GALERIE ART PREMIER AFRICAIN. AFRICAN ART

Presentation

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:23:43 GMT

The gallery L'Oeil et la Main wishes you and yours a very happy new year !

The art gallery L'Oeil et la Main, located at Paris, is essentially devoted to primitive arts. To come at the gallery, an access plan is available in the category "Access". If you wish to receive informations about the coming exhibition by email, please leave us your email adress in the category "Subscription to the newsletter". This site is dedicated to the collectors. It was created by collectors for collectors. Our collections include works of art of the highest quality, but also more modest ethnic objects. Don't hesitate to contact us for any remarks or suggestions, we are always interested in the possible observations concerning the objects presented, not only because errors of attribution cannot be completely avoided, but also because the general knowledge is always built from multiple knowledge of each one. If you have the possibility of it, don't hesitate to visit us at the gallery at 41 rue de Verneuil, behind the Orsay museum. The constitution of a collection requires a lot of time and some sacrifices, then you must arm yourself with patience.

The traditional african art, formerly called “negro art”, is subdivided into a multitude of local arts. For international museums have neglected african art for a long time, the majority of the works of art are as a result in the hands of private collectors and dealers. After the african countries' independences, many Europeans had come back in Europe with important collections, and gradually their collections fed the markets and the auctions. Objects The true passion for african art must in certain cases respect the object in its integrity, which thus means for example to accept the existence - without being impressed - of a layer of dried blood (sacrificial crust) collected during the ritual sacrifices. According to some collectors, the traces left by the use confer to these objects a magic aesthetic power that the others do not have. Among the african functional objects, one can also find everyday objects such as pulleys, locks of granaries, ladders, water-bottles pyrographed and weapons, personal objects (headstock of maternity, fetish), but also objects like decorative statues carved for the villas of the white people in the 1950's and 1960's, or like naive shops signs. These objects are "imitations” for the purists and “ethnos” for those who denigrate them, but these items, which have acquired patina, show things, often very beautiful and touching. For example the statues known as “colonists” are the image of the white man seen by the black man, and are often objects full of humour and of drolery (tropical helmet, gun with the belt, hands in the pockets). However, the today imitations make devastations, because in many african villages the craftsmen became masters in the art of patinate, all the more reason that, according to the experts it has become impossible to find a major work of art on the continent today. All is already in Europe, in the collectors (like the inhabitant of Brussels Willy Mestach), in the former colonists' families, or in the american museums. Because it became hard to find a ritual object, there are many robberies relating to these objects.

The african governments of their side let make because they do notdemonstrate a lot of interest for the market of Africain art and avoidit, while a resolution appraise by the UNESCO forbid, since thebeginning of 1990s, to get outside masks and statues of the africancontinent. But in facts, neither the UNESCO, nor the african governments havemeans to confine hemorrhage and to protect this heritage. More certaincriticisms rose against such measure with as sales talk to say: «Nothing forbids the Europeans, the Americans or the Japanese to sell their writings abroad or to buy it. Why would thisright be forbidden the Africans? » Africa stays, however, a naturalartistic deposit of major importance, because throughout of this vastcontinent, there is thousands of tombs millenniums packaging, still, dozens thousand objects to be discovered. Some african museums, States of which have neither means nor will toundertake body searches, try to get organized and to offer to thetraders of coeducational or joint body searches with as purpose to keep the most special rooms, and at least to be able to be interested insales of the collected objects, to have means to implement a truepolicy of acquisition.

Today african art is a bottomless mine of inspiration for the creatorswho re-interpret it, but « out of its middle, withdrawn from itscontext, not only geographical but also social, the object loses itscultural identity. (...) The panoply of the "colonial" in the wall of the "collector" linkedtoday to contemporary art, they tend to forget the relation of theAfricain object with its middle of origin, forgetting of obviousethnological involvement ».

mots clefs

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:32:24 GMT

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Art dogon

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:12:20 GMT

Aux XIV^e siècle et XV^e siècle,les Dogons ont chassé les Tellem pour occuper leur territoire. LesDogons vivent sur la falaise escarpée de Bandiagara au Mali. Ils viventde l’agriculture et cultivent le mil, le mais et l’arachide.
Les centres artistiques dogons setrouvent à Bandiagara, Sangha et Ireli. Les plus anciennes statuesdogons sont reconnaissables à leurs formes allongées. Ellesreprésentent un personnage qui tend ses bras vers le ciel. Nous nepouvons pas interpréter avec exactitude la signification de ce gestemais il pourrait être celui d’une prière (afin que les dieux accordentla pluie, par exemple). Stylistiquement, ces statues dogons ressemblentà celles de leurs prédécesseurs les Tellem. Elles sont parfois nomméesde « style tellem ». Du sang des sacrifices, du gruau de mil et de labière est répandu sur les statues, ce qui donne à la patine un aspectcroûteux. Les statues comportent à la fois des éléments féminins etmasculins car, pour les Dogons, la séparation entre les deux sexesn’est pas absolue. L’hermaphrodisme montre la puissance vitale de cesstatues.
Le dieu créateur dogon est Amma. Il y ahuit ancêtres primordiaux, les Nommo. Ils ont un corps sinueux et dontla partie inférieure est serpentiformes. Les sculptures représentent engénéral un des nommo.

Endehors de ces sculptures, les réalisations les plus typiques des dogonsont les masques de danse. Un de leur rituel, le sigui, a lieu tous lessoixante ans. Il est destiné à l’expiation des pêchés et présente desmasques anthropomorphes ou zoomorphes (antilope, lièvre, buffle, singe,oiseau, hyène, lion) très importants en taille (jusqu’à dix mètres pourle masque –serpent). Le masque serpent est le symbole de l’ancêtremort. Il est effectué à cette occasion. Toute la communauté participe àcette cérémonie. Les inities doivent le garder et sont considérés commeresponsables de l’âme de l’ancêtre.

Nousavons aussi connaissance de volets ou de portes dogon, ils fermaientles greniers et sont très intéressants car ils représentent lesancêtres. Les sculptures sont très stylisées.

Dogons

Les Dogonssont un peuple du Mali, en Afrique de l'Ouest. Leur population estestimée à 700 000 personnes. Ils occupent la région qui va de lafalaise de Bandiagara au sud-ouest de la boucle du Niger. QuelquesDogons sont installés dans le nord du Burkina Faso, d'autres se sontinstallés en Côte d'Ivoire.

LesDogons sont avant tout des cultivateurs (essentiellement du mil) et desforgerons. Ils sont réputés pour leur cosmogonie et leurs sculptures.La langue parlée par les Dogons est le dogon qui regroupe plusieursdialectes. Il existe aussi une langue secrète, le sigi so,langue réservée à la société des masques. Les Dogons sont liés avecl’ethnie des Bozos par la parenté à plaisanterie. Dogons et Bozos semoquent réciproquement mais parallèlement se doivent assistance.

La falaise de Bandiagaraest une longue chaîne de grès s'étirant du sud au nord-est sur unedistance de 200 km et prolongée par le massif de la Gandamia, lui-mêmeterminé par le Mont Hombori, le plus haut sommet du Mali (avec 1155mètres). C'est l'un des sites les plus imposants d'Afrique de l'Ouest,que ce soit par ses caractéristiques archéologiques, ethnologiques ougéologiques. Une partie des falaises se trouvent dans le pays voisinqu'est le Burkina Faso.

Dans la paroi d'un couloir rocheux nommé toloyet situé non loin de Sangha, une grotte a livré les premières tracesd'occupation humaine : des greniers faits de boudins de glaisesuperposés, de la poterie et des restes de végétaux, remontant aux III^e et II^esiècles avant notre ère. Cette phase culturelle est nommée toloy.Treize siècles plus tard, ces greniers furent réutilisés par les Tellem.

Dansles flancs de la falaise vivaient en troglodytes les Tellem, une ethniede chasseurs-cueilleurs qui quitta la falaise suite à l'arrivée desDogons et aux modifications environnementales apportées par leur modede vie d'agriculteurs. Des dizaines de villages sont situés le long dela falaise comme Sangha ou Kani Bonzon où arrivèrent les Dogons au XIV^e siècle. Les Dogons préservèrent les constructions Tellem, et développèrent leurs villages en contrebas des sites tellems.

Coming exhibitions

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:54:41 GMT

- African hairstyles: 15 march - 27 may 2010

- Baoulé: 27 may - 3 september 2010 (preview during the evening opening of the Carré Rive Gauche)

- African colors: 3 september - 6 december 2010

Access map

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:47:10 GMT

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / Afrique / Africa /l'oeil et la main / galerie d'art premier / achat / vente / expertise /expert / exposition / exhibition / collection / collectionneur / Paris/ oeuvre / Verneuil / antiquités / antiquaire / musée / museum / masque/ mask / statue / sculpture / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

Arts premiers, pi�ces litigieuses et batailles d'experts

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:29:00 GMT

par Armelle Malvoisin, Le Journal des Arts - n° 276 - 29 février 2008

En intervenant pour empêcher la vente de pièces litigieuses d’arts premiers chez Tajan, plusieurs experts parisiens posent le problème de l’expertise.

PARIS - « C’est une honte pour la maison Tajan », commentait un professionnel venu en observateur le 19 février à l’espace Tajan, à Paris, à l’occasion de la vente d’arts premiers qui s’y tenait. Cette vacation de prestige, préparée avec l’assistance de l’expert Hervé Naudy, devait être, pour la maison de ventes, le coup d’envoi du retour de Tajan dans ce domaine (lire le JdA no 275, 15 février 2008, p. 24).

Un scénario qui a tourné au cauchemar. « La consultation du catalogue nous a interloqués », rapportent quatre marchands et experts parisiens (Bernard Dulon, Philippe Ratton, Christine Valluet pour les arts tribaux, et Jacques Blazy pour l’art précolombien) dans une lettre datée du 15 février 2008 et adressée au président du Syndicat national des antiquaires (SNA).

Ceux-ci indiquent que de nombreux collectionneurs leur ont demandé leur avis sur l’authenticité des pièces proposées. Ils les ont donc examinées sur place au moment de leur exposition.

Dans leur courrier, sur les 326 pièces composant au total la vente, ils en recensent près de quatre-vingts, qu’ils décrivent comme « fausse », « reconstituée », « reconstruite », « copie récente », « copie grossière », « objet touristique », « invention contemporaine » ou « style très tardif », des mentions souvent accompagnées du commentaire « estimation trompeuse » ou « estimation fantaisiste ».

« Nous ne pouvons que souligner la gravité de cette situation dans laquelle entre en jeu non seulement la notion d’authenticité, mais aussi la valeur estimée de chaque lot qui doit être conforme au prix du marché et en relation avec la qualité de l’œuvre, concluent-ils.

La tromperie peut en effet se manifester sous la forme d’une surestimation considérable de la valeur d’une pièce, qui, accompagnée de commentaires flatteurs ou prétendument historiques, ne peut qu’induire en erreur l’acquéreur éventuel.

À défaut de législation en la matière, cette vente pose à nouveau le problème crucial du titre d’expert. »

Les intéressés ont demandé au président du SNA de porter leurs observations auprès du Conseil des ventes volontaires (CVV), ce qui a été fait le jour même. La vente n’a pas été stoppée mais une enquête a été ouverte par le commissaire du gouvernement, Michel Seurin.

Également informée de cette missive le 15 février, la maison Tajan a retiré, à titre préventif et sans avoir consulté son expert, sept des lots incriminés ; et, dans un même rectificatif distribué avant la vente, a annoncé plusieurs modifications de provenance des lots, notamment sur des pièces importantes tel le masque Yupi’k inuit (Alaska) reproduit en couverture de catalogue, estimé 180 000 à 220 000 euros.

Les résultats ont été catastrophiques : moins de 20 % de lots auraient été vendus (1).

Sans savoir pour l’instant si les attaques orchestrées contre sa vente sont fondées ou de nature calomnieuse, et s’il faut qu’elle poursuive en justice les professionnels parisiens pour de prétendus actes de concurrence déloyale par dénigrement ou bien son expert pour escroquerie, la société Tajan attend les conclusions de l’enquête du CVV et du commissaire du gouvernement.

(1) Au 25 février 2008, la maison de ventes refusait toujours de communiquer les résultats complets de la vente.

Armelle Malvoisin

Vassily Kandinsky

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:10:15 GMT

Vassily Kandinsky (Vassili Vassilievitch Kandinski, en russe : Василий Васильевич Кандинский) est un peintre russe et un théoricien de l’art né à Moscou le 4 décembre 1866 et mort à Neuilly-sur-Seine le 13 décembre 1944.

Considéré comme l’un des artistes les plus importants du XXe siècle aux côtés notamment de Picasso et de Matisse, il est le fondateur de l'art abstrait : il est généralement considéré comme étant l’auteur de la première œuvre non figurative de l’histoire de l’art moderne, une aquarelle de 1910 qui sera dite "abstraite". Certains historiens ou critiques d'art ont soupçonné Kandinsky d'avoir antidaté cette aquarelle pour s'assurer la paternité de l'abstraction sous prétexte qu'elle ressemble à une esquisse de sa Composition VII de 1913[réf. souhaitée].

Kandinsky est né à Moscou mais il passe son enfance à Odessa. Il s'inscrit à l’Université de Moscou et choisit le droit et l’économie. Il décide de commencer des études de peinture (dessin d’après modèle, croquis et anatomie) à l’âge de 30 ans.

En 1896 il s’installe à Munich où il étudie à l’Académie des Beaux-Arts. Il retourne à Moscou en 1918 après la révolution russe. En conflit avec les théories officielles de l’art, il retourne en Allemagne en 1921. Il y enseigne au Bauhaus à partir de 1922 jusqu’à sa fermeture par les nazis en 1933. Il émigre alors en France et y vit le reste de sa vie, acquérant la nationalité française en 1939. Il s'éteint à Neuilly-sur-Seine en 1944, laissant derrière lui une œuvre abondante.

Périodes artistiques

La création par Kandinsky d’une œuvre purement abstraite n’est pas intervenue comme un changement abrupt, elle est le fruit d’un long développement, d’une longue maturation et d’une intense réflexion théorique fondée sur son expérience personnelle de peintre et sur l'élan de son esprit vers la beauté intérieure et ce profond désir spirituel qu’il appelait la nécessité intérieure et qu’il tenait comme un principe essentiel de l’art.

Jeunesse et inspirations (1866-1896)
La jeunesse et la vie de Kandinsky à Moscou lui apportent une multitude de sources d’inspiration. Il se souvient plus tard qu’étant enfant il était fasciné et exceptionnellement stimulé par la couleur.[2] C’est probablement lié à sa synesthésie, qui lui permettait littéralement d’entendre les couleurs qu’il voyait comme des sons musicaux., Sa fascination pour les couleurs continue à augmenter pendant son enfance à Moscou, bien qu’il n’ait semble-t-il jamais tenté de faire des études artistiques.

En 1889 il participe à un groupe ethnographique qui voyagea jusqu’à la région de Vologda au nord-est de Moscou pour étudier les coutumes relatives au droit paysan. Il raconte dans Regards sur le passé qu’il a l’impression de se mouvoir dans un tableau lorsqu’il rentre dans les maisons ou dans les églises de cette région décorées des couleurs les plus chatoyantes. Son étude du folklore de cette région, en particulier l’usage de couleurs vives sur un fond sombre a rejailli sur son œuvre primitive. Kandinsky écrit quelques années plus tard que « la couleur est le clavier, les yeux sont les marteaux et l’âme est le piano avec les cordes. » C'est cette même année, avant de quitter Moscou, qu’il voit une exposition de Monet et qu’il est impressionné par la représentation d’une meule de foin qui lui montre la puissance de la couleur utilisée presque indépendamment de l’objet lui-même.

Épanouissement artistique (1896-1911)
Le temps que Kandinsky a passé à l’école des Beaux-Arts est facilité par le fait qu’il est plus âgé et plus expérimenté que les autres étudiants. Il commence une carrière de peintre tout en devenant un véritable théoricien de l’art du fait de l’intensité de ses réflexions sur son propre travail. Malheureusement, très peu de ses œuvres de cette période ont subsisté au temps, bien que sa production ait probablement été importante. Cette situation change à partir du début du XXe siècle.Un grand nombre de tableaux de paysages et de villes, utilisant de larges touches de couleur mais des formes bien identifiables, ont été conservés.

Pour l’essentiel, les peintures de Kandinsky de cette époque ne comportent pas de visages humains. Une exception est Dimanche, Russie traditionnelle (1904) où Kandinsky nous propose une peinture très colorée et sans doute imaginaire de paysans et de nobles devant les murs d’une ville. Sa peinture intitulée Couple à cheval (1906-1907) dépeint un homme sur un cheval, portant avec tendresse une femme, et qui chevauche devant une ville russe aux murs lumineux au-delà d’une rivière. Le cheval qui est couvert d’une étoffe somptueuse se tient dans l’ombre, tandis que les feuilles des arbres, la ville et les reflets dans la rivière luisent comme des taches de couleur et de lumière.

Une peinture fondamentale de Kandinsky de ces années 1900 est probablement Le cavalier bleu (Der blaue reiter, 1903) qui montre un personnage portant une cape chevauchant rapidement à travers une prairie rocailleuse. Kandinsky montre le cavalier davantage comme une série de touches colorées que par des détails précis. En elle-même, cette peinture n’est pas exceptionnelle, lorsqu’on la compare aux tableaux d’autres peintres contemporains, mais elle montre la direction que Kandinsky va suivre dans les années suivantes, et son titre annonce l’association qu’il va fonder quelques années plus tard.

De 1906 à 1908 Kandinsky passe une grande partie de son temps à voyager à travers l’Europe, jusqu’à ce qu’il s’installe dans la petite ville bavaroise de Murnau. La montagne bleue (1908-1909) peinte à cette époque montre davantage sa tendance vers l’abstraction pure. Une montagne de bleu est flanquée de deux grands arbres, l’un jaune et l’autre rouge. Un groupe de trois cavaliers et de quelques autres personnages traverse le bas de la toile. Le visage, les habits et la selle des cavaliers sont chacune d’une couleur unie, et aucun des personnages ne montre de détail réaliste. Le large emploi de la couleur dans La montagne bleue illustre l’évolution de Kandinsky vers un art dans lequel la couleur elle-même est appliquée indépendamment de la forme.

À partir de 1909, ce que Kandinsky appelle le « chœur des couleurs » devient de plus en plus éclatant, il se charge d’un pouvoir émotif et d’une signification cosmique intense. Cette évolution a été attribuée à un ouvrage de Goethe, le Traité des couleurs (Farbenlehre), qui a influencé ses livres Du Spirituel dans l’Art et Regards sur le passé. L'année suivante, il peint la première œuvre abstraite réalisée à partir d’une conviction profonde et dans un but clairement défini : substituer à la figuration et à l’imitation de la « réalité » extérieure du monde matériel une création pure de nature spirituelle qui ne procède que de la seule nécessité intérieure de l’artiste. Ou pour reprendre la terminologie du philosophe Michel Henry, substituer à l’apparence visible du monde extérieur la réalité intérieure pathétique et invisible de la vie.

Le Cavalier bleu (1911-1914)
Les peintures de cette période comportent de grandes masses colorées très expressives évoluent indépendamment des formes et des lignes qui ne servent plus à les délimiter ou à les mettre en valeur mais qui se combinent avec elles, se superposent et se chevauchent de façon très libre pour former des toiles d’une force extraordinaire.

La musique a eu une grande influence sur la naissance de l’art abstrait, étant abstraite par nature et ne cherchant pas à représenter vainement le monde extérieur mais simplement à exprimer de façon immédiate des sentiments intérieurs à l’âme humaine. Kandinsky utilise parfois des termes musicaux pour désigner ses œuvres : il appelle beaucoup de ses peintures les plus spontanées des "improvisations", tandis qu’il nomme "compositions" quelques unes parmi les plus élaborées et les plus longuement travaillées, un terme qui résonne en lui comme une prière.

En plus de la peinture elle-même, Kandinsky se consacre à la constitution d’une théorie de l’art. Il a contribué à fonder l’association des Nouveaux Artistes de Munich dont il devint le président en 1909. Le groupe fut incapable d’intégrer les approches les plus radicales comme celle de Kandinsky du fait d’une conception plus conventionnelle de l’art, et le groupe se dissout fin 1911. Kandinsky fonde alors une nouvelle association, Le Cavalier bleu (Der Blaue Reiter) avec des artistes plus proches de sa vision de l’art tels que Franz Marc. Cette association réalise un almanach, appelé L’Almanach du Cavalier Bleu qui connu deux parutions. Davantage de numéros étaient prévus, mais la déclaration de la première guerre mondiale en 1914 mit fin à ces projets, et Kandinsky retourna chez lui en Russie via la Suisse et la Suède.

Son premier grand ouvrage théorique sur l’art, intitulé Du spirituel dans l’art et dans la peinture en particulier, paraît fin 1911. Il expose dans ce court traité sa vision personnelle de l’art dont la véritable mission est d’ordre spirituel, ainsi que sa théorie de l’effet psychologique des couleurs sur l’âme humaine et leur sonorité intérieure. L’Almanach du Cavalier Bleu est publié peu de temps après. Ces écrits de Kandinsky servent à la fois de défense et de promotion de l’art abstrait, ainsi que de démonstration que toute forme d’art authentique était également capable d’atteindre une certaine profondeur spirituelle. Il pense que la couleur peut être utilisée dans la peinture comme une réalité autonome et indépendante de la description visuelle d’un objet ou d’une autre forme.

Retour en Russie (1914-1921)
Durant les années 1918 à 1921, Kandinsky s’occupe du développement de la politique culturelle de la Russie, il apporte sa collaboration dans les domaines de la pédagogie de l’art et de la réforme des musées. Il se consacre également à l’enseignement artistique avec un programme reposant sur l’analyse des formes et des couleurs, ainsi qu’à l’organisation de l’Institut de culture artistique à Moscou. Il peint très peu durant cette période. Il fait la connaissance en 1916 de Nina Andreievskaïa qui deviendra son épouse l’année suivante. Kandinsky reçu en 1921 pour mission de se rendre en Allemagne au Bauhaus de Weimar, sur l’invitation de son fondateur, l’architecte Walter Gropius. L’année suivante, les soviétiques interdirent officiellement toute forme d’art abstrait car jugé nocif pour les idéaux socialistes.

Le Bauhaus (1922-1933)
Le Bauhaus est alors une école d'architecture et d’art novateur qui a pour objectif de fusionner les arts plastiques et les arts appliqués, et dont l’enseignement repose sur la mise en application théorique et pratique de la synthèse des arts plastiques. Kandinsky y donne des cours dans le cadre de l’atelier de peinture murale, qui reprennent sa théorie des couleurs en y intégrant de nouveaux éléments sur la psychologie de la forme. Le développement de ces travaux sur l’étude des formes, en particulier le point et les différentes formes de lignes, conduit à la publication de son second grand ouvrage théorique Point et ligne sur plan en 1926.

Les éléments géométriques prennent dans son enseignement comme dans sa peinture une importance grandissante, en particulier le cercle, le demi-cercle, l’angle et les lignes droites ou courbes. Cette période est pour lui une période d’intense production. Par la liberté dont témoigne chacune de ses œuvres, par le traitement des surfaces riches en couleurs et en dégradés magnifiques comme dans sa toile Jaune – rouge – bleu (1925), Kandinsky se démarque nettement du constructivisme ou du suprématisme dont l’influence était grandissante à cette époque.

Les formes principales qui constituent cette grande toile de deux mètres de large intitulée Jaune – rouge – bleu sont un rectangle vertical jaune, une croix rouge légèrement inclinée et un grand cercle bleu foncé, tandis qu’une multitude de lignes noires droites ou sinueuse et d’arcs de cercles, ainsi que quelques cercles monochromes et quelques damiers colorés contribuent à sa délicate complexité. Cette simple identification visuelle des formes et des principales masses colorées présentes sur la toile ne correspond qu’à une première approche de la réalité intérieure de l’œuvre dont la juste appréciation nécessite une observation bien plus approfondie non seulement des formes et des couleurs utilisées dans la peinture, mais également de leur relation, de leur position absolue et de leur disposition relative sur la toile, de leur harmonie d’ensemble et de leur accord réciproque.

Confronté à l’hostilité des partis de droite, le Bauhaus quitta Weimar pour s’installer à Dessau-Roßlau dès 1925. Suite à une campagne de diffamation acharnée de la part des nazis, le Bauhaus est fermé à Dessau en 1932. L’école poursuit ses activités à Berlin jusqu’à sa dissolution en juillet 1933. Kandinsky quitte alors l’Allemagne pour venir s’installer à Paris.

La grande synthèse (1934-1944)
A Paris, il se trouve relativement isolé, d’autant que l’art abstrait, en particulier géométrique, n’est guère reconnu : les tendances artistiques à la mode étaient plutôt l’impressionnisme et le cubisme. Il vit et travaille dans un petit appartement dont il a aménagé la salle de séjour en atelier. Des formes biomorphiques aux contours souples et non géométriques font leur apparition dans son œuvre, des formes qui évoquent extérieurement des organismes microscopiques mais qui expriment toujours la vie intérieure de l’artiste. Il recourt à des compositions de couleurs inédites qui évoquent l’art populaire slave et qui ressemblent à des ouvrages en filigrane précieux. Il utilise également du sable qu’il mélange aux couleurs pour donner à la peinture une texture granuleuse.

Cette période correspond en fait à une vaste synthèse de son œuvre antérieure, dont il reprend l’ensemble des éléments tout en les enrichissant. Il peint en 1936 et 1939 ses deux dernières grandes compositions, ces toiles particulièrement élaborées et longuement mûries qu’il avait cessé de produire depuis de nombreuses années. Composition IX est une toile aux diagonales puissantes fortement contrastées et dont la forme centrale évoque un embryon humain dans le ventre de sa mère. Les petits carrés de couleurs et les bandes colorées semblent se détacher du fond noir de Composition X comme des fragments ou des filaments d’étoiles, tandis que d’énigmatiques hiéroglyphes aux tons pastels recouvrent la grande masse marron qui semble flotter dans le coin supérieur gauche de la toile.

Dans les œuvres de Kandinsky, un certain nombre de caractéristiques sautent immédiatement aux yeux tandis que certaines sonorités sont plus discrètes et comme voilées, c’est-à-dire qu’elles ne se révèlent que progressivement à ceux qui font l’effort d’approfondir leur rapport avec l’œuvre et d’affiner leur regard. Il ne faut donc pas se contenter d’une première impression ou d’une identification grossière des formes que l’artiste a utilisées et qu’il a subtilement harmonisées et mises en accord pour qu’elles rentrent efficacement en résonance avec l’âme du spectateur.

Gloire posthume
A partir de la mort de Vassily Kandinsky et durant une trentaine d’années, Nina Kandinsky n’a cessé de diffuser le message et de divulguer l’œuvre de son mari. L’ensemble des œuvres en sa possession ont été léguées au Centre Georges Pompidou, à Paris, où l’on peut voir la plus grande collection de ses peintures.

Ecrits théoriques sur l’art Les analyses de Kandinsky sur les formes et sur les couleurs ne résultent pas de simples associations d’idées arbitraires, mais de l’expérience intérieure du peintre qui a passé des années à créer des peintures abstraites d’une incroyable richesse sensorielle, à travailler sur les formes et avec les couleurs, observant longuement et inlassablement ses propres toiles et celles d’autres artistes, constatant simplement leur effet subjectif et pathétique sur son âme d’artiste et de poète d’une très grande sensibilité aux couleurs.

Il s’agit donc d’une forme d'expérience purement subjective que chacun peut faire et répéter en prenant le temps de regarder ses peintures et de laisser agir les formes et les couleurs sur sa propre sensibilité vivante. Il ne s’agit pas d’observations scientifiques et objectives, mais d’observations intérieures radicalement subjectives et purement phénoménologiques qui relèvent de ce que le philosophe Michel Henry appelle la subjectivité absolue ou la vie phénoménologique absolue.

Du spirituel dans l’art
Kandinsky compare la vie spirituelle de l’humanité à un grand Triangle semblable à une pyramide et que l’artiste a pour tâche et pour mission d’entraîner vers le haut par l’exercice de son talent. La pointe du Triangle est constituée seulement de quelques individus qui apportent aux hommes le pain sublime. Un Triangle spirituel qui avance et monte lentement, même s’il reste parfois immobile. Durant les périodes de décadence les âmes tombent vers le bas du Triangle et les hommes ne recherchent que le succès extérieur et ignorent les forces purement spirituelles.

Lorsque l’on regarde les couleurs sur la palette d’un peintre, un double effet se produit : un effet purement physique de l’œil charmé par la beauté des couleurs tout d’abord, qui provoque une impression de joie comme lorsque l’on mange une friandise. Mais cet effet peut être beaucoup plus profond et entraîner une émotion et une vibration de l’âme, ou une résonance intérieure qui est un effet purement spirituel par lequel la couleur atteint l’âme.

La nécessité intérieure est pour Kandinsky le principe de l’art et le fondement de l’harmonie des formes et des couleurs. Il la définit comme le principe de l’entrée en contact efficace de la forme et des couleurs avec l’âme humaine. Toute forme est la délimitation d’une surface par une autre, elle possède un contenu intérieur qui est l’effet qu’elle produit sur celui qui la regarde avec attention. Cette nécessité intérieure est le droit de l’artiste à la liberté illimitée, mais cette liberté devient un crime si elle n’est pas fondée sur une telle nécessité. L’œuvre d’art naît de la nécessité intérieure de l’artiste de façon mystérieuse, énigmatique et mystique, puis elle acquiert une vie autonome, elle devient un sujet indépendant animé d’un souffle spirituel.

Les premières propriétés qui sautent aux yeux lorsque l’on regarde la couleur isolée, en la laissant agir seule, c’est d’une part la chaleur ou la froideur du ton coloré, et d’autre part la clarté ou l’obscurité de ce ton.

La chaleur est une tendance au jaune, la froideur une tendance au bleu. Le jaune et le bleu forment le premier grand contraste, qui est dynamique. Le jaune possède un mouvement excentrique et le bleu un mouvement concentrique, une surface jaune semble se rapprocher de nous, tandis qu’une surface bleue semble s’éloigner. Le jaune est la couleur typiquement terrestre dont la violence peut être pénible et agressive. Le bleu est la couleur typiquement céleste qui évoque un calme profond. Le mélange du bleu et du jaune produit l’immobilité totale et le calme, le vert.

La clarté est une tendance vers le blanc et l’obscurité une tendance vers le noir. Le blanc et le noir forment le second grand contraste, qui est statique. Le blanc agit comme un silence profond et absolu plein de possibilités. Le noir est un néant sans possibilité, il est un silence éternel et sans espoir, il correspond à la mort. C’est pourquoi toute autre couleur résonne si fortement à son voisinage. Le mélange du blanc et du noir conduit au gris, qui ne possède aucune force active et dont la tonalité affective est voisine de celle du vert. Le gris correspond à l’immobilité sans espoir, il tend vers le désespoir lorsqu’il devient foncé et retrouve un peu d’espoir en s’éclaircissant.

