Art features prominently in the culture of the Yoruba, a people numbering more than 25 million and subdivided into different kingdoms in Nigeria and adjacent regions. It both enriches life and is used to venerate and influence deities. This new book explores the archaeological and historical evidence that suggests that by the beginning of the second millennium, many Yoruba kingdoms had become major urban centers with highly developed economic, cultural, political, and religious institutions. Drawing on field observations, contextual analyses, oral sources, and published materials, this book offers insight into the poetics and dynamics of Yoruba art and the belief that the “beautiful” or “well-made” generates a special power that commands attention.

Babatunde Lawal is a professor of African and African diaspora art at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Constantine Petridis is curator of African Art, Cleveland Museum of Art.