The first book exclusively on the subject, Baule Monkeys explores many aspects of these fear-inducing sculptures far from the traditional art canon of the delicate Baule masks and figures. The awe-inspiring bowl bearers manifested invisible powers, both malign and benign, and served their communities through the mediation of diviners.

Springing from a remarkable group of figures in the Africarium Collection, the book explores the creation, usage and morphology of the bowlbearers, and sheds light on the cultural and ritual context in which they operated.

Through extensive research, this book combines new and fascinating discoveries with all earlier research on the subject, an original map, and field-photos never published before. It focuses on fifteen objects from the Africarium Collection and a further forty monkey figures from public and private collections all presented in beautifully detailed full page spreads.