Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection FROM THE PUBLISHER
This volume presents a recent gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art of over 150 works of Benin sculpture, making the Museum's collection of sixteenth- to nineteenth-century Benin art one of the most comprehensive in the world.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
For more than 500 years, the West African kingdom of Benin has produced brass, ivory, wood and terracotta sculpture prized for its naturalism, beauty and technical sophistication. This sumptuous catalogue of an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art reproduces mysterious brass heads of monarchs and queen mothers, palace plaques teeming with relief figures, regal roosters atop ancestral altars, carved ivory tusks and pyramid-shaped bells. Ezra, an associate curator of the museum, makes it clear in her informative text that this art is intimately linked to rituals of divine kingship and religion, as can be seen in complex altar tableaux depicting the king surrounded by courtiers, chiefs and attendants, and in cylindrical wood altars dedicated to the human hand, which is worshipped in the Benin religion. The book also surveys the intricate, luminous ivory sculpture of Owo, a nearby Yoruba kingdom from which Benin's reigning dynasty traces its origins. (June)
Library Journal
Benin sculpture--cast bronzes, carved ivory, terracotta, and wood created to glorify a divine king--exerted tremendous influence on early 20th-century Western artists. The splendidly naturalistic heads, plaques, carved tusks, bracelets, and other ceremonial and personal ornaments of Benin (now part of Nigeria) provide an unbroken record of one of West Africa's greatest kingdoms for more than 500 years. This publication coincides with a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition celebrating art dealer Klaus G. Perls's 163-piece donation. An introduction gives background on Benin history, art, and culture; expert commentary accompanies the 265 illustrations, grouped according to the objects' type and purpose. A chronology, glossary, bibliography, and maps supplement this authoritative work. Recommended for African art and 20th-century art research collections.-- Russell T. Clement, Brigham Young Univ. Lib., Provo, Ut .
Booknews
Tantalizing trivia. this Hitler, spoiling everything?" kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria are vividly portrayed in this catalogue accompanying the exhibition of 149 stunning brass, ivory, wooden, and terracotta sculptures and other items in a collection recently given to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. An introduction provides background on the history, art, and culture of Benin. With 250 illustrations, 84 in color. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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