African Art Exhibition History African Art and Motion National Gallery of Art 1974 Interpretive Guide to Performance and Sculpture Traditions

African American Art and Motion

First Edition

National Gallery of Art. African Art and Motion: An Illustrated Guide to the Exhibition (1974) documents a major institutional shift in the interpretation of African visual culture within American museums during the postcolonial period. Produced for the 1974 exhibition, the guide supports research into museum studies, African art history, and the reinterpretation of non-Western art within public institutions. It establishes African sculpture and mask traditions within the context of performance, ritual, and social function, emphasizing their roles in systems of cosmology, communal identity, and moral instruction. The publication aligns with broader 1970s efforts in American cultural institutions to challenge static and decontextualized presentations of African material culture.
National Gallery of Art. African Art and Motion: An Illustrated Guide to the Exhibition. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1974. First edition. Quarto. Produced by the Editor’s Office of the National Gallery of Art and designed by Florence Smith. The guide is organized thematically around the relationship between sculptural form and performative action, with sections addressing “act” and “icon” as interpretive frameworks. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white reproductions, it includes images of Yoruba Gelede and Egúngún dancers, EPA ceremonial processions, and Kuba masquerade performances. Additional visual and textual material addresses Yoruba twin figures, Komi ancestral thrones from Cameroon, and ritualized uses of costume, gesture, and movement. Photographic contributions include work associated with Eliot Elisofon and the Kean Collection, integrating documentary imagery with interpretive commentary.
28 pages. Illustrated throughout. Saddle-stapled pictorial wrappers. Quarto format. Moderate rubbing to extremities and light creasing along the spine fold; interior clean and unmarked. Overall very good. Issued during a period of reassessment in American museology, the guide provides direct evidence of curatorial strategies that repositioned African art within lived cultural frameworks, offering a useful reference point for the study of exhibition history and interpretive practice in the United States.

Item #22843

Price: $220.00