Page 67 - Studio International - July August 1972

writing): 'This pipe is shaped like a human the introduction should have served as its
figure, with the bowl forming the lower part of epitaph: 'In order to understand and enjoy
the body'. Just how stupid is one assumed to be ? these works of art, it is essential that they should Hans Memling
It seems strange that an author living and be grouped and described within the contexts K. B. McFARLANE
working in Africa should not use one single of usage, society and religion. This is where the Edited by Edgar Wind with the
African source to illustrate a book on African history of art must resort to archaeology and assistance of G. L. Harriss
art, particularly in view of the fact that he is at ethnography and in these fields this book owes By removing a major chronological mistake, on
pains to stress the need for an understanding of almost everything to the research of previous which many false assumptions were based, the
function. Cornet provides a great deal of scholars listed in the bibliography at the end.' author opens up a new view of Memling's
information, in fact, about the history, rituals Mr Asihene (Professor Asihene to the blurb) development and disposes of a large number of
and artforms of the different tribes, but the text is altogether more modest. His Introduction to historical, artistic, and human misconceptions
and plates remain somehow irreconcilable. Traditional Art of Western Africa covers the that have prevented full recognition of his
This is often very tantalizing; one longs for other main sculpture-producing area of the originality and stature. 153 half-tone plates £6
well-presented illustration of many of the continent. 'Covers' is hardly the word. The text
artefacts as seen in terms of their ritual function; is thin to the point of transparency, though Philip Wilson Steer
for instance the BaYaka custom of `carrying... pleasant enough, as Mr Asihene, a Ghanaian,
carvings of women in childbirth round the writes about African mythology without either 1860-1942
villages, after the youths have emerged from scholarship or condescension. The illustrations, BRUCE LAUGHTON
their initiation period in the circumcision principally of objects from the British Museum Bruce Laughton considers Steer's art as a
camps'. The circumcision rituals provide one and the Ghana National Museum photographed whole—from his student work and his lyrical
of the main occasions for the employment of by the author, are simply appalling, despite all early Walberswick pictures, to his absorption of
masks. In his account of BaYaka and BaSuku the book's designer could do to conceal the fact. French nineteenth-century painting and its
rituals Cornet distinguishes between those They are seemingly chosen at random and are interaction with the influence of Turner. A
masks created and used as dance accessories and often, as in the case of the Dan mask from the catalogue of Steer's oils is included, his sketch-
discarded or burned after use, and the two author's collection, far from being notable books and working methods are discussed, and
masks-male and female (only a male or Kakungu examples of the types they represent. The his water-colours considered in their context.
mask is reproduced)- owned by the fetish man, Introduction is intended for the 'ordinary 100 plates (6 in colour) £8 Oxford Studies in
which are carefully guarded and used as a reader' who will doubtless be glad that 'technical the History of Art and Architecture
protection against evil spirits. Cornet's terms have been reduced to a minimum and
breakdown into areas and tribes, and his excessive detail avoided'. At £3 it is ludicrously Pier Francesco Mola
blow-by-blow method of proceeding preclude expensive. The 'ordinary reader' would do far RICHARD COCKE
discussion at any really general thematic or better to invest in Frank Willett's excellent and Mola is one of the most attractive Italian painters
theoretical level. Can one make a general copiously illustrated African Art (Thames and of the seventeenth century, and this book, with
distinction between masks used for 'role- Hudson), at £1.25 worth more than Mr its catalogue, is the first complete account of his
playing' and to enhance ritual, whose status Asihene's and Mr Cornet's books combined. life and career. Through it, Mola emerges as the
is temporary, and those which are themselves I cannot imagine that even the 'ordinary natural heir to the great tradition of Venetian
considered to 'play roles', which themselves reader' would have much use for Geoffrey sixteenth-century painting. 147 plates (one in
have ritual function, and which are of permanent Williams's African Designs from Traditional colour) £6•75 Oxford Studies in the History of
status ? Sources-or anyone else for that matter. The Art and Architecture
Cornet seems continually torn between his book consists entirely of bold linocuts and
function as the writer of an extended essay on occasional pen-and-ink drawings after motifs African Animals in
the art of the Congolese tribes and his function from African art and design. Mr Williams
as the writer of an extended essay to accompany records a hope that 'this book will produce an Renaissance
a set of expensive colour plates of expensive awareness, and stimulate a reaction, that will
objects. Of the BaPende mbuya masks he writes : give rise to a new African art based on its own Literature and Art
`They ...form part of a costume made of raffia precedent', as if something of the quality of what JOAN E. BARCLAY LLOYD
netting completely covering the dancer's body is reproduced in Mr Cornet's book could ever This book is a study of the fascination and
and under no circumstances, according to a come, however indirectly, from the sad delight expressed by Renaissance travellers,
custom which seems to be general in African art, schematisations in Mr Williams's. q artists, and scholars for the wild life of Africa.
can be considered in isolation. The mask is thus CHARLES HARRISON 93 plates £4.50 Oxford Studies in the History of
an integral part of the costume and the dance Art and Architecture
and only has value as such. The mask itself,
however, is the only element that can be Lettering as
regarded as directly belonging to the field of
sculpture.' Five mbuya masks are reproduced,
A compromise with 'truth to nature' Drawing
presumably as (very beautiful) sculpture. But
the concept of art is mostly our concept of art. The Drawings of Rodin by Albert Elsen, J. Kirk NICOLETE GRAY
The objects themselves are magnificent, and Varnedoe, with additional contributions by Western script and lettering are treated here as
one can't but be glad to see them. The BaKongo, Victoria Thorson and Elisabeth Chase an abstract visual art comparable with painting
BaPende, BaJokwe, BaLuba, BaSongye have Geissbuhler. 191 pp, 152 illustrations. Elek. in formal and expressive sensitivity and power.
Previously published in two paperback volumes,
indeed produced some of the finest sculpture
the book is now available in a larger format, one
made anywhere at any time; their works embody volume edition, with an appendix of additional
meaning, have function, are necessary in ways There was no situation for Rodin which could illustrations. 188 illustrations £6.50
and to degrees which more 'sophisticated' rival that of the studio, in which he found an
artists have had every reason to envy. But this unpredictable physical stimulation. According
must have been a thankless book to write and to his simple and dogmatic written statements, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
it's a thankless book to read. A passage from `the will to follow nature exactly develops taste',
53