ART IN AFRICA

Description

Although African art has been collected for hundreds of years as exotic and anthropological specimens trinkets, it was not until the beginning of this century that artists such as Picasso, Kirchner, Braque and Matisse are fascinated by it and the work of native artists came to be regarded universally as an important branch of world art. Since then, a number of excellent studies were conducted to gain a better understanding of the diversity of African art – terracotta and bronze figures of the ancient Ife and Benin, for example – as well as several studies related to most other artistic productions have been published. However, there has never been a reasonable guide on African art that is as simple and complete as this one. The illustrations are a particular feature of this book, since almost no works of art reproduced was previously published in the West. They are among the finest collections of Eastern Europe – including Dresden and Budapest – met mostly during the 19th century and demonstrate ancient and freedom acculturation rare in collections Western. The text is divided by geographical area in connection with the black African culture in general, and Dr. Bodrogi details the characteristics of each tribe objects within each region and explains the context and function of all material types of masks , fetishes, figures and statues, ritual objects, scepters, bronze plaques, carved ivories, chairs, containers, and other things. Such ethnographic thorough investigation of African art south of the Sahara is extremely important for the specialist, but it is also very useful for the collector and an approach to the fascinating art to the reader. Dr. Tibor Bodrogi is the director of the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest and an expert in primitive art. He is currently preparing a parallel volume on the art of Indonesia.