African Art in Motion
Book
Date:
1974ISBN:
0520038436Format:
PaperbackDescription:
275 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 21.5 x 28 cm.Summary:
"Author Robert Farris Thompson provides entirely fresh and enlightening perspectives on the interrelationship of the arts and on the cultural role and meaning of art in traditional African societies. Textiles, sculptures, masks, costumes, and a variety of implements and musical instruments are lavishly illustrated and interpreted from the aesthetic that in Africa, 'icon' and 'act' are one, that African art can best be understood in the context of dance.The work is divided into three sections:
(1) a list of highly abstract concepts such as 'ephebism' and 'coolness' which Thompson contends underlie African aesthetics;
(2) an extended analysis of the significance of sculptures standing, sitting, riding, kneeling, supporting, and balancing; and
(3) descriptions of six different dance events combining masks, poetry, music, and religious ritual, and their effects on their audiences." -- from Goodreads book description