Body Decoration: A World Survey of Body Art

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Summary: celebrate: the ultimate book on body decoration
Review: "Body Decoration: A World Survey of Body Art" is breathtaking, a remarkable publishing achievement that weds spectacular photographs and highly readable expert text. Societies located far and wide appear in this book, for traditions of decorating the human body date back thousands of years and include the use of painted designs, scarification, piercing, manipulation of hair, sporting of accessories, application of makeup, oils, and mud, and tattooing. Body decorations covered range from those used by multiple persons in the communal settings of Africa, South Asia, South America, and Oceania, to the theatrically-coded decoration of East Asia, and more recent personalized, individual uses in the West. Illustrations come from color photographs of 20th century activities; reproduced paintings and book graphics (especially where certains traditions, such as those among American Indians, are now lost); sculptural, traditional art that demonstrates the use of body decoration; and even maps. Dozens upon dozens of photographic sources have been used, with such giants as Alfred Eisenstadt and Leni Riefenstahl numbered among them. Feast your eyes, nourish your spirit, and celebrate both the glory of human diversity and the wonder of our shared, deep-rooted instinct to decorate our bodies.