African Canvas: The Art of West African Women [Hardcover]

Margaret Courtney-Clarke (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Photojournalist Courtney-Clarke, whose book Ndebele captured the painted wall art of South Africa, brings the same inquiring spirit to this depiction of her three-year trek from Nigeria to Senegal. Surviving sandstorms, locusts and malaria, she documents the bold geometric and symbolic wall paintings made by women in remote West African villages. These women transform objects from their daily world--a fish net, a cooking pot, a weaving, a calabash--into rippling patterns laden with cosmic significance. Made with natural pigments from plants or clay, these pictures often perish in the rainy season. Creeping urbanization is also taking its toll on the villages, whose mud compounds, houses, clothing, body painting and pottery Courtney-Clarke documents as well. This strong, moving photoessay is equally valuable as an investigation of a dwindling way of life and as a permanent record of a seldom-seen vernacular art form.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This book is by no means a scholarly treatise but rather a beautiful pictorial survey of many of the traditions of architectural decoration created by women in various regions of West Africa. Courtney-Clarke, a journalist-photographer who previously wrote the similar Ndebele: The Art of an African Tribe ( LJ 8/86), provides an introduction consisting of commentary on the problems of locating and photographing the murals and their artists, as well as a brief discussion preceding each group of photos. As a record of an ephemeral art that is being abandoned in many areas, this book is strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.
- Eugene C. Burt, Seattle
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli; First U.S. Edition edition (December 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847811662
• ISBN-13: 978-0847811663
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 11.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,612,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must for African art and ethnology buffs., October 30, 1998

By 

G. Creagh Wohltmann - See all my reviews

This review is from: African Canvas: The Art of West African Women (Hardcover)

The most striking feature of AFRICAN CANVAS is the close up detail and large pictures of exterior and interior West African mud house design. Some pottery design is also featured. Colors are mostly earth toned because natural pigments are used. A close-up and personal look at this beautiful art form, and a good resource for folks interested in ethnology and in African design.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from West-African women in beauty and dignity, November 10, 2007

By 

Esther Gokhale "author of 8 Steps to a Pain-F... (Stanford, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: African Canvas: The Art of West African Women (Hardcover)

Margaret Courtney-Clarke takes you into the compounds and into the dwellings of African village women. The colors and forms are exquisite. The book is beautifully produced with images that bleed to the edge of the page. The subjects are depicted in naturalistic settings and Courtney-Clarke has the technical skill to capture close-ups and groups of women equally well. The book serves as a textbook of healthy human structure and movement and is all the more valuable because the way of life it depicts and the body language that goes with that way of life are becoming increasingly rare. Very highly recommended.