CORNET (Joseph-Aurélien) - Lot 82

Lot 82
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CORNET (Joseph-Aurélien) - Lot 82
CORNET (Joseph-Aurélien) Art of Black Africa in the Land of the Zaire River. Photographs by Willy Kerr. Foreword by J. D. Mobutu, Lieutenant General, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Brussels, Arcade, 1972. Large, sturdy in-4 volume (approx. 30 cm), publisher’s binding, with a color-illustrated dust jacket, 371 pp., lavishly illustrated with black-and-white and color plates. The BnF confirms the 1972 Brussels edition, the pagination, and the bibliography on pp. 331–353. First edition of this important monograph devoted to the traditional arts of the former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Joseph-Aurélien Cornet (1919–2004), a leading scholar of Congolese art, presents here a comprehensive study of the region’s principal artistic traditions: Kongo, Teke, Yaka, Suku, Pende, Kuba, Ndengese, Tshokwe, Luba, Songye, Lega, Mangbetu, Zande, Ngbaka, etc. The book follows a particularly well-developed geographical and stylistic organization. It features an extensive photographic collection by Willy Kerr, comprising approximately 180 color plates, supplemented by numerous black-and-white reproductions. Masks, ancestor statues, power figures, fetishes, magical objects, ivory carvings, weapons, insignia of dignity, and ceremonial objects are often reproduced in full-page illustrations. The book’s value lies as much in the documentary richness of its illustrations as in the stylistic analysis of the various Congolese artistic regions. The interior of this copy is in very fresh condition, with the plates particularly well-preserved. The dust jacket is present but damaged, with significant tears and missing sections along the top edge—particularly on the front cover—partially obscuring the title; there is also some rubbing and minor signs of wear. The binding and book block appear to be in good condition.
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