African Textiles

A landmark volume on one of the world’s major art forms, and an important influence on contemporary fashion.

The African continent is home to numerous outstanding textile traditions, many dating to antiquity and all playing a multifaceted role in their respective societies: these eye-catching fabrics proclaim wealth and status, convey symbolic meanings, and of course serve a practical function in garments both ordinary and exceptional. This magnificent book conveys the amazing diversity of African textiles, from the geometric-patterned kente cloths of Ghana to the multicolor raffia skirts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the beaded bark cloths once reserved for Ugandan royalty.

The authors, all leading experts in the field, examine each region of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, elucidating the aesthetic qualities, cultural significance, and production methods of the most important textile traditions. Their authoritative text is illustrated with over 300 textiles from public and private collections, many reproduced as full-page plates that allow readers to appreciate each fiber.

This impressive clothbound volume will be a key reference for students and scholars, an essential sourcebook for designers, and a delight for all art lovers.

Duncan Clarke is a textile dealer and has written numerous books and articles on African textiles, most recently African Textiles: The Karun Thakar Collection.

Vanessa Drake Moraga is an independent scholar, textile dealer, and author of Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa.

Sarah Fee is a curator of Global Fashion and Textiles at the Royal Ontario Museum and has authored many articles on Malagasy textiles.

MabatNgoup Ly Dumas is a textile collector and multi-talented artist and is one of the queen mothers of Western Cameroon. To highlight African textile creativity and to bring recognition to their intrinsic value, she developed her fashion brand Ly Dumas (1990–2003) and organized events such as Les Magiciens du Fil for UNESCO (1999) and Ly Dumas and Friends, a fashion show during the Boubou C’est Chic exhibition in 2002 at Musée National des Arts Africains et Océaniens in Paris. During the same year, in Bangoulap, Cameroon, she established the Fondation Jean-Félicien Gacha, an NGO dedicated to supporting education, handicrafts, social initiatives, the environment, and solidarity tourism. She has authored Perles couleurs d’Afrique (ed. Gourcuff Granedigo) and Ndop: Etoffes des cours royales et sociétés secretes du Cameroun.

Abbeville Press, first edition 2022, hardcover, 10.5 x 13.63 inches, 448 pages.