African Art in Transit

By Christopher B. Steiner

Book Overview

African Art in Transit is an absorbing account of the commodification and circulation of African art objects in the international art market. Christopher Steiner's analysis of the role of the African middleman in linking those who produce and supply works of art in Africa with those who buy and collect so-called 'primitive' art in Europe and America is based on extensive field research among the art traders in C?te d'Ivoire. Steiner provides a lucid interpretation which reveals not only a complex economic network with its own internal logic and rules, but also an elaborate process of transcultural valuation and exchange. By focusing directly on the intermediaries in the African art trade, he unveils a critical new perspective on how symbolic codes and economic values are mediated in the context of shifting geographic and cultural domains. He questions conventional definitions of authenticity in African art by demonstrating how the categories 'authentic' and 'traditional' are continually redefined.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521457521
• ISBN13: 9780521457521
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to African art and global art trade

This is a wonderful book which introduces the reader to African art in the context of the international market and art trade. As an African art collector, I learned a great deal about the "tricks" of the trade and the techniques of faking and market pricing. It is also fascinating to read about the lives of those who deal in African art, and how the trade impacts their religious convictions, as well as their personal and economic aspirations.