Black Art: Ancestral Legacy : The African Impulse in African American Art [Hardcover]

Alvia J. Wardlaw (Author), Robert V. Rozelle (Editor), Tom Jenkins (Illustrator), David C. Driskell (Introduction), Richard R. Brettell (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1990

For the first time, a major exhibition examines the impact of African culture on black artists, both trained and self-taught, in a stunning range of 157 works which are variously bold, witty, historical, and mysterious. 49 biographical outlines; 320 illustrations, 170 in full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Many black American artists have sought inspiration in ancestral African visual arts, music and dance. Beyond this, African-American painters and sculptors--urban and rural, folk and militant--are struggling toward self-definition. A touring exhibition, which opened at the Dallas Museum of Art where Wardlaw is a curator, explored these themes with stunning impact and is re-created here. Much more than a catalogue, this groundbreaking volume reclaims a living part of the African-American experience. Ranging from the Harlem Renaissance to Caribbean ceremonial objects, from John Biggers's abstracts to Bessie Harvey's mixed-media sculpture The Family (which shows Mother Earth giving birth to all races of humankind), this wide-angled survey provokes and delights. The book takes the reader down unfamiliar paths, revealing the presence of African myths and motifs in contemporary U.S. works.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Whether identified as "Africanisms" or considered iconographic and creative inspiration, objects from African culture have certainly influenced African-American art--a fact that has long been overlooked in American art studies. This catalog from the Dallas Museum of Art has brought together the research of the most prominent experts on this subject in one volume. Expanding on Robert F. Thompson's pioneering study, Flash of the Spirit (Random, 1984), it encompasses the full spectrum of black American visual art from folk to street to fine art. With an impressive selection of illustrated objects and well-written essays and catalog entries, this book will long be the definitive word on the subject and belongs in public and academic libraries.
- Eugene C. Burt, Seattle
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams (March 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810931044
• ISBN-13: 978-0810931046
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,761,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)