African Masters: Art from Ivory Coast: Art from the Ivory Coast - Hardcover

Museum Rietberg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3858817619 ISBN 13: 9783858817617

Publisher: Scheidegger, 2015

Synopsis

• A milestone in research on traditional African art
• Essays by eminent scholars for the first time show aesthetic principles and present a wide range of significant individual artists, ancient and contemporary
• Features around 200 of the best works of West African art from international collections
• Presents previously unpublished material

West Africa has a rich and long artistic tradition. In particular, Ivory Coast is home to a vast number of sculptors, some of which have created work that bears comparison with masters of European art, such as Michelangelo or Picasso. Yet the view still prevails that no aesthetic principles can be found in traditional African art, nor that independent artistic personalities have ever emerged from this tradition. Only tribal workshops with anonymous artist are identified.

African Masters proves this simplistic and patronising verdict wrong. Essays by renowned scholars investigate the role of the artists in traditional, and modern, society, their ideal of beauty and its transformation into works of art. The book also offers the first comprehensive overview of the most significant sculptors from Ivory Coast and its neighbouring countries. It discusses the oeuvre of ancient masters from the people of Guro, Senufo, Dan, Baule, Lobi, and from the lagoons and puts them in context with local contemporary art. African Masters features around 200 masterpieces from private and public collections, including that of Museum Rietberg Zürich, all in full colour and many of full-page plates.

About this title

About the Author:

Museum Rietberg Zürich is one of Europe's leading museums for non-European art.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scheidegger
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 3858817619
• ISBN 13: 9783858817617
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240
• Editor: Museum Rietberg