"The exhibition, Hair in African Art and Culture, and this book serve to introduce a mode of African art too little and too infrequently recognized or appreciated. Field photographs and sculptures sample the rich variety of hair arrangements that exist or have existed in traditional African life and art. Despite the many references to the abstract character of African masks and figures it is clear that two areas of the real world were accurately, indeed realistically, depicted: scarification and coiffures.". "Essays and notes address a number of aspects of African and African-American hair and collectively hint at the variety, complex meanings and history of hair styles. Some of the essays are personal, some present the nature of coiffures in the cycle of life: from birth to death, from celebration to mourning." "In traditional and modern Africa, and the African-American diaspora, hair styles establish a personal identity that reflects both fashion and aesthetic choice."--BOOK JACKET.