About this Item
This beautifully produced large-format volume presents 254 full-color plates of masterworks from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection, one of the world's most important assemblies of traditional art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. The text, written by eminent curator and anthropologist Douglas Newton, provides authoritative cultural context, while Lee Boltin's specially commissioned photography delivers museum-quality visual documentation of iconic masks, figures, regalia, ritual objects, and ceremonial artifacts. Knopf's production values are fully on display: heavy coated stock, deep color saturation, and a handsome brown cloth binding embossed with traditional design motifs. Condition: Near Fine book / Very Good jacket. Brown cloth boards bright and clean with crisp gilt spine lettering and deeply impressed decorative motifs; gift inscription on front endpaper "To Bob and Sharon With our best wishes Agnes and John [Spulrebry] Christmas 1979." Binding strong and square. Interior immaculate with no foxing, no writing, and plates vivid and glossy. The jacket is bright with true black background and vivid artwork; light edgewear along top edge, minor rubbing, and a few short closed tears (neatly stabilized on the verso). Not price clipped. A sharp, well-preserved example. Edition & Printing Notes: As issued, Knopf provides no edition or printing statements for this title; the presence of only the 1978 copyright date, the Italian manufacture, and the absence of later-printing indicators confirm this copy as the First Edition, First Printing. Douglas Newton (1920-2001) was one of the most influential curators of non-Western art in the twentieth century. As longtime Curator of the Department of Primitive Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he helped shape scholarly understanding of African, Oceanic, and Indigenous American art, emphasizing their aesthetic achievements as equal to Western traditions. Newton authored numerous landmark catalogues and essays, and was instrumental in establishing the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Met. Lee Boltin (1917-1991) was a renowned art photographer celebrated for his ability to capture three-dimensional objects with clarity, drama, and precision. Trained at the American Museum of Natural History, Boltin became the preeminent photographer of ethnographic and archaeological materials during the mid-century, working closely with major museums and private collections. His distinctive lighting and camera work helped bring sculptural forms, especially masks and ceremonial objects, to life on the printed page.
Seller Inventory # NF.NEW.1978.1
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