Le rouge est une couleur chaude très vivante, vive et agitée, il possède une force immense, il est un mouvement en soi. Mélangé au noir, il conduit au brun qui est une couleur dure. Mélangé au jaune, il gagne en chaleur et donne l’orangé qui possède un mouvement d’irradiation sur l’entourage. Mélangé au bleu, il s’éloigne de l’homme pour donner le violet, qui est un rouge refroidi. Le rouge et le vert forment le troisième grand contraste, l'orangé et le violet le quatrième.

Point et ligne sur plan
Kandinsky analyse dans cet écrit les éléments géométriques qui composent toute peinture, à savoir le point et la ligne, ainsi que le support physique et la surface matérielle sur laquelle l’artiste dessine ou peint et qu’il appelle le plan originel ou P.O.[48] Il ne les analyse pas d’un point de vue objectif et extérieur, mais du point de vue de leur effet intérieur sur la subjectivité vivante du spectateur qui les regarde et les laisse agir sur sa sensibilité.[49]

Le point est dans la pratique une petite tache de couleur déposée par l’artiste sur la toile. Le point qu’utilise le peintre donc n’est pas un point géométrique, il n’est pas une abstraction mathématique, il possède une certaine extension, une forme et une couleur. Cette forme peut être carrée, triangulaire, ronde, en forme d’étoile ou plus complexe encore. Le point est la forme la plus concise, mais selon son emplacement sur le plan originel il va prendre une tonalité différente. Il peut être seul et isolé ou bien être mis en résonance avec d’autres points ou avec des lignes.

La ligne est le produit d’une force, elle est un point sur lequel une force vivante s’est exercée dans une certaine direction, la force exercée sur le crayon ou sur le pinceau par la main de l’artiste. Les formes linéaires produites peuvent être de plusieurs types : une ligne droite qui résulte d’une force unique exercée dans une seule direction, une ligne brisée qui résulte de l’alternance de deux forces possédant des directions différentes, ou bien une ligne courbe ou ondulée produite par l’effet de deux forces qui agissent simultanément. Une surface peut être obtenue par densification, à partir d’une ligne que l’on fait pivoter autour d’une de ses extrémités.

L’effet subjectif produit par une ligne dépend de son orientation : la ligne horizontale correspond au sol sur lequel l’homme se repose et se meut, au plat, elle possède une tonalité affective sombre et froide semblable au noir ou au bleu, tandis que la ligne verticale correspond à la hauteur et n’offre aucun point d’appui, elle possède au contraire une tonalité lumineuse et chaude proche du blanc ou du jaune. Une diagonale possède par conséquent une tonalité plus ou moins chaude ou froide selon son inclinaison par rapport à la verticale ou à l’horizontale.

Une force qui se déploie sans obstacle comme celle qui produit une ligne droite correspond au lyrisme, tandis que plusieurs forces qui s’opposent et se contrarient forment un drame. L’angle que forme une ligne brisée possède également une sonorité intérieure qui est chaude et proche du jaune pour un angle aigu (triangle), froide et similaire au bleu pour un angle obtus (cercle) et semblable au rouge pour un angle droit (carré).

Le plan originel est en général rectangulaire ou carré, il est donc composé de lignes horizontales et verticales qui le délimitent et qui le définissent comme un être autonome qui va servir de support à la peinture en lui communiquant sa tonalité affective. Cette tonalité est déterminée par l’importance relative de ces lignes horizontales et verticales, les horizontales donnant une tonalité calme et froide au plan originel, tandis que les verticales lui communique une tonalité calme et chaude.[55] L’artiste possède l’intuition de cet effet intérieur du format de la toile et de ses dimensions, qu’il va choisir en fonction de la tonalité qu’il souhaite donner à son œuvre. Kandinsky considère même le plan originel comme un être vivant que l’artiste « féconde » et dont il sent la « respiration ».

Chaque partie du plan originel possède une coloration affective qui lui est propre et qui va influer sur la tonalité des éléments picturaux qui seront dessinés dessus, ce qui contribue à la richesse de la composition qui résulte de leur juxtaposition sur la toile. Le haut du plan originel correspond à la souplesse et à la légèreté, tandis que le bas évoque plutôt la densité et la pesanteur. Il appartient au peintre d’apprendre à connaître ces effets afin de produire des peintures qui ne soit pas l’effet du hasard, mais le fruit d’un travail authentique et le résultat d’un effort vers la beauté intérieure.

Ce livre comporte une multitude d’exemples photographiques et de dessins issus d’œuvres de Kandinsky qui offrent la démonstration de ses observations théoriques, et qui permettent au lecteur d’en reproduire en lui l’évidence intérieure pour peu qu’il prenne le temps de regarder avec attention chacune de ces images, qu’il les laisse agir sur sa propre sensibilité et qu’il laisse vibrer les cordes sensibles de son âme et de son esprit. Kandinsky met néanmoins son lecteur en garde contre une contemplation trop longue, qui conduirait l'imagination à prendre le dessus sur l'expérience intérieure immédiate :

« Pour ce genre d'expérience, il vaut mieux se fier à la première impression, car la sensibilité se lasse vite et cède le champ à l'imagination. »

Livres de Vassily Kandinsky
Voir aussi sur Wikiquote les citations « Vassily Kandinsky ».
Wikimedia Commons propose des documents multimédia libres sur Vassily Kandinsky.

Vassily Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art et dans la peinture en particulier, éd. Denoël, collection "Folio Essais", 1989
Vassily Kandinsky et Franz Marc (éd.), L’almanach du "Blaue Reiter" : Le Cavalier bleu, éd. Klincksieck, 1987
Vassily Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé et autres textes 1912-1922, éd. Hermann, 1974
Vassily Kandinsky, Point Ligne Plan, éd. Gallimard, collection "Folio Essais", 1991
Vassily Kandinsky, Point Ligne Surface. Contribution à l'analyse des éléments picturaux, traduit de l'allemand par Christine Boumeester, Paris, Éditions de Beaune, Les nouveaux manifestes n°4, in-8 broché, 126 pp + 26 planches d'illustrations hors-texte, 1963.
Vassily Kandinsky, Écrits complets (tome I) : La synthèse des arts, éd. Denoël-Gonthier, 1975
Vassily Kandinsky, Écrits complets (tome II) : Point ligne plan - La grammaire de la création - L'avenir de la peinture., éd. Denoël-Gonthier, 1970
Vassily Kandinsky, Interférences, traduit en français par Armel Guerne, Delpire, 1959

Ouvrages sur Kandinsky

Ouvrages philosophiques
Michel Henry, Voir l’invisible. Sur Kandinsky, Bourin-Julliard, 1988, PUF, collection "Quadridge", 2005
Philippe Sers, Kandinsky. Philosophie de l'art abstrait: peinture, poésie, scénographie., éd. Skira, 2003
Alexandre Kojève, Les peintures concrètes de Kandinsky, La lettre volée, 2002.

Témoignages et correspondances
Nina Kandinsky, Kandinsky et moi, éd. Flammarion, 1978
Schoenberg - Busoni, Schoenberg - Kandinsky, correspondances, textes, Éditions Contrechamps, Genève, 1995

Reproductions de ses oeuvres
Jéléna Hahl-Fontaine, Kandinsky, Marc Vokar éditeur, 1993
François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, collection "Les grands maîtres de l’art contemporain", 1986
Hajo Duechting, Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990
Pierre Volboudt, Kandinsky, éd. F. Hazan, 1984
V. E. Barnett et A. Zweit, Kandinsky. Dessins et aquarelles, éd. Flammarion, 1992
A. et L. Vezin, Kandinsky et
cavalier bleu, éd. Terrail, 1991

Catalogues d'expositions

Kandinsky. Rétrospective, Fondation Maeght, 2001
Kandinsky. Œuvres de Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Centre Georges Pompidou, 1984

Ouvrages d'histoire de l'art
Marcel Brion, Kandinsky, éd. Somogy, 1960

Notes et références
↑ Le découpage en périodes proposé dans cette section est repris du livre de Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990. Le titre donné à chacune des périodes artistiques de Kandinsky a cependant été modifié et simplifié.
↑ Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé, éd. Hermann, 1974, pp. 87 et 114
↑ Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé, éd. Hermann, 1974, p. 98
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, p. 10
↑ Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé, éd. Hermann, 1974, p. 101
↑ Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé, éd. Hermann, 1974, pp. 107-108
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l’art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 112
↑ Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé, éd. Hermann, 1974, pp. 96-97
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, p. 13
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, reproduction p. 9
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, reproduction p. 6
↑ François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, 1986, reproduction n° 11
↑ François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, 1986, reproduction n° 8
↑ François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, 1986, reproduction n° 18
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, pp. 37-56
↑ Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé, éd. Hermann, 1974, p. 105
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, pp. 57-63
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, pp. 64-77
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, reproduction p. 75
↑ François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, 1986, reproduction n° 87
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, pp. 70 et 76
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, pp. 78-91
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, reproduction p. 82
↑ François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, 1986, reproduction n° 112
↑ Hajo Düchting, Vassili Kandinsky, éd. Taschen, 1990, reproduction p. 88
↑ François le Targat, Kandinsky, éd. Albin Michel, 1986, reproduction n° 117
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 61-75
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 105-107
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 112 et 118
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 118
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 199
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 197
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 142
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 142-143
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 143
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 148
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 149-150
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 150-154
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 143
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 155
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 156
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 157
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 157
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 160
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 162
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 162-163
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, pp. 163-164
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, p. 143
↑ Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 45 : "Les idées que je développe ici sont le résultat d'observations et d'expériences intérieures" c'est-à-dire purement subjectives. Cela vaut également pour Point et ligne sur plan qui en est "le développement organique" (avant-propos de la première édition, éd. Gallimard, 1991, p. 9).
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, pp. 25-63
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, pp. 67-71
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, pp. 69-70
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, pp. 80-82
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, p. 89
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, pp. 143-145
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, pp. 145-146
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, p. 146-151
↑ Kandinsky, Point et ligne sur plan, éd. Gallimard, 1991, p. 170

S�rie Self-Hybridation - Africa (2000-2003)

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:55:42 GMT

Self-hybridations (1998-2002) : images numériques mettant enscène l'artiste dans des métamorphoses physiques (virtuelles cettefois-ci) inspirées des canons de beauté d'autres civilisations. Àl'aide de procédés informatiques, Orlan transforme son image de façon àse rapprocher des traditions culturelles pré-colombiennes (comme ladéformation du crâne des Mayas),africaines et amérindiennes. Ce travail est dans la continuité de sesœuvres précédentes où elle dénonçait les pressions sociales que notresociété inflige au corps et à l'apparence. Ici elle met en scènel'absurdité de ces critères, qui s'opposent selon l'époque ou lacivilisation dans laquelle on vit. L'image du corps idéal devientcomplètement abstraite et ironique.

Pour voir toutes les oeuvres de la série Self-hybridations, cliquez ici.

Source: site internet personnel de l'artiste.

Orlan

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:53:51 GMT

Orlan

Orlan est une artiste plasticienne française née le 30 mai 1947 à Saint-Étienne.

Biographie

Orlan est une artiste multimédia (peinture, sculpture, installations, performance, photographie, images numériques, biotechnologies). C'est une des artistes françaises de l'art corporel les plus connues du grand public en France et à l'étranger. Son œuvre se situe dans divers contextes provocateurs, légitimée par son engagement personnel.

Dès les années 1960, Orlan interroge le statut du corps et les pressions politiques, religieuses, sociales qui s'y impriment. Son travail dénonce la violence faite aux corps et en particulier aux corps des femmes, et s'engage ainsi dans un combat féministe. Elle fait de son corps l'instrument privilégié où se joue la relation entre soi et l'autre.

En 1978, elle crée le Symposium international de la performance, à Lyon, qu'elle anime jusqu'en 1982. Son manifeste de l'"art charnel" est suivi d'une série d'opérations chirurgicales - performances qu'elle réalise entre 1990 et 1993. Avec cette série, le corps de l'artiste devient un lieu de débat public. Ces opérations chirurgicales - performances ont été largement médiatisées et ont provoqué une vive polémique, bien qu'elles ne représentent qu'une infime partie de son œuvre globale.

Le travail d'Orlan sur le corps se fait également par le biais de la photographie : ainsi trouve-t-on ce médium dans la photographie-sculpture du Baiser de l'artiste, mais aussi des photographies d'Orlan en madonne, dans le dispositif scénique des opérations chirurgicales - performances, photographies-affiches de cinéma, etc.

Orlan explore également l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies dans le domaine des arts. En 1982, elle crée le premier magazine en ligne d'art contemporain, Art-Accès-Revue, sur minitel. Dans son travail de la fin des années 1990 et du début des années 2000, les Self-Hybridations, l'artiste, par le biais de la photographie digitale, hybride des visages de cultures différentes (amérindiens, pré-colombiens, africains).

Orlan tente ensuite d'élargir encore les frontières de l'art contemporain en utilisant les biotechnologies pour créer une installation intitulée Manteau d'Arlequin, faite à partir de cellules de l'artiste et de cellules d'origines humaine et animale.

Parallèlement, Orlan enseigne à l'École nationale supérieure d'arts de Cergy-Pontoise. En 2005, elle obtient une résidence d'un an à l'ISCP, à New York, par l' Association française d'action artistique (AFAA), et en 2006 elle est invitée à Los Angeles en résidence au Getty Research Institute, laboratoire de recherche du Getty Center.

Œuvres

Parmi les œuvres les plus emblématiques de sa carrière, on peut citer :

    * Orlan accouche d'elle-m'aime, 1964 : sur cette photographie noir et blanc, Orlan donne naissance à un personnage tel un corps inerte et androgyne, ni homme ni femme. Cette œuvre constitue symboliquement la volonté de l'artiste de se donner naissance, de s'inventer une nouvelle identité. Cette série fait partie des Corps-sculptures.

    * MesuRages (1974-1979) : l'appellation choisie pour cette série d'actions insiste sur le mot « Rage », puisque l'artiste refuse de jouer le rôle qu'on veut lui imposer. À l'aide de l'« Orlan-corps », nouvelle unité de mesure, l'artiste mesurera la place Saint-Pierre de Rome, la rue Chateaubriand, à Nice, le Centre Georges Pompidou, à Paris, le musée Saint-Pierre, à Lyon, ou encore le musée Guggenheim de New York. Sur la place Saint-Lambert à Liège, le « MesuRage » d'Orlan prend un caractère politique, puisque l'artiste est invitée par une association qui milite pour la défense de cette place menacée par une opération d'urbanisme.

    * Le Baiser de l'artiste, performance de 1977 au Grand Palais où se déroulait la foire internationale d'art contemporain : assise derrière une photographie grandeur nature de son buste nu traité comme un guichet automatique bancaire, Orlan interpelle le public : « Approchez approchez, venez sur mon piédestal, celui des mythes : la mère, la pute, l'artiste. » Sur une estrade noire, elle monnaye ses baisers, tandis qu'à sa droite une autre silhouette photographique collée sur bois la montre en Vierge à qui l'on peut, pour le même prix, offrir un cierge. Cette action a fait grand scandale et a été très médiatisée. Cette œuvre a été exposée en 2008 dans le cadre de l'exposition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution au National Museum of Women in the Arts de Washington, D.C., à la Vancouver Art Gallery, au MOCA Gefen de Los Angeles et au P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center de New York.

    * Le Drapé-le Baroque (1979-1986) : cette série de photographies constitue une iconographie complexe et assez suggestive sur le plan spirituel, avec des personnages inspirés de l'iconographie chrétienne tels que sainte Orlan, la vierge blanche et la vierge noire. Ce travail s'inscrit dans la continuité de la quête d'Orlan de l'identité féminine et de sa critique des pressions religieuses.

    * L’Origine de la guerre, en 1989, fait pendant au célèbre tableau de Gustave Courbet, L'Origine du monde : un phallus en érection, des jambes écartées reprenant et « travestissant » l'iconographie féminine de Courbet, illustre le titre en un geste qui ne se départit pas du féminisme.

    * La Réincarnation de sainte Orlan, commencée en 1990, ou Images / Nouvelles Images, comprend une série de neuf opérations / performances de chirurgie esthétique, durant lesquelles Orlan fait de sa chair le matériau de son travail et prend pour base les représentations de la femme dans l'art occidental. Chaque opération/ performance d'Orlan, soigneusement programmée et exécutée, est mise en scène et contrôlée par l'artiste. Par le biais de ces interventions, elle « a mis de la figure sur son visage ». Elle choisit la littéralité de la performance pour parler de la violence faite au corps, en particulier au corps des femmes.

    * Omniprésence (novembre 1993) : Orlan rencontre à New York le docteur Marjorie Cramer, une chirurgienne qui accepte les objectifs artistiques et féministes de son projet : la transformation radicale de son visage par des implants au niveau des tempes. L'objectif est de détourner la chirurgie esthétique de ses objectifs usuels et de remettre en cause les normes de beauté. Cette opération/ performance est diffusée en direct à la galerie Sandra Gering, à New York, au Centre Georges Pompidou, à Paris, au Centre Mac Luhan, à Toronto, ou encore au Centre multimédia de Banff.

    * Ceci est mon corps… Ceci est mon logiciel… est une performance-conférence le 30 mai 1990 accompagnée d'un livre et d'un CD-ROM. Elle y développe le Manifeste de l'art charnel.

    * Le plan du film (2001) : à l'instar de Jean-Luc Godard, qui parlait de la production d'un « film à l'envers », Orlan part de la création d'affiches de cinéma pour ensuite définir le casting, le script, une soirée promotionnelle à la Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, une bande-son par le groupe Tanger, la bande annonce du film, le producteur. Elle expose l'ensemble de ce travail au Festival de Cannes en 2002.

    * Self-hybridations (1998-2002) : images numériques mettant en scène l'artiste dans des métamorphoses physiques (virtuelles cette fois-ci) inspirées des canons de beauté d'autres civilisations. À l'aide de procédés informatiques, Orlan transforme son image de façon à se rapprocher des traditions culturelles pré-colombiennes (comme la déformation du crâne des Mayas), africaines et amérindiennes. Ce travail est dans la continuité de ses œuvres précédentes où elle dénonçait les pressions sociales que notre société inflige au corps et à l'apparence. Ici elle met en scène l'absurdité de ces critères, qui s'opposent selon l'époque ou la civilisation dans laquelle on vit. L'image du corps idéal devient complètement abstraite et ironique.

    * Le Manteau d'Arlequin: il s'agit d'une installation mêlant art et biotechnologies, créée avec des cellules vivantes d'Orlan, des cellules d'origines differentes et même des cellules d'animaux. Cette œuvre s'inspire du texte de Michel Serres, Laïcité, placé en guise de préface à son ouvrage Le Tiers Instruit. Michel Serres utilise la figure de l'Arlequin comme métaphore du croisement, de l'acceptation de l'autre, de la conjonction, de l'intersection. Le Manteau d'Arlequin développe et continue d'explorer l'idée de croisement en utilisant le médium plus charnel qu'est la peau. Il questionne également la relation entre la biotechnologie et la culture artistique. Cette installation a été présentée à Perth, Liverpool, Luxembourg.

Les œuvres d'Orlan font partie des collections de divers musées dont le Musée national d'art moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris), la Maison européenne de la photographie (Paris), le Fonds national d'art contemporain (Paris), le Musée d'art du comté de Los Angeles (Los Angeles), le Getty Center (Los Angeles), le Musée national d'Osaka (Japon), ainsi que de diverses collections privées (notamment la collection François Pinault).

Expositions (années 2000)

2000

    * Galerie de l’École Régionale d’Art de Marseille, ORLAN, triomphe du baroque, commissaire Michel Enrici, Marseille, France
    * Australian Museum, Body Art – adorned and transformed exhibition, Sydney, Australie.
    * Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Auvers-sur-Oise, L’Invention des femmes, commissaire Marie-Hélène Dumas, Auvers-sur-Oise, France
    * Centre Georges Pompidou, La Grâce (avec Michel Maffesoli), Revue Parlée, Paris, France
    * Deste Foundation, commissaire Daniel Abadie, Athènes, Grèce

2001

    * Fondation Cartier, Le Plan du film, séquence 2, Soirées Nomades, Paris, France
    * Sejul Gallery, ORLAN, Self-hybridations précolombiennes, Seoul, Corée
    * Museum voor Modern Art, Between Earth and Heaven, New Classical Movements in Art Today, Commissaire W. Van den Bussche, Ostende, Belgique
    * Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, Abbaye de Montmajour, commissaire Alain Sayag, Arles, France
    * Borusan Foundation, Les Voluptés, commissaire Elga Wimmer, Istanbul, Turquie
    * Festival E-Phos 2001, The Hybrid Body and the Monster, Athènes, Grèce
    * Musée d’Art Contemporain d’Anvers, Mutilate Mode and Body Art 2001: Landed/Geland, Anvers, Belgique
    * Museum voor Modern Art, Between Earth and Heaven, New Classical Movements in Art Today, commissaire W. Van den Bussche, Ostende, Belgique

2002

    * Centro de Fotografía de l'Université de Salamanque, Retrospective 1964-2001, commissaire Olga Guinot, Palace Abrantès et Eglise de la Segonda Palace, Salamanque, Espagne
    * FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Éléments favoris, retrospective, commissaire Jean-François Taddei, Carquefou, Nantes, France
    * Musée d'Art Contemporain (Artium), ORLAN 1964 – 2001, commissaire Juan Guardiola, Vitoria, Espagne
    * Hall Central du Musée National d'Art Contemporain, Seoul, Corée
    * The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, Dangerous Beauty, New York, USA
    * Kunsthalle Wien, Tableaux vivants, Vienne, Autriche

2003

    * AFAA, Le Plan du film, Paris, France
    * FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Éléments favoris, retrospective, commissaire Jean-François Taddei, Carquefou, Nantes, France
    * Galerie Michel Rein, Tricéphale, photographies et installation vidéo, Paris, France.
    * Galerie der HGB, Academy of Visual Arts, Bellissima, Leipzig, Allemagne
    * Galleria d’Arte Moderna, La Creazione ansiosa, da Picasso a Bacon, Verone, Italie
    * Hungarian Photography House, La Fabrication du réel, Budapest, Hongrie
    * Musée de l’Élysée (Musée de la Photographie), Face, Lausanne, Switzerland
    * Musée des Beaux-Arts du Québec, Doublures, Quebec, Canada.

2004

    * Centre de Création Contemporaine (CCC), ORLAN, 1993, commissaire Alain Julien-Laferrière, Tours, France
    * Centre National de la Photographie (CNP), ORLAN 1964–2004… Méthodes de l’artiste, exposition retrospective, commissaires Régis Durand et Claire Guézengar, accompagnée de la publication d'une monographie aux éditions Flammarion, Paris, France
    * Moscow House of Photography, ORLAN, 2003–2004, Commissaire Olga Svlibova, exposition rétrospective menée conjointement à la Photobiennale 2004, Moscou, Russie
    * UNESCO, In Movement UNESCO Salutes Women Video Artists of the World, commissaire Kim Airyung, Paris, France
    * ZKM, Media Art Net, commissaire Peter Weibel, Karlsruhe, Allemagne

2005

    * Palais de Tokyo, Luminous Room, avec l'architecte Philippe Chiambaretta, commissaires Marc Sanchez et Jérôme Sans, Paris, France
    * Musée des Beaux Arts de Chartres, Corps primitifs Corps numériques, Chartres, France
    * Stephan Stux Gallery, ORLAN, Digital Photographs and Sculptures, Refiguration / Self-Hybridization: The Pre-Columbian and African Series, New York, USA
    * Artcurial, Face à Faces, Commissaire Isabelle de Montfumat, Paris, France
    * Kunsthalle & Kunstforum Wien, Superstars, Commissaire Thomas Miessgang, Vienne, Autriche
    * Mildred Kemper Art Museum, Inside Out Loud: Visualizing Women’s Health, Commissaire Janine Mileaf, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
    * Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lausanne, Body Extensions, Lausanne, Suisse
    * Musée de Beaux-Arts de Buenos Aires, Projet Cone Sud, Commissaires Bernard Goy et Gusto Pastor Mellado, Buenos Aires, Argentina
    * National Gallery of Victoria, Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Beauty, Melbourne, Australie

2006

    * Grand Palais, La Force de l'Art, commissaire Eric Troncy, Paris, France
    * Musée des Arts Modestes de Sète, Bang Bang, commissaire Hervé di Rosa, Sète, France
    * Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Number 1, Transimages 4, commissaire Anne-Marie Morice, Yokohama, Japon
    * PS1, Into Me / Out of Me, commaissaire Klaus Biesenbach, New York, USA

2007

    * Getty Research Institute, Skaï and Sky and Video, commissaire Sabine Schlosser, Los Angeles, USA
    * Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne, Le Récit, commissaire Lorand Hegyi and Viola Eugenio, Saint Etienne, France
    * Beap 07, Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth Stillness, Perth, Australie
    * KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Into Me / Out of Me, commissaire Klaus Biesenbach, Berlin, Allemagne
    * Kunst-Museum Ahlen, Diagnostic Art – La médecine dans l'art contemporain, commissaire Burkhard Leismann, Ahlen, Allemagne
    * MOCA Geffen Los Angeles, Wack!, Art and the Feminist Revolution, commissaire Connie Butler, Los Angeles, USA
    * Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 45 Años de Arte y Feminismo, Bilbao, Espagne
    * Osaka National Art Museum, Skin of / in Contemporary Art, commissaire Yukihiro Hiroyoshi, Osaka, Japon
    * Palazzo Fortuny, Artempo, commissaire Jean-Hubert Martin et Tijs Visser, Biennale de Venise, Venise, Italie

2008

    * Espacio Artes Visuales, Suture Hybridation-recyclage, en collaboration avec Davidelfin, commissaire Isabel Tejeda, Murcia, Espagne
    * Galerie Michel Rein, Self hybridation, Americains-Indiens, Paris, France
    * The Tallinn Art Hall, ORLAN: Post identity stratégies, commissaires Eugenio Viola, Reet Varblane, Tallinn, Estonie
    * The Vancouver Art Gallery, “Wack!” Art and the feminist revolution, commissaire Connie Butler, Vancouver, Canada
    * Chapelle de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Académia qui es-tu? commissaire Axel Vervoordt, Paris, France
    * Fact, Sk-Interfaces, commissaire Jens Hauser, Liverpool, UK
    * Museu Berardo, BESart – Colecçao Banco Espirito Santo, Lisbonne, Portugal.

2009

    * Musée d’Art Contemporain de São Paulo, Année de la France au Brésil, ORLAN+Campana+Neon, commissaire Lisbeth Rebollo, São Paulo, Brésil
    * Abbaye de Maubuisson, Unions Mixtes, Mariages Libres et Noces Barbares, commissaire Caroline Coll, Maubuisson, France
    * Grand Palais, La Force de l’art, commissaires Jean-Louis Froment, Jean-Yves Jouannais, Didier Ottinger, Paris, France
    * Centre Georges Pompidou, elles@centrepompidou, commissaire Camille Morineau, co-commissaires Quentin Bajac, Cécile Debray, Valérie Guillaume et Emma Lavigne, Paris, France
    * Casino Luxembourg, SK-interfaces, Exploring Borders in Art, Technology and Society, commissaire Jens Hauser, Luxembourg
    * Palazzo Franchetti, Glass Stress, commissaire Laura Mattioli Rossi, Venise, Italy.
    * Sungkok Art Museum, Masques, commissaire Alain Sayag, Seoul, Corée.

Expositions rétrospectives

    * 2002 : Centro de la Fotografia (Salamanca, Espagne); Museo Artrium (Vitoria, Espagne) commissaires d'exposition Olga Guinot et Juan Guardiola
    * 2002 : FRAC Pays de la Loire, commissaire d'exposition Jean-François Taddéi
    * 2004 : CCC Tours, commissaire d'exposition Alain-Julien Laferrière
    * 2004 : Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France, commissaires d'exposition Régis Durand et Claire Guézengar
    * 2007 : Le Récit, Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Étienne, à l'occasion de l'anniversaire de 60 ans de l'artiste, commissaire d'exposition Lorand Hegyi
    * 2008 : Tallin Art Hall, Estonie

Ouvrages

    * Pomme-cul et petites fleurs, recueil de poèmes, photographies de Fabrice Lévêque, éditions Jannink, collection « L'Art en écrit », 2007.

Bibliographie

    * Rocio de la Villa, Pedro Alberto Cruz Sanchez, Rhonda Garelick, Michel Serres, Lan Vu, Isabel Tejeda, Orlan + davidelfin, Suture Hybridisation Recycling, Edition EAV / ACTAR, Murcia, Espagne, 2008
    * Hegyi Lorand, Kuspit Donald, Iacub Marcela, Phelan Peggy, Bader Joerg, Viola Eugenio, Orlan, The Narrative, éditions Charta, Milan, Italie, 2007
    * O’Bryan Jill, Carnal Art Orlan’s Refacing, University of Minesota Press, USA, 2005
    * Blistène Bernard, Buci-Glucksmann Christine, Cros Caroline, Durand Régis, Heartney Eleanor, Le Bon Laurent, Obrist Hans Ulrich, Rehberg Vivian, and Zugazagoitia Julian, Orlan, éditions Flammarion, Paris, France, 2004
    * Wilson Sarah, Onfray Michel, Allucquére Rosanne Stone, François Serge et Parveen Adams, Orlan : ceci est mon corps, ceci est mon logiciel, Black Dog Publishing, Londres, Royaume-Uni, 1996 (édition en français et en anglais)

Prix et distinctions

    * 1999, Premier prix du festival de Moscou de la Photographie
    * 1999, Premier prix de Griffel-Kunst à Hambourg, Allemagne
    * 1999, Prix Arcimboldo
    * 2003, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, par le Ministre de la Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon
    * 2007, Médaille d'or de la ville de Saint-Étienne, sa ville natale

L'art africain dans les mus�es du monde

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:38:35 GMT

Les collections d'art africain dans les musées du monde

L'Amérique

Bermudes

Hamilton
Bermuda National Gallery
City Hall, Church Street
lu-sa 10-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Bwa, Bete, Guro, Yaoure, Senufo, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Bamileke...

Brésil

Bahia
Museu Afro-Brasileiro. Universidade Federal da Bahia
Terreiro de Jesus
ma-sa 9-17
Arts et objets cultuels d'Afrique Noire: Yoruba...

Sao Paulo
Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia. Universidade de Sao Paulo
Cidade Universitaria. Av. Prof Almeida Prado
ma-ve 9-17; sa 10-14
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire. Exposition permanente "Culturas e Sociedades"

Canada

Calgary
Glenbow Museum
130 9th Avenue S.E.
ma-di 9-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Senufo, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Yaunde, Bamileke... (non exposés en permanence)

Kingston (Ontario)
Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Queens University
Queens University Campus
ma-ve 10-17; sa-di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidyogo, Dogon, Bamana, Bankoni, Mossi, Dan, Senufo, Baule, Yaure, Anyi, Ashanti, Fanti...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Ibo, Urhobo, Koro, Mama, Kaka...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Bembe, Kongo, Yombe, Pende, Luba, Hemba, Lega, Songye, Tshokwe... (Coll. Lang)

Montréal
Musée des beaux-arts
1379-1380 rue Sherbrooke ouest
ma-di 11-18 (me 11-21)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale (Dogon, Senufo, Lobi, Ashanti, Yoruba, Benin, Bamum ...) et du Congo (Kuba )

Toronto
Museum for Textiles
55 Centre Avenue
ma-ve 11-17 (me 11-20); sa-di 12-17
Textiles d'Afrique noire (Ashanti, Yoruba, Sokoto...); ouvrages en perles d'Afrique du Sud: Xhosa, Zulu...

