Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:56:52.459Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evolutions in exhibition catalogues of African art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Sigrid Docken Mount
Sigrid Docken Mount*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University Library, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Get access

Abstract

Since their appearance in the early 20th century, catalogues prepared for exhibitions of African art have undergone a gradual transformation. Beginning as mere checklists many of these publications have, in the 1970s and 80s, evolved into major scholarly works whose significance transcends their original purpose as guides to the exhibitions. Changes occurring over the years are traced through examination of the form and content of representative catalogues and by review of the reception by art historians of many of these works into the corpus of literature of African art. The growing importance of exhibition catalogues as important art historical documents is also demonstrated by a chronological analysis of bibliographic citations in the major scholarly journal of African art in the United States. Finally, scrutiny of sources and annotations included in an important bibliographic guide to the literature of African art indicates how firmly established the exhibition catalogue has become as one of the most important publication forms for the dissemination of scholarly writing on African art.

[This paper won the ARLIS/NA Gerd Muehsam Award for 1986. We hope to publish a sequel in a future issue, on exhibitions of African art in Africa and the development of catalogues written by Africans. Editor].

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , 1988 , pp. 14 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. This study was undertaken using the holdings of the Fine Arts Library at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. Obviously very few libraries have all the exhibition catalogues needed for a scrupulous study. However, enough material was available at Indiana University to allow me to reach the conclusions I have with reasonable confidence. Nonetheless, for the sake of caution perhaps these findings should be viewed as preliminary to a more thorough analysis.Google Scholar
2. Encyclopedia of “World Art. New York: McGraw Hill, 1958, v. 5, p.283.Google Scholar
3. Bazin, Germain. The Museum Age, trans, from French by van Nuis Cahill, Jane. New York: Universe Books, Inc., 1958, p.85.Google Scholar
4. Encyclopedia of World Art, v. 10, p.396 Google Scholar
5. Mount, Sigrid Docken. “African Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum”, African Arts, XIII, 4 (1980), p.40 Google Scholar
6. Sweeney, James Johnson. African Negro Art, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1935, p.22.Google Scholar
7. Plass, Margaret. African Sculpture, Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1956; The Classical Art of Negro Africa, New York: Duveen-Graham Gallery, 1957; The African Image, Toledo: Toledo Museum of Art, 1959.Google Scholar
8. Masterpieces of African Art. Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Museum, 1974 (reprint of 1954 publication).Google Scholar
9. Sieber, Roy. Review of Senufo Sculpture from West Africa, by Goldwater, Robert (New York: Museum of Primitive Art, 1964) in Art Journal, 25, 2 (Winter 1965–66), p.218.Google Scholar
10. Laude, Jean. African Art of the Dogon. New York: Brooklyn Museum in association with the Viking Press, 1973, p.7.Google Scholar
11. McNaughton, Patrick. Review of Bamana and Bozo Puppetry of the Segou Region Youth Society, by Arnoldi, Mary Jo (Layfayette, Indiana: Department of Creative Arts, Purdue University, 1977) in African Arts, XIII, 4 (1980), p. 86.Google Scholar
12. Armstrong, Robert Plant. Review of Black Gods and Kings by Thompson, Robert Farris (Los Angeles: Museum of Ethnic Art and Technology, 1971) in African Arts, V, 1 (1971), p.77.Google Scholar
13. Willet, Frank. Review of Black Gods and Kingsby Robert Thompson, Farris (Los Angeles: Museum of Ethnic Art and Technology, 1971) in African Arts, XII, 1 (1978), p. 11–14.Google Scholar
14. Sieber, Roy. Review of The Arts of Ghana by Cole, Herbert and Ross, Doran (Los Angeles: University of California, Museum of Cultural History, 1977) in African Arts, XI, 3 (1978), p.10.Google Scholar
15. Bravmann, Rene. Open Frontiers: the Mobility of Art in Black Africa, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1973.Google Scholar
16. Siroto, Leon. African Spirit Images and Identities, New York: Pace Primitive and Ancient Art, 1976.Google Scholar
17. Robin, Arnold. African Accumulative Sculpture: Power and Display, New York: Pace Gallery, 1974.Google Scholar
18. Cole, Herbert. Review of African Textiles and Decorative Arts by Roy, Sieber (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1972) in African Arts VI, 3 (1973), p.76–77.Google Scholar
19. Bascom, William. Review of African Art in Motion by Thompson, Robert Farris (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974) in African Arts, VII, 4 (1975), p.85, 86.Google Scholar
20. Vansina, Jan. Review of The Four Movements of the Sun: Kongo Art in Two Worlds by Thompson, Robert Farris and Cornet, Joseph (Washington DC: National Gallery of Art, 1981) in African Arts, XVI, 1 (1982), p.25+.Google Scholar
21. Cole, Herbert. Review of African Accumulative Sculpture: Power and Display by Arnold, Rubin (New York: Pace Gallery, 1974), in African Arts, VIII, 2 (1974).Google Scholar
22. Poynor, Robin. Preview of Yoruha Sculpture of West Africa by Fagg, William and Pemberton, John III (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1982) in African Arts, XVI, 1 (1982), p.8+.Google Scholar
23. Ross, Doran. Review of For Spirits and Kings, ed. by Vogel, Susan (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1981) in African Arts, XV, 3 (1982), p. 13–15.Google Scholar
24. Some skewing in the results is caused by unequal emphasis on the kinds of articles appearing in each volume. For instance, in some cases entire issues were given over to articles on subjects for which there are little to no bibliographies, like memorial issues or issues devoted to photography. In other instances particular issues consist entirely of articles on art of areas that have been given little attention through exhibitions. However, these considerations do not mask the general pattern that emerges of increasing use of exhibition catalogues as scholarly sources.Google Scholar
25. Stanley, Janet. African Art: a Bibliographic Guide, Smithsonian Institution Libraries Research Guide No. 4, New York: Africana Publishing Co., 1985, p.v–vi.Google Scholar