cover image Kongo: Power and Majesty

Kongo: Power and Majesty

Edited by Alisa LaGamma. Metropolitan Museum of Art, $65 (308p) ISBN 978-1-58839-575-7

Accompanying an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this catalogue focuses on artworks created in the now-dissolved Kingdom of Kongo from the late 15th century through the early 20th century. It celebrates the region’s unique artistic traditions and examines changing relationships between Central Africa and the West. Generous in reproductions of the exhibition’s 146 works of art, the book places emphasis on textiles and sculptural objects, particularly minkisi, the name for both particular spiritual forces and the figures those forces might inhabit. A single nkisi is often made from diverse materials, including wood, hair, resin, iron, ceramics, and pigments; later figures embodying power were often spiked with nails and transformed into more intimidating figures. The catalogue gives proper attention to its objects as works of art while also devoting a large number of pages to historical and sociological lessons, some of which are unfortunately repetitive. However, this context does allow a more nuanced view of the work than is normally available in art history, with regional and historical variations mapped out in careful detail. The catalogue succeeds in complicating and deepening the artistic and historical context typically surrounding such objects. These are arresting, fascinating objects of beauty, and a dedicated study of their importance is long overdue. Color illus. (Oct.)