References

In my University of Michigan exhibition catalog of 1968, I included a Bibliography containing all the related publications I could find at that time, which generated 173 entries. You can review them at the end of the catalog. In the intervening fifty years and more, dozens of scholars have emerged who have written probably hundreds and hundreds of articles and books on traditional Igbo art pieces and ceremonies. It is outside the scope of this website to replicate that here.

However, I have listed here what I consider to be the major works on traditional Igbo art and culture so that people interested can dig further into the amazing Igbo cultural features. I will happily expand this list if more articles are brought to my attention.

I recommend the following books for detailed information about the traditional Igbo masks and masquerades, statues, and divination pieces displayed in this collection, as well as the general Igbo cultural background. Many of these authors have written other works, which can easily be found on Amazon Books.

Books on the Igbo

Ottenberg, Simon	Masked Rituals of Afikpo; the Context of an African Art, University of Washington Press, 1975, 229 pages.
	Boyhood Rituals in an African Society, University of Washington Press, 1988, 328 pages.
	Leadership and Authority in an African Society: Afikpo Village, University of Washington Press, 1971, 336 pages.
Cole, Herbert M.	Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos, with Chike Aniakor, University of California Museum of Cultural History, 1984, 238 pages.
	Mbari: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo, Indiana U Presss,1982,292 pages.
	Igbo: Visions of Africa Series, 2013,160 pages.
Boston, J.S.	Ikenga Figures among the north-west Igbo and Igala, Ethnographia, 1977, 120 pages.
Jones, G.I.	Ibo Art (Shire Ethnography) 1999, 64 pages.
Jones, G.I.	Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking People of South-East Nigeria, West Africa Part III, (Ethnographic Survey of Africa) with Daryll Forde, Routledge, 2017.
Starkweather, Frank	Traditional Igbo Art 1966, University of Michigan, 1968, 64 pages.
Uchendu, Victor	The Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria, (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology, 1st Edition) Harcourt College Pub, 1965, 111 pages.

Bentor, Eli	Eli Bentor obtained a PhD from Indiana University in 1995. His thesis was entitled “Aro Ikeji Festival: Toward a Historical Interpretation of a Masquerade Festival. He went on to produce an impressive list of articles dealing with Igbo art and culture. He has had a long career at Appalachian State University, recently Emeritus. From his long list I have selected the following:
(1988) Life as an Artistic Process: Igbo Ikenga and Ofo. African Arts 21(2) 66-71. (2002) Spatial Continuities: Masks and Cultural Interactions between the Delta and Southeastern Nigeria. African Arts 35(1) 26-41, 93. (2005) Challenges to Rural Festivals with the Return to Democratic Rule in Southeastern Nigeria. African Arts 38(4) 38-45, 93. (2008) Masquerade Politics in Contemporary Southeastern Nigeria. African Arts 41(4) 32-43. (2015) A Historical Understanding of Ukara Cloth, Ukara: Ritual Cloth of the Ekpe Secret Society. With Jordan A. Fenton, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi and Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, 4-9. (2019) Warrior masking, Youth Culture and Gender Roles: Masks and History in Aro Ikeji Festival. African Arts 52(1) 34-35.

Bentor, Eli

Eli Bentor obtained a PhD from Indiana University in 1995. His thesis was entitled “Aro Ikeji Festival: Toward a Historical Interpretation of a Masquerade Festival. He went on to produce an impressive list of articles dealing with Igbo art and culture. He has had a long career at Appalachian State University, recently Emeritus. From his long list I have selected the following:

(1988) Life as an Artistic Process: Igbo Ikenga and Ofo. African Arts 21(2) 66-71.
(2002) Spatial Continuities: Masks and Cultural Interactions between the Delta and Southeastern Nigeria. African Arts 35(1) 26-41, 93.
(2005) Challenges to Rural Festivals with the Return to Democratic Rule in Southeastern Nigeria. African Arts 38(4) 38-45, 93.
(2008) Masquerade Politics in Contemporary Southeastern Nigeria. African Arts 41(4) 32-43.
(2015) A Historical Understanding of Ukara Cloth, Ukara: Ritual Cloth of the Ekpe Secret Society. With Jordan A. Fenton, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi and Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, 4-9.
(2019) Warrior masking, Youth Culture and Gender Roles: Masks and History in Aro Ikeji Festival. African Arts 52(1) 34-35.

Books on the artistic and historic traditions of other Southern Nigeria cultures

Drewal, Henry	Yoruba: Henry Drewal, Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought with John Pemberton, Rowland Abiodun, and Allen Wardwell
This is an epic book covering an amazing amount of detail. I met Henry in our PC Training at Columbia University in the summer of 1964, along with Phil Peek and Don Cosentino. Henry served in Western Nigeria among the Yoruba while Phil was among the Isoko in the Mid-West, Don was in the East among the Ibibio, and I was in the East among the Igbo. The other three went on to obtain PhD’s and become university standouts in the emerging field of African Art Studies.

Drewal, Henry

Yoruba: Henry Drewal, Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
with John Pemberton, Rowland Abiodun, and Allen Wardwell

This is an epic book covering an amazing amount of detail. I met Henry in our PC Training at Columbia University in the summer of 1964, along with Phil Peek and Don Cosentino. Henry served in Western Nigeria among the Yoruba while Phil was among the Isoko in the Mid-West, Don was in the East among the Ibibio, and I was in the East among the Igbo. The other three went on to obtain PhD’s and become university standouts in the emerging field of African Art Studies.

For Ife and Benin: Books by Frank Willett, among others.

For Lower Niger Bronzes:

Peek, Philip M.	Lower Niger Bronzes: Beyond Igbo-Ukwu, Ife and Benin, 2020, Routledge Research in Art History, 215 pages.
Peek, Philip M. and Maas, Nancy Naeher	Summoning the Ancestors: Southern Nigeria Bronzes, 2021, Fowler Museum at UCLA, 100 pages.

Southern Nigeria:

Cole, Herbert M. and Dierking, Dierk	Invention and Tradition: The Art of Southeastern Nigeria,2012, Prestel, 144 pages. Covering Igbo, Urhobo, Ijo, Ogoni, Oron, Eket, Ejogham/Efut, Bokyi, Tiv, Idoma, and Igala!