The Tribal Art of Africa
Thames and Hudson, 1998

Art Tribal d'afrique Noire
Assouline, 1998

"In the light of recent debates about the status of the term "tribal Art" in relation to the cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, J-B Bacquart's book is a remarkably bold and ambitious book, which sets out to offer a geographical and artistic synthesis of more that a hundred years of Western studies of the art of Africa.
According to J-B Bacquart, "tribes, not countries, shape the artistic geography of Africa". As a result the book is broken into 49 sections, each dealing with a particular region and its tribal art, beginning with the west coast of Africa and ending with the east and south Africa. A particular tribe's masks, statues, utensils, furniture and jewellery are then surveyed for their ritual and aesthetic significance. The results are striking and varied, from the remarkable Sapi and Benin sculptures which emerged from Portuguese contact with west Africa in the 15th Century, to the mysterious and forbidding figures of the Nyamezi of Tanzania, all of which are beautifully reproduced in full colour. .......for those intrigued by these objects, this is undoubtedly the book to explore an art about which we still know very little."
Jerry Brotton, Amazon.com

"Jean-Baptiste Bacquart. : The Tribal Art of Africa ; The marvelous achievements of Black African artists are revealed and superbly illustrated in this substantial survey, including more than 700 pieces dating from the beginning of the first millennium up to the early 20th century. The brilliant French expert on tribal art has divided sub-Saharan Africa into 49 cultural areas; each section of the book studies the important tribes within the areas, discussing social and political structures and artistic production.The art is analyzed according to type - masks, statues, everyday objects, and jewelry, with hundreds of documentary illustrations. " Tribal-Arts Magazine