Icons. Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa. Publ. for the National Museum of African Art .

Gutes Exemplar; Umschlag etwas berieben u. stw. geknickt. - Aus der Afrika-Bibliothek von Dr. H.-Joachim Kolo� V�lkerkundemuseum Berlin. - Englisch. - The couple. The woman and child. The armed male. The rider. The stranger. For more than six thousand years, these five themes have appeared in countless works of art across the vast continent of Africa. The cultural ideals and values they embody are central to the lives of African peoples. Art historian Herbert M. Cole calls these timeless fundamental images icons. In this fascinating book, Cole explores the many different ways the icons have been depicted, used, and interpreted. Although these iconic artworks are found almost everywhere in Africa, as well as throughout the world, each culture accords them unique religious, social, or political meaning. Icons express ideals of leadership, beauty, family, and productivity. They are also unmistakably about spiritual and secular power - the power to inspire, invoke, transform, persuade, command. Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa, published in conjunction with a major exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art, is lavishly illustrated with more than two hundred photographs. Many superb works of art and their African settings are seen here for the first time. Cole discusses such diverse works as ancient rock paintings and engravings, archaeological bronzes and terracottas, wooden shrine sculptures, miniature metal castings, public monuments in clay or cement, shop signs, gold and ivory political emblems, and modern glass paintings. Icons is both a noteworthy contribution to scholarship and a compelling introduction to the vitality, richness, and history of African art. (Verlagstext) / INHALT : Foreword ----- Preface ----- Introduction: Icons, Ideals, and Powers ----- Useful Images: The Life of Art in Africa ----- Iconic Conventions: The Ideology of Form ----- Two as One: The Male and Female Couple ----- Maternity and Abundance: The Woman and Child ----- Hunters, Warriors, and Heroes: The Forceful Male ----- Riders of Power: The Mounted Leader ----- Ambiguous Aliens: The Stranger in African Art History ----- Change and Continuity: The Icons in Twentieth-Century Art ----- Appendix: List of Illustrations ----- Notes ----- Bibliography ----- Lenders to the Exhibition. ISBN 0874743206