MEURANT (Georges). — Abstractions from the Kuba Kingdoms. Dr - Lot 229

Lot 229
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MEURANT (Georges). — Abstractions from the Kuba Kingdoms. Dr - Lot 229
MEURANT (Georges). — Abstractions from the Kuba Kingdoms. Drawing by Shoowa. Paris, Éditions Dapper - Fondation Dapper, 1987. Large quarto, approximately 30 × 24.5 cm, paperback, XVI-205 pp., with a color-illustrated dust jacket. Very richly illustrated: color and black-and-white reproductions, accompanied by an extensive collection of drawings and graphic records; bibliography, glossary, and index. ISBN 2-906067-03-2. Bibliographic records confirm 205 pages and the work’s status as an exhibition catalog. French first edition, published on the occasion of the exhibition “Abstractions in the Kuba Kingdoms,” curated by Georges Meurant and presented at the Musée Dapper in Paris from February 18 to May 16, 1987, as also indicated by the imprint visible on your copy. An important monograph devoted to Shoowa drawings and textiles from the Kuba kingdoms, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In it, Georges Meurant examines the construction and transformation of the extraordinary geometric compositions adorning Kuba velvets and raffia embroidery: networks of diamonds, interlaced patterns, chevrons, checkerboards, and asymmetrical figures. The book’s value lies particularly in the scope of its documentation: one publisher’s catalog lists 113 color reproductions, 20 black-and-white reproductions, and approximately 1,000 drawings, while another bibliography lists 102 color reproductions, 15 in black and white, and about 1,000 drawings—with slight variations in the counts depending on the catalog entries. The photographs of your copy show several full-page reproductions of Kuba textiles, which are particularly spectacular, allowing readers to explore the nearly infinite variations of a decorative vocabulary based on geometry and abstraction. The book is now considered a specialized reference on Kuba textiles and Shoowa design; one specialty bookstore explicitly describes it as a “reference work on Kasai velvets.” A very fine copy.
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