What Is African Art?

A Short History

Peter Probst

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Paperback

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English

University of Chicago Press
15 February 2023

History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900

A history of the evolving field of African art.

Peter Probst offers the first book to explore the invention and development of African art as an art historical category. He starts his exploration with a simple question: What do we actually talk about when we talk about African art? By confronting the historically shifting answers to this question, Probst identifies the notion of African art as a conceptual vessel whose changing content manifests wider societal transformations. The perspective is a pragmatic and relational one. Rather than providing an affirmative answer to what African art is and what local meanings it has, Probst shows how the works labeled as “African art” figure in the historical processes and social interactions that constitute the Africanist art world.

What Is African Art? covers three key stages in the field’s history. Starting with the late-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, Probst focuses on the role of museums, collectors, and photography in disseminating visual culture and considers how early anthropologists, artists, and art historians imbued objects with values that reflected ideas of the time. He then explores the remaking of the field at the dawn of African independence with the shift towards contemporary art and the rise of Black Atlantic studies in the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, he examines the postcolonial reconfiguration of the field driven by questions of heritage, reparation, and representation. Probst looks to the future, arguing that, if the study of African art is to move in productive new directions, we must look to how the field is evolving within Africa.

By: Peter Probst
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780226793153
ISBN 10: 022679315X
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 15 February 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Peter Probst is professor of art history and anthropology at Tufts University. He is the author or editor of several books, including National Museums of Africa, Osogbo and the Art of Heritage, Kalumbas Fest, and African Modernities.

Reviews for What Is African Art?: A Short History

[What Is African Art?] a deeply researched, important contribution to the study of art history, with relevance to disciplines beyond the study of African art. * Library Journal * Wedged between anthropology and art history, the study of African art requires a balanced assessment of the defining moments in the making of this field. What Is African Art?-the first historiography of its kind-takes on this challenge superbly, offering a major critical achievement. This book is indispensable to a sound understanding of the field and is a joy to read. -- Ferdinand de Jong, author of Decolonizing Heritage: Time to Repair in Senegal What Is African Art? is a sophisticated, insightful critique of the trajectories that collectors, curators, and scholars of African art have followed since the end of the nineteenth century. As the first monographic historiography of Africanist art studies, it is sure to seed lively debate that interrogates the past and informs the future. An essential read for any and all students of African art. -- Raymond Silverman, professor emeritus of the history of art, African studies, and museum Studies, University of Michigan