Mapping tribal art

THERE IS increased interest in collecting, seeing, admiring and understanding tribal arts, particularly in France where the Musée de Quai Branly in Paris, currently due to open in 2005, will be dedicated to the arts and civilisations of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. T&H’s beautifully designed and printed book displays and defines the remarkable fruits of thousands of years of black African endeavour. All the objects included in the book were made by Africans for their own use, handcrafted from the beginning of the first millennium to the early 20th century, before the inevitable commercial production of art aimed at the tourist trade.

Sub-Saharan Africa is here divided into 49 cultural regions and each one studies the most important tribe in the region and its artistic production; this includes masks, statues, textiles, furniture and jewellery with full biographical information. Good reference guide.