Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection - Hardcover

Roy, Christopher D.; Gesellschaft, Kestner; Zlatnick, Gail; Kestner-Gesellschaft

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0295978228 ISBN 13: 9780295978222

Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr, 1999

Synopsis

To the northern Bantu tribes "kilengi" means joy arising through beauty. Kilengi includes superb photographs of art objects from throughout Africa. The book presents extraordinary works from well-known regions as well as new discoveries and objects that challenge long-standing conceptions of African art. Christopher Roy includes a masterly introduction to the problems of the presentation of traditional African art.

Much of the most unusual material is from eastern and southern Africa. This is an area about which very little has been known until recently, and there has been very little published on the art from the region. A large selection of pieces from the Democratic Republic of Congo is also of special interest. Essays and lengthy commentaries discuss the meaning of each piece for the creators.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Kilengi is a Bantu term meaning "joy arising through beauty," a telling insight into the importance of art in Africa. This catalog in coffee-table format was produced to accompany a traveling exhibition of Walter Bareiss's African art collection, previously in Iowa City and now in Purchase, NY. The collection, although only recently assembled, is intriguing because of its high quality and because it focuses on East and South Africa, regions often overlooked. Roy's introduction incisively criticizes scholars' and collectors' overemphasis of West African art. His essay describing the major categories of objects represented in the collection is not innovative in approach but will be useful for the general reader. This book's greatest strength lies in both George Meister's exquisite photography, which highlights the visual power of the collected objects, and in Roy's extensively researched catalog entries. Overall, this is a visually stunning, very reasonably priced publication; highly recommended for any library with an interest in African art.AEugene C. Burt, Art Inst. of Seattle Lib., WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0295978228
• ISBN 13: 9780295978222
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 419