Art of the Lega - Softcover

Cameron, Elisabeth L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0930741889 ISBN 13: 9780930741884

Publisher: Fowler Museum of Cultural History,U.S., 2001

Synopsis

Drawing upon diverse sources, including Daniel P. Biebuyck's seminal fieldwork of the 1950s, Elisabeth Cameron investigates the culture and the art of the Lega peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Among the Lega, art is only created for and used by the Bwami Society. Bwami is a complex organization consisting of multiple levels, and it forms an essential component of the political, social, and religious structure of the Lega. Within Bwami, artworks are used in conjunction with proverbs, anecdotes, and performances to form complex layered metaphors and to serve as mnemonic devices. As initiates move up through the ranks of the Bwami Society, a variety of different artworks assist them in recalling a vast corpus of complex aphorisms. The many beautiful examples of Lega artworks illustrated in this volume are drawn primarily from the Jay T. Last collection and include masks, animals, human forms, miniature tools, and spoons.

About this title

Review:

"... to find such quality publishing , and such remarkable illustrations, at such modest prices is a rare treat. Libraries should pounce." - Leeds African Studies Bulletin, No. 66 2004

About the Author:

Elisabeth L. Camerion is an assistant professor of art history at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fowler Museum of Cultural History,U.S.
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0930741889
• ISBN 13: 9780930741884
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 236