
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press publishes scholarly nonfiction in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The press maintains offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in London, England.
A Note from the Publisher
In a world oversaturated by ephemera, it is a rare moment when the publication of a set of books can be truly heralded as an event. Harvard University Press, in collaboration with Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute, is proud and honored to present The Image of the Black in Western Art a unique series in both the history of art and the craft of bookmaking.
This monumental publication, begun some fifty years ago, will be completed in ten books beautifully written, edited, and designed. In this landmark achievement, the highest levels of scholarly research will be enhanced by the finest values of modern book production. Containing thousands of illustrations drawn from the work of world-famous and unknown artists alike, The Image of the Black in Western Art will provide a treasury of masterpieces from four millennia—a testament to the black experience in the West and a tribute to art’s enduring power to shape our common humanity.
William P. Sisler
Director, Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
About the Books
In the 1960s, as a response to segregation in the United States, the influential art patron Dominique de Menil began a research project and photo archive called The Image of the Black in Western Art. Now, fifty years later, as the first American president of African American descent serves his historic term in office, her mission has been re-invigorated through the collaboration of Harvard University Press and the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research to present new editions of the coveted five original books, as well as an additional five volumes.
News
The National Gallery of Art hosted a panel discussion marking the publication of The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume V: The Twentieth Century, Part 1: The Impact of Africa.