Toronto
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
lu-sa 10-18 (je 10-20); di 11-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Mende, Malinke, Bobo, Baule, Ashanti...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Benin, Sokoto, Ibo, Ibibio, Ejagham, Bamenda...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Punu, Kota; Yaka, Kuba, Yombe, Zande, Luba, Lunda, Lega, Mamvu, Ngombe...
Arts d'Angola, de Zambie et d'Afrique australe: Lunda, Tshokwe, Lwena, Mbunda, Ovimbundu, San...

Cuba

La Habana Vieja
Casa de Africa
Calle Obrapia 157
Mercaderes y San Ignacio
ma-sa 14.30-18.30; di 9-13
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire. Religion afro-cubaine. Présents de chefs d'Etats africains au Pdt Fidel Castro

Mexique

Mexico City
Museo Nacional de las Culturas
Moneda 13, Centro Historico
ma-di 9.30-18
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire (1 salle)

Uruguay
Punta del Este
San Fernando de Maldonado
Museo de Arte Americano - Fundacion Maldonado
Treinta y Tres 823
lu-di 18-22 (été)
Arts d'Afrique noire

USA - Alabama

Birmingham
Birmingham Museum of Art
2000 8th Avenue N
ma-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Dogon, Bamana, Baule, Guro, Yoruba, Bamileke...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo et de l'Angola: Fang, Dondo-Kamba, Biombo, Songye, Tshokwe, Luchazi, Songo...

Alaska

Anchorage
Anchorage Museum of History and Art
Rasmuson Center, 7th Avenue / C Street
I-V: me-sa 10-18; di 12-17. VI-15.IX: lu-di 9-18 (je 9-21)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bambara, Guro, Baule, Senufo, Fon, Ashanti, Yoruba, Mumuye, Ibo... Arts du Congo: Salampasu, Lega, Binji, Kuba...

Californie

Berkeley
Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology - UCLA - Kroeber Hall
Bancroft Way X College Avenue
me-di 10-16.30 (je 10-21)
Ethnographie et arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga/Landuman, Bamana, Dogon, Bwa, Kurumba, Lobi, Senufo, Kono, Loma, Dan, We, Guro, Baule, Agni, Fanti, Ashanti, Fon, Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Ibibio... (coll. Bascom)
- du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kuyu; Bwende, Kongo, Suku, Pende, Kuba, Salampasu, Luba, Mbole...

Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
lu-ma + je 12-20; ve 12-21; sa-di 11-20
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Bamana, Bwa, Mossi, Lobi, Dagara, Bassa, W�, Dan, Dida, Yoruba, Nupe, Ibo, Mumuye, Chamba, Ekoi, Kirdi, Namji, Bamileke...
Arts du Congo: Boma, Vili, Yombe, Woyo, Teke, Yaka, Suku, Pende, Wongo, Mbala, Holo, Tshokwe, Lwena-Lunda, Lwalu, Lulua, Salampasu, Kuba, Lele, Binji, Mbagani, Ndengese, Luba, Hemba, Kusu, Songye, Tabwa, Lega , Bembe, Ngbaka, Vira ... (coll. Bronson)
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Turkana, Maasai, Makonde, Zulu...

Los Angeles
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History
UCLA Campus, Sunset Boulevard, Westwood Plaza entrance
ma-di 12-17 (je 12-20)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidjogo, Baga, Bullom, Bankoni, Bamana, Gurunsi, Mossi, Bobo, Sapo, Dan, Bete, Baule, Ewe, Ga, Fanti, Ashanti, Bono, Tallensi, Konkomba...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Ishan, Ibo, Tiv, Urhobo, Ijo, Itsekiri, Ibibio, Ogoni, Benin, Ekoi, Ga'anda, Namji, Cham, Bena, Kanuri; Bamileke, Bamum, Tikar...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Punu, Njabi, Tsogo; Vili, Yombe, Salampasu, Mbole, Bembe, Yaka, Holo, Mbala, Kuba, Nsapo, Luba, Hemba, Lega, Boyo-Bembe, Ngbaka, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Baggara, Lozi, Mbaka, Makonde, Tsonga...

San Bernadino
Fullerton Art Museum - California State University
5500 University Parkway
lu-ve 9-16 (IX-VII)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Dogon, Mossi, Gurunsi, Bwa, Anyi, Yoruba... (Matthews Collection of African Art)

San Diego
Mingei International Museum of Folk Art
1439 El Prado (Balboa Park)
ma-di 10-16
Arts d'Afrique noire

San Francisco
Fine Arts Museum - de Young Memorial Museum
Golden Gate Park
ma-di 9.30-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sherbro, Mende, Landuman, Toma, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Gurunsi, Kru, Dan, Senufo, Baule...
Arts du Nigeria: Benin, Yoruba, Ijo, Ibo, Idoma, Igala, Ogoni, Mumuye, Chamba, Mambila... (coll.Heide) Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: masques des Grasslands, Fang...
Arts du Congo: Kamba, Kongo, Yombe, Yaka, Suku, Hemba, Tshokwe, Lega...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde...

Santa Ana
Bowers Museum of Cultural Art
2002 North Main Street
ma-di 10-16 (je 10-21)
Arts d'Afrique noire de la collection Tishman-Disney Corp. (Bafum, Yombe...): exposition "Power and Creation: Africa beyond the Nile", actuellement fermée.

Stanford
Iris & Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University
Lomita Drive at Museum Way
me-di 11-17 (je 10-20)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Dogon, Bamana, Bwa, Mossi, Loma, Bassa, We, Bete, Baule, Senufo, Lobi...
Arts du Nigeria, du Cameroun et du Tchad: Yoruba, Ibo, Igala, Ijo, Ibibio, Ogoni, Mama, Bamileke, Bangwa, Sao...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo et de Zambie: Kota, Punu, Sango, Tsogo, Vuvi, Fang; Vili, Yombe, Bembe, Yaka, Suku, Kwese, Pende, Kuba, Hemba, Luba, Songye, Tumbwe, Ngbaka, Tshokwe; Mbunda...
Arts d'Ethiopie et d'Afrique australe: Konso; Zulu...

Colorado

Denver
Denver Art Museum
100 W 14th Avenue Parkway
ma-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sherbro, Baga, Bamana, Nafana, Senufo, Baule, Ashanti, Ibo, Yoruba, Benin,Tikar, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang; Kongo, Yaka, Kuba, Luba, Songye, Ngombe... Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde...

Connecticut
New Haven
Yale University Art Gallery
1111 Chapel Street
ma-sa 10-17; di 14-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Mende, Temne, Loma, Mano, Kpelle, Dogon, Bamana, Marka, W�, Dan, Baule, Senufo, Ashanti, Fanti, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Owo, Ibo, Ijo, Ejagham, Mambila, Babanki, Mfunte...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Kota, Fang, Yombe, Kongo, Luba, Songye, Tabwa, Yaka, Suku, Nkanu, Pende, Tshokwe...
Arts d'Afrique australe et orientale: Zulu, Amhara...

Floride

Coral Gables-Miami
Lowe Art Museum - University of Miami
1301 Stanford Drive
ma-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Ibo, Ejagham... Arts d'Afrique orientale: Giryama...

Daytona Beach
Museum of Arts and Sciences
1040 Museum Boulevard
ma-ve 9-16 (je1 9-21); sa-di 12-17
Dans le cadre de l'exposition "Africa: Life and Ritual", arts du Congo: Yaka, Salampasu...;
arts d'Afrique occidentale: Temne, Dan, Touba, Bamana, Dogon, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Mumuye...

Gainesville
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art - University of Florida
SW 34th Street & Hull Road
ma-ve 11-17; sa 10-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique: Sherbro, Temne, Mende, Gola, Mossi, Gurunsi, Bwa, Lobi, Nafana, Dan, Mano, Baule, Guro, Senufo, Moba, Fanti, Fon, Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Chamba, Mambila, Kota, Beembe, Yaka, Zulu, Ndebele, Makonde, Amhara...(coll. McGalliard)

Ocala
Appleton Museum of Art
4333 E. Silver Springs Boulevard
ma-sa 10-16.30; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Bamana, Senufo, Baule, Yoruba... (coll. DuBois)

Orlando
Museum of Art
2416 North Mills Avenue
ma-sa 9-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bamana, Baule, Nafana, Benin, Yoruba, Ekoi, Ibibio, Ibo...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Zulu, Xhosa, Thembu, Ndebele...

Tampa
University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum
4202 East Fowler Avenue
ma-sa 9-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Baule, Ibibio, Edo, Ibo...

Géorgie

Albany
Albany Museum of Art
311 Meadowlark Drive
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-19); di 13-16
Exposition annuelle sur l'art, l'histoire et la civilisation des peuples d'Afrique

Athens
Georgia Museum of Art - University of Georgia
90 Carlton Street
ma-sa 10-17 (ve 10-21); di 13-17
Petite collection d'art africain

Atlanta
Michael C. Carlos Museum Emory University
571 Kilgo Street
lu-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Ibo, Ibibio, Idoma, Ogoni, Mambila (coll.Arnett ) et du reste de l'Afrique

Atlanta
The High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree Street NE
ma-sa 10-17 (ve 10-21); di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique: Baga, Mende, Bamana, Mossi, Winiama, Dan, Guro, Senufo, Yoruba, Ibo, Tiv, Fang, Kota, Kongo, Kuba, Metoko, Songye, Tshokwe... (coll. Richman)

Illinois

Champaign
Krannert Art Museum - University of Illinois
500 East Peabody Drive
ma-sa 10-17 (me 10-20); di 14-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Senufo, Dan, Yoruba, Ibibio...

Chicago
The Art Institute
111 South Michigan Avenue
lu-ve 10.30-16.30 (ma > 20) sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale (Baga, Djenne, Bankoni, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Bwa, Bobo, Senufo, Guro, Atye, Fanti, Akan, Yoruba, Benin, Mama...) et centrale (Kota, Hemba, Boa, Lulua, Mangbetu...)

Chicago
Field Museum of Natural History
Roosevelt Road/Lake Shore Drive
lu-di 9-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Mende, Temne, Baule, Ebrie, Akan, Moba...
Arts du Nigeria: Benin, Ibo, Ibibio, Bini, Yoruba, Ejagham ...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Babanki, Bali, Wum, Bamileke, Bamum, Duala, Eton, Kundu; Tsogo...
Arts du Congo et de l'Angola: Vili, Luba, Tshokwe, Songo, Kwese, Ngangela, Ovimbundu ...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Kikuyu ...

Peoria
Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences
1125 West Lake Avenue
ma-ve 11-17 (me 11-20); sa 10-17; di 12-17
Masques d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Bassa, Dan, Wè, Bwa, Senufo, Yoruba, Edo, Ogoni, Ibo, Widekum, Kom, Bali...

Urbana
Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois
600 S. Gregory Street
ma 12-17; me-ve 9-17; sa 10-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Guro, Yoruba (coll. Faletti) ... et du Congo: Kuba ...

Indiana

Bloomington
Indiana University Art Museum
East 7th Street
me-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Bidjogo, Loma, Djenne, Bankoni, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Bwa, Lobi, Senufo, Dan, Baule, Akan, Ashanti, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Edo, Benin, Owo, Ibo, Abua, Ibibio, Idoma, Igala, Tiv, Jukun, Kutep, Montol, Koro; Bangwa, Babanki, Bamileke, Kom, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Sango, Fang; Lumbo, Bembe, Yombe, Vili, Yaka, Suku, Pende, Kuba, Hemba, Songye, Salampasu, Mbagani, Holo, Tshokwe, Lulua, Ngbaka, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Zulu... (coll. Wielgus)

Bloomington
Indiana University's William H. Mathers Museum of World Cultures
416 North Indiana Avenue
ma-ve 9-16.30; sa-di 13-16.30
Arts de l'Afrique occidentale: Toma, Fulani, Baule, Senufo, Ashanti, Yoruba, Mumuye, Hausa, Bakwiri...
Arts et ethnographie du Congo et de l'Angola: Tetela, Ovimbundu...
Instruments de musique d'Afrique noire (coll. Boulton)

Indianapolis
Indianapolis Museum of Art (réouverture: 5.V.2005)
1200 West 38th Street
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-20.30) di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Senufo, Fon, Yoruba, Benin, Idoma, Akparabong, Yaka, Kuba, Luba, Iraqw, Beja... (coll. Eiteljorg)

Muncie
Ball State University Museum of Art
1200 West 38th Street
lu-ve 9-16.30; sa-di 13.30-16.30
Arts d'Afrique noire: Mende, Bamana, We, Baule, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Bamileke, Fang, Kuba...

Notre Dame
Snite Museum of Art - University of Notre Dame
Moose Krause Drive (Univ. Campus)
ma-me 10-16; je-sa 10-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sapi, Bassa, Djenne, Dogon, Bamana, Dan, Guro, Baule, Lobi, Fon, Akan...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Owo, Eket, Ibo, Hausa, Cham, Mama...
Arts d'Afrique centrale et australe: Luba, Herero...
Exposition de pipes africaines (Cameroun, Nigeria, Gabon, Congo)

Iowa

Des Moines
Des Moines Art Center
4700 Grand Avenue
ma-sa 11-16 (je+ve 11-21) di 12-16
Arts du Nigeria: Igala, Ekpeye, Mambila... (The Julian and Irma Brody Collection)

Iowa City
University of Iowa Museum of Art
150 N. Riverside Drive
ma-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Wodaabe, Bidjogo, Baga, Mende, Djenne, Bamana, Dogon, Mossi, Gurunsi, Bwa, Bobo, Tusyan, Lobi, Dan, Bassa, Senufo, Baule, Yaure, Guro, Anyi, Ashanti, Fanti...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Ibibio, Idoma, Ekoi, Bangwa, Babanki, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Tsogo, Kota, Vuvi, Punu, Kwele; Yombe, Vili, Solongo, Songo, Dinga, Tshokwe, Lwena, Mbala, Yaka, Lula, Pende, Hungaan, Kuba, Lulua, Salampasu, Lwalu, Mbagani, Songye, Luba, Hemba, Bangubangu, Kusu, Bembe, Holoholo, Tabwa, Rungu, Mbole, Lega, Boa, Ngbandi, Mangbetu, Zande, Lobala...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Masai, Haya, Zaramo, Nyamwezi, Maravi, Makonde...(coll. Stanley; coll. Coudron)

Kansas

Wichita
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art. Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount
lu-sa 12-17
Arts d'Afrique noire (coll. Klein), présentés en expositions temporaires

Kentucky

Louisville
The J.B. Speed Art Museum
2033 South Third Street
ma-ve 10.30-16 (je 10.30-20); sa 10.30-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Yoruba, Bini, Fang, Kuba...

Louisiane

New Orleans
Amistad Research Center's Art Collections. Tulane University
6823 St. Charles Avenue - Tilton Hall
lu-sa 9-16.30
Textiles Kuba. Arts décoratifs d'Afrique occidentale

New Orleans
New Orleans Museum of Art
1 Collins Diboll Circle
ma-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sapi, Mende, Loma, Bamana, Dogon, Djenne, Tusyan, Mossi, Lobi, Dan, Fon, Baule, Akan...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Nok, Ibo, Oron, Ejagham, Bangwa...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Punu, Kota, Bembe, Yombe, Tshokwe, Hemba, Luba, Tabwa...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Sukuma...

Maine

Orono
Hudson Museum of Anthropology - University of Maine
5746 Maine Center for the Arts
ma-ve 9-16; sa-di 11-16
Arts et ethnographie de l'Afrique tribale

Portland
The Museum of African Culture
122 Spring Street
ma-sa 11-19; di 12-18
Masques du Nigeria (Ibo) et du Congo

Maryland

Baltimore
Baltimore Museum of Art
Art Museum Drive
me-ve 10-16; sa-di 11-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Sapi, Mende, Bamana, Mossi, Kurumba, Senufo, Dan, Wè...
Arts du Nigeria, du Cameroun et du Gabon: Yoruba, Ibibio, Idoma, Igala; Bafo, Fang...
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Kongo, Zombo, Kuba, Songye, Luba, Tshokwe, Lwena, Luchazi, Ovimbundu ... (coll. Wurtzburger)

College Park
University of Maryland Art Gallery
College Park Campus
lu-ve 12-16 (je 12.21); sa-di 12-17 (fermé l'été)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Bamana, Dan, Baule, Yoruba...

Massachusetts

Amherst
Mead Art Museum. Amherst College
Amherst College. Routes 9 x 116
ma-ve 10-16.30 (je 10-21); sa-di 13-17. Eté: ma-di 13-16
Arts d'Afrique noire: masques et Objets de divination (collection Barry D. Maurer) d'Afrique occidentale: Lobi, Senufo, Baule, Yoruba...
et du Congo: Yaka, Suku, Pende, Tshokwe, Kongo, Ngongo, Kuba, Lele, Wongo, Ding, Lwalwa, Luba, Hemba, Kusu, Bemba, Songye, Kumu, Ngbaka...

Boston
Museum of Fine Arts. Carter and Brown Galleries
465 Huntington Avenue
lu-ma 10-16.45; me-ve 10-21.45; sa-di 10-17.45
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sapi, Mende, Vai, Toma, Bamana, Dogon, Djenne, Malinke, Dan, Senufo, Baule, Attie, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Ife, Nok, Edo, Eket, Oron, Ibo, Ijo, Chamba, Jukun, Mambila, Bamileke, Babanki, Kom, Kirdi, Duala...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Punu; Kongo, Mbole, Teke, Pende, Hungaan, Kuba, Luba, Hemba, Songye, Bembe, Tshokwe, Mangbetu, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique australe et de Madagascar: Zulu, Xhosa, Sakalava... (coll. Teel)

Cambridge
Harvard University - Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology - Museum of Cultural & Natural History
11 Divinity Avenue 26 Oxford Street
lu-sa 9-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale et du Gabon: Bullom, Vai, Dida, Kran, Dan, Wè, Senufo, Benin, Ijo...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bamileke, Fang...
Arts d'Afrique centrale: Kongo, Yaka, Kuba, Luba, Kaniok, Songye, Mongo, Mangbetu, Tshokwe, Songo, Lwena, Ovimbundu, Tutsi, Teriki...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Lozi, Shona...

Northampton
Smith College Museum of Art
Elm Street (Bedford Terrace)
IX-VI: ma+ve-sa 9.30-16; me+di 12-16; je 12-20; été: ma-di 12-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale (Mende, Fon; Yoruba...). Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Luba, Songye, Holo...)

Salem
Peabody Essex Museum
East India Square
lu-sa 10-17 (ve 10-20); di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Kissi, Sherbro, Mende, Kru, Bamana, Dogon, Senufo, Ashanti, Ga, Yoruba, Ijo...
Arts du Congo: Teke, Bembe, Vili, Kongo, Yaka, Kuba, Hemba, Mangbetu, Mongo, Tshokwe, Ovimbundu
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Amhara, Boni, Kikuyu, Masai, Nyamwezi; Nyanja, Shona, Lozi, Tswana, Nguni, Zulu...

Wellesley
Davis Museum and Cultural Center - Wellesley College
106 Central Street
ma-sa 11-17 (me-je 11-20); di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire (Baga, Dogon, Ashanti, Benin...) dans le cadre de l'exposition "African Art In / Out of Context"

Williamstown
Williams College Museum of Art
Main Street
ma-sa 10-17; di 13-17
Masques africains (Nafana, Yoruba, Ibo, Kuba...)

Michigan

Ann Arbor
University of Michigan Museum of Art. Curtis Gallery
525 South State Street
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-21); di 12-17 été: ma-sa 11-17 (je 11-21); di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Dogon, Bozo, Baule, Yoruba, Ibo, Wum...
Arts d'Afrique centrale et orientale: Teke, Vili, Dondo, Kuba, Zela, Lega, Luba, Songye (Collection Helmut F. Stern), Salampasu, Tabwa; Haya, Kamba...

Detroit
Detroit Institute of Art
5200 Woodward Avenue
me-ve 11-16 sa-di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Djenne, Bamana, Dogon, Bwa, Mossi, Dan, Senufo, Baule, Guro, Nafana, Akye, Ashanti, Fanti, Bono...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Owo, Ibo, Ibibio,Mumuye; Bamileke, Bali, Babanki, Tikar Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Tsogo, Vuvi; Bembe, Kunyi, Vili, Yombe, Kuba, Hungaan, Tshokwe, Songye, Lega, Luba, Hemba, Lulua, Yaka, Pende, Zande, Mangbetu, Barambo...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Giriama, Makonde; Lozi, Ovimbundu, Ngoni, Shona, Tsonga, Ndebele...

East Lansing
Kresge Art Museum - Michigan State University Museum
West Circle Drive
lu-ve 9-17; sa 10-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Limba, Temne, Mende, Bwa, Nuna, Touareg, Ashanti, Fanti, Yoruba, Ibo
Arts décoratifs d'Afrique orientale et australe: Borana, Harari, Somali, Tutsi, Zulu

Flint
Flint Institute of Arts
1120 East Kearsley Street
ma-sa 10-17; di 13-17 (fermé pour rénovation)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale (collection G. Mennen Williams)

Minnesota

Minneapolis
Minneapolis Institute of Arts - McKnight Gallery
2400 Third Avenue South
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-21) di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Dogon-Djennenke, Bwa, Baule, Ligbi, Lobi, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ife, Benin, Nok, Ijo, Ekoi, Djibete, Bamileke...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Kota, Teke, Yombe, Kuba, Tshokwe, Lwena, Luba, Tabwa, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Giryama, Makonde

Missouri

Columbia
University of Missouri Museum of Art & Archaeology
Francis Quadrangle 9th Avenue / University Avenue
ma-ve 9-17 (+ je 18-21); sa-di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale et centrale: Dogon, Marka, Ashanti, Tshokwe...

Kansas City
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
4525 Oak Street
ma-je 10-16; ve 10-21 sa 10-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Senufo, Baule, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Eket, Urhobo, Benin, Efut, Bamileke, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Teke, Tshokwe, Luntu, Lulua, Songye, Hemba...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Makonde, Zulu...

Saint Louis
Saint Louis Art Museum
1 Fine Arts Drive Forest Park
ma 13.30-20-30; me-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Djenne, Mossi, Guro, Fon, Ibo, Eket...
Arts du Congo: Tshokwe, Kuba, Yaka, Suku...

Nebraska

Lincoln
University of Nebraska State Museum
307 Morrill Hall
ma-sa 9.30-16.30; di 13.30-16.30
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire: Senufo, Yoruba, Ibo, Songye, Salampasu, Masai...

New Hampshire

Hanover
Hood Museum of Art - Dartmouth College
Wheelock Street
ma-sa 10-17 di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Touba, Bamana, Dogon, Senufo, Guro, Baule, Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Ijo, Ejagham, Fulani, Babanki...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Punu, Yombe, Kongo, Luba, Yaka... Arts de l'Afrique orientale et australe: Bukede, Kikuyu, Shambaa, Makonde, Shona, Zulu...

New Jersey

Newark
Newark Museum
49 Washington Str.
me-di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Wodaabe, Djerma, Bamana, Dan, Senufo, Lobi, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo...
Arts du Cameroun et du Congo: Bamileke, Bamum; Kongo, Kuba (sculptures et tissus)... Arts d'Afrique australe: Xhosa

Princeton
Princeton University Art Museum
University Campus
ma-sa 10-17 di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Ebrie, Akan, Nok, Ejagham, Efut, Bamileke...
Arts du Congo, d'Afrique orientale et australe: Kuba, Lwalwa, Pende, Tshokwe, Ngombe, Ganda, Nguni...

Tenafly
SMA African Art Museum
23 Bliss Avenue
lu-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Kissi, Dogon, Dan, Wè, Baule, Senufo, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Ibibio...
Arts du Congo, d'Afrique orientale et australe: Tshokwe, Yaka, Lele, Ngbaka; Kwere; Zulu...

New Mexico

Albuquerque
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. University of New Mexico
University & Ash N.E.
lu-ve 9-16; sa 10-16; di 12.16
Ethnographie des 5 continents

Santa Fe
Museum of International Folk Art
706 Camino Lejo
ma-di 10-17
Arts décoratifs des 5 continents: textiles Shoowa; chapeaux Tikar, Bekom, Bamenda; masques Bamileke, Songye; perlages Kuba; bouclier Tutsi...

New York

Buffalo
Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Parkway
ma-di 10-17 (ve 11-22)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidjogo, Baga, Bamana, Dogon, Mende, Dan, Yaure, Baule, Akye, Ashanti, Senufo ...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Ejagham, Kongo, Bamileke...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kuyu, Kota; Punu, Lumbo, Kongo, Yaka, Suku, Kuba, Wongo, Hungaan, Lulua, Luba, Songye, Lega, Pende, Mangbetu, Tshokwe...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde...

Hamilton
Longyear Museum of Anthropology. Colgate University. Alumni Hall
Colgate University's campus. Route 12B (Broad Street)
lu-ve 9.30-16.30 (fermé durant les vacances universitaires
Arts et ethnographie d'Afrique noire: Bassa, Baule, Guro, Ibo, Kuba... (collection Copen)

Ithaca
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art - Cornell University
Cornell University Campus
Corner of Central & University Av.
ma-di 10-17
Sculptures et textiles d'Afrique noire (Bamana, Baule, Fanti...)

New York
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
di-je 10-17.45 ve-sa 10-20.45
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Baule, Senufo, Fon, Benin, Ibo, Tiv, Bamileke, Wum...
Arts du Congo: Pende, Kongo, Poto, Luba, Mbole, Ngala, Yangere, Mangbetu, Zande (coll. Lang)...
Arts de Zambie: Lozi, Mbunda...

New York
The Brooklyn Museum of Art
200 Eastern Parkway
me-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidjogo, Baga, Landuman, Dogon, Bankoni, Bamana, Mossi, Bobo, Lobi, Senufo, Wè, Baule, Guro, Ligbi, Fon, Yoruba, Ibo, Benin, Ife, Bamum, Bagirmi...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Tsogo, Lumbo, Teke, Kuba, Yombe, Kunyi, Yaka, Hungaan, Pende, Lulua, Nsapo, Luba, Salampasu, Kusu, Lega, Ngbaka...
Arts d'Angola et du Mozambique: Tshokwe, Imbangala, Makonde...

New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art - Museum of Primitive Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
ma-je + di 9.30-17.15; ve-sa 9.30-20.45
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Landuman, Baga, Toma, Sapi, Kissi, Mende, Soninke, Dogon, Djenne, Bamana, Malinke, Mossi, Kurumba, Gurunsi, Bwa, Bobo, Senufo, Tusyan, Mende, Dan, Wè, Kru, Baule, Yaure, Guro, Ebrie, Atye, Ashanti, Anyi, Akan, Bron, Ewe, Moba, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria: Benin et Owo (coll. Perls), Esie, Yoruba, Ijo, Ogoni, Ibibio, Urhobo, Ibo, Igala, Idoma, Jompre, Jaba, Igbira, Ekoi, Boki, Mumuye, Mambila,Widekum, Keaka...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bangwa, Bamum, Tikar, Bamileke, Kom; Ambete, Fang, Kota, Kwele...
Arts du Congo: Kuyu, Lumbo, Vili, Yombe, Sundi, Teke, Ndengese, Lwalu, Lega, Salampasu, Lulua, Luba, Songye, Mbole, Tabwa, Bembe, Goma, Suku, Yaka, Tshokwe, Boyo...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde...

New York
Museum for African Art
36-01 43rd Avenue, Long Island City (2002-2005)
ma-ve 10.30-17.30; sa 12-20; di 12-18
Expositions temporaires d'art africain

New York
Queensborough Community College Art Gallery. City University of New York
56th Avenue Bayside
ma-ve 10-17 (me-je 10-21); sa-di 12-17
Exposition permanente "African Art: Highlights from the Gallery's Permanent Collection"

New York
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The New York Public Library - Exposition "The Schomburg Legacy"
515 Malcolm X Boulevard
lu-ve 10-16.45
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Vai, Fanti, Hausa, Tigong (coll. Herskovits)...
Arts du Congo: Tshokwe, Songye, Mangbetu...

New York
The Studio Museum in Harlem
144 West 125th Street
me-ve 10-17; sa-di 13-18
Arts afro-américains. Arts traditionnels d'Afrique noire (Kota...)
Purchase. Westchester County
Neuberger Museum of Art. Purchase College. State Univ. of New York
Purchase College Campus
Lincoln Avenue
ma-ve 10-16; sa-di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique noire (coll. Hirschberg, Neuberger, Gussman). Exposition "Object and Intellect"

Rochester
University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery
500 University Avenue
me-ve 10-16 (je 12-21) sa-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Bamana, Baoule, Ashanti, Yoruba...

Syracuse
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison Street
ma-ve + di 12-17; sa 10-17
Arts d'Afrique noire

North Carolina

Chapel Hill
Ackland Art Museum - University of North Carolina
University Campus
ma-sa 10-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afriqueoccidentale: Mende, Dogon, Bamana, Lobi, Senufo, Baule, Yoruba, Ibo, Urhobo, Nok, Bini, Mambila, Mumuye, Montol, Ekoi
Arts du Congo: Teke, Kongo, Yaka, Suku, Kete, Songye, Lega (exposés dans le cadre des expositions temporaires)

Charlotte
Mint Museum of Art
2730 Randolph Road
ma 10-20; me-sa 10-17; di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique: Bamana, Dakakari, Ashanti, Yoruba, Bamileke, Luba...

Durham
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
Duke University Central Campus
Duke University Road x Anderson Street
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-21); di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale (Dogon, Mende, Dan, Mano, Wè...; coll. Harley)
Arts du Nigeria (Ibo, Yoruba...)

Greensboro
Guilford College Art Gallery
5800 West Friendly Avenue
lu-ve 9-17; di 14-17
Collection Maness d'arts Arts de l'Afrique occidentale et centrale (non exposée en permanence): Mende, Bamana, Dogon, Mossi, Lobi, Senufo, Dan, Baule, Kulango, Bono, Ashanti, Ewe, Fanti, Yoruba, Ibibio; Kongo, Holo, Yaka, Pende, Kuba, Lega, Luba, Zande.

Greenville
Ledonia Wright Cultural Center
Bloxton House. East Carolina University Campus
lu-ve 8-17
Exposition par roulement des collections africaines de la School of Art:
Arts et ethnographie du Congo (coll. Lanckton: Binji, Budja, Bushoong, Dengese, Kuba, Hemba, Lega, Lele, Lulua, Mbole, Ngbaka, Pende, Songye, Teke, Yaka, Zande), d'Afrique occidentale (Agni, Ashanti, Bamana, Baule, Bwa, Dan, Ekoi, Fanti, Guro, Gurunsi, Hausa, Ibo, Lobi, Mambila, Mossi, Mumuye, Senufo, Urhobo, Yoruba) ; parures d'Afrique orientale (Masai, Pokot, Samburu, Turkana)

Raleigh
North Carolina Museum of Art
2110 Blue Ridge Road
ma-sa 9-17 (ve 9-21); di 11-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale (Bamana, Yoruba, Ijo, Nok...) et du Congo ( Kongo, Luba, Kuba...)

