Buy books on African Art

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Having a good book library is the first step to have a good African art collection, since you can't select good pieces, if you don't know how they look like. 

The Royal Arts of Africa Author: Suzanne Preston Blier;  272 pages, 206 illustrations of art from the kingdoms of west and central Africa, with some 140 in full colour  Many traditional African cultures, especially in west and central Africa, were ruled by complex hierarchical kingdoms. As Blier (African Vodun, LJ 4/1/95) documents so clearly, those royal systems were major patrons of art largely because the visual messages imbedded in their regalia and palace objects supported their power, position, and prestige. An introductory chapter analyzes the diverse roles that African kings played, thus providing the iconographical framework that explains the richness of Africa's royal arts. That is followed by five chapters focusing on those cultures (Benin, Yoruba, Dahomey, Asante, Cameroon, Grasslands, Kongo, and Kuba) whose kingship systems and associated objects represent some of Africa's greatest artistic achievements.

The Kanyok of Zaire : An Institutional and Ideological History to 1895 (African Studies) Author: John C. Yoder; Buy New: $29.99

Review
"...an important contribution to our understanding of precolonial intellectual history in Africa." David Newbury, American Historical Review

Book Description
John Yoder chronicles the history of the Kanyok, a people from the southern savanna of Zaire, from before 1500 until their incorporation into the Congo Free State in the 1890s. By analyzing their oral traditions, myths, and legends, the author describes the political and cultural development of a people who, before 1891, had no written records, and whose history has previously been confined to the stale recitation of wars and succession struggles that characterize many existing books on pre-colonial Africa. Yoder sets his work firmly within the larger context of the southern savanna by extending his investigations to the traditions of neighboring peoples, in particular to the Luba and Lunda, whose empires once dominated the region. In this way, he demonstrates how the same stories and ideas circulated over a vast area but were continually adapted to local circumstances.

The Birth of Art in Africa: Nok Statuary in Nigeria Author: Bernard De Grunne; Buy New: $29.95 1999, ISBN: 2876602423 Book Description: HARDCOVER VILO 1998. D *In Nigeria. This volume presents sixty-five illustrations of terra-cotta sculptures from the Nok, Sokoto and Katsina cultures of Nigeria. These objects, dating from 600 BC to 300 AD, form the oldest traces of the remarkable sculptural tradition from sub-Saharan Africa. Color/b&w illus; maps. 121p.

Art from Africa : Long Steps Never Broke a Back Pamela McClusky; Paperback; Buy New: $26.56 catalog from the exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum

The Scramble for Art in Central Africa Enid Schildkrout; Buy New: $24.99 The contributors to this volume trace the life history of artifacts that were brought to Europe and America from Congo toward the end of the nineteenth century, and became the subjects of museum displays. They also present fascinating case studies of the pioneering collectors, including such major figures as Frobenius and Torday, discuss the complex and sensitive issues involved in the business of "collecting," and consider how these objects were used in the invention of Africa by the West. Paperback: 271 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 28, 1998)

More specialized:

find out more : The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa (Cambridge World Archaeology) Timothy Insoll; Hardcover; Buy New: $95.00

Literature:

It has nothing to do with African Art, but is one of the most funny word definitions dictionary I have ever read. Since it is in the public domain, I made a website about it, read details and URL at:

Devil's Dictionary Author: Ambrose Bierce 

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