The Language of Beauty in African Art

Displacing Western values in the interpretation of scholarship and museums over the past century through an exploration of traditional African artworks and aesthetic vocabularies. This ambitious publication centres indigenous perspectives on traditional African artworks by focusing on the judgements and vocabularies of the community members who created and used them. It explores cross-cultural affinities across the African continent while respecting local contexts; it also documents an exhibition of extraordinary scope and scale. The primary aim of the project is to reconsider Western assessments of these arts in aesthetic and financial terms. The volume presents nearly 300 works from collections around the world and from the important collections of the Art Institute of Chicago. While the focus is on the sculptural heritage of sub-Saharan West and Central African cultures, it also includes examples of artistic traditions associated with Eastern and Southern Africa as well as textiles and objects designed for domestic, ritual, and decorative functions. Constantine Petridis is President and Curator of African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.