The Art of Daily Life

Front cover image The Art of Daily Life Portable Objects from Southeast Africa Constantine Petridis, with an essay by Karel Nel In stock 9788874395781 Paperback with flaps 5 Continents Editions Territory: World excluding Italy Size: 285 mm x 240 mm Pages: 112 Illustrations: 150 colour RRP £20.00 Features 78 exceptional works - many never published before - drawn from the Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., and a large number of American private collections The arts of southeast Africa embrace astounding diversity and limitless inventiveness in materials, forms, and styles. Small and portable in nature - snuff containers, pipes, headrests, staffs, clubs, beer vessels, beaded garments - they were created by semi-nomadic pastoral peoples and primarly intended for daily use. Whether figurative or abstract, carved out of wood, ivory, or horn, or made of cloth, glass beads, or clay, most of these works were much more than exquisitely designed functional objects. Some signalled status, gender, or age; others served as symbolic intermediaries between the world of humans and the realm of the ancestors.