cultures speak to the universal struggle for human understanding. Entries for the selected works were written by leading scholars in the field and are grouped into sections based on regions. Distributed for The Menil Collection

"Insightful and profound."--Arthur P. Bourgeois, Governors State University, University Park, Illinois "More than just another exhibition catalogue. . . . The conceptual framework and orientation of the essay are original. [Poynor suggests] the complexity of African religious beliefs and the diversity of roles art plays in their manifestation."--Barbara Frank, SUNY-Stony Brook With dramatic color and black-and-white photographs of ninety-three pieces of art, African Art at the Harn Museum introduces the notable collection of West African art from the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. In the traditional view of many Africans, the spiritual and temporal worlds depend upon each other for companionship and material well-being. As the inhabitants of either realm cross and recross their world boundaries, art objects function as intimate links between the two domains, allowing both spirit and human to see and to manipulate each other. This work specifically addresses the role of the art object--a bowl from Cameroon, a mask from Burkina Faso or Sierra Leone, an ancestral altar from Nigeria, a fertility figure from Ghana--as a medium through which each world gains entrance into the other. Poynor's essay presents each work in its geographic and cultural context. Line drawings and abundant field photographs enhance the text and support the idea that the objects assist communication between two worlds. Robin Poynor, associate professor of art at the University of Florida, is guest curator of the "Spirit Eyes, Human Hands" exhibition of the university's Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. He is the former curator of the Tweed Museum at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. He has written principally on the art of the Yoruba Kingdom of Owo, Nigeria, where he did field research, and he has curated a number of exhibitions of African art, writing essays, catalogues, and display texts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, and Indiana University Art Museum. He has published extensively in African Arts.

Catalog of an African-owned collection of African artworks, including sculpture of Yoruba, Igbo, Urhobo, Cross River, Benin, and Benue River Valley origins.