Heroic Africans legendary leaders, iconic sculptures Alisa LaGamma

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

LaGamma, Alisa, author.

Contributor:

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), host institution.

Museum Rietberg, host institution.

Series:

Metropolitan Museum of Art publications

Metropolitan Museum of Art publications.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Figure sculpture, African--Exhibitions.

Figure sculpture, African.

Portrait sculpture, African--Exhibitions.

Portrait sculpture, African.

Sculpture--Africa, Sub-Saharan--Exhibitions.

Sculpture.

Art and society--Africa, Sub-Saharan--Exhibitions.

Art and society.

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Genre:

Ausstellung -- New York, NY -- 2011

Exhibition catalogs

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 298 pages) illustrations (chiefly color), color maps

Distribution:

New Haven Distributed by Yale University Press

Place of Publication:

New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art [2011]

Summary:

"Over the centuries, artists across sub-Saharan Africa have memorialized eminent figures in their societies using an astonishingly diverse repertoire of naturalistic and abstract sculptural idioms. Adopting complex aesthetic fromulations, they idealized their subjects but also added specific details--such as emblems of rank, scarification patterns, and elaborate coiffures--in order to evoke the individuals represented. Imbued with the essence of their formidable subjects, these works played an essential role in reifying ties with important ancestors at critical moments of transition. Often their transfer from one generation to the next was a prerequisite for conferring legitimacy upon the leaders who followed. The arrival of Europeans as traders, then as colonizers, led to the dislocation of many of these sculptures from their original sites, as well as from the contexts in which they were conceived; thus, today, they are seen primarily as timeless representations of generic archetypes. "Heroic Africans" reexamines the sculptures in terms of the individuals who inspired them and the cultural values that informed them, providing insight into the hidden meaning and inspiration behind these great artistic achievements"--Metropolitan Museum of Art website

Contents:

Introduction. Enshrining greatness Visual poems in praise of an ever-present past : Ife terracottas Pageantry and ritual : the Akan Dancing figures and effigy thrones : Grassfield chiefdoms The golden age of Shyáám and beyond : the Kuba Of hunter princes and cherished maidens : the Chokwe and Luluwa Sublime chiefs and the persistence of memory : the Hemba

Notes:

Issued in connection with an exhibition held September 20, 2011-January 29, 2012, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and at the Rietberg Museum, Zürich, February 26-June 3, 2012

Includes bibliographical references (pages 290-293) and index

Other Format:

Print version LaGamma, Alisa. Heroic Africans

OCLC:

1264153725