Mande Potters & Leatherworkers: Art and Heritage in West Africa
By Barbara E. Frank.
Published in English by the Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London, 1998.
Format: 8 3/4" x 11 1/4", 192 pages, 44 color illustrations, 144 B&W, maps.
Hardcover; $45.
This impressive study approaches two crafts among the Mande peoples of West Africa. Here, pottery making is an exclusively female pursuit, while leatherworking is dominated by males. The author explores the two in depth, producing a valuable contribution to the scholarship of West African culture and, at the same time, demonstrating how craft technology in addition to artistic style is essential for reconstructing and comprehending the artistic heritage of a culturally complex region. In examining the roles of these craftspeople in the rise and fall of empires, the development of trans-Saharan trade networks, and the spread of Islam, the author brings into question the "one-tribe, one-style" interpretations that have dominated studies of West African art.
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Native Paths: American Indian Art from the Collection of Charles and Valerie Diker
Edited by Alan Wardwell.
Published in English by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1998.
Format: 9" x 11", 128 pp, 140 color illustrations, map.
Hardcover and softcover.
This well-produced catalogue accompanies the long-term exhibition of the Native American art collection of Charles and Valerie Diker that is now on Display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The collection, formed over the course of almost an entire generation, reveals a committed discernment for historical, cultural, and artistic value. Every object in this publication is a gem in its own right, and over the years many have become icons of the field. The catalogue is divided by region or object type and forms a concise survey of the material culture of the native peoples of North America. Each section is introduced by a brief but thoughtful essay by a notable expert: Janet Catherine Berlo, Bruce Bernstein, T.J. Brasser, N. Scott Momaday, Allen Wardwell, and W. Richard West. The design of the publication is elegant, with each piece represented in color. It will undoubtedly serve as a welcome addition to the libraries of those well versed in Native American art and as a stimulating introduction to those approaching the field for the first time.
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A History of Dogs in the Early Americas
By Marion Schwartz.
Published in English by Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1997.
Format: 6 1/2" x 9 1/2", 236 pp, 8 color illustrations and numerous B&W photographs and line drawings, maps.
Hardcover; $37.50.
For more than twelve-thousand years, the dog has coexisted with humans in the Americas, following pathways much different from their European and Asian counterparts. New World dogs have been perceived in many ways that range from sacred deity to appetizing food item. Drawing on chronicles, ethnographies, archaeological reports, myths, biology, and a rich array of visual materials, this work examines the fluctuating status of dogs in indigenous cultures of the Americas from prehistory to the present. Appendices to this thorough work include ethnonyms for dogs and related concepts from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, as well as nearly twenty-five pages of bibliographic references. To learn about the Colima dog as psychopomp or the "wool dogs" whose coats were incorporated into the textiles of the Coastal Salish, this book is the place to go.
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James Cook: Gifts and Treasures from the South Seas. The Cook/Forster Collection. Göttingen./Gaben und Schätze aus der Südsee. Die Göttingen Sammlung Cook/Forster
by Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin and Gundolf Krüger.
Collective work. Published in a bilingual German/English edition by Prestel, Munich, 1998.
Format: 24.4 x 30.5 cm, 349 pp, 51 color illustrations, 447 B&W.
Hardcover: DM 98, 498 FF.
During his eight years of exploration in Oceania and the Americas, Captain James Cook and the artists and scientists that accompanied him collected a large number of ethnographic specimens. Two German naturalists, Johann Reinhold Forster and his son, Georg, accompanied Cook on his second voyage, and late in the 18th century they bequeathed nearly 500 objects collected during three Cook voyages to the Georgia Augusta Göttingen Academic Museum. The objects were later transferred to the Ethnology Institute where they remain today. In this book, the Cook-Forster Collection can be studied as a whole for the first time. The first two chapters, devoted to the history of Cook's explorations and to the collection itself, are supplemented with relevant regional studies of Polynesia, Melanesia and North and South America. The catalogue itself follows. An accurate and complete text makes this work a fascinating documentary source.
