Download or read book African Royal Court Art written by Michèle Coquet and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1998-12-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this visually stunning work, anthropologist Michèle Coquet presents the power and the brilliance of African court arts. Grounding her analysis in the social and historical context of traditional royalty systems, Coquet examines the diverse roles played by artisans, nobles, and kings in the production and use of royal objects. From the precolonial kingdoms of the Edo and the Yoruba, the Ashanti and the Igbo, Coquet reconstructs from a comparativist view the essential cultural connections between art, representation, and the king. More than ornamentation, royal objects embodied the strength and status of African rulers. The gold-plated stools of the Ashanti, the delicately carved ivory bracelets of the Edo-these objects were meant not simply to adorn but to affirm and enhance the power and prestige of the wearer. Unlike the abstract style frequently seen in African ritual art, realism became manifest in courtly arts. Realism directly linked the symbolic value of the object-a portrait or relief-with the physical person of the king. The contours of the monarch's face, his political and military exploits rendered on palace walls, became visual histories, the work of art in essence corroborating the ruler's sovereign might. Richly illustrated and wonderfully detailed, Coquet's influential volume offers both a splendid visual presentation and an authoritative analysis of African royal arts. "[This] beautiful and exciting book emphasizes the skillful court art of the Benin, Dahomey, and the Kongo. A very interesting and unusual approach to the art of the continent that has been too easily situated 'outside of history.'"—Le Figaro

Download or read book Royal Arts of Africa written by Suzanne Preston Blier and published by Laurence King. This book was released on 1998 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "First published in Great Britain 1998 by Calmann and King Ltd."-- T.p.

Download or read book Royal Art of Benin written by Kate Ezra and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 1992 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tantalizing trivia. this Hitler, spoiling everything?"

Download or read book Benin a Kingdom in Bronze written by Babacar M'Bow and published by African American Research Library and Cultural Center. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benin: A Kingdom in Bronze is published with an exhibition of the same title presented by the African American Research Library and Cultural Center, September 2005.

Download or read book Benin written by Armand Duchâteau and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ancient kingdom of Benin lies in the tropical rain forest of West Africa, in present-day Nigeria. During its classical age, from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, it produced one of the continent's most glorious artistic legacies. To reflect the splendor of the royal court, the Oba (king) commissioned highly skilled artisans to create rare and beautiful works of cast brass and carved ivory. These included human and animal figures, relief plaques, elephant tusks, pendants, bracelets, life-size commemorative heads of Obas and queen mothers, and ceremonial objects to adorn the royal palace and the altars honoring Obas of the past. The exquisite brass heads were intended to function as objects celebrating ancestors, as war trophies, and as focal points for sacrificial ceremonies." "This volume presents a superb selection of artifacts from the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Vienna, home to one of the world's foremost collections of Benin art. Most of these artifacts were acquired at the end of the last century, when the influx of Benin objects into Europe after the destruction of Benin City caused a sensation among art experts and caught the interest of museum representatives and private collectors. Of the more than one hundred works reproduced here in full color, the majority have never been seen as a group in the U.S. Most celebrated are the cast brass sculptures - including the two figures of dwarfs - which have no parallel in sub-Saharan Africa." "A history of the kingdom of Benin up to the British punitive expedition of 1897 provides insight into the politics and culture of one of Africa's greatest civilizations. Further chapters discuss the court hierarchy, the art of brasscasting, the art of Benin and its symbolism, and the history of the Benin Collection in Vienna. To interpret the rich symbolism in Benin art, the book furnishes detailed analyses of the works that are reproduced. In his description of myths and ritual observances, the author presents a fascinating cosmology, in which animals were assigned magical and medicinal powers, and the Oba was seen as an intermediary between the earth and the world of spirits."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book Benin written by Kathleen Bickford Berzock and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 15th century, the Kingdom of Benin (located in present-day southwestern Nigeria) established a mercantile relationship with Portugal, significantly increasing its wealth and might. Benin became a regional powerhouse and, under a long lineage of divine rulers, or obas, it wielded great economic and political influence. The obas also supported guilds of artists--chief among them brass casters and ivory carvers--whom they employed to produce objects that honored royal ancestors, recorded history, and glorified life at court. The sophisticated creations of Benin’s royal artists stand among the greatest works of African art. This stunning book features a selection of Benin’s extraordinary artworks that range from finely cast bronze figures, altar heads, and wall plaques to ivory tusks, pendants, and arm cuffs embellished in detailed bas relief. An insightful essay outlines the kingdom’s history and sheds light on these masterworks by describing their production and function in the context of the royal court.

