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African
Art
Subject Searching and Introduction
Encyclopedia, dictionaries and
research guides
Bibliographies
Biographical dictionaries
Mythology, religion and symbolism
Surveys, a key selection of
catalogs
Collection, exhibition and museum
publications
Online indexes and databases
Journals and E-journals
General reference works on Africa
Websites
Videos, cd-roms, etc.
Subject
Searching and Introduction
To search the online catalog for
books on your subject, use the broadest terms for the most results.
Search, for example, by subject for art Africa or
art African, or for the subject or figure represented, e.g.
ogun, or object type e.g. wood sculpture makonde or
goldweights akan or kente cloth. Tribal group is
another possible search, e.g. ashanti or baule. Try
keyword searches in addition to subject searches,
e.g. ibeji or nkisi.
The following print, electronic and
Internet resources will be important as well. Some of the most
important are starred. If you find a particularly useful book be
sure to look for other books or articles by that author, and always
consult the bibliographies. For additional information consult
these resources: find call numbers by searching online catalog by
title.
African Ethnonyms: Index to Art
Producing Peoples of Africa (Art Reference) An aid to navigating
the numerous variants in tribal names and places. Also country index.
Atlas of World Art (Art
Reference - Atlas Shelf) Useful maps of Africa and tribal groups, 600
A.D. to 20th Century.
The Continuum Encyclopedia of Native Art: Worldview, Symbolism,
and Culture in Africa, Oceania, and Native North America (Art
Reference) Actually an A-Z dictionary; includes a useful index.
Encyclopedia of African History (Davis Reference)
*
Grove Dictionary of Art Online (and print edition) for a
useful overview with up-to-date bibliography. There are image links
as well. An outstanding resource for any area in the history of
art, especially as the online version is frequently updated. Consult
the long section on Africa first (vol. 1 in print edition) noting
bibliographies.
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of 25 reference
books and encyclopedias in electronic format. The titles cover a
wide range of subjects, from the arts to medicine, and from
multicultural studies to social science. Contains encyclopedia just
on Africa.
Serials Guide to Ethnoart (Art Reference) Includes
recommended titles, indexing sources, publisher information and
more.
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Biebuyck. The Arts of Central Africa: an Annotated
Bibliography. (Art)
Burt. African Art: Five-year Cumulative Bibliography, mid-1983
through 1988. (Art)
_____. An Annotated Bibliography of the Arts of East Africa.
(Art)
_____. Bibliography of Ethnoarts Bibliographies. (Art)
Gaskin. A Bibliography of African Art. (Art)
Keen. Recordings: A Select bibliography of contemporary
African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British Art. (Art Reference)
National Museum of African Art. Library Acquisitions Lists.
(Art)
Stanley. African Art: a Bibliographic Guide. (Art and Davis)
*_____. Arts of Africa: an Annotated Bibliography. (Art
Reference)
Western. A Bibliography of the Arts of Africa. (Art Reference)
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Biographical
Dictionaries
Contemporary Nigerian Artists: a
Bio-bibliography. (Art Reference)
Nigerian Artists: A Who's Who and Bibliography. (Art Reference)
St. James Guide to Black Artists. (Art Reference) Primarily
treats American artists, but more than 40 African artists are
included, as well as additional artists from the Caribbean and other
Diaspora countries, with nearly 400 artists overall.
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Arts Africains: Signes et Symbols. (Art Reference and Davis)
A theoretical work rather than a dictionary but good bibliography
and some illustrations.
The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art. (Art
Reference)
Symbols of Africa. (Art Reference) Includes 300 symbols used
by Sub-Saharan peoples.
Tracing Memory: a Glossary of Graphic Signs and Symbols in
African Art and Culture. (Art Reference) The most useful of these
books. Includes glossary by concept (e.g. "Abundance"), table
of signs, table of names, etc. Major resource.
see also:
African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. (Davis and UL)
Blier. Gestures in African Art: Essay. (Davis)
A Dictionary of African Mythology: the Mythmaker as Storyteller
(Davis Reference and UL)
The Language of African Art: a Bicentennial Exhibition from the
Museum of African Art 1976-1978. (Davis)
Meyer. Art Africain: Formes et Rites. (Art)
Religion in Africa: Experience & Expression (Davis and UL)
Williams. Icon and Image: a Study of Sacred and Secular Forms of
African Classical Art. (Davis)
Zahan. The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Traditional
Africa. (Art Reserve)
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Bascom. African Art in Cultural Perspective: an Introduction.
