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African Art » • * * « Thames & Hudson arid of art BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY Copley Square MA Boston, 021 16 frankwillettwaseducatedinBolton, Lancashire,andat UniversityCollege,Oxford. From 1950until 1958hewasKeeper ofEthnologyandGeneralArchaeologyintheManchesterUniversity Museum,fromwhichheconductedarchaeologicalexpeditionsto OldOyoandIfe. In 1958hebecameArchaeologisttotheFederal GovernmentofNigeriaandCuratoroftheIfeMuseum. Hecontinued toconductexcavationsinIfeandelsewhereuntil 1963. In 1964 hereturnedtoIfeasLeverhulmeResearchFellow,andfrom 1964until 1966hewasResearchFellowatNuffieldCollege, Oxford. From 1966until 1976hewasProfessorofAfricanArt andArchaeologyatNorthwesternUniversity, Evanston, Illinois, andfrom 1976to 1990wasDirectoroftheHunterianMuseumand ArtGalleryoftheUniversityofGlasgow,whereheisnowHonorary SeniorResearchFellow.HeistheauthorofIfeintheHistoryofWest AfricanSculptureandjointauthorofTreasuresofAncientNigeria. Thames&Hudson worldofart Thisfamousseriesprovidesthewidestavailable rangeofillustratedbooksonartinallitsaspects. Ifyouwouldliketoreceiveacompletelist oftitlesinprintpleasewriteto: THAMES&HUDSON 181AHighHolborn LondonWC1V7QX IntheUnitedStatespleasewriteto: THAMES&HUDSON INC 500FifthAvenue NewYork,NewYork 10110 PrintedinSingapore Frank Willett African Art New edition 288 illustrations, 78 incolor '^^ Thames& Hudson worldofart Frontispiece: Maskcalledngulu(pig),collectedbyMichaelStrotzin April 1973inthevillageofMutuangulu,tothewestoftheKwango river,inAngola,veryclosetovillagesoftheBaYaka.Thevillagechief, alsocalledMutuangulu,reportedthatitwasusedindancesfor entertainment. Maximumlength80cm(31V2in.);maximumwidth attopofhead52cm(20'/2in.);heightasphotographed65cm (251/?in.). Inaprivatecollection. Inmemoryofmyverygood friend WilliamFaggwhofirst taughtmetodeepenmyenjoyment ofAfricanartbyincreasingmy understandingofit © 1971, 1993and2002 FrankWillett AllRightsReserved. Nopartofthispublication maybereproducedortransmittedinanyformor byanymeans,electronicormechanical,including photocopy,recordingoranyotherinformation storageandretrievalsystem,withoutprior permissioninwritingfromthepublisher. FirstpublishedinpaperbackintheUnitedStatesofAmericain 1985by Thames&HudsonInc.,500FifthAvenue,NewYork, NewYork10110 thamesandhudsonusa.com Thirdedition2003 LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber2002102602 ISBN0-500-20364-4 IandboundinSingaporebyC.S.Graphics Contents 7 Preface to the New Edition Chapter 1 8 Introducing Africa Chapter 2 26 The Development of the Study of African Art Chapter 3 42 Towards a History of African Art Chapter 4 no African Architecture Chapter 5 130 Looking at African Sculpture Chapter 6 150 Understanding African Sculpture Chapter 7 220 Contemporary African Art 246 Recent Research: An Illustrated Guide 256 Notes 262 Bibliography 268 Acknowledgments 269 Index Preface to the New Edition Thisbookgrewfromtheauthor'sdissatisfactionwith thebooks availablewhen hefirstbegan toteach aboutAfrican artin 1966. Its approach still seems to fill a need, for not only does it continue to be widely used in teaching but the major book by Kerchache et al., 1988, confirms its continuing relevance by addressing several of the same topics though in a more philosophical way. It is primarily about principles in the study of African art, based on case studies which have become the foundation stonesofthesubjectoverthelastthirtyyearsand so are as relevant today as when they were first published. These pioneering studies may well be old, but they are still valid and underlie more recentwork. The text has therefore been revised without attempting to touch on all the developments that have taken place during a time in which research has grown exponentially The reader who wishes to pursue the subject furtheris referred toMonicaVisonaetal., 2000,and tothevery valuable articles by Paula Ben-Amos, 1989, and Monni Adams, 1989, which survey the available literature at that time and provide more comprehensive bibliographies than it is possible todoin thisbook. NOTE Bantu names are used in English both with and without their prefix. In this book they are usuallyquoted with the prefix, and a capital letter is used to indicate the root, e.g. BaKwele. However in a few cases m which the root form only is in common use I have employed this form, e.g. Zulu rather than AmaZulu. The bibliography however quotes the form given by the indi\ idual author. Chapter 1 IntroducingAfrica There already exists a considerable literature on African art, much ofit more valuable for its illustrations than its text. The most significant studies are generally those of limited scope, dealingwiththeartofasinglesocietyorarea.Booksandarticles ofthis kind do not usually have widedistribution, and thegen- eralreaderseesonlybooks(likethisone!)whichdealwiththeart ofthewholecontinent.Mostofthesesharethemajorcharacter- 1A Peoplesreferredtointhetext. isticofmakinggeneralstatementsaboutAfricaasifthisvastand Fulan Kilometres
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