Africa. In the Shadow of the Gods. African Collections of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit.
Somogy| N° d'inventaire | 20774 |
| Format | 24.6 x 28 |
| Détails | 220 p., 203 color and black and white illustrations, hardcover. |
| Publication | Paris, 2017 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782757211663 |
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic missionary society founded in France in 1703, made Black Africa its principal mission area. From the 1840s onwards, the Spiritans spread throughout its territory, and even more specifically in its equatorial zone (present-day Gabon and Congo). Its members lived alongside populations whose languages they learned and whose customs and rites they discovered. They gathered valuable information in the field for ethnologists and collected numerous artifacts: everyday objects, but also ritual sculptures associated with eminently religious contexts. Over time, the congregation thus built up important collections, which nevertheless remained largely unknown. Patient research carried out over several years has shed light on the history of the Spiritan collection, but also led to the discovery of numerous previously unseen objects, including some authentic masterpieces of African art. Accompanied by rare archival documents and analyses by the most eminent specialists in equatorial Africa, the collections of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit are finally presented to the general public in all their diversity and richness.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic missionary society founded in France in 1703, made Black Africa its principal mission area. From the 1840s onwards, the Spiritans spread throughout its territory, and even more specifically in its equatorial zone (present-day Gabon and Congo). Its members lived alongside populations whose languages they learned and whose customs and rites they discovered. They gathered valuable information in the field for ethnologists and collected numerous artifacts: everyday objects, but also ritual sculptures associated with eminently religious contexts. Over time, the congregation thus built up important collections, which nevertheless remained largely unknown. Patient research carried out over several years has shed light on the history of the Spiritan collection, but also led to the discovery of numerous previously unseen objects, including some authentic masterpieces of African art. Accompanied by rare archival documents and analyses by the most eminent specialists in equatorial Africa, the collections of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit are finally presented to the general public in all their diversity and richness.