(Davis and UL)
Bastin. Introduction aux Arts d'Afrique Noire. (Davis Folio)
Brain. Art and Society in Africa. (Davis)
Garlake. Early Art and Architecture of Africa. (Art)
Gillon. A Short History of African Art. (Art and UL)
Gillow. African Textiles. (Art)
Kerchache. Art of Africa. (Art)
Laude. Arts of Black Africa. (Davis)
Leiris. African Art. (Art)
Morris. Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa. (Art)
Mount. African Art; the Years since 1920. (Art)
Schutyser. Banco: Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta
. (Art)
*Vansina. Art History in Africa: an Introduction to Method.
Key work on methodology. (Art, Davis, UL)
Visona. A History of Art in Africa. (Art and UL)
*Willett. African Art. (2002 and earlier editions) (Art)
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See also
Museums with African Art Collections on the
National Museum of African Art Library's page.
Africa in Antiquity: the Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan.
(Davis) 2 volumes and also conference proceedings from a major
exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.
African Art and Artifacts in European Collections: 1400-1800
(Art Reference) An important work cataloging the dissemination of
African art into kunst and wunderkammer, and later museums, from the
"Age of Discovery" onward. Illustrated, with excellent bibliography.
African Art in American Collections (Art Reference and c. 2
in stacks) An important directory/catalog by Nancy I. Nootter and
Warren M. Robbins.
Africa Explores: 20th Century African art. (Art and UL)
African Masterpieces from the Musée de l'Homme (Art and UL)
African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire (Davis)
Catalog of the American Museum of natural History's exhibition of
objects from the 1909-1915 Congo expedition.
African Zion. The Sacred Art of Ethiopia. (Art)
Afrika: Kunst und Kultur: Meisterwerke Afrikanischer Kunst,
Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin (Art)
Animals in African Art: from the Familiar to the Marvelous (Art)
Art and Life in Africa: Selections from the Stanley Collection,
Exhibitions of 1985 and 1992 (Art)
Art/artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections (Art)
Art of Central Africa: Masterpieces from the Berlin Museum für
Völkerkunde (Art)
Art that Heals: the Image as Medicine in Ethiopia. Munich
(Art)
Benin: Royal Art of Africa from the Museum für Völkerkunde,
Vienna (Art)
Black Art Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in
African-American Art. (Art and UL)
Ethiopian Passages: Contemporary Art from the Diaspora.
(Art)
Fusion: West African Artists at the Venice Biennale
(Art and UL)
Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa (Art)
Into the Heart of Africa (Davis) Catalog of an exhibition at
the Royal Ontario Museum, it provides insights into the history of
collecting in Africa.
The Kingdom of Kush. The Napatan and Meroitic Empires.
(Davis) Originally published by the British Museum.
The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia: Pagans, Christians and Muslims
along the Middle Nile. (Davis) Another British Museum
publication.
Sculptures: Africa Asia Oceania Americas (Art Reference)
Catalog highlighting French collections.
Secrecy: African Art that Conceals and Reveals (Art)
Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of
African Art. (Art Reference) Includes 133 works from all
regions of Africa; illustrated and with a good bibliography.
Transatlantic Dialogue: Contemporary Art in and Out of Africa
(Art, NCC, UL) Catalog of an Ackland Art Museum exhibition curated
by UNC-CH faculty member Michael Harris.
Treasures from the Africa-Museum, Tervuren (Art)
and
Masterpieces from Central Africa: The Tervuren Museum. (Art
and Davis) Catalogs from one of the most important museums for
African art, the Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale in Belgium,
formerly Musée Royal du Congo Belge.
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Find a complete list in the
Article databases and more section of the Libraries main page.
*
Art Full Text is a major art database; full text from 1997 on.
Searchable simultaneously with
*
Art Index Retrospective (covers 1929-1984) Citation, not full
text.
ARTstor provides curated collections of art images and
associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit
educational use.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (covers 18th c. to
date) for sites, monuments and buildings, such as Great Zimbabwe,
Aksum, Djenne, etc. Citations and short abstract.
