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African Vodun: Art, Psychology and Powerby Suzanne Preston Blier
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Beads, bones, rags, straw, leather, pottery, fur, feathers and blood--these are the raw materials of vodun artworks. The power of these images lies not only in their aesthetic, and counter-aesthetic, appeal but also in their psychological and emotional effect. As objects of fury and force, these works are intended to protect and empower people and cultures that have long been oppressed.
In this first major study of its kind, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the artworks of the contemporary vodun cultures of southern Benin and Togo in West Africa as well as the related voudou traditions of Haiti, New Orleans, and historic Salem, Massachusetts. Blier employs a variety of theoretically sophisticated psychological, anthropological, and art historical approaches to explore the contrasts inherent in the vodun arts--commoners versus royalty, popular versus elite, "low" art versus "high." She examines the relation between art and the slave trade, the psychological dynamics of artistic expression, the significance of the body in sculptural expression, and indigenous perceptions of the psyche. Throughout, Blier pushes African art history to a new height of cultural awareness that recognizes the complexity of traditional African societies as it acknowledges the role of social power in shaping aesthetics and meaning generally. This book will be of critical importance not only to those concerned with African, African American, and Caribbean art, but also to anthropologists, African diaspora scholars, students of comparative religion and comparative psychology, and anyone fascinated by the traditions of voudou and vodun. Synopsis:In this first major study of its kind, Blier pushes African art history to a new height of cultural awareness. This book will be of crucial interest to anyone fascinated by African, African American, and Caribbean art; the African diaspora; and the traditions of voudou and vodun. Synopsis:Beads, bones, rags, straw, leather, pottery, fur, feathers and bloodthese are the raw materials of vodun artworks. The power of these images lies not only in their aesthetic, and counter-aesthetic, appeal but also in their psychological and emotional effect. As objects of fury and force, these works are intended to protect and empower people and cultures that have long been oppressed. In this first major study of its kind, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the artworks of the contemporary vodun cultures of southern Benin and Togo in West Africa as well as the related voudou traditions of Haiti, New Orleans, and historic Salem, Massachusetts. Blier employs a variety of theoretically sophisticated psychological, anthropological, and art historical approaches to explore the contrasts inherent in the vodun artscommoners versus royalty, popular versus elite, "low" art versus "high." She examines the relation between art and the slave trade, the psychological dynamics of artistic expression, the significance of the body in sculptural expression, and indigenous perceptions of the psyche. Throughout, Blier pushes African art history to a new height of cultural awareness that recognizes the complexity of traditional African societies as it acknowledges the role of social power in shaping aesthetics and meaning generally. This book will be of critical importance not only to those concerned with African, African American, and Caribbean art, but also to anthropologists, African diaspora scholars, students of comparative religion and comparative psychology, and anyone fascinated by the traditions of voudou and vodun. "An extraordinary tour de force."Choice "Extraordinarily detailed....Blier's examination of the entire, often mysterious history of vodun is...in a word, definitive."Booklist "A serious study that concentrates on the hidden power of objects and the meaning behind that potency is long overdue. Welcome Susan Blier's African Vodun....Certainly a must for...those concerned with the psychology of art."Janet L. Stanley, Art Documentation "[Blier] is usually sensitive to the need to resist imposing Western artistic values and academic methodologies inappropriately upon such art. But she offers the reader a gift even more precious; she offers rare insights into how various art formssculpture and home architecture in particularyield meanings for the African users of such art.Norman Weinstein, Boston Book Review Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Linguistic Note Introduction: Ties that Bind: The Psychology and Power of Art 1: Vodun Art, Social History, and the Slave Trade 2: Audiences, Artists, and Sculptural Activators 3: Design in Desire: Transference and the Arts of [actual symbol not reproducible] 4: Bodies and Being: Anatomy, Anamnesis, and Representation 5: The I and Not-I in Artistic Expressions of the Self 6: Alchemy and Art: Matter, Mind, and Sculptural Meaning 7: Surface Parergon and the Arts of Suturing 8: The Force of Genre: Sculptural Tension and Typology 9: Power, Art, and the Mysteries of Rule Conclusions, Concomitants, and Comparisons Appendix: Collections and Stylistic Features Sources Notes Bibliography Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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