Description
Book SynopsisPresents a major part of the extraordinary corpus of ancient Ife art in terra-cotta, stone, and metal, dating from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. This title explores the purposes for which this art may have been made and its relationship to Yoruba ideas about leadership, divinity, gender, and aesthetics.
Trade ReviewA very good source for archaeologists and art historians interested in the African past. . . . looks at the art of Ife with regard to its aesthetics but also tries to understand the art in its anthropological perspective.
-- C.A. Folorunso * Journal of African Archaeology *
Schildkrout discusses the fascinating history of the discovering, excavating, and collecting Ife art. Drewal delves further into Yoruba art and beliefs and then outlines a chronology of Ife art and culture. Summing up: Recommended.
* Choice *
Drewal [has] valuable anthropological insights on depicitons, in both terracotta and metal, of apparel and beads, and equally non-elite faces and deformed and sick bodies, as well as presumed sacrifical victims, and on the significance of various animal sculptures.
* Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa *
Table of ContentsForeword / Elsie McCabe Thompson & Emilio Botin; Preface / Joseph Eboreime 1. Ife art in West Africa: An introduction to the exhibition / Enid Schildkrout; 2. The splendour of ancient Ife: Art in an early West African state / Henry John Drewal Bibliography; Glossary; Acknowledgments / Enid Schildkrout & Paloma Botin; Photo credits; Board & staff
