Find Books on African Art
Try searching the BU Catalog for Subject: Art, African.
Replace African with the particular region, culture, or country for a narrower search.
For more examples, also see the Guide to African Art & Architecture
A History of Art in Africa by
A History of Art in Africa, Second Edition, is the only comprehensive art historical survey of the African continent to incorporate discussions of contemporary art and artists. It is both a reliable resource for art historians and an accessible introduction to the vibrant arts of Africa.
Location: Mugar Reserve Room N7380 .H54 2008ISBN: 9780136128724Publication Date: 2007-07-03
African Art by
The art of the Fang, the BaTeke, the BaKota, and other African peoples is extraordinarily vigorous and shows a brilliant sense of form. The substantial aesthetic impact that their works have had on the development of twentieth-century Western art--on Picasso, Derain, Braque, and Modigliani, among others--continues to this day. This classic study reveals the astonishing variety and expressive power of the art of a continent that contains more distinct peoples and cultures than any other. The revised edition has been updated throughout, incorporating recent research and additional illustrations, plus a new chapter and extended bibliography. It remains an invaluable resource for students and for anyone interested in African art.
ISBN: 9780500203644Publication Date: 2003-02-17
Try a basic keyword search with your search terms, for example: Art Africa.
Humor and Violence by
Humor and Violence examines the rich history of portraying Europeans in Central African art in images ranging from heart-wrenching scenes of human trafficking to playful parodies of colonialists. Z. S. Strother contends that the dialectic of humor and violence reveals deep insights into the psychology of power and resistance that continues to operate in the region today. Her argument is built on a set of works of art and demonstrates the important role that patronage and political and social history played in their creation. Strother conveys Central African ideas about how the therapeutic power of humor can initiate social change and upset power relations between oppressors and oppressed. This analysis plunges seemingly benign figures into a maelstrom of violence and crime-rape, murder, torture, and forced labor on a massive scale. By restoring the dialectic of humor, it reveals the complicated psychological codependency of Africans and Europeans over a long period of history and maintains that art plays a mediating function in the mechanics and ethics of power.
Location: Mugar Stacks N7399.C6 S77 2016ISBN: 9780253022677Publication Date: 2016-12-26
The Image of the Black in African and Asian Art by
The Image of the Black in African and Asian Art asks how the black figure was depicted by artists from the non-Western world. Beginning with ancient Egypt--positioned properly as part of African history--this volume focuses on the figure of the black as rendered by artists from Africa, East Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. The aesthetic traditions illustrated here are as diverse as the political and social histories of these regions. From Igbo Mbari sculptures to modern photography from Mali, from Indian miniatures to Japanese prints, African and Asian artists portrayed the black body in ways distinct from the European tradition, even as they engaged with Western art through the colonial encounter and the forces of globalization. This volume complements the vision of art patrons Dominique and Jean de Menil who, during the 1960s, founded an image archive to collect the ways that people of African descent have been represented in Western art from the ancient world to modern times. A half‐century later, Harvard University Press and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research completed the historic publication of The Image of the Black in Western Art--ten books in total--beginning with Egyptian antiquities and concluding with images that span the twentieth century. The Image of the Black in African and Asian Art reinvigorates the de Menil family's original mission and reorients the study of the black body with a new focus on Africa and Asia.
Location: Mugar Stacks N8232 .I45 2017ISBN: 9780674504394Publication Date: 2017-02-27
Exhibiting Blackness by
In 1927, the Chicago Art Institute presented the first major museum exhibition of art by African Americans. Designed to demonstrate the artists' abilities and to promote racial equality, the exhibition also revealed the art world's anxieties about the participation of African Americans in the exclusive venue of art museums?places where blacks had historically been barred from visiting let alone exhibiting. Since then, America's major art museums have served as crucial locations for African Americans to protest against their exclusion and attest to their contributions in the visual arts. In Exhibiting Blackness, art historian Bridget R. Cooks analyzes the curatorial strategies, challenges, and critical receptions of the most significant museum exhibitions of African American art. Tracing two dominant methodologies used to exhibit art by African Americans?an ethnographic approach that focuses more on artists than their art, and a recovery narrative aimed at correcting past omissions?Cooks exposes the issues involved in exhibiting cultural difference that continue to challenge art history, historiography, and American museum exhibition practices. By further examining the unequal and often contested relationship between African American artists, curators, and visitors, she provides insight into the complex role of art museums and their accountability to the cultures they represent.
Location: OnlineISBN: 9781558498754Publication Date: 2011-09-23
Search Tips for the Library Catalog
Begin with a keyword search and try various combinations. How you search can determine the number of results:
For example: Art or African art
Using and narrows the search: Mali AND art
Using or broadens the search. : (Mali OR Niger) AND Art This search includes results for either Mali or Niger, but all results should include art
Mali AND Niger AND Art is a narrower search. It would show you results that mention all three terms, and should not include works that mentions only Art from Mali.
The Not functions excludes certain terms from your search: Niger AND art NOT Nigeria . This is one method to limit your search to only items about Niger and not those that mention Nigeria. Africa NOT America* is another example of a search that would exclude America and American from your results.
The BU Library Search also has many facets that can be used to refine your search in various ways.
For example, try searching only in the author field: Author search for Winnie Mandela
Using the options on the left-hand column, you could further limit your results in various way, for example choosing only article or using the date slider to see only material published before 1994.
The results provide a breakdown of books and articles on that topic and other similar subject headings you might want to investigate.
**** For more details see the Power Searching Guide****
Getting Books Not Available at BU
There are several ways you can obtain books or articles that we do not own. These include:
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WorldCat Discovery. WorldCat Discovery allows current BU faculty, staff, and students to borrow books directly from other Boston Library Consortium libraries. Turnaround time is approximately three working days. (How to use WorldCat Discovery)
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Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan services allow current BU faculty, staff, and students to request books, articles, book chapters, and other materials that our ILL staff will obtain from other libraries. Books generally take 2-4 weeks to arrive; articles are generally delivered electronically within 1-2 days.
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ILL online request forms for all patrons except those affiliated with the Schools of Law and Medicine
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Law Library's interlibrary loan page for Law School affiliates
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Alumni Medical Library’s ILL form for Medical School affilliates
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For general inquires to the Interlibrary Loan office, please call (617) 353-3706 or email ILLMML@bu.edu.
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- BLC Cards. A Boston Library Consortium Card allows the bearer to borrow—in person—circulating material from a member library, just as you would from a BU library. Boston University faculty, staff, and students on the Charles River Campus may obtain a Consortium Card by filling out an application form. Medical Campus affiliates apply at the Alumni Medical Library.
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