Flash of the Spirit

African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy

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Paperback
$19.00 US
On sale Aug 12, 1984 | 336 Pages | 978-0-394-72369-3
This landmark book shows how five African civilizations—Yoruba, Kongo, Ejagham, Mande, and Cross River—have informed and are reflected in aesthetic, social, and metaphysical traditions (music, sculpture, textiles, architecture, religion, idiogrammatic writing) in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America.

“A wonderfully enthusiastic book.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Centuries of racist assumptions go packing it in Flash of the Spirit.”—The Village Voice
1. Black Saints Go Marching In: Yoruba Art and Culture in the Americas

2. The Sign of the Four Moments of the Sun: Kongo Art and Religion in the Americas

3. The Rara of the Universe: Vodun Religion and Art in Haiti

4. Round Houses and Rhythmized Textiles: Mande-Related Art and Architecture in the Americas

5. Emblems of Prowess: Ejagham Art and Writing in Two Worlds
© Yale University
Robert Farris Thompson is the author of, among other works, Black Gods and Kings and African Art in Motion. He has been a Ford Foundation Fellow and has mounted major exhibitions of African art at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. He is Col. John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, where he is also Master of Timothy Dwight College. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut. View titles by Robert Farris Thompson

About

This landmark book shows how five African civilizations—Yoruba, Kongo, Ejagham, Mande, and Cross River—have informed and are reflected in aesthetic, social, and metaphysical traditions (music, sculpture, textiles, architecture, religion, idiogrammatic writing) in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America.

“A wonderfully enthusiastic book.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Centuries of racist assumptions go packing it in Flash of the Spirit.”—The Village Voice

Table of Contents

1. Black Saints Go Marching In: Yoruba Art and Culture in the Americas

2. The Sign of the Four Moments of the Sun: Kongo Art and Religion in the Americas

3. The Rara of the Universe: Vodun Religion and Art in Haiti

4. Round Houses and Rhythmized Textiles: Mande-Related Art and Architecture in the Americas

5. Emblems of Prowess: Ejagham Art and Writing in Two Worlds

Author

© Yale University
Robert Farris Thompson is the author of, among other works, Black Gods and Kings and African Art in Motion. He has been a Ford Foundation Fellow and has mounted major exhibitions of African art at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. He is Col. John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, where he is also Master of Timothy Dwight College. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut. View titles by Robert Farris Thompson

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