Drawing examples from a range of African cultures, this book focuses on the art patronage systems that stimulate production, consumption, commodification and cultural meaning, and emphasizes the importance of cloth to aesthetic and cultural expression in African societies.

Drawing examples from a wide range of African cultures, this ground-breaking book expands the continuing discourse on the aesthetic and cultural significance of cloth, body and dress in Africa and moves beyond contextual analysis to consider the broader application of cloth and dress to art forms in other media. In blending the concerns of Art History and Anthropology, the authors focus on the art patronage systems that stimulate production, consumption, commodification and cultural meaning, and emphasize the overriding importance of cloth to aesthetic and cultural expression in African societies. Through this approach they reveal complex processes that involve a series of actors, including textile artists, commissioning-patrons and consumer-patrons, all of whom shape cloth and dress traditions. These individuals not only influence production, but are a key to understanding the cultural meaning of cloth and dress and, by extension, the body in Africa.

Part I The impact of patronage on the arts of Africa
art patronage as a generator cloth and dress
cloth and dress as a mirror of culture in Africa
patron roles
leadership arts in state societies. Part II The development of hausa, Nupe and Yoruba cloth and dress productions: historical context of leadership, trade and art patronage
patterns of production and consumption of luxury cloth in the nineteenth century
the impact of trade on continuity and change in twentieth century Nigerian cloth traditions
production and consumption of Yoruba cloth and dress in the late twentieth century.