Wilmington
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington Museum of World Cultures (expositions temporaires dans les bâtiments de l'Université)
601 College Road
périodes et heures d'ouverture de l'Université
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Touareg, Fanti, Ashanti, Ewe, Yoruba, Nupe, Ibo, Benin, Ejagham...
Arts du Congo: Kuba, Mbala, Pende, Luluwa, Tabwa, Mangbetu, Luo...

Ohio

Athens
Ohio University African Art Collection. Alden Library (3d floor)
Ohio University Campus
lu-sa 10-22; di 12-24
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Fon, Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa, Kirdi, Gwari, Kalabari...
Arts du Congo: Tshokwe, Kuba, Pende, Yaka...

Cincinnati
Cincinnati Art Museum
953 Eden Park Drive
ma-sa 10-17; di 12-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mossi, Dafing, Bamana, Wè, Baule, Yoruba, Duala...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo (coll. Steckelmann): Lumbo, Punu, Vili, Kongo, Woyo, Teke, Kuba ... Art du Soudan: Baggara...

Cleveland
Cleveland Museum of Art
University Circle 11150 East Boulvd
ma -di 10-17 (me+ve 10-20) (collections du mus�e provisoirement ferm�es)
Collections d'art africain (274 Ïuvres en ligne:
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Kissi, Djenne, Dogoon, Bamana, Malinke, Nuna, Senufo, Baule, Akan, Ashanti, Fanti...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Nupe, Benin, Nok, Ibo, Ijo, Ibibio, Ogoni, Ejagham, Bamileke...
Arts du Congo, de Zambie et du Mozambique: Ndjabi, Yombe, Yaka, Kuba, Hemba, Songye, Sikasingo, Mangbetu, Zande, Tshokwe, Lozi, Makonde...

Dayton
Dayton Art Institute
456 Belmonte Park North
lu-di 9-17
Arts d'Afrique noire (Djenne, Hemba, Lulua, Lobala...)

Oberlin
Allen Memorial Art Museum - Oberlin College
87 North Main Street
ma-sa 10-17; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Sapi, Wè, Benin, Pende...

Toledo
Toledo Museum of Art
2445 Monroe Street
ma-sa 10-16; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Baule, Owo, Yoruba, Kuba... Textiles du Mali

Wooster
The College of Wooster Art Museum. Ebert Art Center
1220 Beall Avenue
lu-ve 10.30-16.30; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Baga, Mende, Dan, Dogon, Senufo, Ashanti, Kuba, Salampasu... (Coll. Mithoefer & Kloeters; présentation dans le cadre d'expositions temporaires)

Oklahoma

Tulsa
Philbrook Museum of Art
2727 South Rockford Road
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-20); di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Guro, Senufo, Benin, Fang, Mbuun, Shona...

Oregon

Portland
Portland Art Museum
1219 South West Park Avenue
ma-di 10-17 (je 10-21)
Art du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Benin, Mambila, Mburi, Mbembe, Tigong, Mbum, Kaka, Saam, Anterre, Kirdi, Bamum, Bamileke, Widekum, Mfunte, Tikar, Kom...(coll. Gebauer)

Pennsylvanie

Merion Station
Barnes Foundation
300 North Latch's Lane
ve-sa 10-16; di 13-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bamana, Dan, Senufo, Baule, Yaure, Guro...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang , Kota, Punu, Kuba, Lulua...

Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
ma-sa 10-16.30 di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Temne. Mende, Baga, Bamana, Dogon, Mossi, Dan, Senufo, Guro, Baule, Atye...
Arts du Nigeria: Benin, Owo, Yoruba, Ejagham, Ibo, Ijo...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota,Galoa, Punu; Teke, Bwende, Vili, Yombe, Suku, Hungaan, Luba, Pende, Kuba, Ndengese, Songye, Tetela, Mbole
Arts d'Afrique australe: Sotho, Mahafaly...

Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museum of Art
4400 Forbes Avenue
ma-sa 10-17.30; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire

State College
Palmer Museum of Art. Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University Park
Curtain Road
ma-sa 10-16.30; di 12-16
Arts d'Afrique noire. Poids à peser l'or Akan (coll. Mattil)

Rhode Island

Bristol
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology - Brown University
Tower Street
VI-VIII ma-di 11-17 IX-V sa-di 11-17
Exposition permanente African Worlds, African Art: The William W. Brill Collection
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidjogo, Toma, Djenne, Dogon, Bozo, Dan, Senufo, Lobi, Baule, Agni, Akan, Ashanti, Yoruba, Benin, Ibibio, Anyang, Kom...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Kota, Kwese, Vili, Yombe, Nsapo, Tshokwe, Luba, Mangbetu...

Tennessee

Memphis
Art Museum of the University of Memphis
3750 Norrriswood
lu-sa 9-17
"Neil Nokes Spirit of Africa Collection": arts de l'Afrique de l'Ouest: Dogon, Baga, Mende, Dan, Mano, Grebo, Anyi, Senufo, Yoruba, Ibo...

Nashville
Fisk University Art Galleries. The Aaron Douglas Gallery
1000 17th Avenue North
ma-ve 10-17; sa-di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire

Nashville
Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery
23rd & West End Avenues
lu-ve 12-16; sa-di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Pende... (coll. Marlowe)

Texas

Cleburne
Robert J. Terry Library. Texas Southern University
Robert J. Terry Building
lu-ve 8-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Yoruba, Kongo, Kuba...

Dallas
Dallas Museum of Art
1717 North Harwood
ma-va 11-16 (je 11-21); sa-di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Toma, Dogon, Bamana, Marka, Bozo, Bwa, Kurumba, Lobi, Nafana, Senufo, Baule, Guro, Akan, Ashanti, Fanti, Owo, Benin, Nok, Ibo, Ibibio, Oron, Mumuye, Kenga...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Sango, Tsogho, Aduma, Kwele, Bembe, Vili, Yombe, Pende, Suku, Tshokwe, Biombo, Kuba, Luba, Hemba, Tabwa, Songye, Lengola, Lega, Zande... (coll. Stillman; coll. Schindler)

Fort Worth
Kimbell Art Museum
3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard
ma-sa 10-17 (ve 12-20) di 12-17
Arts du Nigeria, du Congo et de Tanzanie: Ife, Benin; Tshokwe, Hemba, Songye, Yombe; Makonde...

Houston
The Menil Collection
1509 Sul Ross
me-di 11-19
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Dogon, Djenne, Bamana, Mossi, Kurumba, Baule, Senufo, Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Jukun, Mumuye, Mboi, Wum, Sao...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo et du Soudan: Kota, Yaka, Kongo, Lega, Tabwa, Boyo, Mangbetu, Bongo...

Houston
Museum of Fine Arts. Caroline Wiess Law Building
1001 Bissonnet at Main
ma-sa 10-17 (je 10-21) di 12.15-18
Arts d'Afrique noire: Dogon, Baule, Senufo, Akan (coll. Glassell), Ashanti, Bono, Nok, Yoruba, Ekpeye, Benin, Chamba, Bamileke, Ekonda, Kuba...

Utah

Salt Lake City
Utah Museum of Fine Arts - University of Utah
1530 E.S.. Campus Drive (400 S.)
lu-ve 10-17; sa-di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale et du Congo: Baule...; Kuba, Luba, Pende, Tshokwe...

Vermont

Burlington
Robert Hull Fleming Museum. University of Vermont
61 Colchester Avenue
ma-ve 9-16 (V-IX: 12-16); sa-di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Benin, Nguni...

Virginia

Charlottesville
University of Virginia Art Museum
Rugby Road
ma-di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale et du Congo: Bamana, Yoruba, Ibo, Mambila...; Kuba, Teke, Lega, Tshokwe... (présentés dans le cadre d'expositions temporaires)

Hampton
Hampton University Museum
Corner of Marshall & Shore
lu-ve 8-17; sa-di 12-16
Arts du Congo: Kongo, Kuba (textiles et ouvrages perlés), Luba, Songye, Mangbetu, Ngala...
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baule, Akan, Yoruba; arts du Kenya: Kikuyu, Giriama... (collections)

Norfolk
Chrysler Museum of Art
245 W. Olney Road
ma-sa 10-16; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire

Norfolk
Lois E. Woods Museum. Norfolk State University
Norfolk State University Campus
2401 Corprew Avenue
lu-ve 10-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Bamana, Bobo, Mossi, Senufo, Baule, Ashanti...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Ibo, Urhobo, Mumuye, Ekoi, Bamileke, Bamessing, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Tshokwe, Hemba, Shoowa...

Richmond
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
2800 Grove Avenue
ma-di 11-17 (je 11-20)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Djenne, Gurunsi, Mende, Bwa, Senufo, Baule, Akan, Ashanti...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Ibo, Benin, Bamileke...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Punu, Kongo, Woyo, Yombe, Yaka, Kuba, Hemba, Luba, Lega...

Washington

Seattle
Seattle Art Museum
100 University Street
ma-di 10-17 (je 10-21)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Bidjogo, Sapi, Bullom, Mende, Toma, Bamana, Marka, Dogon, Nuna, Mossi, Bwa, Bobo, Tusyan, Lobi, Senufo, Kulango, Dan, Wè, Guro, Baule, Anyi, Atye, Akan, Ashanti, Fanti...
Arts du Nigeria et Cameroun: Benin, Yoruba, Urhobo, Ibo, Ibibio, Oron, Igala, Ejagham, Montol, Mama, Mumuye, Mambila, Kaka, Widekum; Kom, Wum, Bamileke, Kossi, Kundu ...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Kongo, Yombe, Vili, Suku, Yaka, Tshokwe, Luba, Hemba, Lulua, Tumbwe, Songye, Lega, Ngbaka... (coll. White)

Tacoma
Robert A.L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific Lutheran University
lu-ve 10-12 / 13-16
Arts et répliques d'Afrique occidentale (Landuman, Dogon, Bamana, Gurunsi, Senufo, Dan, Baule, Yoruba, Ibo, Bamum) et du Congo (Yaka, Kete, Hemba, Songye) (coll. Lehmann)

Washington DC

Washington DC
Howard University Gallery of Art
2400 Sixth Street NW
Arts d'afrique noire: Baga, Yoruba, Tshokwe...

Washington DC
Kreeger Museum
2401 Foxhall Road NW
ma-sa 10.30 & 13.30 (visite guidée uniquement; durée 1 h. 30; réservation nécessaire: 202-338-3552)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Nalu, Mende, Bamana, Mossi, Bwa, We, Baule, Guro, Senufo, Yaure, Akan, Ibo
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Punu, Fang, Kota, Bembe, Kuba, Luba, Songye (coll. Kreeger)

Washington DC
National Museum of African Art - Smithsonian Institution
950 Independence Avenue S.W.
lu-di 10-17.30
Expositions permanentes: "Images of Power & Identity" / "Royal Benin Art" / "Art of the Personal Object"
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Mende, Bamana, Djenne, Marka, Kurumba, Mossi, Bobo, Ligbi, Senoufo, Malinke, Baule, Akan, Ashanti, Ewe, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Igala, Chamba, Mama, Ejagham, Koro, Bamum... Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Kota; Yombe, Vili, Teke, Bembe, Yaka, Lele, Lega, Luba, Ngombe, Zande, Tabwa, Tshokwe, Lunda,
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Bisa, Boni, Ganda, Nyoro, Kamba, Jiji, Kwere, Luguru...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Chopi, Tonga, Sotho...
Textiles africains (coll. Lamb)

Wisconsin

Beloit
Logan Museum of Anthropology - Beloit College
Bushnell Avenue / College Street
ma-di 11-16 (IX-VI)
"African Artifacts" (Nigeria, Sudan...)

Madison
Chazen Museum of Art - University of Wisconsin
800 University Avenue
lu-ve 9-17; sa-di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bamana, Yoruba...

L'Afrique

Afrique du Sud

Cape Town
South African National Gallery
Government Avenue
ma-di 10-17
Arts de la perle / Expositions temporaires

Cape Town
Gold of Africa Museum. Martin Melck House
96 Strand Street
Bijoux d'or d'Afrique de l'Ouest (coll Barbier-Mueller); objets d'or des civilisations d'Afrique australe

Cape Town - Gardens
South African Museum
25 Queen Victoria Street
lu-di 10-17
Ethnographie et archéologie de l'Afrique australe: terres cuites de Lydenburg, San (peintures rupestres), Zimbabwe, Tsonga, Khoikhoi, Sotho, Nguni, Shona, Lovedu... Exposition "Ulwazi Lwemvelo - Indigenous Knowledge in South Africa"

Cape Town - Rosebank
University of Cape Town Irma Stern Museum
Cecil Road
ma-sa 10-17
Arts de Zanzibar et du Congo: Lega, Luba ...

Durban
Art Gallery
City Hall
lu-sa 8.30-16; di 11-16
Vanneries, céramiques et ouvrages de perles Zulu

Durban
Campbell Collections - Mashu Museum of Ethnology
220 Marriott Rd.
sur rendez-vous
Ethnographie des Zoulous; peintures de Barbara Tyrell (costumes d'Afrique du Sud)

East London
East London Museum
319 Oxford Street
lu-ve 9.30-17; sa 9.30-12
Ethnographie régionale (Xhosa...); ouvrages de perles des Nguni méridionaux

Eshowe (KwaZulu-Natal)
Vukani Museum
Nongqayi Road
ma-je 9-13
Art et artisanat des Zoulous: corbeilles, perlages, poteries (Lofroth collection)

Grahamstown
Albany Museum. Natural Sciences and History Museums
Somerset Street
lu-ve 9-13 / 14-17; sa-di 14-17
Archéologie de la Province orientale du Cap

Johannesburg
MuseuMAfricA
Newtown Cultural Precinct
Bree Street
ma-ve 9-17
Histoire culturelle de l'Afrique australe. Peintures rupestres (Museum of South African Rock Art)

Johannesburg
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Joubert Park
Klein + King George Street
ma-di 10-17
Arts de l'Afrique australe : Ndebele, Venda, Sotho, Nguni, Tsonga, Swazi, Lovedu, Bushman, Tswana, Shona, Chopi, Lozi, Kamba, Kwere, Makonde, Lwimbi ... (coll. Jaques; Lowen/Brenthurst; Horstmann)

Johannesburg
University of Witwatersand Art Galleries - Gertrude Posel Gallery
University of the Witwatersand
Senate House
ma-ve 10-16
Expositions permanentes: "Convention, Context, Change" & "The Rock Art of Southern Africa: Changing Perceptions"
Arts de l'Afrique australe: Ndebele, Tsonga, Zulu, Pedi, Venda, Shona, Lovedu, Xhosa, Ndau, Ntwana...
Art rupestre de l'Afrique australe

Middelburg (Mpumalanga)
Botshabelo Mission Station - Botshabelo Open-air Museum
Architecture traditionnelle des Ndebele (musée de plein air)

Pietermaritzburg
Natal Museum
237 Loop Street
lu-sa 9-16.30; di 14-17
Archéologie et ethnogaphie de l'Afrique australe: San, Tsonga/Nguni, Sotho... Ethnographie du Ghana: Ashanti

Port Elizabeth
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum
1 Park Drive
lu + me-ve 9-17; ma + sa-di 14-17
Arts de la perle en Afrique australe: Xhosa, Mfengu, Pondo, Tembu, Sotho...

Pretoria
Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology - University of South Africa
UNISA Campus
lu-ve 8-16
Ethnographie et arts décoratifs de l'Afrique australe: Sotho, Swazi, Ndebele, Venda, Tsonga (coll. Junod), Chopi, Xhosa, Pedi, Lozi... Peintures rupestres (San)

Stellenbosch
Sasol Art Museum
52 Ryneveld Street
ma-ve 9-16; sa 9-17; di 14-17
Ethnographie et arts de l'Afrique australe (Nguni, Sotho, Venda, Shona, Ambo, San, Chewa) et occidentale (Tiv)

Ulundi - Ondini
Kwazulu Cultural Museum
King Cetshwayo Highway
lu-di 9-16
Ethnographie et arts des Zulu

Angola

Chitato (Lunda Norte)
Museu do Dundo
Arts et ethnographie de la province du Dundo: Tshokwe, Lwena, Songo...

Luanda
Museu Nacional de Antropologia
Avenida de Portugal 61
ma-sa 8.30-12.30 / 14.30-17
Arts et ethnographie de l'Angola: Yombe, Solongo, Yaka, Tshokwe, Songo, Ovimbundu, Nyaneka (Mwila, Humbe), Kwanyama, Khoisan...

Bénin

Abomey
Musée Historique / Historical Museum
Place Sing bo dji
lu-di 9-18
Architecture et arts royaux des Fon

Porto-Novo
Mus�e ethnographique Alexandre S�nou Adand�
Arts et ethnographie du Bénin méridional: Yoruba, Fon... Instruments de musique
lu-di 8-12 / 15-18.30

Botswana

Gaborone
Botswana National Museum
331 Independence Avenue
Arts d'Afrique de l'Ouest: Mende, Bamana, Dogon, Bwa, Kurumba, Baule, Fon, Yoruba, Ibibio... Arch�ologie et arts du Botswana: Yei, Bobonong, Mbukushu, Herero, Tawana, Nkgalagadi, Ngwato, Subiya, Nndandzwa...

Burkina Faso

Bobo Dioulasso
Musée Provincial du Houët
Place de la Nation
ma-sa 9-12 / 15.30-18; di 9-13
Ethnographie et arts des Bobo, des Senufo et des Peul

Gaoua
Musée des Civilisations du sud-ouest
Colline du pouvoir
ma-di 8-12.30
Ethnographie et arts de la province du Poni: Lobi, Dagara, Gan...

Kaya
Musée du Sanmatenga
Ethnographie et arts de la province de Kaya: arts du tissage et de la maroquinerie
ma-sa 8-12 / 15.30-18

Manega
Musée de la Bendrologie (Musée Belen-Yegre)
Coutumes funéraires du pays Mossi et alentours (pierres tombales Yakouga, masques, sculptures...; terres cuites de la vallée du Niger), Masques Mossi, Bwa, Nuna, Bobo, Toussian. Instruments de musique. Habitats reconstitués: Peul, Bobo, Senufo

Ouagadougou
Musée National
Avenue d'Oubritenga
ma-sa 8-12.30 / 15.30-18.30
Arts et ethnographie du Burkina Faso: Bobo, Bwa, Gurunsi, Kurumba, Lobi. Marka, Mossi, Samo, Senufo...

Cameroun

Douala
Musée Provincial
Arts et ethnographie des Duala

Foumban - Njiyom
Musée des Arts et Traditions Bamoun
Ethnographie et arts des Bamum

Foumban
Musée du Palais Royal
Arts royaux des Bamum

Mont Febe
Musée des Bénédictins du Mont Febe
Arts du Grassland

Yaounde
Musée National
Arts du Cameroun: Bamoun, Bamileke, etc.

Centrafricaine (République)

Bangui
Musée des Arts et Traditions populaires Barthélémy Boganda
ma-sa 8-12 / 14-19
Rites et coutumes de la Rép. Centrafricaine; instruments de musique traditionnels

Congo (Brazzaville)

Brazzaville
Musée National de la R.P. du Congo
Avenue Patrice Lumumba
Arts et traditions des ethnies du Congo: Teke, Vili...

Congo (Kinshasa)

Kinshasa
Institut des Musées Nationaux du Congo
Archéologie et arts des ethnies du Congo: Ndibu, Mboma, Woyo, Yombe, Zombo, Teke, Lula, Nkanu, Yaka, Suku, Holo, Mbala, Pende, Mbuun, Dinga, Lele, Kuba, Tshwa, Ndengese, Binji, Biombo, Salampasu, Lwalu, Tshokwe, Luba, Zela, Hemba, Songye, Boyo, Bembe, Lengola, Kumu, Mbole, Zande, Boa, Ngbaka, Mbanza, Ngombe...

Lubumbashi
Musée national
Arts du Katanga: Tabwa, Luba, Sanga...

Côte d'Ivoire

Abidjan
Musée National des Civilisations de Côte d'Ivoire
Boulevards Nangui Abrogoua & Cadre 32 ma-sa 9-12 / 15-18
Arts des ethnies de la Côte d'Ivoire: Ubi, Dan, Mau, Wè, Niabwa, Bete, Guro, Baule, Yaure, Senufo, Lobi, Kulango, Akye, Anyi, Adyukru...

Gabon

Libreville
Musée National des Arts et Traditions du Gabon
Bord de mer lu-ve 8.30-18
Arts du Gabon: Fang, Kota, Tsogo, Sango, Galoa, Punu, Lumbo, Vuvi, Aduma, Njabi, Tsangui (Mus�e virtuel: GabonArt.com)

Ghana

Accra
National Museum of Ghana
Barnes Road
ma-di 9-17
Arts et ethnographie du Ghana: Ashanti...

Ho
Volta Regional Museum
43 Glama Street
ma-di 9-18
Arts et ethnographie de la région voltaïque

Legon
University of Ghana. Museum of Archaeology
University of Ghana lu-ve 9-16
Arts et arch�ologie du Ghana: Ashanti, Akan...

Guinée

Conakry
Mus�e National de Guin�e
Sandervalia - 1re Avenue ma-sa 9-15 / 16-18; di 16-18
Arts et ethnographie de la Guin�e: Baga... (1 salle d'exposition)

Kenya

Nairobi
National Museum of Kenya
Museum Hill
lu-di 9.30-18
Arts (Swahili...), ethnographie et préhistoire du Kenya. Aquarelles de Joy Adamson "Peoples of Kenya"

Kitale
Kitale Museum
lu-di 9.30-18
Ethnographie des peuples de l'ouest kenyan: Kusu, Luo, Turkana, Elgon Maasai

Naivasha
Oloor Karian Maasai Cultural Centre
Village masa•, avec pr�sentation de la culture et de l'artisanat des Maasai

Madagascar

Antananarivo
Centre de recherche et d'�tudes arch�ologiques
Analakely
lu-ve 8-11.30 / 14-16
Arts décoratifs (objets anciens)

Antananarivo
Musée d'art et d'archéologie de l'Université
Isoraka, 17 rue Dr Villette
lu-ve 8-11.30 / 14-16
Ethnographie des peuples de Madagascar; instruments de musique

Toliara - Tul�ar
Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires du Sud Malgache
CEDRATOM
Arts et ethnographie des Mahafaly

Mali

Bamako
Musée National du Mali (site du musée)
Route de Koulouba
ma-di 9-18
Archéologie du Mali (Djenne, Thial, Bankoni, Tellem...)
Arts du Mali (Bamana, Bobo, Dogon, Senufo...); textiles et céramiques du Mali

Mozambique

Maputo
Museu de Hist—ria Natural
Praça da Travessia do Zambeze
Arts et ethnographie du Mozambique: Makonde...

Nampula
Museu de Nampula
Av. Eduardo Mondlane
Art régional: Makonde, Makua... (masques)

Namibie

Windhoek
National Museum of Namibia. Owela Display & Education Centre
Robert Mugabe Avenue
Ethnographie et arts de la Namibie

Niger

Niamey
Musée National du Niger
9-12 / 16-18.30
Arts, archéologie et ethnographie du Niger: Boura, Djerma, Peul. Touareg, Hausa...

Nigeria

Benin City
National Museum
King's Square
Arts anciens du royaume de Benin

Esie
National Museum of Esie (House of Images)
Arts anciens d'Esie (34 statues volées en 1993 et 1995)

Ibadan
Museum of the Institute of African Studies (University)
Arts anciens (Dalma...) et traditionnels du pays yoruba

Ife
National Museum of Ife Antiquities
Arts anciens d'Ife et arts traditionnels régionaux: Yoruba, Bini...

Ile-Ife
Obafemi Awolowo University Art Museum
Arts anciens (Ife) et arts traditionnels régionaux: Yoruba

Jos
National Museum
Arts anciens (Ife, Nok) et arts traditionnels du Nigeria: Afo, Yoruba, Ibo...

Kaduna
National Museum
Ali Road
Arts anciens (Ife, Yelwa) et arts traditonnels régionaux: Igala...

Lagos
National Museum
Onikan
Arts anciens du Nigeria: Jebba, Tada, Benin, Owo, Ife, Igbo-Ukwu, Nok
Arts des tribus nigérianes: Mama, Ekoi, Ijo, Ogoni, Ibibio, Oron, Ibo, Urhobo, Eket, Igala, Idoma, Basa-Nge, Yoruba

Sénégal

Dakar
Musée d'Art Africain (IFAN - Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire)
1, Place Soweto
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Rao, Toucouleur, Baga, Mende, Bamana, Minianka, Djenne, Dogon, Gurunsi, Bobo, Senufo, Kono, Ubi, Wè, Dan, Bete, Baule, Yaure, Adyukru, Anyi, Fon, Yoruba, Ejagham, Bamileke, Bamum - Arts du Congo: Vuvi... Arts, artisanat et traditions du Sénégal

Mlomp
Musée de la Culture Diola
Evocation de la Culture Diola

Sierra Leone

Freetown
Sierra Leone National Museum
Pademba Road
Arts de la Sierra Leone: Temne...

Somalie

Hargeisa
Provincial Museum (bombard� en 1989)
Vanneries et bijoux de Somalie

Swaziland

Mbabane
National Museum
lu-di 8-17
Ethnographie des Swazi. Mantenga Cultural Village (mus�e de plein air sur l'habitat traditionnel)

Tanzanie

Dar es Salaam
National Museum
Shaaban Robert Street
Art et artisanat des peuples de Tanzanie; préhistoire de la Tanzanie

Kisesa-Bujora
Sukuma Museum
Regalia et ethnographie des Sukuma

Tchad

N'Djamena
Musée National tchadien
Fort Archambault
Arts anciens du Tchad: Sao

Zambie

Choma
Choma Museum and Crafts Centre
Ethnographie de la Province méridionale: Tonga

Livingstone
Livingstone Museum
Mosi-o-Tunya Road
lu-di 8.30-16.30
Archéologie, ethnographie et arts traditionnels de Zambie: masques Mbunda, Mbalango...

Lusaka
National Museum
Independence Avenue
lu-di 9-16.30
Histoire, ethnographie et artisanat de la Zambie

Mbala
Moto Moto Museum
Archéologie, ethnographie et arts de la Province du Nord et de la Zambie centrale

Mongu - Limulunga
Nayuma Museum and Heritage Center
Ethnographie de la Province occidentale

Zimbabwe
Bulawayo
Art Gallery
Artisanat du Matabeleland

Harare
National Gallery of Zimbabwe
20 Julius Nyerere Way
Arts décoratifs du Zimbabwe. Arts du Congo (Zande) et d'Afrique occidentale (Senufo, Ashanti, Yoruba...),.Répliques en plâtre de bronzes de Bénin.

Zimbabwe
National Museum
Arts du Zimbabwe: Kami

L'Asie

Australie

Canberra
National Gallery of Australia
Parkes Place
lu-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Mende, Dogon, Baule, Senufo, Yoruba, Nok, Ibibio, Songye... (coll. Max Ernst)

Corée du Sud

Daehakro
African Folk Museum
ma-ve 11-19.30; sa-di 11-21
Masques et sculptures d'Afrique noire

Hawaii

Honolulu
Honolulu Academy of Arts
900 S. Beretania Street
ma-sa 10-16.30; di 13-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Bijogo, Temne, Bamana, Dan, Ligbi, Akan, Ashanti, Yoruba, Bembe, Kota, Bamileke, Lulua, Kuba, Mangbetu...

Israel

Jerusalem
The Israel Museum
Ruppin Boulevard
sa + lu + me + je 10-17; ma 16-20; ve 10-14
Masques et sculptures d'Afrique noire

Japon

Osaka
Minpaku. National Museum of Ethnology
10-1 Senri Expo Park, Suita
lu-ma + je-di 10-17
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire en 5 volets: "History of African Civilization"; "African Peoples and Life Styles"; "the World of Ritual and Plastic Art"; "Life Style and Culture of Coastal Swahili"; "Ethiopian Culture"

L'Europe

Allemagne

Bayreuth
Iwalewa-Haus
Muenzgasse 9
ma-me 14-18; je-ve 10-18; sa-di 14-18
Art africain moderne (Ecole d'Oshogbo, Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzanie, etc.; accessible seulement pour étude). Expositions temporaires

Berlin
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Ethnologisches Museum
Lansstrasse 8 (Dahlem)
ma-ve 10-18; sa-di 11-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dyola, Sapi, Bidyogo, Baga, Kissi, Mende, Vai, Temne, Dogon, Bamana, Nuna, Mossi, Bobo, Senufo, De, Guerze, Wè, Kru, Baule, Ashanti, Fanti, Akan, Moba, Difale, Ewe, Kotokoli... Arts du Nigeria: Benin, Ife, Owo, Yoruba, Nupe, Ibo, Ibibio, Ijo, Igala, Afo, Mbembe, Basa-Nge, Loko, Jukun, Jompre, Chamba, Tiv, Ejagham, Anyang, Boki, Jen, Hausa
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bamileke, Bamum, Bangwa, Bafum, Bali, Kom, Wum, Tikar, Bafo-Kundu, Koko, Duala, Yambassa; Fang, Kota, Punu...
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Kuyu, Teke, Bembe, Vili, Yombe, Sundi, Hungaan, Kuba, Binji, Kanyok, Luba. Hemba, Holoholo, Tabwa, Rungu, Lega, Lulua, Salampasu, Yaka, Boma, Suku, Mbala, Pende, Dinga, Songye, Tabwa, Ngbaka, Ngbandi, Ngombe, Mangbetu, Manja, Zande
Arts d'Angola: Holo, Tshokwe, Lwena, Songo, Mbangala, Ngangela, Lwimbi, Ovimbundu ...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Baggara, Bongo, Dinka, Bari, Dumbo, Ziba, Ha, Kerewe, Nyamwezi, Bende, Sukuma, Masai, Pare, Shambaa, Zigua, Kami, Doe, Zaramo, Sagara, Swahili, Ngindo, Mwera, Makonde, Yao, Mavia, Lomwe, Sangu, Ngoni, Nyanja; San, Zulu...
Textiles africains

Braunschweig
Staedtisches Museum
Am Loewenwall
ma-di 10-17 (je 10-20)
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire: Bamileke...

Bremen
Uebersee-Museum
Bahnhofsvorplatz 13
ma-di 10-18
Ethnographie de l'Afrique occidentale et orientale : Bamana, Yoruba, Bangwa; Makonde, Doe...

Darmstadt
Hessisches Landesmuseum
Friedensplatz 1
ma-sa 10-17 (+ me 19-21); di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Fon, Bangwa, Bafum, Luba... (non exposés en permanence)

Dresden
Staatliches Museum fuer Voelkerkunde
Japanisches Palais, Palaisplatz 11
lu-je 10-17; sa-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sarakole, Sapi, Bidyogo, Fulbe, W�, Benin, Owo, Yoruba, Tobe...
Arts du Cameroun: Bafum, Bamum, Duala...
Arts d'Afrique centrale et australe: Kuba, Luba; Mbunda, Mwera, Tsonga, Sotho, Xhosa...

