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April 2021 Vol. 58 No. 8

African Art Reframed is a timely and significant contribution to museum studies. Jules-Rosette (Univ. of California, San Diego) and Osborne (Georgetown Univ.) succeed in their intention to illustrate a historical reconstituting of public perception of the African object—from ethnographic curiosity, to influence on other artistic movements, to embrace of the gamut of creative expression. The book addresses the interpretation/misinterpretation and representation/misrepresentation of African art in different settings, theories, and institutional frameworks. The organization of viewer experiences into "transformational nodes" provides a helpful structure, transforming understanding of what African art was, is, and can be. In addition the authors present a provocative examination of the dynamics of museum storage: how objects on view to the public and those that remain locked in cabinets continue to “speak” to one another about shared and often difficult histories.

--J. S. May, University of Virginia

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.