Barry Hallen has been Reader in Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; Fellow and Associate, Du Bois Institute, Harvard University; Professor of Philosophy, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. He is author of Knowledge, Belief and Witchcraft, The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, African Philosophy: Analytic Approach and Short History of African Philosophy.

The book synthesizes Barry Hallen’s influential contributions to Yorùbá philosophy, presenting Yorùbá art as ethically grounded, community-oriented and linguistically informed, with profound metaphysical and religious significance. It maintains that meaningful Yorùbá art criticism demands deep cultural training, challenging outsider assumptions that art interpretation is universally accessible.

• INTRODUCTION1. WE ARE NOT PRIMITIVE: J.R.O. Ojo (Professor of Fine Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University)2. WE LIVE IN A COSMOS: Babatunde Lawal ( Professor of Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University)3. YORÙBÁ ARTISTIC CRITICISM: Robert Farris Thompson (Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art, Yale University)4. THE AFRICAN ART HISTORIAN AS CONCEPTUAL ANALYST: Barry Hallen5. YORÙBÁ AESTHETIC CRITERIA: Rowland Abiodun (John C. Newton Professor of the History of Art and Black Studies, Amherst College) and Babatunde Lawal (Professor of Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University)6. THE VERBAL, THE VISUAL, AND THE FOURTH STAGE: Rowland Abiodun (John C. Newton Professor of the History of Art and Black Studies, Amherst College) and Wole Soyinka (playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist)AFTERWORDADDENDUMSUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHYPICTURE CREDITSIndex

Barry Hallen has been Reader in Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; Fellow and Associate, Du Bois Institute, Harvard University; Professor of Philosophy, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. He is author of Knowledge, Belief and Witchcraft, The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, African Philosophy: Analytic Approach and Short History of African Philosophy.

The book synthesizes Barry Hallen’s influential contributions to Yorùbá philosophy, presenting Yorùbá art as ethically grounded, community-oriented and linguistically informed, with profound metaphysical and religious significance. It maintains that meaningful Yorùbá art criticism demands deep cultural training, challenging outsider assumptions that art interpretation is universally accessible.

• INTRODUCTION1. WE ARE NOT PRIMITIVE: J.R.O. Ojo (Professor of Fine Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University)2. WE LIVE IN A COSMOS: Babatunde Lawal ( Professor of Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University)3. YORÙBÁ ARTISTIC CRITICISM: Robert Farris Thompson (Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art, Yale University)4. THE AFRICAN ART HISTORIAN AS CONCEPTUAL ANALYST: Barry Hallen5. YORÙBÁ AESTHETIC CRITERIA: Rowland Abiodun (John C. Newton Professor of the History of Art and Black Studies, Amherst College) and Babatunde Lawal (Professor of Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University)6. THE VERBAL, THE VISUAL, AND THE FOURTH STAGE: Rowland Abiodun (John C. Newton Professor of the History of Art and Black Studies, Amherst College) and Wole Soyinka (playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist)AFTERWORDADDENDUMSUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHYPICTURE CREDITSIndex