Icon and Image: A Study of Sacred and Secular Forms of African Classical Art by Denis Williams (1974-08-01)

Denis Williams has written a magisterial survey of African classical sculpture and metallurgy which both establishes an aesthetic relevant to the judgement of his whole field and makes an important contribution to the study of form and technique. As the outlines of African history are pieced together, attention will increasingly be paid to the history of African art. But though written records, archaeology, material culture and oral tradition provide a wealth of source material, not many media of expression in African art submit to a traditional historical treatment. A historical picture emerges most satisfactorily in the study of iron and bronze. "Icon and Image" attempts to present such a picture, through an examination of the techniques and cults associated with particular forms. If the book seems weighted in this direction this is because very little in the study of African art can simply be assumed, even where the evidence refers to hallowed local or oral traditions. The title suggests a degree of interpretation of the material, though it has to be admitted that, like the word 'Art', these terms, and many others of art-scholarship, have no equivalents in the languages of the peoples responsible for the objects thus described, which are nonetheless among the finest creations of man's plastic impulse.