Jamaican Art: An Overview with a focus on Fifty Artists is the first Jamaican publication by noted art historian Petrine Archer-Straw.

Published in 1990 by Kingston Publishers, it remains the only comprehensive art historical survey of Jamaican art to date.

This lavishly illustrated text documents Jamaica's many art forms from the past century and contextualizes them within discussions about slavery, colonialism, revolutionary struggle and independence in the Caribbean. The book is in its third print run and is the primary text use by schools and colleges teaching about Jamaican art and its history.

Fifty Years - Fifty Artists was commissioned to celebrate  the School of Visual Art's 50th anniversary.

Fifty Years - Fifty Artists continued the work of documenting Jamaica's art with essays that focused on fifty of the institution's most prominent artists, many of whom are significant international names.

Like Jamaican Art, Fifty Years - Fifty Artists was heavily illustrated and provided two important texts by Archer that explored the role of the college as a cultural institution in Jamaica's move towards nation building, as well as the establishment of arts and crafts in the island.

For more information on Petrine Archer-Straw, be sure to visit her website at: www.petrinearcher.com.

We found both books available at Amazon. Here are the links: