Research Catalog

Title

African masterworks in the Detroit Institute of Arts / essays by Michael Kan and Roy Sieber ; text by David W. Penney, Mary Nooter Roberts, and Helen M. Shannon.

Author

Detroit Institute of Arts.

Publication

Washington : Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts by the Smithsonian Institution Press, ©1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Kan, Michael.
• Sieber, Roy, 1923-2001.
• Roberts, Mary Nooter.
• Penney, David W.
• Shannon, Helen.

Description

xi, 180 pages : illustrations (some color), maps; 30 cm

Summary

African Masterworks in the Detroit Institute of Arts showcases eighty-eight of the museum's finest works, representing the full range of major sub-Saharan sculptural traditions during the past three centuries: figures, masks, containers, carved stools, jewelry, and musical instruments. As noted in the introductory material, almost all African art has a functional base - each sculpture's primary justification is its effectiveness as a ritual or utilitarian object. Text accompanying each photograph describes not only the circumstances, when known, of the object's creation, but also the harmonious interplay of its aesthetic features and cultural and spiritual function. The catalogue also details the rituals surrounding the religious objects and the social importance of the secular works. Organized by region, from the western Sudan to southern Africa, the book includes essays on the history of each area, as well as maps and an extensive bibliography. Michael Kan, the curator of the collection, provides a history of the museum's African art acquisitions since 1900, and the introduction by Roy Sieber traces the evolution of Western appreciation for African art, describing also the value placed on the objects by the community from which they arose.

Subject

• Detroit Institute of Arts > Catalogs
• Detroit Institute of Arts
• Sculpture, Black > Africa, Sub-Saharan > Catalogs
• Carving (Decorative arts) > Africa, Sub-Saharan > Catalogs
• Sculpture > Michigan > Detroit > Catalogs
• Carving (Decorative arts) > Michigan > Detroit > Catalogs
• Sculpture noire > Catalogues > Afrique subsaharienne
• Sculpture (Arts décoratifs) > Catalogues > Afrique subsaharienne
• Sculpture > Michigan > Detroit > Catalogues
• Sculpture (Arts décoratifs) > Catalogues > Michigan > Detroit
• Carving (Decorative arts)
• Sculpture
• Sculpture, Black
• Sculpture > Afrique noire > Catalogues
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Michigan > Detroit

Genre/Form

• Catalog
• catalogs (documents)
• Catalogs.
• Catalogues.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-175) and index.

Contents

An Introduction to African Art / by Roy Sieber -- African Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts / by Michael Kan -- Western Sudan -- Guinea Coast -- Cameroon and Central Highlands -- Western Congo Basin and Ogowe River -- Lower Congo and Kwango Basins -- Eastern Congo Basin -- East and South Africa.

ISBN

• 1560986026
• 9781560986027

LCCN

95006169

OCLC

• ocm32050622
• 32050622
• SCSB-2096719

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library