Frankfurt am Main
Museum der Weltkulturen
Schaumainkai 29
ma-di 10-17 (je 10-20)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dyola, Guro, Baule, Fon, Yoruba, Ibo ...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Kom, Kossi, Koko, Duala, Anyang; Fang, Kota...
Arts d'Afrique centrale et du Congo: Yakoma, Manja, Kuyu, Teke, Vili, Yombe, Pindi, Ngata, Hemba, Luba, Songye, Boyo, Bembe, Holoholo, Tabwa, Tshokwe, Mangbetu, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Ha, Ngindo, Ngato, Lozi...

Freiburg im Breisgau
Adelhausermuseum fŸr Všlkerkunde
Gerberau 32
ma-di 10-17
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire

Hamburg
Hamburgisches Museum fŸr Všlkerkunde
Rothenbaumchaussee 64
ma-di 10-18 (je 10-21)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sapi, Bidyogo, Mende, Grebo, Dan, Bamana, Dogon, Mossi, Gurunsi, Bwa, Lobi, Senufo, Baule, Ewe, Moba, Fanti, Ashanti, Fon
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Benin, Ife, Owo, Ijo, Ibibio, Ibo, Ejagham, Chamba...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bangwa, Bamileke, Bali, Duala; Fang, Kota, Sango...
Arts du Congo:; Vili, Yombe, Teke, Yaka, Pindi, Tsaam, Hungaan, Mbala, Yanzi, Pende, Kuba, Lele, Kete, Nkutu, Kanyok, Biombo, Lulua, Luba, Songye, Tetela, Tshokwe, Mangbetu, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Masai, Makonde...

Hannover
NiedersŠchsisches Landesmuseum
Willy-Brandt-Allee 5
ma-di 10-17 (je 10-19)
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire: Bamileke, Kuyu, Madagascar...

Heidelberg
Všlkerkundemuseum der von Portheim-Stiftung
Hauptstrasse 235
me-sa 14-18; di 11-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Landuman, Sapi, Mende, Bamana, Kurumba, Senufo, Lobi, Guro, Baule...
Arts du Nigeria, du Cameroun et du Gabon: Benin, Yoruba, Ejagham; Bamum, Bamileke; Punu, Kuyu...
Arts du Congo:, Teke, Vili, Yombe, Suku, Pende, Tshokwe, Kuba, Lulua, Songye, Luba, Mangbetu...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde...

Köln
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
Ubierring 45
ma-ve 10-16; sa-di 11-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Bassa, Dan, Dogon, Mossi, Senufo, Ashanti, Fanti, Akan, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria, du Cameroun et du Gabon: Yoruba, Esie, Ibibio, Wurkun; Bangwa, Bamum; Kota, Kwele
Arts du Congo: Ndjabi, Yombe, Yaka, Mbala, Pende, Mbole, Songye, Ndengese, Lega, Salampasu, Lwena...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Nyamwezi, Zigua, Pare, Kwere, Makonde, Tsonga...

Krefeld
Deutsches Textilmuseum
Andreasmarkt 8
ma-di 10-18 (XI-III: 11-17)
Textiles africains

Leipzig
Grassi Museum fŸr Všlkerkunde
Johannisplatz 5-11
ma-di 10-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Mossi, Bamana, Senufo, Moba...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Ibibio, Ibo, Ogoni, Benin, Ejagham...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bamileke, Bali, Bamenda, Babanki, Bamum, Fang...
Arts du Congo, de Zambie et de Tanzanie: Vili, Yombe, Luba, Lulua, Lozi, Mbunda, Zaramo, Pare, Chaga, Makonde, Makua, Yao, Ngindo...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Nguni, Tswana, San...

Lubeck
Všlkerkundesammlung der Hansestadt LŸbeck
Parade 10 - Zeughaus am Dom
ma-ve 10-17 (X-III: 10-16); sa-di 10-13 / 13.30-17 (X-III: -16)
Arts d'Afrique noire: Kissi, Fanti, Fang (coll. Tessmann), Makonde...

Mannheim
Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen. Museum Weltkulturen D5
Zeughaus
ma-je 10-17 (me 10-21); ve 10-13; sa 13-17; di 10-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Ashanti, Yoruba, Benin, Ijo, Ekoi...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bangwa, Bamileke, Bamum, Tikar, Wute, Duala, Fang...
Arts du Congo et de Tanzanie: Songye, Tshokwe; Kwere, Zaramo, Makonde...

Munchen
Staatliches Museum fuer Všlkerkunde (site du musée)
Maximilianstrasse 42
ma-di 9.30 - 16.30
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sherbro, Sapi, Bijogo, Temne, Bwa, Mossi, Kurumba, Bamana, Dogon, Lobi, Senufo, Nafana, Tussian, Wara, Loma, Dan, Guro, Baule, Atye, Ashanti, Fanti, Koma, Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Idoma, Ibibio, Ijo , Ejagham, Abuan, Dakakari...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bangwa, Bamileke, Bamenda-Tikar, Bamum, Banyang, Gbaja, Duala, Abo, Balong, Bafo, Lundu, Koko, Eton, Bulu, Fang, Kota, Punu...
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Bembe, Vili, Yombe, Woyo, Sundi, Suku, Yaka, Pende, Mbuun, Tshokwe, Ngangela, Kuba, Biombo, Lulua, Songye, Luba, Boyo, Holoholo, Tabwa, Mangbetu, Mbuti...
Arts d'Afrique orientale & australe: Bari, Giryama, Kamba, Haya, Ziba, Kwere, Zaramo, Luguru, Sukuma, Jiji, Haja, Pangwa, Makonde, Mwera; Ambo, Ngwato, Tsonga, Fingu, San...

Nurenberg - Nuremberg
Naturhistorischesmuseum. Norishalle
Marientorgraben 8
di-ve 10-17
Masques, sculptures et objets utilitaires d'Afrique occidentale, du Cameroun et du Congo: Ashanti, Yoruba, Bamileke, Suku, Kongo, Kuba, Mangbetu...

Offenbach am Main
Deutsches Ledermuseum
Frankfurter Strasse 86
lu 10-13; ma-di 10-17 (me 10-20)
Masques et objets utilisant du cuir: Mande, Ekoi, Ngbaka, Masai...

Stuttgart
Lindenmuseum - Staatliches Museum fuer Voelkerkunde
Hegelplatz 1
ma-di 10-17 (me 10-20)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Dogon, Senufo, Baule, Guro, Dan, Ewe...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Benin, Ibibio, Ibo, Idoma, Mama, Chamba, Gurka, Ekoi, Keaka, Boki...
Arts du Cameron et du Gabon: Kundu, Duala, Bangwa, Bali, Bamileke, Bameta, Kom, Fang, Kota
Arts du Congo: Bembe, Vili, Yombe, Teke, Yaka, Suku, Pende, Hungaan, Kuba, Tshokwe, Lwena, Songye, Luba, Hemba, Tabwa, Lega, Ngbaka, Mongu, Mangbetu...
Arts d'Afrique orientale & australe: Ngato, Luguru, Pare, Tutsi, Ziba, Haya, Jiji, Sukuma, Timba, Sangu, Fipa, Hehe, Shambaa, Ngoni, Makonde, Yao; Matumbi, Lozi, Nguni...

Ulm
Ulmer Museum
Marktplatz 9
ma-di 11-17 (je 11-20)
Arts anciens d'Afrique noire (pièces des XVIe- XVIIe siècle): Aja/Fon, Allada, Akan, Owo, Ngbandi, Kongo

Werl/Soest
Forum der Voelker. Voelkerkundemuseum der Franziskaner
Melsterstrasse 15
ma-ve 10-12 / 14-17; sa-di 14-17
Ethnographie de l'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Senufo, Baule (sculptures), Ashanti (poids à peser l'or). Vêtements et parures des Masai

Wuppertal
Volkerkundliches Museum der Vereinten Evangelischen Mission
Missionstrasse 9
lu-je 9-16; di 12-17
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire, en particulier de Tanzanie, du Rwanda, d'Afrique du Sud et de Namibie (Herero, Ovambo, Kavango)

Autriche

Schwaz
Haus der Všlker
Christoph-Anton-Mayr-Weg 7
lu-di 10-18
Arts rituels d'Afrique occidentale: Baule, Ashanti, Fanti, Moba, Tchamba, Ewe, Fon, Yoruba, Ibo, Nupe...; terres cuites Ewe, Fon, Bura, Dakakari, Nok, Kalabari...; armes, monnaies, bijoux et textiles d'Afrique occidentale et �quatoriale (collection Gert Chesi et pr�ts)

Wien
Museum fuer Voelkerkunde
Neue Hofburg
lu + me-di 10-16
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sapi, Temne, Baga, Bidyogo, Dogon, Senufo, Bamana, Marka, Bwa, Mossi, Kurumba, Lobi, Dan, Wè, Baule, Akan...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Ekoi, Mumuye; Duala, Bamileke, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo et du Soudan: Punu, Kota; Kunyi, Teke, Yaka, Vili, Yombe, Zombo, Luba, Pende, Tshokwe, Tabwa, Mangbetu; Bari...
Arts d'Afrique orientale & australe: Jiji, Gogo, Bemba, Tsonga (Zulu)...

Belgique

Antwerpen - Anvers
Etnografisch Museum
Suikerrui 19
ma-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Toma, Mende, Dogon, Bamana, Senoufo, Nafana, Dan, Baule, Ebrie...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Bini, Ibo, Ibibio, Tiv; Bamessing, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo & de Zambie: Fang, Kota, Kuyu; Teke, Vili, Yombe, Luba, Hemba, Yaka, Mbala, Kuba, Lulua, Mbole, Lega, Pere, Songye, Tabwa, Pende, Tshokwe, Mangbetu, Zande; Lozi...

Binche
Musée international du Carnaval et du Masque
Rue Saint Moustier 10
di-je 9.30-12.30 / 13.30-18; sa 13.30-18
Masques d'Afrique noire

Gent - Gand
Etnografische Verzamelingen der Universiteit Gent / Ethnographic Collections of the University of Ghent
Het Pand, Onderbergen 1
lu-di 8-22 (Het Pand)
Arts d'Afrique de l'Ouest (Dan, Senufo) et du Congo: Luba...

Heverlee
Kongo-Kwango Museum
Ne se visite pas
Arts du Congo: Suku, Yaka, Mbala, Pende, Nkanu...

Liège
Collections artistiques de l'Université de Liège. Galerie Wittert
Bâtiment central de l'Université
Place du 20 août 7
ma-ve 10-12.30 / 14-17 (expositions temporaires)
Arts d'Afrique noire, en particulier du Congo (Collection Charles Firket): Pende, Kuba, Lele, Lobala, Ngbandi, Zande...

Louvain-la-Neuve
Musée de Louvain-la-Neuve - Université catholique de Louvain
Place Blaise Pascal 1
lu-ve 10-18; di 14-18
Arts du Congo: Dondo, Vili, Yombe, Kuba, Kete, Ndengese, Luba, Lulua, Hemba, Songye, Mangbetu, Yaka, Tshokwe...

Tervuren
Musée royal de l'Afrique Centrale
Leuvensesteenweg 13
ma-ve 10-17; sa-di 10-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Sapi, Loma, Mende, Bamana, Dogon, Mossi, Kurumba, Lobi, Senufo, Dan, Wè, Baule, Guro, Ebrie, Fanti, Ashanti, Yoruba, Ibo, Idoma, Tiv, Koro, Mambila...
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Bembe, Teke, Kunyi, Boma, Dondo, Yanzi, Woyo, Vili, Manyanga, Yombe, Solongo, Mbala, Mbuun, Pindi, Hungaan, Biombo, Kuba, Lele, Ndengese, Salampasu, Kambulu, Lwalu, Kete, Lulua, Luba, Hemba, Tabwa, Bembe-Boyo, Songye, Pende, Kwese, Holo, Tshokwe, Lwena, Nkanu, Yaka, Suku, Zombo, Ovimbundu, Twa, Shi, Lega, Lengola, Metoko, Mbole, Mangbetu, Zande, Boa, Ngbandi, Ngbaka, Loi, Ntomba...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Tsonga...

Croatie

Zagreb
Etnografski Muzej - Ethnographic Museum
Majuranie trg 14
ma-je 10-18; ve-di 10-13
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Yaka, Suku, Kongo, Ngbaka, Luremo, Zombo... Arts décoratifs de l'Afrique orientale (Ethiopie, Somalie, Madagascar)

Danemark

København
Nationalmuseet
Ny Vestergade 10
ma-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Sapi, Bidyogo, Baga, Bamana, Malinke, Senufo, Guro, Wè, Ewe, Akan...
Arts du Nigeria & du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Duala...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Punu; Teke, Yaka, Kongo, Yombe, Kuba, Songye, Luba, Lulua, Mangbetu, Zande, Ngala, Tshokwe, Pende...

Espagne

Barcelona
Museu Etnol˜gic
PG Santa Madrona - Montjuic
lu-ma 10-19; me-di 10-14
Arts d'Ethiopie, du Nigeria, de Guinée équatoriale et du Gabon (Fang)

Madrid
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
68, calle Alfonso XII
ma-sa 9.30-20; di 10-15
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire

Estonie

Tartu
Eesti Rahva Muuseum - Estonian National Museum
Veski 32
me-di 11-18
Arts du Congo: Bembe, Teke...

Finlande

Helsinki
Kulttuurien museo - Mus�e des Cultures - Museum of Cultures
Tennispalatsi, EtelŠinen Rautatiekatu 8
ma-ve 11-20; sa-di 11-18
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire

Helsinki
LŠhetysmuseo - Mus�e ethnographique des Missions - Mission Museum
TŠhtitornonkatu 18
ma-di 12-16 (me 12-18)
Ethnographie de l'Afrique australe: Tshokwe, Lwimbi, Ambo, Herero, San... Ethnographie de l'Ethiopie

France

Aix (Ile d')
Musée Africain
Rue Napoléon
me-lu 9.30-18 (X-V: 9-12.30 / 14-18)
Arts d'Afrique noire: Baule, Yoruba, Bamileke, Kota, Vuvi, Teke, Kuba, Zande, Zulu, Bochiman...

Angoulême
Musée d'Angoulême (en travaux; réouverture: 2008)
1, rue de Friedland
lu-ve 12-18; sa-di 14-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidyogo, Balante, Mende, Toma, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Lobi, Kru, Wè, Bete, Ashanti, Fon, Yoruba...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Kota, Vili, Yaka, Yombe, Pende, Luba...

Avignon
Musée Angladon
5, rue Laboureur
ma-di 13 -18 (X-III: me-di 13-18)
Masques africains (coll. Doucet)

Besançon
Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle
Citadelle, Rue des Fusill�s
lu-di 9-18 (VII-VIII: 9-19; XI-III: 10-17)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Dogon, Kissi; C™te-d'Ivoire: Baule, Guro, Dan, B�t�, W�-Gu�r�, Niabwa, Wob�, Anyi, Atti�, Dioula, Senufo; Ashanti; Fon. Masque Tshokwe (inventaire)

Bordeaux
Musée d'Ethnographie - Université de Bordeaux 2
Site de la Victoire
Réouverture envisagée pour 2006
Ethnographie de l'Afrique occidentale: Diola, Bidjogo, Baga, Bamana, Bwa, W�, Baule, Senufo, Fon...
Ethnographie de l'Afrique �quatoriale (Gabon et Congo: Fang, Gbaya, Vili...), orientale (Somalie, Soudan) , australe (Shona...) et de Madagascar (inventaire)

Caen
Musée des Beaux-Arts
Château
me-lu 9.30 -18
Masques Yoruba; arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Sango, Tsogo, Lumbo, Vili, Tsangui, Ngbaka...

La Rochelle
Muséum d'Histoire naturelle "Clément de Lafaille"
28, rue Albert 1er
ma-ve 10 -12.30 / 13.30 -17.30; sa-di 14 -18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baule, Guro, Montol, Sao, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo et de Zambie: Fang, Kwele, Tsogo; Bembe, Bwende, Solongo, Kuba; Lozi...

Lyon
Musée africain
150, Cours Gambetta
me-di 14-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Malinke, Kru, Ubi, Baule, Guro, Senufo, Lobi, Atye, Gwa, Fon, Fanti, Ashanti, Yoruba...

Lyon
Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle (Mus�e Guimet) (inaccessible au public jusqu'ˆ l'ouverture du Mus�e des Confluences, pr�vue en 2009)
28, Boulevard des Belges
ma-di 10-18
Ethnographie et arts d'Afrique occidentale (Senufo, Lobi, Idoma...; collection Meynet), du Soudan et d'Ethiopie (Gato, Muru, Bongo...), d'Afrique orientale (Lamu, Luguru...) et de Madagascar

Marseille
Musée des Arts africains, océaniens et amérindiens
Centre de la Vieille Charité
ma-ve 11-18 (1.6-30.9); ma-ve 10-17 (1.10-31.5); sa-di 12-19
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bolon-Marka, Bamana, Gurunsi, Dan, Guro, Baule, Yoruba...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Kota, Fang, Punu, Lumbo, Teke, Luba...(coll. Guerre)

Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
11, avenue du Président Wilson
ma-di 10-18 (me 10-22) (art africain de la donation Girardin non exposé en permanence)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Temne, Dan, Wè, Bete, Bamana, Bobo, Akye, Baule, Guro, Senufo, Wè, Yoruba, Bamum
Arts du Gabon et Congo: Fang, Sango; Kuyu, Kota, Vili, Bembe, Teke, Yaka, Suku, Lulua, Kuba, Songye, Tetela, Luba, Tabwa, Tshokwe (coll. Girardin)

Paris
Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges-Pompidou
Rue Saint Martin
me-lu 11-22 (art africain montré au gré des expositions)
Arts africains des collections d'artistes: Bamileke (Breton). Fang (Derain). Yombe (Apollinaire). Baga, Dogon, Bamana, Dan, Baule, Senufo; Fang, Kota, Ambete, Vuvi, Aduma, Galoa, Punu, Luba, Pende, Kaguru (Magnelli) (inventaire: aller sous "58'000 Ïuvres: la collection du mus�e en ligne", puis indiquer sous recherche rapide "anonyme")

Paris
Musée Dapper
35, Rue Paul Valéry
me-lu 11-19
Expositions temporaires d'art africain

Paris
Musée du Quai Branly
37, Quai Branly
ma-di 10-18.30 ( je 10-21.30)
Arts de la côte guinéenne: Sapi, Bidyogo, Nalu, Baga, Landuman, Susu, Mende, Kissi, Toma...
Arts du Sahel: Bassari, Peul, Dogon, Bamana, Bozo, Malinke, Mossi, Kurumba, Gurunsi, Nuna, Bwa, Kotoko, Fulbe, Sao ...
Arts de la Côte d'Ivoire, du Ghana, du Togo et du Bénin: Kru, Dan, Wè, Lobi, Senufo, Nafana, Baule, Yaure, Guro, Adyukru, Atye, Anyi, Ashanti, Fanti, Moba, Dasa, Fon...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Bini, Nok, Sokoto, Ife, Benin, Owo, Igala, Ibo, Ijo, Ibibio, Oron, Urhobo, Ogoni, Koro, Mbembe, Afo, Tiv, Ekoi, Ejagham, Jukun, Chamba, Kaka, Mambila, Mumuye, Mama, Bura, Koro, Nupe...
Arts du Cameroun: Bamileke, Bangwa, Bamum, Bali, Babanki, Bamessing, Wum, Kom, Bamum, Tikar, Koto, Duala...
Arts du Gabon: Fang, Aduma, Galoa, Kota, Sanaga, Ambete, Kwele, Tsogo, Lumbo, Punu, Sango...
Arts du Congo: Kuyu, Dondo, Bembe, Kunyi, Teke, Nkanu, Suku, Kwese, Hungaan, Yaka, Pende, Kongo, Vili, Yombe, Woyo, Solongo, Kuba, Salampasu, Lulua, Tabwa, Tshokwe, Luba, Songye, Lega, Mangbetu, Zande, Bobangi, Banda, Yangere...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Bari, Ziba, Nyamwezi, Shona, Zulu, Tsonga, Sakalava, Bara, Betsileo, Antanosy, Ambo... (inventaire)

Paris
Musée national Picasso
5, rue de Thorigny
me-lu X-III: 9.30-17.30; IV-IX: 9.30 -18
Arts africains de la collection Picasso: Baga, Kru, Bamana, Bozo, Benin, Lega, Punu...

Périgueux
Musée du Périgord
Cours Tourny
IV-IX: lu + me-ve 10.30-17.30; sa-di 13-18. X-III: lu + me-ve 10-17; sa-di 13-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Touareg, Wolof, Diola, Baga, Bamana, Mossi, Atye, Anyi, Baule, Senufo, Jimini, Akan, Fon, Goun, Yoruba Nago, Sara...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota; Lumbo, Vili, Bembe, Teke, Yakoma, Nzakara, Zande, Kuba, Pende
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Amhara, Somali, Danakil; Zulu...

Toulouse
Muséum d'Histoire naturelle
35, Allée Jules-Guesde
lu + me-sa 10-17 (ferm� jusqu'en octobre 2007)
Arts d'Afrique noire: Baga/Buluñits, Wè, Yoruba, Punu, Yaka...

Troyes
Musée d'art moderne
Ancien Palais Episcopal - Place Saint-Pierre
ma-di 10-13 / 14-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Baule, Guro, B�t�, Bamileke, Benin... du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Punu,Bembe, Yombe, Lega... (collection L�vy)

Vichy
Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Asie
11, Rue Mounin
lu -di 10-12 / 14-18 (IV-X)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidyogo, Baoule, Atye, Lobi, Mossi, Fon, Yoruba, Bamileke...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Obamba, Kuyu, Bwende, Dondo, Teke, Vili...

Grande-Bretagne

Brighton
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Royal Pavilion Gardens
ma 10-19; me-sa 10-17; di 14-17
Arts de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Nigeria: Mende, Kru, Dan, Guro, Baule, Ashanti, Yoruba, Benin, Ibo... Arts du Congo: Luba. Tutsi... Arts de l'Afrique australe: Makonde, Shona, Ndebele, Zulu... (World Art Gallery / Body Gallery)

Cambridge
University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
Downing Street
lu-ve 14-16; sa 10.30-12.30
Ethnographie et arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende, Dan, Baule, Senufo, Lobi, Ashanti, Fanti, Yoruba, Hausa, Edo, Tiv, Ibibio, Ibo, Ejagham, Bamum...
Arts et ethnographie du Congo: Yaka, Kuba, Lele, Luba, Zande... Textiles africains
Ethnographie et arts de l'Afrique orientale: Dinka, Shilluk, Ganda, Hima, Turkana, Masai, Kikuyu, Kamba, Swahili, Ngoni ...
Ethnographie et arts de l'Afrique australe: Shona, Tonga, Karanga, Swazi, Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa, Lozi, Kwanyama...

Edinburgh
Royal Museum of Scotland. Department of Art and Archaeology
Chambers Street
lu-sa 10-17 (ma 10-20); di 12-17
Arts anciens d'Afrique occidentale: Benin, Owo
Sélection de pi�ces importantes - Highlights (utiliser "Search Our Collections- Advanced Search" en indiquant "Africa", "Benin"
Arts de l'Afrique noire: Baule, Senufo, Yoruba, Ibo, Montol, Sokoto, Fang, Kota, Yaka, Luba, Tabwa, Ngala, Mangbetu, Yao...

Exeter
Royal Albert Memorial Museum . World Culture Galleries
Queen Street
lu-sa 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Benin,Yoruba; arts d�coratifs du Congo

Glasgow
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Kelvingrove Park
lu-je + sa 10-17; ve + di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidjogo, Sapi, Mende, Ashanti, Senufo, Guro...
Arts du Nigeria: Benin, Yoruba, Ibo, Urhobo, Ogoni, Ibibio, Ijo, Ejagham...
Arts du Congo: Kete-Biombo, Kuba, Luba, Pende...

Glasgow
Hunterian Museum. University of Glasgow
University Avenue
lu-sa 9.30-17
Poids à peser l'or Ashanti. Exposition permanente secteur "First Farmers": ethnographie de l'Afrique

Ipswich
Ipswich Museum & Exhibition Gallery
High Street
ma-sa 10-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Temne, Bete, Baule, Yoruba, Ibo, Ibibio, Ogoni, Ibo, Igala, Bini, Luo, Kikuyu, Masa•, Luba, Hemba...

Liverpool
National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside - World Museum Liverpool
William Brown Street
lu-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Mende, Temne, Sapi, Dogon, Bamana, Malinke, Kurumba, Mossi, Bwa, Lobi, Senufo, Dan, Bete, Baule, Anyi, Ashanti...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Owo, Ibo, Ijo, Abua, Ogoni, Ibibio, Annang, Hausa; Duala, Bamileke, Bafo, Bali, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota; Punu, Kongo, Vili, Zombo, Kuba...

London
British Museum . Sainsbury African Galleries
Great Russell Street
lu-sa 10-17; di 14.30-18
Arts d'Afrique occientale: Bidyogo, Baga, Sapi, Mende, Temne, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Bobo, Lobi, Senufo, Dan, Guro, Wè, Baule, Fon, Ashanti, Fanti, Akan, Bron, Nafana, Ligbi, Ewe...
Arts du Nigeria: Nok, Ife, Benin, Owo, Yoruba, Nupe, Afo, Igala, Ibo, Ibibio, Oron, Idoma, Tiv, Abuan, Kalabari, Ijo, Urhobo, Jukun, Goemai, Mama, Bura, Sokoto, Hausa, Mumuye, Ekoi...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Bangwa, Bali, Bamileke, Bamum, Doayo (Namji); Fang, Kota, Kwele, Kuyu...
Arts du Congo: Bembe, Teke, Vili, Yombe, Manyanga, Boma, Kuba, Ngende, Biombo, Kanyok, Luba, Hemba, Mbala, Mbuun, Tabwa, Songye, Tetela, Suku, Pende, Wongo, Lulua, Salampasu, Tshokwe, Lega, Mbole, Mangbetu, Zande...
Arts du Soudan, d'Ethiopie et d'Ouganda: Omdurman, Bari, Bongo, Shilluk; Konso; Ganda...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Jiji, Makonde, Yao; Lozi, Mbunda, San, Shona, Zulu, Nguni, Sotho, Tsonga, Ndebele, Venda, Tswana...
Textiles et céramiques de toute l'Afrique
Exposition permanente des Sainsbury African Galleries en 7 sections: art contemporain / bronzes de B�nin / m�tal forg� / bois sculpt� / masques / poterie / textiles et parures. COMPASS - collections online: sous "Search the collection", indiquer "Africa" ou le nom d'une ethnie ou d'un type d'objet

London
Horniman Museum
100 London Road
lu-sa 10.30-17.15; di 14-17.15
Arts d'Afrique noire: Mende, Afo, Tiv, Vili, Sua, Hadza... dans la cadre de l'exposition permanente "African Worlds"

Manchester
The Manchester Museum
Oxford Road
di-lu 11-16; ma-sa 10-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Sapi, Mende, Ibo, Ekoi, Ogoni, Yoruba, Yaka, Vili, Yombe, Kamba, Shona ...

Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Hatton Gallery. University of Newcastle
Quadrangle of the University
lu-ve 10-17.30; sa 10-16.30
Arts d'Afrique noire: Dogon, Bozo, Guro, Ashanti, Ibibio, Punu... (Uhlman Collection)

Norwich
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts - University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia Campus
ma-di 11-17
Sainsbury Collection: arts d'Afrique occidentale (Sherbro, Dogon, Bamana, Mano, Dan, We, Mossi, Gurunsi, Lobi, Guro, Baule, Ligbi, Atye, Ashanti, Akan, Yoruba, Benin, Ibibio, Idoma, Jompre, Ejagham, Bamileke ...)
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kwele; Lumbo, Kongo, Yombe, Vili, Bembe, Suku, Yaka, Zombo, Pende, Tshokwe, Kuba, Luba, Tetela, Lulua, Kusu, Songye, Lega, Zande, Mangbetu...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Makonde, Zulu
Inventaire des collections "Search Collections": sous "Search" - "Place", indiquer "Africa"

Oxford
University Museum - Pitt Rivers Museum
South Parks Road
lu-sa 13-16.30 (fermé: VI-XII.1998)
Arts anciens d'Afrique occidentale: du Nigeria: Sapi, Benin, Owo
Arts du Nigeria: Ibo, Idoma,Tiv, Ijo, Ibibio, Ejagham...
Arts d'Afrique centrale et australe: Woyo, Kongo; Mbalango, San...

Hongrie

Budapest
Neprajzi Muzeum / Ethnographic Museum
Place Lajos Kossuth 12
lu-di 10-18 (XI-II: 10-17)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Temne/Bullom, Bamana, Bassa, Gio, Dan, Senufo, Baule, Guro, Yoruba, Ekoi... (Africa Collection)
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Aduma, Punu; Teke, Mbala, Pende, Kuba, Ndengese, Lulua, Luba, Hemba, Songye, Boyo...

Irlande

Dublin
National Museum of Ireland
Kildare Street
(l'art africain n'est pas exposé)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Susu, Temne, Vai, Hwela-Nafana, Lobi, Akan, Ashanti...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Nupe, Benin, Ibo, Igbira, Ogoni, Ejagham, Mama, Jaba...
Arts du Congo et d'Afrique australe:,Vili, Zande; Pedi, Hlubi, Nguni...

Italie

Bari
Museo Etnografico Africa-Mozambico
Via Bellomo 94
lu-ve 9-12
Ethnographie du Mozambique (masques, instruments de musique, etc. ramenés par les missionnaires)

Bergamo
Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali "Enrico Caffi"
Piazza della Cittadella 10
ma-di 8.30-12.30 / 14.30-17.30 (salle africaine en cours d'installation)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Soninke, Bidjogo, Baga, Sapi, Mende, Djenne, Dogon, Bamana, Bozo, Mossi, Bwa, Bobo, Senufo, Lobi, Dan, Akan, Fanti, Ewe
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Nupe, Igala, Tiv, Mambila, Fulani, Bura, Ibo, Ejagham
Arts du Cameroun et du Congo: Bamum, Tikar; Kota, Teke

Capriate San Gervasio (Bergamo)
Biblioteca delle Arti e Tradizioni Africane
Piazza della Vittoria 19
Visite sur rendez-vous (tél. 02-90963952)
Arts d'Afrique noire: Dogon, Gimbala, Bamana, Lobi, Bwa, Dan, Fon, Koma, Yoruba, Mbembe, Kuyu...

Firenze
Museo Nazionale di Antropologia e di Etnologia. Universitˆ degli Studi di Firenze
Via del Proconsolo 12
je-sa + di 9-13
Arts du Congo et de l'Angola: Kongo, Boyo, Lega, Luba, Zimba, Mangbetu, Zande; Ovimbundu... Ethnographie de la Corne de l'Afrique (Ethiopie, Somalie, Soudan). Ivoires Owo.

