African art : a century at the Brooklyn Museum /

For this centennial catalogue, Siegmann (Saint Louis Art Museum; previously, Brooklyn Museum) has written a detailed historical account of the Brooklyn Museum's collecting and display practices since 1900. His essay records how the institution, as an early leader in the acquisition and exhibition of African objects as museum-quality art, contributed to innovations and ideologies that transformed the place of African art in US art museums. Adande (National Univ. of Benin) introduces in his essay themes of continuity and change manifest in both traditional and contemporary Diaspora arts that testify to the sustained power of Africa's visual culture. More than 130 of the most important pieces in the Brooklyn Museum's African art collection of over 6,000 objects are illustrated with new color photography, informative short descriptions, and in several instances, supporting photographs from the museum's archives. This catalogue clearly reflects the strength of the collection as Central African, including the Kuba, Luba, and Kongo peoples. Both the exhibition list and the bibliography of publications featuring items from the Brooklyn Museum's collection represent valuable research tools. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. M. R. Vendryes independent scholar

This volume could be just another standard survey catalog with an overview of the various regions of African art, followed by a selection of mostly masks and human figures, except for one thing. The collection featured here is that of the Brooklyn Museum-one of the first museums in America to amass holdings in African art. The objects presented are almost all exemplars of their kind found anywhere. The history of the collection is provided by a former curator and the overview survey text by a leading scholar in the field. The greatest strength here is the focus on the art of central Africa; West Africa is well represented, but eastern and southern Africa are barely acknowledged. Verdict Definitely a valuable addition to scholars and libraries with specialized interest in African art.-Eugene C. Burt, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.