Primitive Negro Art, Chiefly from the Belgian Congo by Culin, Stewart - 1923

42 pp. exhibition catalog, illustrated with 8 plates. 8vo. Very good overall, with faint, barely visible traces of pencil underlining to three pages of text. Housed in a custom mustard linen clamshell box with gilt title badge. Stiff wraps, illustrated with a striking original black, green & yellow printed motif. Minor handling marks and small surface losses to the front cover panel, and marginal crease with minor abrasion to the rear blank wrapper. Presents very well. [948]

A rare survival of the iconic and important catalog for the first major exhibition of African art in America. While its title failed to match Culin's progressive and revisionist attitudes concerning the so-called "primitive" nature of African sculpture, he made his intentions clear in the catalog's introductory essay: "The entire collection, whatever may have been its original uses, is shown under the classification of art; as representing a creative impulse, and not for the purpose of illustrating the customs of African peoples." In its time, the exhibition proved widely inspirational to African American writers, artists and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance in New York.