MEMORY - Luba Art and the Making of History

ROBERTS, Mary Nooter / ROBERTS, Allen F.

ISBN 10: 379131677X / ISBN 13: 9783791316772

Published by The Museum of African Art, New York, 1996

About this Item

257 p; many Ills.

Seller Inventory # AF-2007

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MEMORY - Luba Art and the Making of History
• Publisher: The Museum of African Art, New York
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 379131677X
• ISBN 13: 9783791316772
• Binding: Cloth
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Book Type: Buch
• Seller catalogs:
  • AF-2000

About this title

Synopsis

Memory and history are always in tension, as people selectively choose memories to make histories that "prove" the legitimacy of their claims to power, prestige, and prerogative. If many African groups have created visual arts to assist in this process, Luba peoples of southeastern Zaire have done so brilliantly, with a stunning array of mnemonic devices ranging from memory boards to beaded emblems, wooden figures to body arts, ornamented staffs and axes to divination devices. The sculpted narratives of these objects and art forms are esoteric, and must be "read" by "men of memory" who have learned their precious skills through initiation to the Mbudye Society. Luba kings, royal titleholders, and outlying chiefs turn to them to interpret the mapped details of origin myths, protocol and prohibitions of the royal court, and other deeply encoded information.
The Luba kingdoms are among the most important in central Africa, whose refined royal arts have influenced people hundreds of miles beyond their own Heartland. Luba have an ancient heritage as well, that archaeologists trace back over one thousand years. Although Luba arts are well known for their astounding beauty, Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History is the first study of their intellectual complexity, aesthetic impact, and social contexts.