Montone (PG - Umbria)
Centro di documentazione e museo etnografico "Il tamburo parlante"
Ex Convento di San Francesco
ve-di 10.30-13 / 16-18.30
Ethnographie et arts de l'Afrique orientale (Ethiopie, Soudan, Kenya, Tanzanie): Amhara, Arussi, Dinka, Lotuko, Zande, Samburu, Turkana, Borana, Giryama, Maasai, Zaramo, Kwere, Gogo, Makonde...

Roma
Museo Africano
Via U. Aldovrandi 16a
Visite sur rendez-vous (t�l. 06/872246 - 873712). Actuellement fermé pour restructuration.
Ethnographie de la Corne de l'Afrique (Erythrée, Ethiopie, Somalie) et de l'Afrique en général

Roma
Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini
Piazzale Marconi 14
lu-di 9-20
Arts anciens d'Afrique occidentale et d'Angola: Sapi, Owo, Soninke; Ovimbundu
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Dogon, Bamana, Abron, Senufo, Baule , Yoruba, Ekoi...
Arts du Gabon, du Congo et de Zambie: Kota, Kwele; Vili, Yombe, Sundi, Yaka, Kuba, Luba, Lulua, Mangbetu. Songye, Tabwa, Lega, Tshokwe, Zande; Lozi...

Roma Vaticano
Pontificio Museo Missionario-Etnologico
Musei Vaticani
lu-sa 8.45-16.45 (sa >13.45)
Arts d'Afrique noire: Baga, Sapi/Kissi, Ibo, Vili, Kongo, Tabwa... Arts chrétiens d'Afrique.

San Giovanni in Valle (Verona)
Museo Africano dei Missionari Comboniani
Vicolo Pozzo 1
lu-sa 9-12 / 15-18; di 10-12 / 15-18
Collection missionnaire d'artisanat africain

Norvège

Oslo
Universitetets Etnografisk Museum - Historisk Museum
Frederiksgate 2
ma-di 12-15
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire, en particulier du Congo (Luba, Tshokwe...)

Pays-Bas

Amsterdam
Tropenmuseum
Linnaeusstraat 2
lu-ve 10-17; sa-di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Sapi, Bamana, Senufo, Guro, Anyi, Fon, Ashanti, Hausa...
Arts du Congo: Punu, Kongo, Vili, Yombe, Suku, Lele, Lulua, Nkanu, Tshokwe, Mangbetu, Zande...

Berg en Dal bij Nijmegen
Afrika-Museum
Postweg 6
lu-ve 10-17; sa-di 11-17 (1.XI-31.III: sa-di 13-17)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidjogo, Baga, Mende, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Bolon, Bwa, Dan, Wè, Baule, Guro, Yaure, Senufo, Lobi, Fon, Ashanti, Moba, Yoruba, Urhobo, Ibibio, Namji...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Punu, Kuyu; Vili, Yombe, Woyo, Sundi, Solongo, Woyo, Teke, Yaka, Nkanu, Pende, Holo, Tshokwe, Lunda, Songo, Luba, Songye, Salampasu, Lulua, Lega, Tabwa, Mangbetu, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde, Nyemba, Mahafaly...

Cadier en Keer
Afrikacentrum
Rijksweg 15
lu-ve 13.30-17; sa-di 14-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Dogon, Bamana, Senufo, Ewe...

Den Haag - La Haye
Museon
Stadhouderslaan 41
ma-di 11-17
Ethnographie et environnement de l'Afrique noire (Dogon, Baule, Bembe...)

Groningen
Etnologische Collecties - Museum "Gerardus van der Leeuw". Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Nieuwe Kijk in't Jatstraat 104
ma-ve 10-16; sa-di 13-17
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire (Bamana, Dogon, etc.)

Leiden
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde
Steenstraat 1
ma-ve 10-17; sa 12-17; di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Dogon, Bamana, Dan, Baule, Senufo, Wala, Ebrie, Ashanti, Benin, Owo, Ijo, Bamum...
Arts du Congo: Kuyu, Sundi, Vili, Woyo, Yombe, Sundi, Solongo, Yaka, Tshokwe, Songye...
Arts d'Afrique australe: Tsonga, Zulu, Xhosa...

Otterlo
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller
Nationaal Park de Hoge Veluwe
lu-sa 10-17; di 13-17
Dialogue entre peinture et sculpture modernes et sculpture primitive: Bamana, Baule, Teke...

Rotterdam
Wereldmuseum
Willemskade 25
ma-ve 10-17; sa-di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Diole, Mende, Temne , Sapi, Dida, Baga, Agny, Bamana, Dogon, Bobo, Dan, Senufo, Ashanti, Fon, Yoruba, Ibibio, Ibo, Mbembe...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Kom, Widekum, Duala, Bamum; Fang, Lumbo...
Arts du Congo et d'Afrique australe: Bembe, Yombe, Vili, Kongo, Sundi, Lwalu, Luba, Songye, Lwalwa, Mbala, Tshokwe, Zande ; Tsonga...

Pologne

Warszawa
Pastwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne
1 Kredytova
ma-ve 9-16 (me 11-18); sa-di 10-17
Ethnographie de l'Afrique noire

Portugal

Coimbra
Museu Antropol—gico. Universidade de Coimbra
Bairro Sousa Pinto
lu-sa 9-12.30 / 14-17.30
Arts d'Angola et du Mozambique: Yombe, Woyo, Kongo, Zombo, Lwalwa, Tshokwe, Lwena, Songo, Ngombe, Ovimbundu, Mbunda; Makonde...

Figueira da Foz
Museu Municipal Dr. Santos Rocha
Rua Calouste Gulbenkian
ma -di 9.15-17.15
Arts d'Angola et du Mozambique: Kongo, Solongo, Songo...

Lisboa
Museu Nacional de Etnologia
Avenida da Ilha da Madeira (Restelo)
ma 14-18; me-di 10-18
Arts d'Afrique occidentale et du Gabon: Bidyogo, Baga, Nalu, Landuman, Manjako, Dogon, Bamana, Lobi, Senufo, Dan, Ashanti, Baule, Yaure, Guro, Yoruba, Bamileke...; Fang, Kota...
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Luba, Vili, Yombe, Solongo, Woyo, Pinda, Zombo, Nkanu, Yaka, Suku, Holo, Tshokwe, Lwena, Songo, Ovimbundu, Ngangela...
Arts du Mozambique: Makonde...

Lisboa
Museu da Sociedade de Geografia
Rua das Portas de Santo Antão 100
lu + me + ve 11-13 / 15-17
Arts d'Angola et du Mozambique: Kongo, Vili, Woyo, Kuba, Zombo, Holo, Tshokwe, Songo, Lwimbi; Makonde, Shangana. Bronzes de Benin

Oporto - Porto
Instituto de Antropologia "Prof. Mendes Correia"
Conditions de visite inconnues
Arts du Cameroun (Ejagham, Kundu, Bamum) et d'Angola (Tshokwe, Songo...)

Vila Nova de Gaia (Oporto)
Casa Museu de Texeira Lopes
ma-di 10-12.30/14.17.30
Arts décoratifs des Tshokwe et des Ovimbundu (Angola)

Russie

Moskva - Moscou
Musée National des Beaux-Arts "A.S. Pouchkine"
Volkhonka 10
ma-di 10-19
Arts d'Afrique noire: Bidyogo, Tshokwe...

St Peterburg
Musée d'anthropologie et d'ethnologie "Pierre le Grand" (Kunstkamera)
Universitetskaya 3
ve-me 11-18 (fermé le dernier mercredi du mois)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Kpelle, Mende, Bamana, Agni, Benin, Ekoi, Anyang, Keaka, Bafum... Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Punu, Fang; Teke, Vili, Suku, Kuba, Luba, Lulua, Pende, Songye, Mbala, Lega, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Ziba, Bari, Galla...

Suède

Gøteborg
Vorldskulturmuseet / National Museum of World Cultures (ouverture: 2003)
Aavägen 24 i Gaarda
ma-ve 11-16; sa-di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale, du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Senufo; Ibo, Ekoi; Bamileke, Bamum, Duala...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Kwele, Galoa; Njabi, Bembe, Bwende, Dondo, Yombe, Kongo, Manyanga, Mazinga, Kuba, Luba, Lulua, Tetela, Tshokwe, Lwena, Gbaya, Yangere...

Lund
Kulturen
Tegnersplatsen
lu-di 11-17 (X-IV: 12-16)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Baga, Bamana, Bwa, Dan, Yaure, Baule, Yoruba, Ekoi, Boki, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon: Fang, Kwele, Kuyu, Sundi, Boa, Tshokwe, Mbunda, Makonde... (coll. Benktsson)

Malmö
Malmš Museer (l'art africain n'est pas expos� en permanence)
Malmöhus (Château)
lu-di 12-16 (VI-VIII: 10-16)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bamana, Dogon, Senufo, Nunuma, Ibo, Ogoni... (coll. Lundberg)
Arts du Congo: Luba, Mangbetu, Boa...

Stockholm
Folkens Museum Etnografiska
Djurgaardsbrunnsvägen 34
ma-ve 11-16 (me 11-20); sa-di 12-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Mende-Vai, Kissi, Anyang, Bidyogo, Dan, Ashanti...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Benin, Ekoi, Boki, Bafo, Bali, Tikar, Duala...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Ambete, Kota; Bembe, Bwende, Teke, Woyo, Sundi, Kongo, Yombe, Boma, Kuba, Lega, Luba, Zombo, Tshokwe, Lwena, Yombe, Mangbetu ...

Suisse

Basel - B‰le
Museum der Kulturen
Augustinergasse 2
ma-di 10-17 (actuellement exposés: arts du Cameroun)
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidyogo, Baga, Sapi, Bamana, Bobo, Lobi,, Kru, Dan, Wè, Dida, Baule, Guro, Akan, Ashanti, Fanti, Fon, Yoruba, Nupe, Benin, Ijo, Ibibio, Oron, Montol, Chamba...
Arts du Cameroun et du Gabon: Kom, Oku, Bali, Babanki, Bamenda, Bangwa, Bamileke, Bamum, Duala, Bassa, Abo, Bafo, Kossi, Kundu...; Kota, Fang, Punu, Kuyu...
Arts du Congo et du Soudan: Teke, Bembe, Kamba, Dondo, Vili, Yombe, Suku, Yaka, Mbala, Holo, Pende, Biombo, Kuba, Mbole, Luba, Songye, Salampasu, Tshokwe, Zande; Bongo...
Tissus d'Afrique noire: Peuhl, Dyula, Wolof, Ashanti...

Basel-Riehen
Fondation Beyeler
Riehen, Baselstrasse 101
lu-di 11-17 (me 11-20). Eté: lu-di 11-19
Sculptures d'Afrique noire (Baga, Senufo, Mbembe, Mumuye, Fang, Vili, Hemba) et d'Océanie confrontées à l'art occidental moderne

Bern
Historisches Museum Bern
Helvetiaplatz 5
ma-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique noire: Bidyogo, Baga/Nalu, Mende, Vai, Ashanti, Yoruba, Owo, Mandara, Punu, Songye, Tshokwe, Mangbetu...

Genève
Musée Barbier-Mueller
Rue Jean -Calvin 10
lu-di 10-17
Arts de la côte guinéenne et du Sahel: Balante, Bidyogo, Baga, Nalu, Landuman, Sapi, Temne, Toma, Mende, Gola, Loma, Bassa; Wolof, Soninke, Djenne, Bankoni, Malinke, Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Bwa, Bobo, Gurunsi, Tusyan...
Arts de la Côte d'Ivoire, du Bénin, du Ghana et du Nigeria: Lobi, Senufo, Dioula, Ligbi, Kulango, Hwela, Grebo, Dan, Wè, Bete, Guro, Yaure, Baule, Ebrie; Fon, Akan, Ashanti, Koma; Nok, Yoruba, Urhobo, Ibo, Ibibio, Kalabari, Mambila, Boki
Arts du Cameroun:, Bangwa, Bamileke, Babanki, Bamum, Oku, Duala, Gbaya, Kirdi...
Arts du Gabon : Fang, Hongwe, Kota, Sango, Tsogo, Kwele, Ambete, Punu, Njabi, Tsangi, Kuyu...
Arts du Congo et d'Angola: Lobala, Bembe, Teke, Boma, Vili, Yombe, Teke, Kuba, Biombo, Tetela, Songye, Luba, Hemba, Bembe, Lega, Lulua, Tabwa, Lwalu, Salampasu, Konda, Yaka, Suku, Mbala, Pende, Tshokwe, Lwena, Songo, Lwimbi, Imbangala, Ovimbundu, Mangbetu, Zande...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Bongo, Shilluk, Giriama, Zaramo, Makonde, Lomwe, Tsonga...
Collections africaines en ligne: m�taux et ivoires, c�ramiques, si�ges, masques

Genève
Musée d'Ethnographie
Boulevard Carl-Vogt 65
ma-di 10-17
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Ibo, Urhobo, Ogoni, Mumuye, Bamileke, Bali, Babanki, Kom, Bamum...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Punu-Lumbo, Tsogo; Kuyu, Bembe, Dondo-Kamba, Bwende, Teke, Yaka, Yombe, Vili, Zombo, Mbuun, Ngbaka, Kuba, Songye, Luba, Lulua, Hemba, Pende...
Arts d'Angola et d'Afrique australe: Tshokwe, Lwena, Sua, Mbunda, Makonde, Sotho...

Neuchâtel
Musée d'Ethnographie
Rue St-Nicolas 4
ma-di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Touareg, Mende, Bamana, Kurumba, Dogon, Senufo, Dan, Wè, Guro, Baule, Ashanti, Fon, Yoruba, Benin, Owo, Bamileke, Bamum, Kundu...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang; Vili, Sundi, Lega, Kuba, Lulua, Songye, Luba, Boyo, Mangbetu...
Arts d'Angola: Tshokwe, Mbunda, Ngangela, Ovimbundu, Ambo, Humbe, Tyipungu...
Arts de Zambie et du Mozambique: Lozi, Tonga; Makonde...

St-Gallen
Historisches und Všlkerkundemuseum
Museumstrasse 50
ma-sa 10-12 / 14-17; di 10-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale et du Gabon: Baga/Nalu, Sapi, Mende, Dan, Guro, Senufo, Benin; Kota
Arts du Congo: Bembe, Teke, Yaka, Suku, Vili, Yombe, Zombo, Kuba, Pende, Songye, Luba...
Arts d'Afrique orientale: Makonde

Solothurn - Soleure
Kunstmuseum
Werkhofstrasse 30
ma-ve 10-12 / 14-17; sa-di 10-17
Expositions temporaires d'arts primitifs du Musée Barbier-Mueller (Genève)

Zurich
Museum Rietberg
Gablerstrasse 15
ma-di 10-17
Arts de Guinée et du Libéria: Bidyogo, Baga, Nalu, Toma, Kissi, Mende...
Arts du Sahel: Dogon, Bamana, Mossi, Bwa, Bobo...
Arts de la Côte d'Ivoire: Dan, Wè, Senufo, Ligbi, Lobi, Baule, Guro, Anyi, Ebrie, Akan...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Benin, Bini, Owo, Yoruba, Ibo, Ekoi, Mambila...
Arts du Cameroun: Babanki, Bamileke, Bameta, Bafum, Tikar, Bamum, Yabassi...
Arts du Gabon et Congo: Ambete, Fang, Kota, Punu, Kwele...
Arts du Congo; Kuyu, Bembe, Teke, Sundi-Yombe, Boma, Zombo, Yaka, Suku, Hungaan, Pende, Kuba, Tshokwe, Binji, Kanyok, Kasingo-Boyo, Songye, Luba, Hemba, Bangubangu, Lega, Mangbetu
Arts d'Afrique australe: Zimba, Lozi, Mahafaly...

Zurich
Volkerkundemuseum der UniversitŠt ZŸrich
Pelikanstrasse 40
ma-ve 10-13 / 14-17; sa 14-17; di 11-17
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidyogo, Baga, Nalu, Sapi, Toma, Mende, Kpelle, Dan, Wè, Bamana, Senufo, Dogon, Mossi, Marka, Lobi, Guro, Baule, Anyi, Akan, Ashanti, Bono...
Arts du Nigeria: Yoruba, Benin, Ibo, Ibibio, Ekoi...
Arts du Cameroun: Ngutu, Bafo, Bangwa, Bamileke, Babanki, Bafum, Bamenda, Kom, Fungom...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Fang, Kota, Ambete; Kuyu, Bembe, Bwende, Lumbo, Teke, Vili, Yombe,Woyo, Zombo, Yaka, Suku, Mbala, Pende, Lega, Kuba, Biombo, Ndengese, Lulua, Hemba, Luba, Luntu, Bembe, Zela, Songye, Nsapo, Lega, Mbole, Tshokwe, Lwena, Mangbetu, Zande, Boa, Ngbaka...
Arts d'Afrique orientale et australe: Tutsi, Shambaa, Makonde; Shona, Bushman... (coll. Coray)

République tchèque

Praha - Prague
Náprstek Múzeum (l'art africain n'est pas exposé en permanence)
Betlémské Nám 1
lu-di 9-12 / 12.45-16.30
Arts d'Afrique occidentale: Bidyogo, Baga, Mende, Toma, Bamana, Bwa, Dogon, Wè, Dan, Guro, Bete, Baule, Atye, Agni, Fanti, Ashanti, Senufo, Nafana, Ewe...
Arts du Nigeria et du Cameroun: Yoruba, Bini, Afo, Jukun, Ekoi, Bamum, Bamileke, Duala...
Arts du Gabon et du Congo: Galoa, Kota, Lumbo, Punu, Fang; Vuvi, Kuyu; Bembe, Teke, Sundi, Yaka, Suku, Mbala, Pende, Kuba, Luba, Lulua, Salampasu, Songye, Bembe, Lega, Ngbaka, Mangbetu, Zande... Arts d'Angola, d'Afrique orientale et australe:Tshokwe, Lwena, Ovimbundu; Bari, Makonde; Tsonga...

Yougoslavie

Beograd - Belgrade
Museum of African Art
Andre Nikolica 14
lu-sa10-18; di 10-16
Arts décoratifs d'Afrique occidentale (coll. Pecar)

Paris, worldwide capital of the market of the First arts

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:30:23 GMT

Paris is for some years the worldwide capital of the market of the first Arts of Africa and of Oceania, strong of a tradition inherited from a colonial past and from an infatuation, at the beginning of last century, from artists as Picasso or Matisse for "Negro art". The opening of the museum of the quai Branly, unveiling of which provokes at the end of June a charged week, public sales - of which that announced exceptional of the collection Vérité on June 17th and 18th in Drouot - confirms this tendency.

For the expert Pierre Amrouche, "it is in Paris where there are most galleries specialised in First arts, it is in France where there are most collectors of first Arts, it is in France that the most important auctions of first Arts are held and it is in France that there will be so
on the most important museum of first Arts", he sums up.

Paris "regrouped all elements" cultural and commercial - museums and market - before dispersed between Brussels, New York and France, adds Margaret de Sabran, responsible of African and Oceanian art for Sotheby' s Paris.
The turnover is impossible to know because transactions are made so much on sales public that in galleries or between collectors. But for Mrs de Sabran, "of 50 inpubliques 60 pc sales of Africain and Oceanian art in the world are made in Paris", remaining pre-Columbian art especially in the United States.

The first "important sales of African art were made in Paris, in the thirties", tell Bernard de Grunne, galériste in Brussels and expert for the home Artcurial in Paris. "Paul Guillaume was a particularly active trader. For every Cezanne that he sold to the collector Dr Barnes, he put in him two masks baoulé (Ivory Coast) in more! Afterwards, he calmed down, there happened nothing during 25-30 years", he adds, the market moving then towards London or New York.vers Londres ou New York.

Tendency was again reversed in 2001-2002, when the houses of foreign sales were authorised to come to sell in France. "By pure commercial analysis, everybody saw that it was better to refocus everything" on the French capital, adds Mr Amrouche.
And for proof, Sotheby' s will sell one on June 23rd, for the first time, an American collection (the collection Dintenfass) in Paris. A mask Fang of the Gabon was sold on June 17th by auction to Drouot in Paris for the record sum of 5,9 M EURO (with expenses), becoming so), the most expensive work of first arts never sold in the world.

The valuable record this day was held by a statue of queen Bangwa (Cameroon) sold 3,4 M USD (2,7 M EURO) to Sotheby' s in 1990.
Work was adjudged as part of the sale of the collection Vérité, one exceptional collection of more than 500 writings of first arts of Africa and from Oceania, among whom major rooms, which is put in auction on Saturday and Sunday to the Hotel Drouot (home Auction Rive Gauche) But the experts agree: the market does not burn except "items very important, rare, ancient because there is not much", says Mrs de Sabran.

Prices are "in increase for 25 years but it is not a speculative market. There are not enough important objects as it", "said Mr Amrouche. "My clients are not people who say "ok, I buy, I wait two years, hold, the quotation of Punu (masks of the Gabon) augmented 30", adds Mr de Grunne. "They buy because they like, they put objects at home and these do not return on the market during 10, 20 or 30 years".

The opening of the museum of the quai Branly should not indeed change deal: "The arrival of the museum draws away the interest of the public, but it does not make purchasers", Mr. Amrouche says.

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / l'oeil et la main /galerie d'art premier / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

African Museum of Lyon

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:38:54 GMT

The African museum of Lyon is one of the private most ancient museums located in the city of Lyons. It is also the most ancient museum dedicated in Africa in France. Its collection is particularly rich in rooms coming from Western Africa.

History

The African Museum was create in 1861 on the initiative of the Society of Africain missions and of its founder monsignor Marion de Brésillac. After the disappearance of this last, it is the father Augustine Planque who undertook to ask the missionaries sent in Western Africa to bring back stories of daily, religious and religious life in Africa. After 137 years of existence, the museum will close its doors provisionally to the public as part of a restoration of the whole establishment. He will open again them on January 28th, 2001.

Collection and situation

The Africain Museum is located in 150 Gambetta Courts in Lyons. It disposes in its building of 750m ² places dedicated to the permanent collection (2126 rooms) and as in all museums of a room dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The permanent collection is divided in a thematic way on three levels: Daily life, social Life, Religious Life.

Characteristics

The Africain Museum is of many interests to be visited. Firstly it is an element which allows to discover Africa alone or with a guided tour to acquire many knowledge in domains sometimes charged with plates as the vodun (Vodou) worship and many others.

This museum offers workshops punctually for the children allowing them to discover for example Africain art and jobs as blacksmith where the weaver.

Besides, the museum offers temporary exhibitions going of Africain contemporary art to subjects concerning the history of the civilisations of this continent. Also conferences made by specialists of Africa and of history of art are organised. So the public could discover this year an exhibition concerning the missionaries and their look on Africa (On unknown earth, looks of the missionaries on Africa).

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / l'oeil et la main /galerie d'art premier / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

Theodore Monod African Art museum

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:28:43 GMT

The Theodore Monod African Museum, for a long time called museum of Dakar or museum of IFAN, is a museum located in Dakar and part of the fundamental Institute of Black Africa (IFAN), within the University Sheikh Anta Diop.

It is part of official sites receiving writings displayed during Biennial of Dakar.

History

Located on the place Soweto, the building was constructed in 1931 in fashionable Sudanese style then and first sheltered the seat of the Administration Dress rehearsal de l' AOF, then the museum after creation in 1936 by French Theodore Monod de l' Institut of Black Africa (IFAN), which will change name without changing acronym in 1960s. It is only at this instant when collections are really put in the disposition of the public. However the first recording of object dates of 1941.

The museum was renovated in 1995. From January, 2005 till February, 2008, the conservative was Abdoulaye Camara.

For a long time called Africain Art museum, he changes name in 2007, by the presidential decree n ° 2007-1528 of December 13th, 2007 and takes that of Museum Africain Theodore Monod d' Art.

Collections

The museum is devoted to arts and traditions of Western Africa and has about 9 000 objects among which about 300 are introduced to the public permanently.

Though of more modest size, he introduces analogies with the Museum of the Man of Paris, staging several situations of daily life, as the rituals of abatement to Yorubas of Nigeria or the exits of masks to Sénoufos of Ivory Coast. If masks are represented well, they also find there sculpted objects such as statuettes, doors, seats or drums. The major role of the gold in transsaharien trade is recalled by number of boxes and various jewellery. Examples of the main craft activities of Western Africa are displayed: potteries, ceramics, basketry and textile industries of a big variety of colours and of materials.

The first floor is devoted to temporary exhibitions. For example, in 2007, «Witnesses of fecundity and fertility» show the importance of rituals accompanying and favouring fertility and fecundity in some Western populations Africain.

Bibliography

   * (de) Jutta Rejholec, Zur Umstrukturierung kolonialer Kulturinstitutionen: Probleme und Perspektiven der Museen in Senegal, Brême, Übersee-Museum Erscheinungsjahr, 1984, 285 p. (according to a thesis of 1980) (ISBN 3-88299-041-4)
   * (fr) Michel Renaudeau, Museum of Dakar, witness of Negro art, Paris, New Africain editions, on 1967, 144 illustrated pages (preface of Leopold Sédar Senghor)
   * (fr) Author unknown within an institution in restructuring: Africain art museum of Dakar, Senegal. Between Inventory of Collections and Animation, university memory, Light university of Lyon, on 1996.
   * (fr) Francine Ndiaye, The Museum of Dakar, Editions Sepia, on 2000, 196 p.
   * (fr) Abdoulaye Camara, Leaders of work of the Africain Art museum

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / l'oeil et la main /galerie d'art premier / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:06:08 GMT

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, USA. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, often referred to simply as "the Met," is one of the world's largest art galleries, and has a much smaller second location in Upper Manhattan, at "The Cloisters," which features medieval art.

Represented in the permanent collection are works of art from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine and Islamic art. The museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of notable interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Met's galleries.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

As of 2007, the Met measures almost a quarter mile long and occupies more than two million square feet.

Overview
The facade of the Metropolitan Museum is one of the main features of New York City's "Museum Mile".

The Met's permanent collection is cared for and exhibited by nineteen separate departments, each with a specialized staff of curators, restorers, and scholars.

Represented in the permanent collection are works of art from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine and Islamic art. The museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of notable interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Met's galleries.

In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the Met organizes and hosts large travelling shows throughout the year.

The current director is Philippe de Montebello, who announced January 8, 2008 that he planned to retire at the end of the year. On September 10, 2008, it was announced that long-time curator Thomas P. Campbell would replace de Montebello in January 2009.

History
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Elevation by Simon Fieldhouse
Elevation by Simon Fieldhouse
Built/Founded:     1874
Architect:     Calvert Vaux; Jacob Wrey Mould
Architectural style(s):     Gothic
Designated as NHL:     June 24, 1986
Added to NRHP:     January 29, 1972
NRHP Reference#:     86003556
Governing body:     Local
Opening reception in the picture gallery at 681 Fifth Avenue, February 20, 1872. Wood engraving published in Frank Leslie's Weekly, March 9, 1872.

The New York State Legislature granted the The Metropolitan Museum of Art an Act of Incorporation on April 13, 1870 "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said City a Museum and Library of Art, of encouraging and developing the Study of the Fine Arts, and the application of Art to manufacture and natural life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and to that end of furnishing popular instruction and recreations."

The museum first opened on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue in New York City. John Taylor Johnston, a railroad executive whose personal art collection seeded the museum, served as its first President, and the publisher George Palmer Putnam came on board as its founding Superintendent. The artist Eastman Johnson acted as Co-Founder of the museum. Under their guidance, the Met's holdings, initially consisting of a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174 mostly European paintings, quickly outgrew the available space. In 1873, occasioned by the Met's purchase of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot antiquities, the museum decamped from Fifth Avenue and took up residence at the Douglas Mansion at 128 West 14th Street. However, these new accommodations proved temporary, as the growing collection required more space than the mansion could provide.

After negotiations with the city of New York in 1871, the Met acquired land on the east side of Central Park, where it built its permanent home, a red-brick stone "mausoleum" designed by American architect Calvert Vaux and his collaborator Jacob Wrey Mould. Vaux's ambitious building was not well-received; the building's High Victorian Gothic style was already going out of fashion by the time construction was completed, and the president of the Met termed the project "a mistake." Within 20 years, a new architectural plan, incorporating the Vaux building solely as an interior and stripping it of many of its distinctive design elements, was already being executed. Since that point, a host of new galleries and architectural elements, including the distinctive Beaux-Arts facade, designed by architect and Met trustee Richard Morris Hunt and completed in 1926, have continued to expand the museum's physical structure, with the Vaux-designed structure completely surrounded by later additions. (The Met's great entrance hall was also designed by Hunt, who died before it was finished. Hunt's son Richard Howland Hunt oversaw completion of the great hall to his father's specifications.)

As of 2007, the Met measures almost a quarter mile long and occupies more than two million square feet, more than 20 times the size of the original 1880 building.

Collections

American decorative arts

The American Decorative Arts Department includes about 12,000 examples of American decorative art, ranging from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century. Though the Met acquired its first major holdings of American decorative arts via a 1909 donation by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, wife of the financier Russell Sage, a decorative arts department specifically dedicated to American works was not established until 1934. One of the prizes of the American Decorative Arts department is its extensive collection of American stained glass. This collection, probably the most comprehensive in the world, includes many pieces by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The department maintains twenty-five period rooms in the museum, each of which recreates an entire room, complete with furnishings, from a noted period or designer. The department's current holdings also include an extensive silver collection notable for containing numerous pieces by Paul Revere as well as works by Tiffany & Co.

American paintings and sculpture
Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze

Since its founding, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has placed a particular emphasis on collecting American art. The first piece to enter the Met's collection was an allegorical sculpture by Hiram Powers titled California, acquired in 1870, which can still be seen in the Met's galleries today. In the following decades, the Met's collection of American paintings and sculpture has grown to include more than one thousand paintings, six hundred sculptures, and 2,600 drawings, covering the entire range of American art from the early Colonial period through the early twentieth century. Many of the best-known American paintings are held in the Met's collection, including a portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and Emanuel Leutze's monumental Washington Crossing the Delaware. The collection also includes masterpieces by such notable American painters as Winslow Homer, George Caleb Bingham, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Thomas Eakins.

Ancient Near Eastern art

Beginning in the late 1800s, the Met started to acquire ancient art and artifacts from the Near East. From a few cuneiform tablets and seals, the Met's collection of Near Eastern art has grown to more than 7,000 pieces. Representing a history of the region beginning in the Neolithic Period and encompassing the fall of the Sassanian Empire and the end of Late Antiquity, the collection includes works from the Sumerian, Hittite, Sassanian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Elamite cultures (among others), as well as an extensive collection of unique Bronze Age objects. The highlights of the collection include a set of monumental stone lammasu, or guardian figures, from the Northwest Palace of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II.

