The Arts of Black Africa by Jean Laude (review)

Books 373 The Arts of Black Africa. Jean Laude. Translated by Jean Decock. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1971. 289 pp., illus. $12.00. Reviewed by:Jack D. Flam* This book is not another broad, superficial survey of African art. It is an attemptto get past the usual clichks that surround and often obscure African art and history, and to reconsider the basic ideas that underly the art of black Africa and its study. It is thus concerned with attitudes and ideas as well as with facts. This duaI approach, in which attention is given to methodology as well as data, is one of the strongest points of the book. It starts with a discussion of the evolution of Western attitudes toward African art and culture, which both heightens the reader’s awareness of his own preconceptions about Africa, and provides a context for the discussion of African history which follows. The interesting (if somewhat sketchy) historical survey provides a context for chapters on the artist (his personality and social role, materials and techniques, training, patronage and aesthetic judgement) and on the relationships between art and society. These in turn arefollowed by three chapters that discuss specific types of plastic expression : ‘Masks’, which considers techniques, types, ritual usage and ideological significance; ‘Statues’, which addresses itself to problems of form and meaning and the designation of imagery (fetish, incarnation, commemorative) and ‘From Myth to History’, which approaches the problem of narrative reliefs, giving particular attention to symbolism and metaphor. A brief concluding chapter rounds off the book with a very interesting discussion of the so-called ‘decadence’ of contemporary African art and someremarks on the future. There are over 200 black and white illustrations, including maps, of varying size and quality, but generally well integrated with the text, and an appendix in chart form coordinates African history with events in Europe and the Middle East. On the whole, the book addresses itself intelligently and knowledgeably to many of the most important and problematic aspects of African art and history. It asks many pertinent questions and it provides some interesting answers. At the same time, it is marred by some serious faults. One of its leitmotifs is a running argument against a shadowy legion of ethnocentric specialists and scholars whom the author uses as a foil for his own ideas. Although this device sometimes works, the frequent references to a benighted ‘them’ often gives the book an uncomfortably polemical tone; a feature emphasized, unfortunately, by a certain jumpiness in the English translation. Further, although the author has read very widely and freely quotes and refers to a large body of documentary material, there is not a single footnote in the book. This is particularly disconcerting in a work that sets out to ‘prove’ so many points. * 5 rue des Chantiers, 75005-Paris, France. The bibliography also has large and surprising gaps, even in areas with which the book deals rather extensively,such as the Congo and Mali. Finally, it seems that the book suffers a bit by trying to give a general overview while arguing so many specific points. As a result, some important subjects, such as abstract concepts of style and analyses of individual objects and of philosophical concepts, are left incompletely and sometimes unconvincingly expressed. On the balance, though, the virtues of this interesting and idiosyncratic approach to African art outweigh its faults and it may be recommended as a thoughtful and worthwhile introduction to African art and culture. Outsider Art. Roger Cardinal. Studio Vista, London, 1972. 192pp., illus. S4.80. Reviewed by: John Milner* Cardinal has written on Surrealism in the past. He shares with Andr6 Breton, the leader of Surrealism , a belief in the innate and original creative power of the individual, independent of and in spite of those pressures through which society endeavours to impose a regular conformity on work, daily life and the creative imagination. The author hopes to reveal the individual’s creative potential through the example of people whose art lies ‘outside culture’, beyond the influence of other artworks or prevalent assumptions about art. He seeks artists who work entirely according to instinct, in emulation of their dreams or to relieve the pressure of...