Showing posts with label Beads: Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beads: Africa. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Speaking With Beads: Zulu Arts from Southern Africa


Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Anthropologist Preston-Whyte and photographer Jean Morris combine talents to create one of the first mass-audience books on the beauty and meaning of South African beadwork. Morris, having traveled twice to the eastern seaboard of southern Africa, shows via color photographs how much of the art has changed; whereas Preston-Whyte writes in lay language of the mystical powers, religious ceremonies, and fashion significance of these unique body decorations. Documented here are both new and old styles of bead adornment as well as the accompanying traditions and rites in which they play a part. A nontechnical, elegant glimpse into South African ways and means. Barbara Jacobs

African Elegance



Product Description

In Africa, beaded ornaments may mark an individual's progress through life, and intricate woven fabrics chronicle the deeds of warriors and kings. "African Elegance" delves into the ways in which such traditional objects as masks, jewelry, and wooden vessels are used in contemporary African society. From the vibrant, carved coffins of Ghana and the treasures made by sixteenth-century Benin metal smiths to the sleek objects in serpentine crafted by the Shona sculptors of Zimbabwe, "African Elegance" dynamically explores how native Africans display themselves, exchange messages, and tell stories through craft. An object as beautiful as the work it celebrates, "African Elegance" is a stunningly photographed chronicle of art and personal adornment.