Bibliography of the History of Art covers from late antiquity
(4th c.) to present and is the most important database for the
history of art. Citations and abstracts, not full text.
CAMIO offers rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class
projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites,
lectures, presentations, and research resources.
Also consult these other useful databases:
*
Academic Search Premier and
*
Expanded Academic (multidisciplinary databases)
African Journals Online Includes tables of context and abstracts
of 150 journals, including arts and culture journals.
African Studies A large, major multidisciplinary database
spanning the 19th century to the present.
Anthropology Plus The most comprehensive, focused index of
bibliographic materials for anthropological subject including
ethnology, archaeology, folklore; and material culture.
Coverage from the 19th century to the present.
AnthroSource An online resource serving the needs of anthropologists,
AnthroSource brings 100 years of anthropological material online to
scholars and the public.
ATLA Religion Database. Major index to journal articles, book
reviews and essay collections.
Geobase: Worldwide Literature on Geography, Geology and Ecology.
A surprisingly useful database for African material culture
production.
International Index to Black Periodicals Full Text. Includes a
number of relevant journals such as African Arts
Quarterly Index of
African Periodical Literature. Indexes over 300 selected
periodicals that are aquired by the Library of Congress
Bibliography of
Africana Periodical Literature Database and African Women's Bibliographic
Database from Africabib.org
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Current Journals (see also Serials Guide to
Ethnoart, in the Encyclopedias, dictionaries
and research guides section above)
*
African Arts The major American journal of African art. (Art
and online)
Arts d'Afrique Noire (Art)
Black Arts
Quarterly (Online journal, Stanford University)
Ijele (E-journal)
International Review of African American Art (art and online)
Includes articles on contemporary African art.
Ornament (E-journal)
Res. (Cambridge, Mass.) (Davis)
Third Text: Third World Perspectives on Contemporary Art and
Culture (Art and E-journal)
African Studies Review (Davis and online)
African Archaeological Review (Davis and online)
Expedition (Davis and online)
Man (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) (E-journal
some print volumes at Davis)
Museum International (E-journal)
Museum Anthropology (E-journal)
National Geographic (E-journal, available through five other hosts)
Natural History (E-journal, available through three other hosts)
Tribal Arts (E-journal)
WAMP Bulletin (West African Museums Program) (Davis)
E-journals:
Find on
Libraries main page, under the "Articles & More"
heading.
In addition to the ones listed above there are many other journals
available full-text online at the
E-journals section. Look under
both the Art subsection and the African Studies and
Anthropology subsections. Full text of many journals will
also be found in the large article databases such as
Academic Search Premier and
Expanded Academic so be sure to search those as well.
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The following works in other UNC
libraries may be helpful:
African Archaeology: a Selected Bibliography (Davis
Reference)
An African Biographical Dictionary (Davis Reference)
The African Studies Companion: a Guide to Information Sources
(Davis Reference)
African Studies Information Resources Directory (Davis
Reference)
Africana: the Encyclopedia of the African and African American
Experience (Davis Reference and UL Reference)
Cambridge History of Africa 8 volume comprehensive work
(Davis and UL)
Cultural Atlas of Africa (UL Reference)
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara (Davis Reference)
Encyclopedia of African History and Culture (Davis Reference)
The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage (online,
NetLibrary)
The Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions
(Davis and UL)
Encyclopedia of African History and Culture (Davis
Reference)
Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History,
Languages, Cultures, and Environments (Davis Reference)
Encyclopedia of Twentieth-century African History (Davis
Reference)
Historical Atlas of Africa (Davis and UL Reference)
The History Atlas of Africa (UL Reference)
Microsoft Encarta Africana (Davis Reference and UL MRC
cd-rom)
The SCOLMA Directory of Libraries and Special Collections on
Africa in the United Kingdom and in Europe (Davis Reference)
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The Virtual Library Museums pages is a good museum gateway for museums
worldwide, including a few museums in African countries.
African Art at the Smithsonian An excellent gateway site by the
National Museum of African Art's Library.
Africana Resources for Undergraduate A useful annotated guide
(1999) to research, from Indiana University Libraries
American Museum of Natural History Anthropology Division A large
searchable collections database of the 37,000 objects, many of which
were brought to this country by missionaries, explorers and
travelers. Searchable by culture, object, county etc., with images.
