Herbert Cole's new book, Maternity: Mothers and Children in the Arts of Africa, is his most comprehensive study to date of the motherhood theme in African art. His passion for this subject began in the early 1960s with his research on Igbo Mbari and its dedication to the earth goddess Ala, resulting in his seminal book, Mbari, Art and Life Among the Owerri Igbo (1984). Cole included the maternity theme in his 1989 book Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa, with a chapter on maternity and abundance and another on the male and female couple. His newest book explores the theme of motherhood even more broadly across the continent and over time, with a focus mostly on sculptural representations, and on mother/child sculptures in particular. Large in size, and beautifully produced and formatted, the book combines 332 illustrations, the majority full page and in color....
Maternity: Mothers and Children in the Arts of Africa
Lisa Aronson is Professor Emerita, Department of Art History, Skidmore College. Her scholarship and research focuses on African textiles and trade, issues of gender in African art, and early African photography. Her most recent publication is her book, coedited with Martha Anderson, African Photographer J.A. Green: Reimagining the Indigenous and the Colonial (Indiana University Press, 2017).
Lisa Aronson is Professor Emerita, Department of Art History, Skidmore College. Her scholarship and research focuses on African textiles and trade, issues of gender in African art, and early African photography. Her most recent publication is her book, coedited with Martha Anderson, African Photographer J.A. Green: Reimagining the Indigenous and the Colonial (Indiana University Press, 2017).
Lisa Aronson; Maternity: Mothers and Children in the Arts of Africa. African Arts 2019; 52 (1): 94–95. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_r_00451
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