| Recommended
Books: African Textiles |
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The list of publications
dealing specifically with the textiles of Sub-Saharan Africa is not long, but there are
some good ones. A few are listed below.
PLEASE NOTE: We do not sell books; these books are listed for your information only. |
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African Textiles and Decorative Arts. Roy
Sieber. New York, 1972. 240
pages, 244 illustrations, 40 in color. This Museum of Modern art
publication features superb pieces from both public and
private North American collections. Included are not only costumes
and other textiles, but also headdresses, jewelry, personal
utensils, decorative scarification and body painting. A
personal note: Roy Sieber was my first art history professor (in
1955!) and I have great admiration for his approach to African
tribal arts. |
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Weaving in Africa South of the Sahara. Karl-Ferdinand
Schaedler. Munich, 1987. 487 pages, 701 plates, most in
black and white. This huge volume investigates African
textile production with great seriousness and thoroughness. It
is rich in ethnographic photos, showing costumes as they are
worn. It also has excellent loom photos and photos of various
textile processes. The numerous cross-references with other
works in the literature are helpful. |
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African Textiles. John
Picton and John Mack. London, 1979. 208 pages, 204 black and
white photos, 28 color plates. This is a good survey of
traditional African textile manufacture and design, illustrated
with examples from the collections of the British Museum.
Field photographs show the processes and subsequent use. North
African textiles are included as well as those from Sub-Saharan
areas. |
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West
African Weaving. Venice
Lamb. London, 1975. 228 pages, 310 black and white
illustrations plus a few color plates. This classic
work focuses on the narrow strip weaving of West Africa. It
examines the history and techniques, the geographical
distribution, and the economic development of this production.
Although it covers weavings from Dakar in Senegal eastwards to
Cameroun and northwards to Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad, it
describes the work of the Asante and the Ewe in the most complete
detail. |
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African Majesty: The Textile Art of
the Ashanti and Ewe. Peter
Adler and Nicholas Barnard. London, 1992. 192 pages,
131 color plates. The photos of strip weaves from Ghana
and Togo in this book nicely supplement Venice Lamb's
book. |
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Shoowa Design: African Textiles from
the Kingdom of Kuba. Georges
Meurant. London, 1986. 205 pages, 102 large color plates and
over 800 black and white drawings and illustrations.
This very large volume features beautiful plates of Kuba raffia
cloth embroideries from the Congo--most from private
collections. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find copies
of this out-of-print book. |
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Textile
Art of the Bakuba: Velvet Embroideries in Raffia. Sam
Hilu and Irwin Hersey. 2003, Atglen, Pennsylvania. 192 pages,
with over 400 raffia cloths illustrated. The text is
minimal, with most of the information quoted from Meurant and
others. There are, however, lots of photos of the kind of raffia
embroideries currently available on the market. |
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Contempory African Arts and Crafts:
On-Site Wrokiing with Art Forms and Processes. Thelma
R. Newman. New York, 1973. 306 pages, 460 photographs, 23
color plates. This book deals with pottery, textiles,
basketry, metals, wood and ivory carving and assorted work in
hides, feathers, beads and shells. Its focus is almost entirely
the technical processes involved, but it also describes how the
arts relate to African religion and village life. |
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| The Art
of African Textiles: Technology, Tradition and Lurex. John
Picton, with Rayda Becker, Pauline Duponchel, Jackie Guille,
Elizabeth Harney, David Heathcote, Julia Hilger, Atta Kwami, Pat
Oyelola, and Simon Peers. London, 1995. Published to
accompany an exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery. This
work focuses on 20th century non-traditional African textiles,
revealing the new materials, images, technologies and demands
that have enriched the textiles in recent years. |
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