Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art

Rowland Abiodun's Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art revisits the vexing question of the role of indigenous African philosophical concepts and languages in the interpretation of African art, in this instance by emphasizing the role of Yoruba language in the interpretation of Yoruba arts. Yoruba peoples are among the most historically relevant cultures in Africa and its Diaspora. Their population, estimated at 40 million, makes them arguably the largest single ethnic group, or nationality, in Black Africa. More importantly, their history and artistic practices are among the most researched of any African people. Abiodun argues that despite broad international recognition of the high quality and range of its artistic and material production, Yoruba art has been “judged primarily according to the standards and principles of Western aesthetics,” which has “led in the past to an unfortunate weakness in the study of African art because it has...