Arms and armor
Arms and armor, Middle Ages main hall

The Met's Department of Arms and Armor is one of the museum's most popular collections. The distinctive "parade" of armored figures on horseback installed in the first-floor Arms and Armor gallery is one of the most recognizable images of the museum. The department's focus on "outstanding craftsmanship and decoration", including pieces intended solely for display, means that the collection is strongest in late medieval European pieces and Japanese pieces from the fifth through the nineteenth centuries. However, these are not the only cultures represented in Arms and Armor; the collection spans more geographic regions than almost any other department, including weapons and armor from dynastic Egypt, ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the ancient Near East, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, as well as American firearms (especially Colt firearms) from the nineteenth and 20th centuries. Among the collection's 15,000 objects are many pieces made for and used by kings and princes, including armor belonging to Henry II of France and Ferdinand I of Germany.

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Though the Met first acquired a group of Peruvian antiquities in 1882, the museum did not begin a concerted effort to collect works from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas until 1969, when American businessman and philanthropist Nelson A. Rockefeller donated his more than 3,000-piece collection to the museum. Today, the Met's collection contains more than 11,000 pieces from sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands and the Americas and is housed in the 40,000-square-foot (4,000 m2) Rockefeller Wing on the south end of the museum. The collection ranges from 40,000-year-old Australian Aboriginal rock paintings, to a group of fifteen-foot high memorial poles carved by the Asmat people of New Guinea, to a priceless collection of ceremonial and personal objects from the Nigerian Court of Benin. The range of materials represented in the Africa, Oceania, and Americas collection is undoubtedly the widest of any department at the Met, including everything from precious metals to porcupine quills.

Asian art
Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa

The Met's Asian department holds a collection of Asian art that is arguably the most comprehensive in the West. The collection dates back almost to the founding of the museum: many of the philanthropists who made the earliest gifts to the museum included Asian art in their collections. Today, an entire wing of the museum is dedicated to the Asian collection, which contains more than 60,000 pieces and spans 4,000 years of Asian art. Every Asian civilization is represented in the Met's Asian department, and the pieces on display include every type of decorative art, from painting and printmaking to sculpture and metalworking. The department is well-known for its comprehensive collection of Chinese calligraphy and painting, as well as for its Nepalese and Tibetan works. However, not only "art" and ritual objects are represented in the collection; many of the best-known pieces are functional objects. The Asian wing even contains a complete Ming Dynasty garden court, modeled on a courtyard in the Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets in Suzhou.

The Costume Institute

The Museum of Costume Art was founded by Aline Bernstein and Irene Lewisohn.In 1937 they merged with the Met and became its Costume Institute department. Today, its collection contains more than 80,000 costumes and accessories. Due to the fragile nature of the items in the collection, the Costume Institute does not maintain a permanent installation. Instead, every year it holds two separate shows in the Met's galleries using costumes from its collection, with each show centering on a specific designer or theme. In past years, Costume Institute shows organized around famous designers such as Chanel and Gianni Versace have drawn significant crowds to the Met. The Costume Institute's annual Benefit Gala, co-chaired by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, is an extremely popular, if exclusive, event in the fashion world; in 2007, the 700 available tickets started at $6,500 per person.

Drawings and prints
Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer

Though other departments contain significant numbers of drawings and prints, the Drawings and Prints department specifically concentrates on North American pieces and western European works produced after the Middle Ages. Currently, the Drawings and Prints collection contains more than 11,000 drawings, 1.5 million prints, and twelve thousand illustrated books. The collection has been steadily growing ever since the first bequest of 670 drawings donated to the museum by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1880. The great masters of European painting, who produced many more sketches and drawings than actual paintings, are extensively represented in the Drawing and Prints collection. The department's holdings contain major drawings by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rembrandt, as well as prints and etchings by Van Dyck, Dürer, and Degas among many others.

Egyptian art
Hippo William is a mascot of the Met

Though the majority of the Met's initial holdings of Egyptian art came from private collections, items uncovered during the museum's own archeological excavations, carried out between 1906 and 1941, constitute almost half of the current collection. More than 36,000 separate pieces of Egyptian art from the Paleolithic era through the Roman era constitute the Met's Egyptian collection, and almost all of them are on display in the museum's massive wing of 40 Egyptian galleries. Among the most valuable pieces in the Met's Egyptian collection are a set of 24 wooden models, discovered in a tomb in Deir el-Bahri in 1920. These models depict, in unparalleled detail, a cross-section of Egyptian life in the early Middle Kingdom: boats, gardens, and scenes of daily life are represented in miniature. However, the popular centerpiece of the Egyptian Art department continues to be the Temple of Dendur. Dismantled by the Egyptian government to save it from rising waters caused by the building of the Aswan High Dam, the large sandstone temple was given to the United States in 1965 and assembled in the Met's Sackler Wing in 1978. Situated in a large room, partially surrounded by a reflecting pool and illuminated by a wall of windows opening onto Central Park, the Temple of Dendur is one of the Met's most enduring attractions. The oldest items at the Met, a set of Archeulian flints from Deir el-Bahri which date from the Lower Paleolithic period (between 300,000 - 75,000 BC), are part of the Egyptian collection.

European paintings
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher by Johannes Vermeer

Though the Met's collection of European paintings numbers only around 2,200 pieces, it contains many of the world's most instantly recognizable paintings. The bulk of the Met's purchasing has always been in this department, primarily focusing on Old Masters and nineteenth-century European paintings, with an emphasis on French, Italian and Dutch artists. Many great artists are represented in remarkable depth in the Met's holdings: the museum owns thirty-seven paintings by Monet, twenty-one oils by Cézanne, and eighteen Rembrandts including Aristotle With a Bust of Homer. The Met's five paintings by Vermeer represent the largest collection of the artist's work anywhere in the world. Other highlights of the collection include Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat, Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Harvesters, Georges de La Tour's The Fortune Teller, El Greco's View of Toledo, Raphael's Colonna Altarpiece, Botticelli's Last Communion of St Jerome, and Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Socrates. In recent decades, the Met has carried out a policy of deaccessioning its "minor" holdings in order to purchase a smaller number of "world-class" pieces. Though this policy remains controversial, it has gained a number of outstanding (and outstandingly expensive) masterpieces for the European Paintings collection, beginning with Velázquez's Juan de Pareja in 1971. A more recent purchase is Duccio's Madonna and Child, which cost the museum more than $45 million, more than twice the amount it had paid for any previous painting. The painting itself is only slightly larger than 9 by 6 inches, but has been called "the Met's Mona Lisa".

European sculpture and decorative arts
European sculpture court

The European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection is one of the largest departments at the Met, holding in excess of 50,000 separate pieces from the 1400s through the early twentieth century. Though the collection is particularly concentrated in Renaissance sculpture—much of which can be seen in situ surrounded by contemporary furnishings and decoration—it also contains comprehensive holdings of furniture, jewelry, glass and ceramic pieces, tapestries, textiles, and timepieces and mathematical instruments. Visitors can enter dozens of completely furnished period rooms, transplanted in their entirety into the Met's galleries. The collection even includes an entire sixteenth-century patio from the Spanish castle of Vélez Blanco, reconstructed in a two-story gallery. Sculptural highlights of the sprawling department include Bernini's Bacchanal, a cast of Rodin's The Burghers of Calais, and several unique pieces by Houdon, including his Bust of Voltaire and his famous portrait of his daughter Sabine.

Greek and Roman art
Roman gallery

The Met's collection of Greek and Roman art contains more than 35,000 works dated through A.D. 312. The Greek and Roman collection dates back to the founding of the museum—in fact, the museum's first accessioned object was a Roman sarcophagus, still currently on display. Though the collection naturally concentrates on items from ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, these historical regions represent a wide range of cultures and artistic styles, from classic Greek black-figure and red-figure vases to carved Roman tunic pins. Several highlights of the collection include the Euphronios krater depicting the death of Sarpedon (whose ownership has since been transferred to the Republic of Italy), the monumental Amathus sarcophagus, and a magnificently detailed Etruscan chariot known as the "Monteleone chariot". The collection also contains many pieces from far earlier than the Greek or Roman empires—among the most remarkable are a collection of early Cycladic sculptures from the mid-third millennium BCE, many so abstract as to seem almost modern. The Greek and Roman galleries also contain several large classical wall paintings and reliefs from different periods, including an entire reconstructed bedroom from a noble villa in Boscoreale, excavated after its entombment by the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79. In 2007, the Met's Greek and Roman galleries were expanded to approximately 60,000 square feet (6,000 m2), allowing the majority of the collection to be on permanent display

Islamic art

The Met's collection of Islamic art is not confined strictly to religious art, though a significant number of the objects in the Islamic collection were originally created for religious use or as decorative elements in mosques. Much of the 12,000 strong collection consists of secular items, including ceramics and textiles, from Islamic cultures ranging from Spain to North Africa to Central Asia. The Islamic Art department's collection of miniature paintings from Iran and Mughal India are a highlight of the collection. Calligraphy both religious and secular is well-represented in the Islamic Art department, from the official decrees of Suleiman the Magnificent to a number of Qur'an manuscripts reflecting different periods and styles of calligraphy. As with many other departments at the Met, the Islamic Art galleries contain many interior pieces, including the entire reconstructed Nur Al-Din Room from an early 18th century house in Damascus. The Islamic Arts galleries are undergoing expansion since 2002 and are projected to be opened early 2011. Until that time, a narrow selection of items from the collection are on temporary display throughout the museum.

Robert Lehman Collection

On the passing of banker Robert Lehman in 1969, his Foundation donated close to 3,000 works of art to the museum. Housed in the "Robert Lehman Wing," the museum refers to the collection as "one of the most extraordinary private art collections ever assembled in the United States". To emphasize the personal nature of the Robert Lehman Collection, the Met housed the collection in a special set of galleries which evoked the interior of Lehman's richly decorated townhouse; this intentional separation of the Collection as a "museum within the museum" met with mixed criticism and approval at the time, though the acquisition of the collection was seen as a coup for the Met. Unlike other departments at the Met, the Robert Lehman collection does not concentrate on a specific style or period of art; rather, it reflects Lehman's personal interests. Lehman the collector concentrated heavily on paintings of the Italian Renaissance, particularly the Sienese school. Paintings in the collection include masterpieces by Botticelli and Domenico Veneziano, as well as works by a significant number of Spanish painters, El Greco and Goya among them. Lehman's collection of drawings by the Old Masters, featuring works by Rembrandt and Dürer, is particularly valuable for its breadth and quality. Princeton University Press has documented the massive collection in a multi-volume book series published as "The Robert Lehman Collection Catalogues."

Libraries

The main library at the Met is the Thomas J. Watson Library, named after its benefactor. The Watson Library primarily collects books related to the history of art, including exhibition catalogues and auction sale publications, and generally attempts to reflect the emphasis of the museum's permanent collection. Several of the museum's departments have their own specialized libraries relating to their area of expertise. The Watson Library and the individual departments' libraries also hold substantial examples of early or historically important books which are works of art in their own right. Among these are books by Dürer and Athanasius Kircher, as well as editions of the seminal Surrealist magazine "VVV" and a copy of "Le Description de l'Egypte," commissioned in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte and considered one of the greatest achievements of French publishing.

Several of the departmental libraries are open to members of the public without prior appointment. The Library and Teacher Resource Center, Ruth and Harold Uris Center for Education, is open to visitors of all ages to study art and art history and to learn about the Museum, its exhibitions and permanent collection. The Robert Goldwater Library in the department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas documents the visual arts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Native and Precolumbian America. It is open to adult researchers, including college and graduate students. Most of the other departmental libraries are for museum staff only or are open to the general public by appointment only.

Medieval art
The Limbourg brothers' Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry

The Met's collection of medieval art consists of a comprehensive range of Western art from the 4th century through the early 16th century, as well as Byzantine and pre-medieval European antiquities not included in the Ancient Greek and Roman collection. Like the Islamic collection, the Medieval collection contains a broad range of two- and three-dimensional art, with religious objects heavily represented. In total, the Medieval Art department's permanent collection numbers about 11,000 separate objects, divided between the main museum building on Fifth Avenue and The Cloisters.
Main building

The medieval collection in the main Metropolitan building, centered on the first-floor medieval gallery, contains about six thousand separate objects. While a great deal of European medieval art is on display in these galleries, most of the European pieces are concentrated at the Cloisters (see below). However, this allows the main galleries to display much of the Met's Byzantine art side-by-side with European pieces. The main gallery is host to a wide range of tapestries and church and funerary statuary, while side galleries display smaller works of precious metals and ivory, including reliquary pieces and secular items. The main gallery, with its high arched ceiling, also serves double duty as the annual site of the Met's elaborately decorated Christmas tree.

The Cloisters

The Cloisters was a principal project of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was a major benefactor of the Met. Located in Fort Tryon Park and completed in 1938, it is a separate building dedicated solely to medieval art. The Cloisters collection was originally that of a separate museum, assembled by George Grey Barnard and acquired in toto by Rockefeller in 1925 as a gift to the Met.

The Cloisters are so named on account of the five medieval French cloisters whose salvaged structures were incorporated into the modern building, and the five thousand objects at the Cloisters are strictly limited to medieval European works. The collection exhibited here features many items of outstanding beauty and historical importance; among these are the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry illustrated by the Limbourg Brothers in 1409, the Romanesque altar cross known as the "Cloisters Cross" or "Bury Cross," and the seven heroically detailed tapestries depicting the Hunt of the Unicorn.

Modern art

With more than 10,000 artworks, primarily by European and American artists, the modern art collection occupies 60,000 square feet (6,000 m2), of gallery space and contains many iconic modern works. Cornerstones of the collection include Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein, Jasper Johns's White Flag, Jackson Pollock's Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), and Max Beckmann's triptych Beginning. Certain artists are represented in remarkable depth, for a museum whose focus is not exclusively on modern art: for example, the collection contains forty paintings by Paul Klee, spanning his entire career. Due to the Met's long history, "contemporary" paintings acquired in years past have often migrated to other collections at the museum, particularly to the American and European Paintings departments.

Musical instruments

The Met's collection of musical instruments, with about five thousand examples of musical instruments from all over the world, is virtually unique among major museums. The collection began in 1889 with a donation of several hundred instruments by Lucy W. Drexel, but the department's current focus came through donations over the following years by Mary Elizabeth Adams, wife of John Crosby Brown. Instruments were (and continue to be) included in the collection not only on aesthetic grounds, but also insofar as they embodied technical and social aspects of their cultures of origin. The modern Musical Instruments collection is encyclopedic in scope; every continent is represented at virtually every stage of its musical life. Highlights of the department's collection include several Stradivari violins, a collection of Asian instruments made from precious metals, and the oldest surviving piano, a 1720 model by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Many of the instruments in the collection are playable, and the department encourages their use by holding concerts and demonstrations by guest musicians.

Photographs

The Met's collection of photographs, numbering more than 20,000 in total, is centered on five major collections plus additional acquisitions by the museum. Alfred Stieglitz, a famous photographer himself, donated the first major collection of photographs to the museum, which included a comprehensive survey of Photo-Secessionist works, a rich set of master prints by Edward Steichen, and an outstanding collection of Stieglitz's photographs from his own studio. The Met supplemented Stieglitz's gift with the 8,500-piece Gilman Paper Company Collection, the Rubel Collection, and the Ford Motor Company Collection, which respectively provided the collection with early French and American photography, early British photography, and post-WWI American and European photography. The museum also acquired Walker Evans's personal collection of photographs, a particular coup considering the high demand for his works. Though the department gained a permanent gallery in 1997, not all of the department's holdings are on display at any given time, due to the sensitive materials represented in the photography collection. However, the Photographs department has produced some of the best-received temporary exhibits in the Met's recent past, including a Diane Arbus retrospective and an extensive show devoted to spirit photography.

Roof Garden
A Roof Garden scene in September 2008, exhibition by Jeff Koons.

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden exists towards the southern end of the museum. It offers views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline, and features a variety of outdoor sculpture exhibitions. With food and drinks available, the Roof Garden is a popular museum spot during the mild-weathered months.

Special exhibitions

The museum often hosts special exhibitions, often focusing on the works of one artist that have been loaned out from a variety of other museums and sources for the duration of the exhibition.

Acquisitions and deaccessioning

During the 1970s, under the directorship of Thomas Hoving, the Met revised its deaccessioning policy. Under the new policy, the Met set its sights on acquiring "world-class" pieces, regularly funding the purchases by selling mid- to high-value items from its collection.[26] Though the Met had always sold duplicate or minor items from its collection to fund the acquisition of new pieces, the Met's new policy was significantly more aggressive and wide-ranging than before, and allowed the deaccessioning of items with higher values which would normally have precluded their sale. The new policy provoked a great deal of criticism (in particular, from the New York Times) but had its intended effect.

Many of the items then purchased with funds generated by the more liberal deaccessioning policy are now considered the "stars" of the Met's collection, including Velázquez's Juan de Pareja and the Euphronios krater depicting the death of Sarpedon. In the years since the Met began its new deaccessioning policy, other museums have begun to emulate it with aggressive deaccessioning programs of their own. The Met has continued the policy in recent years, selling such valuable pieces as Edward Steichen's 1904 photograph The Pond-Moonlight (of which another copy was already in the Met's collection) for a record price of $2.9 million.

In popular culture
The Great Hall

    * The Met was famously used as the setting for much of the Newbery Medal-winning children's book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, in which the two young protagonists run away from home and secretly stay several nights in the museum. However, Michelangelo's Angel statue, central to the book's plot, is purely fictional and not actually part of the museum's collection.

    * The 1948 film Portrait of Jennie was filmed at the both the Museum and The Cloisters.

    * Blair Waldorf, Serena van der Woodsen, and a few select classmates at the Constance Billard School for Girls from Gossip Girl TV series usually eat their lunch on the steps of the Met.

    * The Met was featured as the first level in the tactical first-person shooter Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear

    * The 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair uses the Met as a major setting; however, only the exterior scenes were shot at the museum, with the interior scenes filmed on soundstages.

    * In 1983, there was a Sesame Street special entitled Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the cast goes to visit the museum on-location.

    * An episode of Inspector Gadget entitled "Art Heist" had Gadget and Penny and Brain travel to the Met, with Gadget being assigned to protect the artwork. But M.A.D. Agents steal the masterpieces and plan to replace them with fakes.

    * In the 2007 movie I Am Legend, the main character, Dr. Robert Neville, is shown fishing in the reflecting pool in front of the Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing.

    * The Met is featured in a season four episode of Project Runway, where five remaining designers must create an outfit based on a work of art.

    * In season 9 of the television show Friends, Joey takes his love interest, Charlie, to the museum to try to impress her. He does not know anything about the artwork at the Met, so he memorizes information about specific pieces, but takes Charlie in the wrong direction when they enter, so his plan backfires.

    * GTA IV features a museum named the Libertonian, based on the Met.

    * In the novel The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury, the Met is the setting for the crime scene at the start of the book and much of the story line is based around it.

AFRICA
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

The Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrates artistic creativity from across the
globe and from all times. Thus, our distinguished collection of African Art
has special signifi cance both because of its aesthetic excellence and because
our strong collections in all artistic traditions complement one another so
profoundly. We therefore take the greatest pleasure in putting forward this
publication, The Art of Africa: A Resource for Educators. Christa Clark, Curator of Africa,
the Americas, and the Pacifi c at the Newark Museum, Alisa LaGamma, Curator
of African Art at the Metropolitan Museum, and the Museum’s Education staff
have worked together to select and shape the content to be especially useful to
teachers and students.
We also thank with special gratitude Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Schein for making
this effort possible. We know that the educational value of this material will be
realized in classrooms throughout New York and across the world for many years
to come.

Philippe de Montebello
Director
Kent Lydecker
Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose
Associate Director for Education
Julie Jones
Curator in Charge
Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Acknowledgments

Many colleagues participated in the development of this publication. We were
fortunate to work with Christa Clarke, Curator of Africa, the Americas, and the
Pacifi c at the Newark Museum, who we commend for writing such a clear and
informative text. Heartfelt gratitude and thanks go to the staff of the Metropolitan
Museum’s Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas under the
guidance of Julie Jones, Curator in Charge. Alisa LaGamma, Curator of African Art,
provided invaluable expertise and advice in the development of this project for
which we are truly grateful. Virgina Lee-Webb and Ross Day were generous with
their assistance. Timely, indispensable help also came from Yaelle Biro, Justin
Marquis, Laura Melnyczenko, and Hillit Zwick.

Invaluable support and insight came from Metropolitan Museum educators
and colleagues who helped shape this publication to meet the particular needs
of teachers: William Crow, Deborah Howes, Catherine Fukushima, Kent Lydecker,
Nicholas Ruocco, Edith Watts, Randolph Williams, and Barbara Woods. Karen
Ohland and John Welch offered support and guidance. Christina Park researched
comparative images. Rebecca Arkenberg wrote the lesson plans with help from
Edith Watts. Emily Roth, Naomi Niles, and Vivian Wick compiled the list of
selected resources. Catherine Fukushima shepherded the project in the early
stages together with Merantine Hens, who coordinated the many steps of editing
throughout. Masha Turchinsky directed the design and managed production
overall. Alice Dow Walker coordinated the various culminating aspects of
production. Many thanks to Paul Caro and Jackie Neale-Chadwick for their
imaging expertise and to Kevin Park for printing supervision. Thanks to Teresa
Russo for her help on the CD-ROM and to Jessica Glass and Marla Mitchnick for
their assistance in preparing the DVD. Educational Media interns Emily Nemens
and Scott Niichel provided welcome help.

As always, we greatly appreciate the continued support of Christine Scornavacca
Coulson and the Development staff. We also extend our thanks to Barbara Bridgers,
Einar Brendalen, Thomas Ling, and Karin Willis of the Museum’s Photograph
Studio. Philomena Mariani edited the manuscript with care and speed. Special
thanks to Lisa S. Park for the handsome design of this publication.

Overview of the Collection

The African art collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is celebrated as
one of the most important housed in an art museum. Its history begins in the
1940s when Nelson Rockefeller undertook the project of amassing an extensive
collection of African, Oceanic, and Precolumbian art. At the time, Rockefeller was
president of the Museum of Modern Art and his interest in these fi elds derived
from their historic infl uence on the Western avant-garde. MoMA’s sponsorship
of a series of landmark exhibitions of non-Western art beginning in 1935 and
Rockefeller’s close friendship with its director, René d’Harnoncourt, ultimately
led to Rockefeller’s founding in 1954 of the Museum of Primitive Art, a pioneering
private institution located across the street from MoMA. Art historian Robert
Goldwater served as the MPA’s director, advising Rockefeller on acquisitions
and developing an infl uential exhibition program. In 1969 Rockefeller signed an
agreement transferring the MPA to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to be housed
within a new wing. Included in this gift were 3,300 works of art, a specialized
library, and a photographic archive. Named for Nelson Rockefeller’s son, who
collected many of the Asmat works from Irian Jaya, western New Guinea, The
Michael C. Rockefeller Wing was opened to the public in 1978. This addition
made an essential contribution to the encyclopedic nature of the Metropolitan’s
collections. Since that time, the collection has continued to grow through
acquisitions and gifts to include more than 11,000 works from Africa, the Pacifi c
Islands, and North, Central, and South America. Two major additions to the
African component of the Metropolitan’s collection, each comprising more than
100 works, are a series of Dogon objects from Mali given by Lester Wunderman
between 1978 and 1987 and a collection of artworks from the court of Benin in
Nigeria given by Klaus Perls in 1991. From its beginnings, the Metropolitan’s
African collection was conceived as a fi ne arts collection focused on artistic
traditions from Africa south of the Sahara. While it originally emphasized
sculptural traditions from western and central Africa, over the last several
decades the collection has come to embrace expressive traditions in other media
such as textiles as well as those of eastern and southern Africa.

Alisa LaGamma
Curator
Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Goals and Design of this Resource

Works of art communicate vital and important aspects of the cultures in which
they were created. By studying art from Africa, students come to understand the
central role it plays in the customs, belief systems, social organizations, and
political systems of African societies. This publication presents African art and
culture through a focus on primarily traditional sculpture, textiles, metalwork,
and ceramics in the African art collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Educators and their students can study these works of art solely in the classroom
or, ideally, in preparation for a visit to the Metropolitan or to their local museum.
In these pages, we provide background information for educators about African
culture and history as well as detailed information about selected works of art.
Teachers may adapt the content to the interests, skills, and abilities of their
students and may use suggested interdisciplinary connections to social studies,
language arts, and studio arts curricula.

This resource is organized so that a teacher can incorporate study of the
artworks into a single lesson, a series of lessons, or an entire unit of study. It
begins with a map and an introduction to Africa: the continent’s geography,
peoples and cultures, and history. The next section discusses the role of visual
expression in Africa, covering important topics such as aesthetics and styles,
the roles of artists and patrons, and materials and techniques. Forty works of art
in the Museum’s collection are described in detail, accompanied by suggested
discussion questions to encourage students to look closely at, analyze, and
interpret the art.

The classroom applications section includes lesson plans based on thematic
groupings of the artworks and activities that will help the teacher create a focused
unit of study around some of the key concepts associated with African art.
Comparisons for classroom discussion present selected pairs of artworks with
questions, offering an opportunity for further discussion that will help students
discern the distinctive features of each work. (These pairs are also available on
the enclosed CD for projection in the classroom.)

A glossary provides defi nitions of words that are bolded on fi rst mention in
the text. A pronunciation guide offers approximate pronunciations for selected
African words and names mentioned in this resource. An introduction to the
video provides background information that will be useful prior to viewing
footage of performers dancing headdresses similar to some of those included
in this publication. The selected resources section contains bibliographies,
online resources (the Museum’s Timeline of Art History is particularly useful), and
a videography. These will be helpful in gathering the additional information
teachers may need to make an exploration of African art stimulating and relevant
to their curriculum.

Goals for Students

To become familiar with the variety of visual expression in the traditional art of
sub-Saharan Africa.
To understand how African artists use abstraction, idealization, and expressive
exaggeration.
To understand that African art plays a central role in:
• Mediating between the world of the living and the spirit world
• Expressing community ideals
• Defi ning power and leadership
• Protecting and healing
• Celebrating and commemorating cycles of life, both human and agricultural
To become comfortable talking about art. As students describe what they see
and share interpretations about the meanings of works of art, they will develop
language and critical thinking skills.

Introduction to African Art

Introduction to Africa

Today, Africa is considered to be the cradle of human ancestry, from which we
may all trace our descent. Based on the evidence to date, most scientists concur
that humankind evolved and modern humans emerged on the African continent.
Recent discoveries of cultural artifacts dating back 70,000 years also suggest
that the earliest forms of visual expression may be found in Africa. For many
thousands of years, Africans have contributed to the cultural heritage of the
world, creating masterful works of astonishing innovation and creativity. Africa’s
rich artistic legacy is the subject of this publication, which is based on the superb
African art collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Metropolitan’s Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the
Americas historically has focused on the fi ne arts traditions of sub-Saharan
Africa. The majority of works in the collection relate to historical traditions from
western and central Africa, regions with the highest concentration of fi gurative
sculpture. In recent years, the scope of the collection has expanded to embrace
works from eastern and southern Africa. Artworks from the African continent
are represented in other collections within the Metropolitan, most notably the
Department of Egyptian Art, but also the Islamic Art, Contemporary Art, and
Photographs departments. The ancient arts of Egypt are not included in this
resource because they are the subject of another Metropolitan resource for
educators. Finally, while there have been important developments in modern
and contemporary African art since the mid-twentieth century, this publication
focuses on tradition-based genres of African art.

Geography

Africa is the second largest continent, after Asia, in terms of both size and
population. Contemporary Africa is comprised of fi fty-four different nations,
whose borders refl ect the legacy of the continent’s division under colonialism.
Africa is further characterized and defi ned by great geographic and ecological
diversity. To the north and south are large deserts, while on the western coast,
a broad swath of rainforest straddles either side of the equator. The majority of
the continent, however, consists of savannah grasslands. The three great rivers
that run through different parts of the continent—the Nile, the Niger, and the
Zaire—have always been important means of contact and exchange within Africa.
Overseas communication and trade, however, were limited historically due
to a scarcity of safe harbors along Africa’s relatively smooth coastline and the
diffi culties of travel in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The Sahara, the world’s largest desert, has long served as a natural division
between the northern part of the continent and the lands lying below. Once
fertile land, the Sahara region suffered from severe drought and became a desert
sometime around 2000 B.C. As a result, northern Africa had greater contact
with the Mediterranean world than sub-Saharan Africa and was also introduced
earlier to Christianity and Islam. The traditions of northern Africa have therefore
been regarded as distinct from those of sub-Saharan Africa and historically
excluded from discussions of African art. Scholars today, however, recognize that
sub-Saharan Africa was not as isolated as once widely thought and that trans-
Saharan trade, from at least the fi fth century onward, ensured continuous cultural
interaction and exchange.

Peoples and Cultures

Today, over 680 million people live in Africa. Although some regions remain
sparsely inhabited, others are densely populated. The West African nation of
Nigeria, for example, has one-fi fth of the entire continent’s population. About
a third of all Africans live in large cities such as Lagos (Nigeria), the continent’s
most populous city with 13.5 million people. Other major urban centers in
contemporary Africa include Cairo (Egypt), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of
Congo), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Dakar (Senegal), and Johannesburg, Cape Town,
and Pretoria (South Africa). The majority of Africans, however, live in more rural
areas where their lifestyle centers on agricultural activities.

In those parts of the continent that are not heavily urbanized, Africa’s
geography and climate have especially impacted the development of different
artistic traditions. In agricultural communities, seasonal patterns of rainfall
and drought affect cultivation and, by extension, their cultural practices. An
alternation between rainy and dry seasons is seen throughout much of Africa, in
varying degrees. Dry seasons allow opportunities for part-time artisans to create
artifacts and for people to organize festivals and other large-scale social events
that employ such art forms. Certain areas, such as southwestern Africa and parts
of eastern Africa’s interior, also had (and continue to have) frequent droughts.
This has forced populations to migrate often or adopt a nomadic lifestyle. As a
result, their artistic expression has focused on relatively ephemeral and personal
traditions such as body ornamentation, rather than larger scale wooden sculpture.
Throughout the continent, there is found a diversity of societies, languages,
and cultures. It is estimated that there are well over 1,000 distinct languages in
Africa, making it the most linguistically varied of all the continents. In Nigeria
alone, more than 250 different languages are spoken. Important regional
languages, spoken over broad geographic areas by people of varied ethnicity,
include Arabic in northern Africa, Swahili in eastern Africa, and Hausa and
Mandinka in parts of western Africa. English, French, and Portuguese were
introduced during the colonial period and remain in wide usage today.
Culturally, Africans defi ne themselves in many different ways: by occupational
caste, village, kinship group, regional origin, and nationality. “Peoples” or
“cultures” are the preferred terms when referring to ethnic identities; “tribe”—a
word sometimes applied to African peoples or societies—is an inappropriate,
even inaccurate term, and should be avoided. Based on a concept developed
by nineteenth-century Western social theorists, “tribe” was used to describe a
group of people sharing a common language, history, geographic region, and
sociopolitical organization. In reality, ethnicity and social identity are much more
complex, as Africans may identify themselves in multiple ways. For example,
an individual may be simultaneously Nigerian, a resident of the Delta State,
Ijo (a broad ethnic designation), and Kalabari (an eastern subgroup of the
Ijo). Furthermore, the term “tribe” refl ects misleading historical and cultural
assumptions, as it often implies a kind of cultural backwardness with derogatory
associations.

