Hair in African Art and Culture features artwork ranging from masks and figures, combs, hairpins, beads, headrests to contemporary African barbershop signs that illustrate the significance of hair among various African cultures as an indicator of social status and religious function, a symbol of age and authority, a traditional aesthetic element or a statement of contemporary style, a substance with supernatural power and spiritual import, and an object of beauty and adornment. The intricately carved hair styles in the artworks mirror the traditional styles worn by men and women in the archival field photographs throughout the book. It concludes with paintings, advertising boards, and photographs relating to contemporary African and African-American hair styles that explore cross-cultural influences and retentions.

Exhibition catalogue edited and written by Roy Sieber and Frank Herreman with contributions: Hair in African Art and Culture by Niangi Batulukisi, Coiffures of the Dan and We of Ivory Coast by Elze Bruyninx, Mangbetu Hairstyles and the Art of Seduction: “Lipombo” by Els De Palmenaer, What is Really Happening Here? Black Hair Among African Americans and in American Culture by Kennell Jackson, Hair Matters in South Central Africa by Manuel Jordán, Orilonse: The Hermeneutics of the Head and Hairstyles Among the Yoruba by Babatunde Lawal, Headrests and Hair Ornaments: Signifying More than Status by Karel Nel, Rasta Hair, US and Ghana: a Personal Note by Mariama Ross, Women’s Hair and Sowei Masks in Southern Sierra Leone and Western Liberia by William Siegmann, Cross Dressing for the Spirits in Shamba Ughanga by Barbara Thompson, and Hairstyles Among the Margi by James H. Vaughan. Published by the Museum for African Art, New York and Prestel, Munich and New York, February 2000. 192 pp. Cloth: ISBN 3-7913-2291-5, Paper: ISBN 0-945802-26-9. LCCN: 99-068113.