"Informed by the latest scholarship yet written for the general reader, this has been the first comprehensive study to present the arts of Africa in art historical terms. A History of Art in Africa covers all parts of the continent, including Egypt, from prehistory to the present day and includes the art of the African Diaspora. Many aspects of visual culture are given detailed consideration, including sculpture, architecture, and such quintessentially African forms as masquerades, festivals, and personal adornment. The arts of daily life, of royal ceremony, and of state cosmology receive compelling discussions. Throughout, the authors emphasize the cultural contexts in which art is produced and imbued with meanings." "Among the ancient works illustrated are masterpieces in brass, gold, ivory, stone and terracotta. Religious arts serving Islamic and Christian communities are presented, as are fascinating hybrid arts that periodically arose from African interactions with Europe, Asia and the Americas. Twentieth-century arts are explored as part of the vibrancy of modern Africa and as ingenious responses to historical change. 'Twenty-first-century African artists, and artists of the African Diaspora, are presented in the context of changing global economies and new theoretical positions." "This expanded and revised second edition provides a new chapter on African artists working abroad, and five new short essays on cross-cultural topics such as tourist arts, dating methods, and the illicit trade in archaeological artifacts. The illustrations - featuring a vast and rich array of images of artworks, archival and contemporary field photographs, explanatory drawings and plans, and individual objects displayed in museums and in use - have likewise been greatly extended, with many more pictures now shown in color."--BOOK JACKET.

Informed by the latest scholarship yet written for the general reader, this has been the first comprehensive study to present the arts of Africa in art historical terms. A History of Art in Africa covers all parts of the continent, including Egypt, from prehistory to the present day and includes the art of the African Diaspora. Many aspects of visual culture are given detailed consideration, including sculpture, architecture, and such quintessentially African forms as masquerades, festivals, and personal adornment. The arts of daily life, of royal ceremony, and of state cosmology receive compelling discussions. Throughout, the authors emphasize the cultural contexts in which art is produced and imbued with meanings. Among the ancient works illustrated are masterpieces in brass, gold, ivory, stone and terracotta. Religious arts serving Islamic and Christian communities are presented, as are fascinating hybrid arts that periodically arose from African interactions with Europe, Asia and the Americas. Twentieth-century arts are explored as part of the vibrancy of modern Africa and as ingenious responses to historical change. 'Twenty-first-century African artists, and artists of the African Diaspora, are presented in the context of changing global economies and new theoretical positions. This expanded and revised second edition provides a new chapter on African artists working abroad, and five new short essays on cross-cultural topics such as tourist arts, dating methods, and the illicit trade in archaeological artifacts. The illustrations - featuring a vast and rich array of images of artworks, archival and contemporary field photographs, explanatory drawings and plans, and individual objects displayed in museums and in use - have likewise been greatly extended, with many more pictures now shown in color.

Discusses the arts of the African continent, including Egypt, exploring the continent's artistic, as opposed to purely cultural traditions.

This is a pioneering introduction to a subject that is still at an early srage of academic development. It aims to provide the reader with a systematic method for the historical understanding of African art. Professor Vansina considers the medium, technique, style and meaning of art objects and examines the creative process through which they come into being. Numerous photographs and drawings illustrate his arguments, and help to explain the changes that have taken place.

A major new history of how African nations, starting in the 1960s, sought to reclaim the art looted by Western colonial powers For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In Africa’s Struggle for Its Art, Bénédicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. One of the world’s foremost experts on restitution and cultural heritage, Savoy investigates extensive, previously unpublished sources to reveal that the roots of the struggle extend much further back than prominent recent debates indicate, and that these efforts were covered up by myriad opponents. Shortly after 1960, when eighteen former colonies in Africa gained independence, a movement to pursue repatriation was spearheaded by African intellectual and political classes. Savoy looks at pivotal events, including the watershed speech delivered at the UN General Assembly by Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, which started the debate regarding restitution of colonial-era assets and resulted in the first UN resolution on the subject. She examines how German museums tried to withhold information about their inventory and how the British Parliament failed to pass a proposed amendment to the British Museum Act, which protected the country's collections. Savoy concludes in the mid-1980s, when African nations enacted the first laws focusing on the protection of their cultural heritage. Making the case for why restitution is essential to any future relationship between African countries and the West, Africa’s Struggle for Its Art will shape conversations around these crucial issues for years to come.

Offering a wealth of perspectives on African modern and Modernist art from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, this new Companion features essays by African, European, and North American authors who assess the work of individual artists as well as exploring broader themes such as discoveries of new technologies and globalization. A pioneering continent-based assessment of modern art and modernity across Africa Includes original and previously unpublished fieldwork-based material Features new and complex theoretical arguments about the nature of modernity and Modernism Addresses a widely acknowledged gap in the literature on African Art

This new history of over 5,000 years of African art reveals its true diversity for the first time. Challenging centuries of misconceptions that have obscured the sophisticated nature of African art, Garlake focuses on seven key regions--southern Africa, Nubia, Aksum, the Niger River, West Africa, Great Zimbabwe, and the East African coast--treating each in detail and setting them in their social and historical context. Garlake is long familiar with and has extensive practical experience of both the archaeology and the art history of Africa. Using the latest research and archaeological findings, he offers exciting new insights into the works native to these areas, and he also puts forth new interpretations of several key cultures and monuments. Acknowledging the universal allure of the African art object, this stunning book helps us to understand more about the ways in which this art was produced, used, and received.

"The authors draw on personal memories, interviews, and oral narratives to present twelve "case histories" of objects--or clusters of objects-- in the Seatle Art Museum's renowned collection of African art."

The collections of the British Museum provide an exceptional resource for exploring both African antiquity and its contemporary arts and cultures. This book looks at the continent as a whole. It describes through a series of essays the history and arts of particular regions and the sources of the collections now in the Museum. Each section will be well-illustrated with a mix of archival and contemporary field photographs, and will also integrate illustrations of up to 50 important individual objects from this world-famous collection. The objects will have a commentary on their significance by leading figures in the field of African studies, many of them native to the areas from which the objects derive. The book brings to bear a mix of Western and African scholarship in an innovative collaboration to reassess one of the great African collections.

The only book of its kind to examine cave art throughout Africa. The paintings and engravings discovered in African caves are amazing works of art that hold clues to understanding the history of humankind.