HORNIMAN MUSEUM

Book design

Typography

Design for publishing

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Oron ancestor figures have long been regarded as being among the finest examples of African wood sculpture. In this book produced for London’s Horniman Museum & Gardens, Keith Nicklin describes the art form in its cultural context and relates the history of the figures since they were first collected and catalogued for exhibition in 1999.

With a track record of working in publishing, I was commissioned by Horniman Publications and The Museu Antropologico da Universidade de Coimbra to produce a beautiful book to celebrate the collections of the late Kenneth Murray, who had collected some 661 sculptures from villages around Oron in South East Nigeria in 1944.

Careful attention to detail in the design and use of eloquent typography allow the reader to use this volume with ease. Modernist graphic design complements the tribal sculptures in this publication, which is still in print and available from both The Horniman Museum & Gardens bookshop and online from Amazon.