See the Music, Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art

This innovative look at African Art presents the wonders of one of America's best known African collections within the ritual context for which the artworks were first created. Drawing on The Baltimore Museum's renowned African Collection, this vibrantly illustrated exploration of African rituals uniquely encourages readers to look beyond the solitary artifact and toward an understanding of African music and dance as fully sensory experiences. The one hundred objects presented here are parts of ceremonies that rely on sounds, sights, smells, and tastes to deliver their ultimate effects. Color reproductions of the objects, including masks, sculpture, and ceramics, are accompanied by brief essays explaining the contexts within which each was created. The essays focus on costumes; dance, movement and gesture; music and other sounds; storytelling; audiences; staging, and lighting. Field photographs and archival images help bring to life the African ceremonial experience, which we can better understand with the aid of this groundbreaking work.