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African Ivories [Repost]

Posted By: thingska
African Ivories [Repost]

African Ivories (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) by Kate Ezra
English | 1984 | ISBN: 0870993720 | 32 Pages | PDF | 3.1 MB

With the installation of The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Metropolitan, visitors can experience the broad range and diversity of art and artifacts from the peoples of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. This rich panopoly — masks, sculptures, ritual objects, and other works, often fashioned as symbols of power and spiritual force—is awesome. But the Museum's collections are, of course, not exhaustive; they do not always permit a complete view into individual cultures. Therefore an area within the center of the permanent installation was set aside for special exhibitions. Presenting works from private and institutional collections and from the Museum's own holdings, these exhibitions permit us to focus on a particular area or art form in greater depth.

The materials of African art are often as meaningful as the forms the artist gives them. Bronze, for example, connotes the power, wealth, and primacy of rulers, as do gold, leopard skins, and beads. Iron embodies the forces of earth and fire, spiritually strengthening the sculptures and tools into which it is forged. Ivory too possesses qualities and associations that enhance the meaning of objects carved from it. The value of ivory as an article of trade, its identification with an animal as powerful as the elephant, and its physical properties such as color and hardness contribute to the significance of ivory in African art.