Download or read book Bamum written by Christraud Geary and published by 5Continents. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists working for the royal court of Bamum, in Cameroon, created elaborate bead-covered thrones and stools, wooden sculptures, masks in human and animal form, architectural carvings, and fine objects in bronze, ivory, and clay. This book focuses on the history, iconography, and meaning of these royal arts and looks at Western collectors who were fascinated by King Ibrahim Njoya (ruled 1886/7 to 1931) and the splendor of the royal court. Visual and written sources--including testimony by King Njoya and his courtiers, and extensive archival records--cast light on the strategies of a monarch who allowed visitors to acquire these arts to enhance the kingdom's reputation in distant Europe. The history of Bamum arts thus offers unique perspectives on African creativity and ingenuity, and European ways of collecting.

Download or read book Royal Benin Art in the Collection of the National Museum of African Art written by National Museum of African Art (U.S.) and published by Smithsonian Books (DC). This book was released on 1987 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Royal Arts of Africa written by Suzanne Preston Blier and published by Prentice Hall Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on a range of individual objects and archival photos to explore questions of royalty and power, divine kingship, cosmology, and use of art in the African royal states.

Download or read book Art and Craft in Africa written by Laure Meyer and published by Vilo International. This book was released on 1995 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meyer offers a splendidly illustrated survey of everyday, primarily utilitarian objects -- furnishings, culinary utensils, textiles, jewelry, weapons, musical instruments, games, pipes, and regalia -- chosen for beauty of design, ornamentation, or display.

Download or read book Benin Kings and Rituals written by Barbara Plankensteiner and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edited by Barbara Plakensteiner. Foreword by O.J. Eboreime.

Download or read book The Art of West African Kingdoms written by Edward Lifschitz and published by Conran Octopus. This book was released on 1987 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Memory written by S. Terry Childs and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book African Art written by Maurice Delafosse and published by Parkstone International. This book was released on 2012-05-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African Art invites you to explore the dynamic origins of the vast artistic expressions arising from the exotic and mystifying African continent. Since the discovery of African art at the end of the nineteenth century during the colonial expositions it has been a limitless source of inspiration for artists who, over time, have perpetually recreated these artworks. The power of Sub-Saharan African art lies within its visual diversity, demonstrating the creativity of the artists who are continuing to conceptualize new stylistic forms. From Mauritania to South Africa and from the Ivory Coast to Somalia, statues, masks, jewelry, pottery and tapestries compose a variety of daily and ritual objects springing from these richly varied societies.

Download or read book African Art and Leadership written by Douglas Fraser and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1972 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scholarly analysis of the close relationships among the structure, function, and history of the sub-Saharan African arts.

Download or read book The Benin Plaques written by Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 16th century bronze plaques from the kingdom of Benin are among the most recognized masterpieces of African art, and yet many details of their commission and installation in the palace in Benin City, Nigeria, are little understood. The Benin Plaques, A 16th Century Imperial Monument is a detailed analysis of a corpus of nearly 850 bronze plaques that were installed in the court of the Benin kingdom at the moment of its greatest political power and geographic reach. By examining European accounts, Benin oral histories, and the physical evidence of the extant plaques, Gunsch is the first to propose an installation pattern for the series.

Download or read book Identity Re creation in Global African Encounters written by John Ayotunde Isola Bewaji and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2019-08-07 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identity Re-creation in Global African Encounters explores race, racial politics, and racial transformation in the context of Africa’s encounters with non-African communities through various perspectives including oppression, racialization of ethnic difference, and identity deconstruction. While the contributors recognize that ethnicity has long been a staple analytical category of engagements between African and non-African communities, they present a holistic view of the continent and its diaspora through race outside of both colonial and neocolonial binaries, allowing for a more nuanced study of Africa and its diaspora.