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Rating: 
Summary: Very good but AFRICAN MASKS is a better book on this subject
Review: AFRICAN MASKS by Iris Hahner-Herzog is a superior book because the color plates are more numerous, larger and printed with greater resolution. Some of the photos in Tribal Arts, especially the smaller black & white ones, were difficult to read about because the plates were scattered across the pages in no apparent relation to their descriptions in the text. What's worse is, some had no descriptions at all and some art was referred to where there were no photos. While trying to indentify a particular mask that I owned, I found I had to skim the text backwards, to try to find the description of a photo...since photos that were on the righthand page were described earlier in the text (on the lefthand page). Whomever edited this book seemed to have no regard for a visually organized presentation.
The CONTENTS were divided regionally and then sub-dived by tribes in those regions, this was informative and helpful, especially if one is trying to identify a masks (and you know the region by not the tribe). This IS a very good book for someone who is a collector or very interested in the subject, but if you are just buying ONE book on this subject, IMO, AFRICAN MAKSKS is the better book.
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Summary: Good book for beginners
Review: Dear Sirs,This is good book for those who are interested in African art but not very deeply. It is kind of catalogue which gives you a list and discription of general topics in tribe by tribe art.
I would recomend it for beginners in African art and culture.
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Summary: Best overview of primitive Aftrican art
Review: Great photographs, concise narrative, and wide range. I thought it was a good value at the $50 I paid at a local bookstore, it's even better at the Amazon.com price.
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Summary: A Great Book for Collectors and Amators Alike
Review: I have written this book ( also available in French) with the aim to fill a gap in the already numerous bibliography of African Art: a book easy to read and appealing to the eye. It is structured in 49 chapters of four pages; the two first pages of each chapter include a text and small black and white photographs which allow the identification and the attribution of the role of each object of the relevant tribe. Theses two pages are followed by two others which include striking colour photographs of the most typical objects of the tribe. The goal was to create a book as clear as possible, in order to help people in the identification of the objects (statues, masks and daily objects), but also to show how African carvers have been able to resolve aesthetic challenges. It includes all the tribes of the African continent( at the exception of Maghreb) including south and east Africa and is only illustrated with objects dating before the 1920'.
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Summary: Absolute must have for African art collectors
Review: I think most every African art collector would agree that owns this book, that this one is a must have! I keep coming back to it again and again as I collect my favorite tribes. The beautiful color pictures show perfect examples of the art types of each tribe. After getting a good understanding of this easy to read book, you will be able to recognize each artistic characteristic of the many diverse tribes in Africa. This book breaks down all of the most important tribes in Africa , chapter by chapter. It's an excellent overview of African art and again, a must have for all Africa art lovers and collectors.
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Summary: Hooray!
Review: Probably the best book currently available on African art. Everything else of value is either out of print or in French. Brilliant photographs, excellent text, authoritative background on the sources and location without a plethora of anthropological subtext, as so often happens in books on African art. If the subject interests you, you'll find nothing better!
Rating:
Summary: Hooray!
Review: Probably the best book currently available on African art. Everything else of value is either out of print or in French. Brilliant photographs, excellent text, authoritative background on the sources and location without a plethora of anthropological subtext, as so often happens in books on African art. If the subject interests you, you'll find nothing better!
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Summary: An encyclopaedic work
Review: This beautiful book on the art of Africa south of the Sahara explores 49 cultural areas as regards their artistic production and their political and social structures. The 49 areas are broadly divided under sections for the coast of West Africa; inland West Africa; Nigeria and Cameroon; Gabon and Zaire; and Eastern and Southern Africa. Each section has its own bibliography. The book includes 865 illustrations of which a least 195 are full color photographs. There are also many maps of the areas under study. The reference section at the end encompasses a further bibliography, lists of major museums and major dealers in African art, a glossary and an index. The book is a masterpiece that makes accessible the entire panoply of black African tribal arts from the first millennium to the end of the nineteenth century. It is an indispensable reference source for the serious collector and a beautiful encyclopaedia for any art lover.
Rating:
Summary: An encyclopaedic work
Review: This beautiful book on the art of Africa south of the Sahara explores 49 cultural areas as regards their artistic production and their political and social structures. The 49 areas are broadly divided under sections for the coast of West Africa; inland West Africa; Nigeria and Cameroon; Gabon and Zaire; and Eastern and Southern Africa. Each section has its own bibliography. The book includes 865 illustrations of which a least 195 are full color photographs. There are also many maps of the areas under study. The reference section at the end encompasses a further bibliography, lists of major museums and major dealers in African art, a glossary and an index. The book is a masterpiece that makes accessible the entire panoply of black African tribal arts from the first millennium to the end of the nineteenth century. It is an indispensable reference source for the serious collector and a beautiful encyclopaedia for any art lover.
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