Early Art and Architecture of Africa

by Peter Garlake

This new history of over 5,000 years of African art reveals its true diversity for the first time. Challenging centuries of misconceptions that have obscured the sophisticated nature of African art, Garlake focuses on seven key regions--southern Africa, Nubia, Aksum, the Niger River, West Africa, Great Zimbabwe, and the East African coast--treating each in detail and setting them in their social and historical context. Garlake is long familiar with and has extensive practical experience of both the archaeology and the art history of Africa. Using the latest research and archaeological findings, he offers exciting new insights into the works native to these areas, and he also puts forth new interpretations of several key cultures and monuments.
Acknowledging the universal allure of the African art object, this stunning book helps us to understand more about the ways in which this art was produced, used, and received.

Genres: History, Art, Africa, Nonfiction, Art History

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Peter Storr Garlake was a Zimbabwean archaeologist and art historian, who made influential contributions to the study of Great Zimbabwe and Ife, Nigeria.

See also Peter S. Garlake.

Reviews

[Phin Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting and also incredibly dry and academic. Still absolutely worth reading, but I wonder if there are more engaging books that cover the same topics.

[Edie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately not enough people are familiar with African history let alone early African art. Even for the interested the many empires and great cities boggles the mind.

The book warns of the difficulties exploring the topic:

1. There is the destruction of what we call art (and that label in itself is problematic) by both humans and nature.
2. Theft, racism, condescending attitudes all destroyed much of early visual culture.
3. With good intentions or just with greed, valuable pieces were removed and what we do have is now out of context.
4. We have no idea what lies behind these objects. We can only speculate and our speculations can be wrong. The author uses a lot of ink debunking previous theories. All we left with are descriptions(which might not even be accurate as things age or are manipulated).
5. You cannot judge things from the past with things from today as there are always changes with time.
6. Objects vary in style and meaning throughout the continent. You cannot generalize.

Because of these factors we are limited in our knowledge of early African civilizations. There is much we probably will never know leaving the situation both frustrating and exciting.

My main gripe about this book is paucity of dates on the examples seen in photos. Nor does the book include their sizes. However, the fascinating material inside about makes reading it worthwhile.

[Krishna Kumar · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was exceptional book. i will refer to my freinds

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

wonderful topic but not the best written book