Africa. GT 1580 .G74 2003 Reference
This is an anthropological book, but the information about the cultures will be helpful to the researcher interested in art. Items can thereby be described in terms of their context within the culture.
Art: A World History. N 5300 .A69513 1998 Reference
See: Classical Art of Sub-Saharan Africa (p. 182ff) and Artistic Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa (p. 550ff)
Arts of Africa: 7000 Years of African Art. N 7380.5 .A783 2005 Reference
Major categories are: ancient art (Nigeria, Dogon sculpture); ivories; traditional; between fin-de-siecle and the roaring twenties; and ethnic groups (see map on page 404 for location). There is a bibliography.
Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. N 31 .D5 1996 Reference. Online link Oxford Art Online available to CSU affiliates.
The major book on art. Extensive entries, most with bibliographies. Search online by keyword or browse by article title, contributor, or index. Look up country or group. Online search includes articles from The Oxford Companion to Western Art (listed below), so be sure to cite carefully. Look up the name of the specific country of interest for background information and kinds of artwork produced. Search for images from collections, too. Highly recommended.
Encyclopedia of World Art. 15 vols. N 31 .E533 Reference
See Vol. 1 for Africa and regions thereof; look up individual countries (as existed in 1959) in volumes alphabetically (e.g. Nigeria in Vol. 10).
Facts on File Encyclopedia of Art. 5 vols. N 31 .F33 2005 Reference
See Vol. 5 (ch. 54) for South African Art and Vol. 3 (ch. 27) for African Art.
The Oxford Companion to Western Art. N 33 .O923 2001 Reference
Comprehensive entries on artists, movements, museums, methods, materials (e.g. chalk), eras, etc. As an example, the entry on perspective has 41 explanatory or example figures. Search online in Dictionary of Art (above). Focus is on Western art, but descriptions of techniques, materials, and methods should be relevant to African art.
St. James Guide to Black Artists. N 40 .S78 1997 Reference
Most of the listed artists are American, but there are African artists, found by country in the nationality index (e.g. Ivory Coast, Nigerian). There is a selected bibliography (see listing for African).
Symbols of Africa (Symbole Afrikas). GN 645 .O8813 2000 Reference
Most of the 5000+ tribes of Africa believed that all beings, plants, and objects were (and sometimes still are) inhabited by an energy or spirit that healers and sorcerers could invoke. This spiritual view of the world is vividly expressed in Africa's art. Here are line drawings of more than 300 symbols of their beliefs, as shown in the sculpture and masks of Western and Central Africa, the stylized ornaments of North Africa and the Sahel zone, the clothing, jewelry, and hairpieces of nomadic East Africa, and objects of South Africa. [From the publisher, edited down.]
