African Arts: The Impossible Collection by Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter | Assouline
While traditional African works of art were created first and foremost in a ritual context, surely that in no way excludes their aesthetic dimension. Made by artists whose audacity, inventiveness and virtuosic technique can never be sufficiently emphasized, African masks and sculptures — long relegated, wrongly, to the rank of mere “idols” and “fetishes” — tell us, rather, just how much the African continent is the bearer of thousands of histories, its traditions nourished by countless distinctive sensibilities.
African Arts: The Impossible Collection is a meticulously curated book showcasing masterpieces of African art from renowned private and public collections worldwide. This volume, featuring key pieces — like a sixteenth-century Nigerian queen mother ivory pendant and a commemorative figure from Cameroon-Grassfield (both exhibited at the MET Museum) — serves as a manifesto celebrating the boldness of African artists, known and unknown.
Over twelve chapters, author Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter dives into detail in the history of African arts, composing with her words and unique selection a true aesthetic manifesto.
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