The Tribal Arts of Africa

by Jean-Baptiste Bacquart (Author)

60 ratings

Judith Miller
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Judith Miller
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Editorial Reviews

Review

The layout is particularly interesting because it intersperses dramatic color photographs with small black-and-white photographs and text about the art, the tribes and the traditions. Written by the former head of the tribal arts department at Sotheby's, the book is an excellent introduction to African art created before 1920. -- USA Today, Deirdre Donahue, 3 December 1998

[A]nother seductive picture book, with one with a strong didactic intent....A handy reference indeed. -- Houston Chronicle, Patricia C. Johnson, 6 December 1998

About the Author

Jean-Baptiste Bacquart is head of the Tribal Art department at Sotheby's, London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thames & Hudson (December 30, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0500018707
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0500018705
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.66 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #2,297,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #792 in Art History (Books)
- #10,566 in Arts & Photography Criticism
- #30,584 in Social Sciences (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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Kenneth L. Stokes

Not any one book can satisfy every reader

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2014

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I have to give it 5 stars, as it is the most comprehensive book on the subject I have found. The information on African tribal art is accurate and well written. The illustrations are well photographed, some in black and white, but most are in color. Not any one book can satisfy every reader, but this one will come close. The only place where it fell short with me was the issue of dating of the objects presented. Information on how a collector could estimate an items age was also missing. Most books are quite vague about giving the age of an object. A typical dating of African objects, even in auction catalogs, often says, late 19th to early 20th century. The pieces shown all look good and old.

2 people found this helpful

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Dee's Opinions

dee's opinion

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2009

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The Tribal Arts of Africa by Jean-Baptiste Bacquart
The subtitle "Surveying Africa's Artistic Geography" tells the story.

The book has 249 pages, plus the cover, in which there are 865 pictures, 195 are in color. The pages are museum quality. It is a gorgeous book,though the cover is glued on but the pages are well sewn together.

It covers tribes from the coast and inland of West Africa, plus the countries of Nigeria, Cameroom, Gabon, Zaire and East and South Africa.
The collection of photos are beautifully displayed both in color as well as those in black and white. Each section of sculpture begins with the history of the tribes covered. This book in content though not on jewelry but on sculpture stands beside "Africa Adorned".

This book can hold an honored place in any art library or sit on any coffee table. It is a keeper.

4 people found this helpful

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Svenska

Great book - highly recommended!

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2017

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WOW, great book. Many wonderful full color illustrations and descriptions. I really like that the author has clearly designated the country or area of Africa that each section of artworks are from and the people who created them; this helps the reader to see similarity of style within the group. The book is well thought-out and well organized. I have a number of books on African arts and I can already see this is going to be my favorite I can see that this will be an important resource for study. Highly recommended.

3 people found this helpful

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Piro

An excellent book

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2014

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This is one of the best books on African art that I've bought and I have quite a few. It sweeps across the continent and does a magnificent job of detailing artistic trends and histories in each of the regions it has divided the continent into. There are plenty of photographs and illustrations accompanying the narrative. I particularly liked the fact that the title identifies that the book is about the 'tribal' arts of Africa - in other words, defining the limitations of its exposition. It would have been a disservice to the under-explored but huge contemporary arts of Africa if as many other books, it had styled itself as being about art in Africa generally

One person found this helpful

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GM

Response from my wife:

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2020

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The product was delivered on time, packaging was in good condition, the product was in good condition and appeared to be as described, and after use met expectations for fit, form, and function.

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2014

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Beautiful and informative survey of African art but with large gaps in coverage of African Arts that may reflect the author's preferences. One example: Where are Baule 'Colons?' Also the author clearly emphasizes the rare and expensive pieces with provenance and ownership by major collectors and museums, thereby ignoring the much higher proportion of genuine carvings that collectors of modest means can afford. This book is of little value for such collectors whose numbers are increasing.

One person found this helpful

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J. Cardona

African Art Book

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2018

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Love African Art, I have been an African art collector since the 1960s. I enjoy collecting African Art and reading books about the Dark Continent since I was a child in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The African people are truly smart and a gifted people.

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DHCollection

Great pictures... sufficient text for my purposes

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2013

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I was interested primarily in seeing a variety of color images representative of the tribal art of the various peoples, cultures and regions of Africa. This book fulfilled the requirement quite well. The text/descriptions accompanying the pictures was, perhaps of necessity (because of the tremendously broad range of the art acros the continent), somewhat minimal. But perhaps that was the intent of the author, and the reference section has a ample number of references which might serve to complement this book and enhance readers' knowledge and understanding.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

GerryArty

EXCELLENT

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2016

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EXCELLENT , so much info and nice illustrations and full of inspirational images

peer jermiin frost

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2018

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super work

ma jules

Interesting book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2015

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Very interesting book with good images of mainly figurative sculptures

One person found this helpful

John holland

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2015

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the best v good

Julie D

Sumptuous

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2013

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This Thames & Hudson book is a sumptuously illustrated survey of African tribal art. The author, Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, is a former head of Tribal Art at Sotheby's. I'd wanted a book on this subject for a very long time when I came across this on Amazon; it is far better than I even imagined it would be. Five sections cover different regions within Africa and detail the characteristics of that region's artefacts. As the author stresses, the items covered in the book are all objects that would have been used within the various communities - not objects aimed at the tourist trade. It is extremely difficult for the amateur enthusiast to correctly identify age and origin of this type of art; this book is very useful for that and the illustrations reveal how great the debt of certain prominent twentieth century artists should be towards the unknown producers of these beautiful things who innately appear to have understood what to leave out. Brief details are given too of the individual tribes. A comprehensive guide and a most wonderful book!

2 people found this helpful

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