Wrapped in Pride by Agbenyega Adedze, Doran H. Ross, Los Angeles Fowler Museum of Cultural Histor University of California, Newark Museum, Raymond Aaron Silverman (1998, Paperback)

Doran Ross in his catalogs always delves deeper into his subjects than almost anyone else writing today. Wrapped in Pride is a perfect example of this. Peter Adler and Nicholas Barnard's 1992 opus, African Majesty, as a collection of illustrations of a carefully selected subset of quality Akan weavings, is a beautiful catalog, but supplies very little information as to the culture and craftsmen who produced these amazing fabrics.Mr. Ross, on the other hand, is the James Michener of African art. In this catalog, he and his contributors set the scene by discussing the history, geography, and culture of the Asante and Ewe weavers, and their customers, and illustrate it with a plethora of historic and contemporary field photographs, many expertly taken by Mr. Ross. These include photos of a spectrum of the weavings and the uses to which they have been put and the weavers who produce them, many at their looms. He then goes on to discuss the evolution (many would say devolution) of Kente into contemporary uses in the West, as hats, purses, bookmarks, shawls, such as those woven with graduation class years included, and many more. Anyone with an interest in Kente and Ewe weavings will find all the information desired in this work.