Two Thousand Years of Nigerian Art

Abstract

Bete Mask 14 H. Ivory Coast opment of other competing economic entities like Benin and Ijebu. Shaw firmly rejects the Ife-Benin relationship and supports the art historical arguments of Fraser and Rubin. He quotes Rubin's eminently quotable conclusion that the relationship is a working hypothesis which has evolved over time and become more or less ossified into 'fact' by virtue of constant repetition (review of Frank Willett, Ife in the History of West African Sculpture, inArt Bulletin 52 [1970], pp. 348-54.) On Benin, Shaw conveys an optimism about future work based on analysis of the metal components of the substantial corpus of figures (estimated to number 4,000-7,000 pieces) but is pessimistic about the possibilities of future archaeological work in light of the lost opportunities for fieldwork during the extensive building program of state capital buildings in the past twenty years. On archaeology in the north, Shaw is tantalizingly brief, though his own work there, since his retirement from Ibadan, and that of the dynamic group of Ahmadu Bello archaeologists at Zaria, suggest that he will have to add a new chapter to subsequent editions of his book, particularly if new work on early Hausa sites demonstrates the link with Ife that Shaw suspects is important in the development of trade (p. 163). This is an impressive work. Its plates and figures are original and get away from the hackneyed illustrations of the countless picture books on African art, which over the years have added so little real knowledge to our understanding of Nigerian art. Nigeria is easy to read, enlightening, stimulating and at times provocative. Merrick Posnansky University of California, Los Angeles