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In Den Weiten Des
Pazifik: Micronesien-Ausgewählte Objekte aus des Sammlungen der Museen für Völerkunde zu Leipzig und Dresden.
by Barbara Treide.
Published in German by Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1997.
Format: 22.5 x 30 cm, 248 pp., 73 color illustrations, 179 B&W
Softcover: DM 68.
The art of Micronesia is sadly underestimated and few works are devoted to this topic. This long-awaited contribution does not pretend to be exhaustive, but it is an essential resource for all enthusiasts of the field. It illustrates material from the collections of the museums of Leipzig and Dresden. Most of the objects in these collections were collected during the last century, and many of them came from the Godeffroy Museum in Hamburg.
Working from the perspective of the human environment and traditional religious practice, the author adds to both knowledge and our aesthetic appreciation of these works, which range from the exuberant figurative renderings to compelling abstract forms.
Despite its numerous illustrations, it is regrettable that this important work is published only in German. However, two-thirds of the pages are devoted to illustrating the rare jewelry pieces, weapons, utensils, and exceptional sculptural works from Palau, Yap, Nukumanu, and the Hermit Islands. This catalogue is an invaluable reference and comparison tool.
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Chasseurs et guerriers
Collective work published in French by the Dapper Museum, Paris, 1998.
Format: 24.5 x 32.5 cm, 275 pp, 131 color illustrations, 22 B&W.
Softcover (available at the Museum) : 180 FF; hardcover: 280 FF.
Beautifully illustrated, this work is intended to appeal to knowledgeable readers as well as interested beginners. Its intent is to aid our understanding of African art and to let us discover the different uses, variety of shapes, and religious and cultural dimensions of the objects discussed. Containers conceal if they are closed and offer if open, and they are examined inside and out by a number of authorities. Joseph Aurelien Cornet writes about the Kuba wisdom basket, palm wine cups, and drinking horns, as well as certain types of containers produced by the Mangbetu. François Neyt studies Luba bowl figures and discusses the vessels made by this important group and those of the Luluwa. Marie-Louise Bastin analyzes the symbols and forms of vessels made in the Chokwe region. Jean-Paul Notue introduces us to Grassland containers. Youssouf Tata Cisse deals with the containers manufactured by the Sanga Dogon that extend a relationship with their ancestor's time into their own society. Vincent Boulore introduces and interprets the sculpted figures found on spoons, shea butter boxes, and mouse oracles from central Côte d'Ivoire. Ezio Bassani discusses similar objects occurring among the earliest-known discoveries in Igbo-Ukwu and Ife. He also addresses Afro-Portuguese ivories that include African and European elements, the refinement of which emphasizes the artists' ability to adapt to repertoires that seem distant from their cultural
milieu.
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An Ethnology of the Admiralty Islanders. The Alfred Bühler Collection, Museum der Kulturen, Basel
by Sylvia Ohnemus.
Published in German under the title Zur Kultur der Admiralitäts-Insulaner in Melanesien, Museum der Kulturen, Basel, 1996, and in English by Crawford House Publishing for Australia and University of Hawaii Press, 1998.
Format: 22 x 25 cm, 430 pp, 48 color illustrations and 393 B&W, 86 drawings, maps.
Hardcover: sFr. 95.
Since Hans Nevermann's Admiralitäts-Inseln (1934), no significant book on the Admiralty Islands has been published. The ethnologist Alfred Bühler landed on the Admiralty Islands in December of 1931 and worked for six months gathering information and objects for the city of Basel and the Museum für Völkerkunde, which is today known as the Museum der Kulturen. Except for one article produced 1935, he was unable during his lifetime to publish the results of his research, his notes on the artifacts he collected, or his corpus of field photos. This book relates this information for the first time, and incorporates the author's own five months of field research in 1991-92, which was intended to complete Bühler's notes. Each section of the book addresses an object type represented in the collection. It describes in detail its classification and distribution, its material and workmanship, its function and use, and compares information collected by Nevermann, Bühler, and the author. The resulting combination of images and text forms a reference source of primary importance for these islands, which are best known for their bowls with figurative or spiral handles and their war charms that consist of a face with frigate bird feathers extending from the neck.
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