Hand-thought is the term in the Akan language for what Westerners would call art or craft. This insightful term illustrates that, for the African artist, the act of creating an object and the cultural context of the object created are of equal importance. To contextualize the 48 masterpieces and prevent this book from being a mere catalog of the exotic, Preston has written a short but clear and thoughtful introduction and paired each of the lush photographs with a page of cultural commentary and aesthetic appreciation. Primarily an appreciation of African artistry rather than a text, this book would be a useful supplement in larger libraries.
- David McClelland, Temple Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