The Art Institute of Chicago
African Collection A noteworthy collection of objects from West, Central
and Southern Africa.
Les Arts Premiers Bibliographie Sélective A new bibliography
compiled by the national Library of France is now available online.
British Museum 'The Sainsbury African Galleries provides a
substantial and permanent exhibition space for one of the finest
collections of African art and artifacts in the world.'
Brooklyn Museum of Art African Art. The Brooklyn Museum was one
of the the First American museums to display African objects as art,
and is one of the finest in the country, particularly in the art of
Central Africa.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Dak'Art Biennale de l'art contemporain à Dakar
Sénégal.
The official website of the 2006 Dak'Art Biennale in Dakar, Senegal.
The site contains images of the exhibition and its works, as well as
an overview of its organization and aims. The next Dak'Art Biennale is
scheduled for May 9 - June 9, 2008.
Dallas Museum of
Art
Detroit Institute of Arts
The DIA's African collections represent more than one hundred
cultures.
Field Museum Very important collection for Madagascar, also
Angola, Cameroon, Benin, as well as collections from elsewhere in
Africa. Searchable library catalog.
H-AfrArts Expressive Cultures of Africa
Hampton University Museum
Hood Museum of Art
Indiana University Art Museum
High Museum of Art
Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at
Northwestern University
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library Catalog, The Robert Goldwater
Library, part of the Watson Library at the Met, is a rich
collection of materials on African art. See also the print Catalog
of the Robert Goldwater Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
Art Reference. Although a relative latecomer to collecting African
art, the Museum holds the important Rockefeller and Perls
collections. Numerous digitized images.
Modern African Art, a Basic Reading List by Janet L. Stanley,
The National Museum of African Art Library, The Smithsonian
Institution Libraries
Musée du quai Branly
Reunion des Musées
Nationaux is the gateway site for the French national museums.
Culture.fr
is another website on French museums. It also gives access to
museum databases.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard. One of the
oldest anthropological museums in the world Searchable collections
catalog online (Location, object type, etc.) See also the related
site for
Harvard's Tozzer Library
Pitt Rivers Museum
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren/ Musée Royal de
l'Afrique Centrale. One of the great European collections of African
materials.
SIRIS The Smithsonian Libraries catalog including the National
Museum of African Art Library's collection, can be searched. The
public is also welcome at these libraries, by appointment. The
Warren M. Robbins Library at the National Museum of African Art,
founded in 1971, is the major resource center in the United States
for the research and study of the visual arts of Africa.
Interlibrary loan is also possible.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
School of Oriental and African Studies Library Catalog. One of
the most important centers for the study of Africa. Library
catalog and numerous useful links. A major gateway site for
Africana research.
Seattle Art Museum Includes 3000 objects and is expanding to
include contemporary African art.
Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at UNC
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History One of the largest and
finest collections in the U.S., and one of the top 20 worldwide, for
African objects, most notably Yoruba but others as well. A number
of Fowler publications are held in the UNC Library system.
University of Iowa Includes the Stanley Collection of more than
700 objects, which is searchable in the
Art and Life in Africa Online
database cd-rom also in the Art Library.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Includes an online exhibition of
the arts of Mali.
Yale Africa Guide InterActive: The Arts A gateway site.
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African Art (Through African Eyes)
(Art video 5-144 and UL VHS)
African Art and Artifacts in European Collections (Art cd-rom)
companion to book on Art Reference
African Art, Women, History (UL VHS)
Art and Life in Africa (Art cd-rom) The CD includes over
10,000 images of 600 objects and 750 field photographs; 107
ethnographies; 27 ethnographic maps; 1400 entries in a bibliographic
database; 11 chapters; 36 essays; video and music clips. Features
include a fully searchable index, and a slide show maker for
creating custom presentation."
Nigerian Art: Kindred Spirits (Art video 5-142)
Parchment Makers (Art video 5-177)
Recalling the Future: Art in Contemporary Africa (Art
video 5-199)
Shape of Darkness an Exploration of African Art (Art video 5-74
2 tapes)
Sudan Black Kingdoms of the Nile (Art video 5-186)
Tassili N'Ajjer, Prehistoric Rock Paintings of the Sahara
(Art Video 5-72)
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