How to Read African Textiles

The latest volume in The Met’s How to Read series, focusing on the rich and varied textiles of Africa through forty exemplars from the nineteenth century to the present day

Historically, handwoven cloth and clothing made across the African continent have been labor-intensive creations deeply embedded in local and regional value systems. These fabrics, frequently adapted to communal and individual needs, serve to clothe the body, divide architectural space, protect physical = and spiritual well-being, and convey wealth and authority. This volume in The Met’s acclaimed How to Read series features forty masterworks of African fiber arts, from a dynamic nineteenth-century interior hanging from Sierra Leone to a dreamlike textile canvas by a contemporary Malagasy artist. Authors Christine Giuntini and Jenny Peruski explore the complex histories of production, consumption, and exchange attached to these extraordinary works; contextualize long-standing and recently embraced techniques and materials; and offer readers new ways to appreciate Africa’s diverse textile traditions.

Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

Christine Giuntini is conservator and Jenny Peruski is assistant curator, arts of Africa, both in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.