Art in Ancient Ife, Birthplace of the Yoruba Suzanne Preston Blier A rtists the world over shape knowledge and material into works of unique historical importance. The artists of ancient Ife, ances-tral home to the Yoruba and mythic birthplace of gods and humans, clearly were interested in creating works that could be read. Breaking

In 2018 she was honored with a Yoruba chieftaincy title in Nigeria, Otun Yeye Obalufon, in partial recognition of her scholarship on ancient Ife art. In 2019 Blier received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Vermont in recognition of her scholarship in African art and her leadership in online mapping.

Suzanne Preston Blier teaches in the departments of History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies, and is an affiliate member of the Committee on Medieval Studies.

Suzanne Preston Blier (Ph.D. 1981 Columbia, Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University) is an historian of African art and architecture in both the History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies Departments. She also is a member of the Institute for ...

In this book, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the intersection of art, risk, and creativity in early African arts from the Yoruba center of Ife and the striking ways that ancient Ife artworks inform society, politics, history, and religion.

Suzanne Preston Blier is the Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University where she is a member of both the History of Art and Architecture Department and of the African and African American Studies Department.

Suzanne Blier, Harvard University: 1342 Followers, 130 Following, 83 Research papers. Research interests: History of Art, African Studies, and African History.

The early Ife god of thunder and lightning Oramfe (Oranfe/Aramfe, Ora, the precursor of Sango) is identified at once with rain (storms), royal power, and juris- prudence.

Blier's 2015 book, Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Power and Identity c.1300 (Cambridge University Press) won the Prose Prize in Art History and Criticism.