The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume V

With the publication of the fifth volume, concentrating on the 20th century, [this series] has become a necessary cultural resource documenting the visual construction of blackness over the past 5,000 years. This latest and perhaps last volume-subdivided into two parts, The Impact of Africa and The Rise of Black Artists-redirects the underlying colonialist, Eurocentric framing of the previous four volumes. The co-editors, David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates Jr., bring focus to black artists globally as makers of their own art and imagery, rather than solely the subjects of others' fantasies and fascination... Laudatory in its scope, notable for the high quality of its essays and, in terms of reproduction quality, impressively illustrated, The Image of the Black in Western Art: Volume V should have wide popular and scholarly appeal. -- Claudia Rankine * New York Times *
The 10th volume in a 50-year effort to document images of Africans in Western art, Rise focuses on images of blacks by black artists. Though profusely illustrated, it is much more than a picture book, with essays on painting, photography, jazz, performance art and critical analysis of such cultural flash points as the advertising persona Aunt Jemima. -- Mary Abbe * Minneapolis Star-Tribune *
A fascinating story of the changing image of Africa's people in Western art. The images are simply extraordinary and the scholarship inspiring. Anyone who cares about Western art or about Africa and her diaspora ought to know these magnificent volumes. -- Kwame Anthony Appiah
In addition to being an indispensable guide to the evolving meanings of racial difference, these dazzling volumes filled with extraordinary images and rich arguments contribute to an alternative history of the Western world. An invaluable gift for both specialists and general readers. -- Paul Gilroy, author of The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness