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Cloth, Dress and Art Patronage in Africa

Judith Perani author Norma Wolff author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:1st Mar '99

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Cloth, Dress and Art Patronage in Africa cover

Also available in paperback, 9781859732953 GBP19.99 (March, 1999)

Drawing examples from a range of African cultures, this book focuses on the art patronage systems that stimulate production, consumption, commodification and cultural meaning, and emphasizes the importance of cloth to aesthetic and cultural expression in African societies.Drawing examples from a wide range of African cultures, this ground-breaking book expands the continuing discourse on the aesthetic and cultural significance of cloth, body and dress in Africa and moves beyond contextual analysis to consider the broader application of cloth and dress to art forms in other media. In blending the concerns of Art History and Anthropology, the authors focus on the art patronage systems that stimulate production, consumption, commodification and cultural meaning, and emphasize the overriding importance of cloth to aesthetic and cultural expression in African societies. Through this approach they reveal complex processes that involve a series of actors, including textile artists, commissioning-patrons and consumer-patrons, all of whom shape cloth and dress traditions. These individuals not only influence production, but are a key to understanding the cultural meaning of cloth and dress and, by extension, the body in Africa.

Rich details from the West African literature and the authors' own research in contemporary Nigeria illustrate the many ways that cloth mediates social circumstance. Choice Finalist in the Arnold Rubin Award for Outstanding Publication

ISBN: 9781859732908

Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 17mm

Weight: unknown

224 pages