Afro-Atlantic Histories - by Adriano Pedrosa & Tomás Toledo (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Afro-Atlantic Histories" brings together a selection of more than 400 works and documents by more than 200 artists from the 16th to the 21st centuries that express and analyze the ebbs and flows between Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. The book is motivated by the desire and need to draw parallels, frictions, and dialogues around the visual cultures of Afro-Atlantic territories--their experiences, creations, worshipping, and philosophy. The so-called Black Atlantic, to use the term coined by Paul Gilroy, is geography lacking precise borders, a fluid field where African experiences invade and occupy other nations, territories, and cultures. The plural and polyphonic quality of "histâorias" is also of note; unlike the English "histories," the word in Portuguese carries a double meaning that encompasses both fiction and nonfiction, personal, political, economic, and cultural, as well as mythological narratives.

Book Synopsis

A colossal, panoramic, much-needed appraisal of the visual cultures of Afro-Atlantic territories across six centuries

Named one of the best books of 2021 by Artforum

Afro-Atlantic Histories brings together a selection of more than 400 works and documents by more than 200 artists from the 16th to the 21st centuries that express and analyze the ebbs and flows between Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe. The book is motivated by the desire and need to draw parallels, frictions and dialogues around the visual cultures of Afro-Atlantic territories--their experiences, creations, worshiping and philosophy. The so-called Black Atlantic, to use the term coined by Paul Gilroy, is geography lacking precise borders, a fluid field where African experiences invade and occupy other nations, territories and cultures.
The plural and polyphonic quality of "histórias" is also of note; unlike the English "histories," the word in Portuguese carries a double meaning that encompasses both fiction and nonfiction, personal, political, economic and cultural, as well as mythological narratives.
The book features more than 400 works from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, as well as Europe, from the 16th to the 21st century. These are organized in eight thematic groupings: Maps and Margins; Emancipations; Everyday Lives; Rites and Rhythms; Routes and Trances; Portraits; Afro Atlantic Modernisms; Resistances and Activism.
Artists include: Nina Chanel Abney, Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Emanoel Araujo, Maria Auxiliadora, Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Paul Cézanne, Victoria Santa Cruz, Beauford Delaney, Aaron Douglas, Melvin Edwards, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Ben Enwonwu, Ellen Gallagher, Theodore Géricault, Barkley Hendricks, William Henry Jones, Loïs Mailou Jones, Titus Kaphar, Wifredo Lam, Norman Lewis, Ibrahim Mahama, Edna Manley, Archibald Motley, Abdias Nascimento, Gilberto de la Nuez, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Dalton Paula, Rosana Paulino, Howardena Pindell, Heitor dos Prazeres, Joshua Reynolds, Faith Ringgold, Gerard Sekoto, Alma Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, Rubem Valentim, Kara Walker and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Review Quotes

The page compositions are dynamic and move the reader through the book in a lively manner--complimented by the wonderfully bold and vibrant color palette.--Kimberly Varella "AIGA"

A broad, long-overdue examination of the visual legacy of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora to accompany a show that's sure to generate high interest.--Taimur Dar "Library Journal"

A powerful corrective has arrived in the form of "Afro-Atlantic Histories," a visual survey of the diaspora [...] An odyssey that extends from seventeenth-century Kongo to present-day Puerto Rico.--Julian Lucas "New Yorker"

A feast of images and ideas... Afro-Atlantic Histories raises the stakes of so-called global modernism by boldly setting forth the conditions of an art history that is for, rather than against, a global majority--a majority with which existing institutional structures have only just begun to reckon.--Joan Kee "Artforum"

If you want to educate yourself on this vast history, spanning centuries and involving millions of people, then this art book is for you--Charlotte Stace "Daily Art Magazine"