The magnificent art that is the heritage of Nigeria was, for the first time, presented to the world beyond Nigeria at the "Treasures of Ancient Nigeria - Legacy of Two Thousand Years" exhibit at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor from April 27 - June 29, 1980. This book is a record of that exhibit and what it represented. One hundred extraordinary works of art in bronze, terracotta, and ivory - works spanning more than two thousand years, from the fifth century B.C., and representing seven cultures (Nok, Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, Owo, Benin, Tsoede, and Esie) - were selected for exhibition in the United States and are shown here in 137 photographs and plates, 53 in full color. The introduction is by Dr. Ekpo Eyo, Director of Nigeria's Department of Antiquities and head of Nigeria's National Museums, and the interpretive text is by Frank Willett, who taught art and archaeology at Oxford and Northwestern Universities and was formerly an archaeologist for Nigeria's Department of Antiquities and Curator of the Museum of Ife Antiquities.
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