History

Humankind’s origins and the beginnings of cultural expression may be traced
to Africa. Recent discoveries in the southern tip of Africa provide remarkable
evidence of the earliest stirrings of human creativity. Ocher plaques with
engraved designs, made some 70,000 years ago, represent some of humankind’s
earliest attempts at visual expression. Although much remains to be learned
about Africa’s ancient civilizations through further archaeological research, such
discoveries suggest tantalizing possibilities for rich insights into human as well
as artistic evolution.

Rock paintings depicting domesticated animals provide artistic evidence of
the existence of agricultural communities that developed in both the Sahara
region and southern Africa by around 7000 B.C. As the Sahara began to dry up,
sometime before 3000 B.C., these farming communities moved away. In the north,
this led to the emergence of art-producing civilizations based along the Nile, the
world’s longest river. Egypt, one of the world’s earliest nation-states, was unifi ed
as a kingdom by 3100 B.C. Further south along the Nile, one of the earliest of the
Nubian kingdoms was centered at Kerma in present-day Sudan and dominated
trade networks linking central Africa to Egypt for almost one thousand years
beginning around 2500 B.C.

A corpus of sophisticated terracotta sculptures found over a broad geographic
area in present-day Nigeria provides the earliest evidence of a settled community
with ironworking technology south of the Sahara. The artistic creations of this
culture are referred to as Nok, after the village where the fi rst terracotta was
discovered, and date to 500 B.C. to 200 A.D., a period of time coinciding with
ancient Greek civilization. Although Nok terracottas continue to be unearthed,
no organized excavations have been undertaken and little is known about the
culture that produced these sculptures. Terracotta heads, buried around 500
A.D., have also been found in the eastern Transvaal region of South Africa. These
important ancient artistic traditions are underrepresented in Western museums
today, including the Metropolitan, due to restrictions regarding the export of
archaeological materials. However, examples of these terracotta traditions may
be seen in the Timeline of Art History on the Metropolitan Museum’s website (www.
metmuseum.org/toah).
The first millennium A.D. witnessed the urbanization of a number of societies
just south of the Sahara, in the broad stretch of savanna referred to as the
western Sudan. The strategic location of the Inland Niger Delta, lying in a fertile
region between the Bani and Niger rivers, contributed to its emergence as an
economic and cultural force in the area. Excavations there at the site of Jennejeno
(“Old Jenne,” also known as Djenne-jeno) suggest the presence of an urban
center populated as early as 2,000 years ago. The city continued to thrive for many
centuries, becoming an important crossroads of a trans-Saharan trading network.
Terracotta fi gures and fragments unearthed in the region reveal the rich sculptural
heritage of a sophisticated urban culture (image 1).

By the ninth century, trade across the Sahara had intensifi ed, contributing
to the rise of large state societies with diverse cultural traditions along trade
routes in the western Sudan as well as introducing Islam into the region. Initially
traversed by camel caravans beginning around the fi fth century, established trans-
Saharan trade routes ensured the lucrative exchange of gold mined in southern
West Africa and salt from the Sahara, as well as other goods. Ghana, one of the
earliest known kingdoms in this region, grew powerful by the eighth century
through its monopoly over gold mines until its eventual demise in the twelfth
century. The present-day nation of Ghana takes its name from this ancient empire,
although there is no historical or geographic connection. In the early thirteenth
century, the kingdom of Mali ascended under the leadership of Sundiata Keita,
who is still revered as a culture hero in the Mande-speaking world. At its height,
this Islamic empire, which fl ourished until the seventeenth century, encompassed
an area larger than western Europe and established Africa’s fi rst university in
Timbuktu. Under the Songhai empire of the fi fteenth and sixteenth centuries, one
of the largest in Africa, the cities of Timbuktu and Jenne (also known as Djenne)
prospered as major centers of Islamic learning.
Beyond the kingdoms of the western Sudan, other centers of cultural and
artistic activity emerged elsewhere in western Africa. The art of metalworking
fl ourished as early as the ninth century at a site called Igbo-Ukwu, in what is now
southern Nigeria. Hundreds of intricate copper alloy castings discovered there
provide artistic evidence of a sophisticated and technically accomplished culture.
Nearby to the west, the ancient site of Ife, considered the cradle of Yoruba
civilization, emerged as a major metropolis by the eleventh century. Artists
working for the royal court in Ife produced a large and diverse corpus of masterful
work, including magnifi cent bronze and terracotta sculptures renowned for their
portraitlike naturalism. The rich artistic traditions of the Yoruba continue to thrive
in the present day (images 18, 19). The neighboring kingdom of Benin, which
traces its origins to Ife, established its present dynasty in the fourteenth century.
Over the next 500 years, specialist artisans working for the Benin king created
several thousand works, mostly made of luxury materials such as ivory and brass,
that offer insights into life at the royal court (images 20–22). Other state societies
emerged in the eastern and southern parts of the continent.

The Aksum empire (also known as Axum), one of the earliest Christian
states in Africa, fl ourished from the fi rst century A.D. into the eleventh century,
producing remarkable stone palaces and enormous granite funerary monoliths.
Christian faith inspired the artistic creations of later dynasties, including the
extraordinary churches of Lalibela hewn from solid rock in the thirteenth century,
and the illuminated manuscripts and other liturgical arts of the later Solomonic
era (image 37). Notable among the kingdoms that emerged in southern Africa
is Mapungubwe in present-day Zimbabwe, a stratifi ed society that arose in the
eleventh century and grew wealthy through trade with Muslim merchants along
the eastern African coast. Just to the north are the remains of an ancient city
known as Great Zimbabwe, considered one of the oldest and largest architectural
structures in sub-Saharan Africa. This massive complex of stone buildings,
spread over 1,800 acres, was constructed over 300 years beginning in the
eleventh century.

In the fifteenth century, the age of exploration ushered in a period of sustained
engagement between Europe and Africa. The Portuguese, and later the Dutch
and English, began trade with cities along the western coast of Africa around
1450. They returned from Africa with favorable accounts of powerful kingdoms as
well as examples of African artistry commissioned from local sculptors (image
9). These exquisitely carved ivory artifacts, now known as the “Afro-Portuguese”
ivories, were brought back from early visits to the continent and became part of
the curiosity cabinets of the Renaissance nobles who sponsored exploration
and trade.

Through trade, African artists were also introduced to new materials, forms,
and ideas. Although historically glass and shell beads were made indigenously,
trade with Europe in the sixteenth century introduced large quantities of
manufactured glass beads that became widely used throughout Africa (images
26, 36). European imports of copper and coral made these luxury materials more
plentiful, and artists used them in greater quantities (image 20). Artifacts of
European manufacture, such as canes and chairs, served as prototypes for the
development of new prestige items for regional leaders (images 14, 31). Along
with goods imported from Europe, the travelers also brought with them their
systems of belief, including Christianity. In some cases, such as in the central
African kingdom of Kongo, Christianity was embraced and its iconography
integrated into the artistic repertoire (image 28). In other parts of Africa, the
foreign traders themselves were sometimes represented in artworks (image 21).
Western trade with Africa was not limited to material goods such as copper,
cloth, and beads. By the sixteenth century, the transatlantic slave trade had
already begun, forcibly bringing Africans to the newly discovered Americas.
Slavery had existed in Africa (as it did elsewhere in the world) for centuries prior
to the sixteenth, and many socially stratifi ed African societies kept slaves for
domestic work. The sheer number of slaves traded across the Atlantic, however,
was unprecedented, as over 11 million Africans were brought to the Americas and
the Caribbean over a period of four centuries. Driven by commercial interests,
the slave trade peaked in the eighteenth century with the expansion of American
plantation production, and continued until the mid-nineteenth century. While
Europeans primarily profi ted from the slave trade, certain West African kingdoms,
like Dahomey, also grew wealthy and powerful by selling captives of war. By
the late eighteenth century, the slave trade began to wane as the abolitionist
movement grew.

Those who survived the forced migration and the notorious Middle Passage
brought their beliefs and cultural practices to the New World. Within this far-fl ung
diaspora, certain cultures—such as the Yoruba and Igbo of today’s Nigeria, and
the Kongo from present-day Democratic Republic of Congo—were especially
well represented. African slaves brought few, if any, personal items with them,
although recent archaeological investigations have yielded early African artifacts,
like the beads and shells found at the African burial grounds in New York’s
lower Manhattan, which date to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The
infl uence of Africans in the Americas is perhaps best seen in diverse forms of
cultural expression that have enriched our society tremendously. Architectural
elements such as open-front porches and sloped hip-roofs refl ect African
infl uence in the Americas. The religious practices of Haitian Vodou have roots in
the spiritual beliefs of Dahomean, Yoruba, and Kongo peoples. Some elements of
cuisine in the American South, such as gumbo and jambalaya, derive from African
food traditions. Certain musical forms, such as jazz and the blues, refl ect the
convergence of African musical practices and European-based traditions.
Although the slave trade was banned entirely by the late nineteenth century,
European involvement in Africa did not end. Instead, the desire for greater
control over Africa’s resources resulted in the colonization of the majority of
the continent by seven European countries. The Berlin Conference of 1884–85,
attended by representatives of fourteen different European powers, resulted in
the regulation of European colonization and trade in Africa. Over the next twenty
years, the continent was occupied by France, Belgium, Germany, Britain, Spain,
Italy, and Portugal. By 1914, the entire continent, with the exception of Ethiopia
and Liberia, was colonized by European nations.

The colonial period in Africa brought radical changes, disrupting local political
institutions, patterns of trade, and religious and social beliefs. The colonial era
also impacted cultural practices in Africa, as artists responded to new forms of
patronage and the introduction of new technologies as well as to their changing
social and political situations. In some cases, European patronage of local artists
resulted in stylistic change (image 35) or new forms of expression. At the same
time, many artistic traditions were characterized as “primitive” by Westerners and
discouraged or even banned.
Although African artifacts were brought to Europe as early as the sixteenth
century, it was during the colonial period that such works entered Western
collections in significant quantities, forming the basis of many museum
collections today. African artifacts were collected as personal souvenirs
or ethnographic specimens by military officers, colonial administrators,
missionaries, scientists, merchants, and other visitors to the continent. In
many of these instances of collecting, objects were gathered through voluntary
trade. In one extreme instance, an act of war initiated by Britain against one of
its colonies, thousands of royal art objects were removed from the kingdom of
Benin following its defeat by a British military expedition in 1897 (images 20–22).
European nations with colonies in Africa established ethnographic museums with
extensive collections, such as the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren,
Belgium, the Völkerkunde museums in Germany, the British Museum in London,
and the Musée de l’Homme in Paris (now housed at the Musée du Quai Branly).
In the United States, which had no colonial ties to Africa, the nascent study of
ethnography motivated the formation of collections at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York and the Field Museum in Chicago. In 1923, the
Brooklyn Museum became the first American museum to present African works
as art.

Independence movements in Africa began with the liberation of Ghana in
1957 and ended with the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa during the
1990s. The postcolonial period has been challenging, as many countries struggle
to regain stability in the aftermath of colonialism. Yet while the media often
focuses on political instability, civil unrest, and economic and health crises, these
represent only part of the story of Africa today. From its many urban centers to
more tradition-based rural villages, Africa is increasingly entering the global
marketplace. The proliferation of systems of communication, such as computers
and cell phones, throughout Africa has facilitated increased interaction with other
parts of the world. As Africa moves into the twenty-first century, hope lies in its
natural and human resources and the commitment of many Africans to work
toward a stable and prosperous future.

In spite of Africa’s political, economic, and environmental challenges, the
postcolonial period has been a time of tremendous vigor in the realm of artistic
production. Many tradition-based artistic practices continue to thrive or have
been revitalized. In Guinea, the revival of D’mba performances in the 1990s,
after decades of censorship by the Marxist government, is one example of
cultural reinvention (image 10). Similarly, in recent years, Merina weavers in the
highlands of Madagascar have begun to create brilliantly hued silk cloth known as
akotofahana, a textile tradition abandoned a century ago (image 38). Photography,
introduced on the continent in the late nineteenth century, has become a popular
medium, particularly in urban areas. Artists like Seydou Keïta, who operated a
portrait studio in Bamako, Mali, in the colonial period, set the stage for later
generations of photographers who captured the faces of newly independent
African countries (image 39).

It is also important to mention developments in modern and contemporary
African art, although these forms of African visual expression are not the focus
of this publication. During the colonial period, art schools were established
that provided training, often based on Western models, to local artists. Many
schools were initiated by Europeans, such as the Congolese Académie des Arts,
established by Pierre Romain-Desfossé in 1944 in Elisabethville, whose program
was based on those of art schools in Europe. Less frequently, the teaching of
modern art was initiated by indigenous Africans, such as Chief Aina Onabolu, who
is credited with introducing modern art in Nigeria beginning in the 1920s. Since
the mid-twentieth century, increasing numbers of African artists have engaged
local traditions in new ways or embraced a national identity through their visual
expression.
Artists in today’s Africa are the products of diverse forms of artistic training,
work in a variety of mediums, and engage local as well as global audiences with
their work. In recent decades, contemporary artists from Africa, both self-taught
and academically trained, have begun to receive international recognition. Many
artists from Africa study, work, and/or live in Europe and the United States.
Kenyan-born Magdalene Odundo, for example, was trained as an artist in schools
in Kenya and in England, where she now lives. The burnished ceramic vessels she
creates, which are purely artistic and not functional, embody her diverse sources,
including traditional Nigerian and Kenyan vessels as well as Native American
pottery traditions of New Mexico (image 40). The work of contemporary African
artists like Odundo reveals the complex realities of artistic practice in today’s
increasingly global society.

The Role of Visual Expression in Africa

Because many tradition-based African artifacts serve a specifi c function,
Westerners sometimes have not regarded them as art. We need to recognize,
however, that the concept of “art for art’s sake” is a relatively recent invention of
the Western world. Prior to the Renaissance, most art traditions around the world
were considered functional as well as aesthetic. The objects African artists create,
while useful, also embody aesthetic preferences and may be admired for their
form and composition.

Aesthetics

Artists and patrons in many African societies express well-defi ned aesthetic
preferences and value skillful work. Studies of aesthetics in some African societies
have led to the identifi cation of certain artistic criteria for evaluating visual arts.
Among the Baule in Côte d’Ivoire, for example, a sculpture of the human fi gure
should emphasize a strong muscular body, refi ned facial features, and elaborate
hairstyle and scarifi cation patterns, all of which refl ect cultural ideals of civilized
beauty (image 13). Scholars of aesthetics in Yoruba (Nigeria) visual expression
have identifi ed criteria based on both formal elements, such as a smooth surface,
symmetrical composition, and a moderate resemblance to the subject, as well
as abstract cultural concepts, such as ase (inner power or life force) and iwa
(character or essential nature). Many African societies associate such smooth,
fi nished surfaces with cultivated refinement.

African aesthetics generally have an ethical or religious basis. An artwork
considered “beautiful” is often also believed to be “good,” in the sense that it
exemplifi es and upholds moral values. The fact that, in many societies, the words
for beautiful and good are the same suggests a strong correspondence between
these two ideas. The ability of an artifact to work effectively, whether that means
connecting with the spiritual realm or imparting a lesson to initiates, may also be
a standard for determining the “beauty” of an artifact.

Although in the Western world, aesthetics is often equated with beauty, artists
in some African cultures create works that are not intended to be beautiful. Such
works are deliberately horrifi c in order to convey their fearsome powers and
thereby elicit a strong reaction in the viewer (images 6, 23).
The Human Figure
The human fi gure is the main subject that traditionally has engaged African
artists. African fi gurative sculpture usually departs from natural proportions.
There is often a conceptual basis behind artistic conventions such as the
simplifi cation and exaggeration of the human features. For example, in many
African artworks, the head appears proportionately larger than the body. This
formal emphasis has symbolic meaning, as the head is believed to have a special
role in guiding one’s destiny and success in many African societies. African
artists also employ scale for symbolic effect in multifi gure compositions, a
practice known as hierarchical representation. In these cases, the most important
individual is depicted as the largest fi gure, while those of lesser importance
decrease in size exponentially (image 22).

Animals and the Natural World

Animals with special attributes—such as antelopes, snakes, leopards, and
crocodiles—are represented in art for symbolic purposes. For example, the
nineteenth-century Fon king Guezo is represented by a buffalo, an animal
signifying strength and determination, selected as his emblem through fa
divination (image 16). Representations of animals consuming other animals
may serve as a metaphor for competing spiritual or social forces (image 19).
Their depiction is meant to encourage other, less destructive means to resolve
a diffi cult social encounter. Features of different types of animals may also be
combined into new forms that synthesize complex ideas. Among the Bamana,
for example, ci wara headdresses (image 5) are based on the features of various
antelope species and may also incorporate those of aardvarks, anteaters, and
pangolins, all highly symbolic animals. The resulting synthesis of animal forms
evokes the mythic Ci Wara, the divine force conceptualized as half man and
half antelope who introduced agricultural methods to the Bamana. Animal
symbols may also take more abstract form. In the Cameroon Grassfi elds, circular
medallions represent spiders, a symbol of supernatural wisdom, and diamondshaped
motifs refer to frogs, which stand for fertility and increase (image 26).
Some forms of symbolism in African art use plants as points of reference. On cast
plaques from Benin, a background pattern of river leaves is a symbol for Olokun,
god of the sea (image 22).

Other Forms of Symbolism

Symbols may be nonrepresentational. Geometric patterns on Bwa plank masks
have multiple levels of meaning that refer to ideals of social and moral behavior
taught to initiates (image 8). Materials also hold symbolic value. Gold foil used in
Asante regalia alludes to the sun and to life’s vital force (image 14). Indigenous
forms of writing, such as nsibidi used among various cultures in Nigeria’s Cross
River region (image 24), embody multiple levels of symbolic meaning that can
be accessed only by the initiated. Gestures, too, are a form of symbolism. In
Kongo art, a seated pose illustrates a dictum about balance, composure, and
refl ection (image 29), while a protruding tongue refers indirectly to the activation
of medicines (image 30).

Abstraction and Idealization

Realism or physical resemblance is generally not the goal of the African artist.
Many forms of African art are characterized by their visual abstraction, or
departure from representational accuracy. Artists interpret human or animal
forms creatively through innovative form and composition. The degree of
abstraction can range from idealized naturalism, as in the cast brass heads of
Benin kings (image 20), to more simplifi ed, geometrically conceived forms, as in
the Baga headdress (image 10). The decision to create abstract representations
is a conscious one, evidenced by the technical ability of African artists to create
naturalistic art, as seen, for example, in the art of Ife, in present-day Nigeria.
Idealization is frequently seen in representations of human beings. Individuals
are almost always depicted in the prime of life, never in old age or poor health.
Culturally accepted standards of moral character and physical beauty are
expressed through formal emphasis. Masks used by the women’s Sande society,
for example, present Mende cultural ideals of female beauty (image 11). Instead
of a physical likeness, the artist highlights admired features, such as narrow eyes,
a small mouth, carefully braided hair, and a ringed neck. Idealized images often
relate to expected social roles and emphasize distinctions between male and
female. In Bamana statuary, full breasts and a swelling belly highlight a woman’s
role as nurturer (image 4). At the same time, complementary male and female
pairs of fi gures express the concept of an ideal social unit through matched
gestures, stances, and expressions (image 13).

Surface

Once an artifact leaves its creator’s hands, its visual appearance may be altered
through use in ritual or performance contexts. Repeated handling of an artifact
during ceremonies can create a smoothly worn surface, while ritual applications
of palm oil may result in a lustrous sheen (image 27). During ceremonies,
decorative elements, such as beads, metal jewelry, and fabric, can be added to
a work (image 13). Applications of sacrifi cial substances and organic materials
create an encrusted surface that literally and fi guratively empowers an object
(images 6, 17). Masks and fi gurative sculptures may also be repainted from
one season to the next. Bwa masks, for example, are soaked after the harvest
and repainted red, white, and black, generally with natural vegetal or mineral
pigments but now also with European enamel paints (image 8).
Form and Meaning
While creations by African artists have been admired by Western viewers for their
formal power and beauty, it is important to understand these artifacts on their
own terms. Many African artworks were (and continue to be) created to serve a
social, religious, or political function. In its original setting, an artifact may have
different uses and embody a variety of meanings. These uses may change over
time. A mask originally created for a particular performance may be used in a
different context at a later time. Nwantantay masks, used by the southern Bwa in
Burkina Faso, may be performed during burial ceremonies and also for annual
renewal rites (image 8).

Artworks can also have different meanings for different individuals or groups.
A sculpture owned by an elite association holds deeper levels of meaning for
its members than for the general public, who may understand only its basic
meaning. The painted designs on an Ejagham headdress, for example, represent
an indigenous form of writing, the meanings of which are restricted to individuals
of the highest status and rank (image 24). Understanding the cultural contexts
and symbolic meanings of African art therefore enhances our appreciation of
its form.

Religion and the Spiritual Realm

Most traditional religions in Africa have developed at the local level and are
unique to a particular society. Common elements include a belief in a creator god,
who is rarely if ever represented in art and directly approached by worshipers.
Instead, the supreme deity is petitioned through intermediaries, or lesser spirits.
These spirits may be related to the natural world and have control over powerful
natural phenomena. For instance, nwantantay masks used by the Bwa of Burkina
Faso represent various fl ying spirits that inhabit the natural world and can offer
protection (image 8). These fl ying spirits are believed to take physical form as
insects or water fowl. In Guinea, Baga beliefs describe local water spirits, called
Niniganné, associated with both wealth and danger that take symbolic form as
snakes (image 9). Nature spirits, appealed to by Baule diviners in Côte d’Ivoire for
spiritual insights, are conceived of as grotesque beings associated with untamed
wilderness (image 13).

Other spirits represent founding ancestors, whose activities are described
in stories about the creation of the world and the beginnings of human life and
agriculture. The Dogon of Mali recount their genesis story with reference to
Nommo, a primordial being who guided an ark with the eight original ancestors
from heaven to populate the earth (image 2). Also in Mali, Bamana agricultural
ceremonies invoke Ci Wara, the half man and half antelope credited with
introducing agriculture to humanity (image 5). The original ancestors in Senufo
(Côte d’Ivoire) belief are represented by a monumental pair of male and female
fi gures exemplifying an ideal social unit (image 7).

The category of spirits believed to be most accessible to humans is that of
recently deceased ancestors, who can intercede on behalf of the living community.
Among the Akan in Ghana, ancestors are commemorated by terracotta sculptures
that, when placed in a sacred grove near the cemetery, serve as a focal point for
funeral rites and a point of contact with the deceased (image 15). Fang societies
preserved the bones of important deceased individuals in bark containers in the
belief that their relics held great spiritual power (image 27). In many large states,
a living king and leader may be regarded as divine as well. In the kingdom of Benin,
in today’s Nigeria, the Oba historically was considered semidivine and therefore
constituted the political and spiritual focus of the kingdom (images 20, 22).
In addition to indigenous religions at a local level, other religions are also
practiced throughout Africa. Christianity has existed in Egypt and northern Africa
since the second century. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was established in
the fourth century by King Ezana, who adopted Christianity as the state religion
(image 37). In the late fi fteenth century, Christianity was introduced into sub-
Saharan Africa by Portuguese explorers and traders. Although most African
cultures did not adopt the religion, the Kongo king Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga
established Christianity as the state religion in the early sixteenth century
(image 28). During the colonial period, Christianity gained converts throughout
the continent.

Islam came to Egypt after 640, then spread below the Sahara in the eighth
and ninth centuries through traders and scholars. On the east coast, Arab and
Persian colonizers introduced Islam beginning in the eighth century. Although
the acceptance of Islam or Christianity sometimes precluded the practice of
traditional religions, in many cases they coexisted or were incorporated into
preexisting beliefs. The adoption of Islam and Christianity also led to the
abandonment of many earlier forms of artistic expression.

Religious practice in Africa centers on a desire to engage the spiritual world in
the interests of social stability and well-being. Annual rites of renewal among the
Bwa, for example, are designed to seek the continued goodwill of nature spirits
(image 8). Political leaders also seek religious guidance to ensure the success
of their reign. Fon kings, for example, referenced a divination process known as
fa, which predicted the nature and character of their reign (image 16). Personal
misfortune, such as illness, death, or barrenness, or community crises, including
war or drought, are also cause to petition the spirits for guidance and assistance.
Art objects are employed as vehicles for spiritual communication in diverse
ways. Some are created for use in an altar or shrine and may receive sacrifi cial
offerings. The Dogon of Mali, for example, show gratitude to the ancestors by
offering pieces of meat in a monumental container presented to the family altar
(image 2). In the kingdom of Benin (Nigeria), cast brass heads commemorating
deceased kings are placed on royal ancestral altars, where they serve as a point
of contact with the king’s royal ancestors (image 20).

Other objects are used by diviners to attract and tap into spiritual forces.
The dazzling beauty of an expertly carved Baule fi gure sculpture lures a nature
spirit into inhabiting the sculpture, thereby aiding a diviner’s work (image 13).
Such objects themselves are often not inherently powerful but must be activated
through ritual offerings or by a knowledgeable religious specialist. Fon diviners
empower fi gurative sculptures called bocio with organic substances that ensure
their client’s health and well-being (image 17). Similarly, Kongo ritual objects
known as nkisi derive their potency from various substances, both organic and
man-made, added to a carved figure by a ritual specialist (image 30).
The unseen forces of nature or the spiritual world are called upon to serve
a variety of purposes, including communicating with the spirits, honoring
ancestors, healing sickness, or reinforcing societal standards, through masked
performances. Masquerades involve the active participation of dancers,
musicians, and even the audience, in addition to the masked dancer, who serves
as the vehicle through which these invisible powers become manifest. By donning
a mask and its associated costume, the dancer transcends his own identity and is
transformed into a powerful spiritual being. Among the Dogon, masks are worn at
dama, a collective funerary rite for men whose goal is to ensure safe passage of the
deceased’s spirit to the world of the ancestors (image 3). Masked performances
by members of the Bamana Komo association convey knowledge of their history,
beliefs, and rituals to initiated members (image 6). The massive sculpted
headdress known as D’mba among the Baga is seen as a symbol of cultural
reinvention and appears on various occasions marking personal and communal
growth (image 10). Among the Mende and their neighbors, masquerades of the
Sande society encourage and celebrate young female initiates and offer a model
of feminine beauty and spiritual power (image 11).

Art and Politics

Political institutions in Africa that predate European colonization have ranged
from large, centralized kingdoms led by a single ruler to smaller, village-based
societies. Centralized states may vary in size and complexity but are generally
ruled by a chief or king, supported by a hierarchical bureaucracy. In many different
societies, leaders are considered to be semidivine. In less centralized societies,
power is not vested in a single individual. Instead, authority may be exercised by
family heads, a council of elders, or local social or political institutions. African
political institutions were dramatically impacted by colonial rule. The role of
traditional rulers continues to change in postindependence Africa, where modern
states are governed by national leaders.

In centralized states, leaders have historically played an important role as
patrons of the arts. Often, leaders held monopolies over the materials used and
controlled artistic production as well (image 20). They commissioned a wide
range of prestige objects, distinguished by the lavish use of luxury materials
(images 14, 16, 20–22, 26), as well as complex architectural programs (image 18).
Works made of metal, ivory, or beads were not only visually spectacular, but also
reminded the public of the king’s wealth and power. Such art forms underscored
the king’s fundamental difference from—and superiority to—his subjects.
Royal arts are often used in ceremonial contexts that mark and legitimize
political authority. Handheld objects, such as flywhisks, staffs, and pipes, are used
as personal regalia to indicate rank and position within the court (images 14, 26).

Special seats of office (images 31, 34) and clothes and regalia made of expensive
materials (image 21) distinguish the leader’s exalted position and set him apart,
both literally and figuratively, from his subjects. Larger works legitimize political
power to a broad public. Portraits of past leaders document dynastic lines of
leadership and serve as a visual reminder of the present king’s legacy (images 20,
25, 29). Such portraits generally present an idealized depiction of a youthful and
vigorous king and emphasize the various trappings of royalty.

Among smaller, village-based societies, in which governance is distributed
among local associations, artworks do not glorify a particular leader. Instead of
lavish displays of royal regalia, masks and figures are used as agents of social
control or education. Such works are generally commissioned by a group of
individuals, such as a council of elders or members of a religious association.
They give visual form to spiritual forces whose power is enlisted to maintain
order and well-being in a community. Sometimes, artworks are deliberately
fearsome, employing elements of the natural world considered inherently
powerful, such as sacrificial blood or medicinal plants (image 6). In other
contexts, the sculpture’s imagery presents cultural ideals held collectively by
the society (images 5, 7, 12, 24).

Rites of Passage

In many African societies, art plays an important role in various rites of passage
throughout the cycle of life. These rituals mark an individual’s transition from
one stage of life to another. The birth of a child, a youth’s coming of age, and the
funeral of a respected elder are all events in which an individual undergoes a
change of status. During these transitional periods, individuals are considered to
be especially vulnerable to spiritual forces. Art objects are therefore created and
employed to assist in the rite of passage and to reinforce community values.
The birth of a child is an important event, not only for a family but for society
as well. Children ensure the continuity of a community, and therefore a woman’s
ability to bear children inspires awe. Ideals of motherhood and nurturance
are often expressed visually through figurative sculpture. Among the Senufo,
for example, female figures pay homage to the important roles women play as
founders of lineages and guardians of male initiates (image 7). The importance
of motherhood is symbolized by a gently swelling belly and lines of scarification
radiating from the navel, considered the source of life. In other societies, such as
the Bamana, figural sculptures are employed in ceremonies designed to assist
women having difficulty conceiving (image 4). They serve simultaneously as a
point of contact for spiritual intercession and as a visual reminder of physical and
moral ideals.

Initiation, or the coming of age of a boy or girl, is a transition frequently
marked by ceremony and celebration. The education of youths in preparation for
the responsibilities of adulthood is often a long and arduous process. Initiation
rites usually begin at the onset of puberty. Boys, and to a lesser extent girls, are
separated from their families and taken to a secluded area on the outskirts of
the community where they undergo a sustained period of instruction and, more
typically in the past than now, circumcision. At the conclusion of this mentally
and physically rigorous period, they are reintroduced to society as fully initiated
adults and given the responsibilities and privileges that accompany their new
status.

During initiation, artworks protect and impart moral lessons to the youths.
The spiritual forces associated with this period of transformation are often given
visual expression in the form of masked performances. During the initiation of
boys, male dancers wearing wooden masks may make several appearances (image
32). Their performances can serve diverse purposes—to educate boys about their
future social role, to bolster morale, to impress upon them respect for authority,
or simply to entertain and relieve stress. The initiation of girls rarely includes
the use of wooden masks, focusing more on transforming the body through the
application of pigment. The women’s Sande society, found among the Mende and
their neighbors, is one of the few organizations in which women wear wooden
masks as part of initiation ceremonies (image 11). Many initiation organizations
continue in today’s Africa, often adapting to contemporary lifestyles. For example,
in the past, the Sande society’s initiation process could take months to complete;
now, Sande sessions have adapted to the calendars of secondary schools and
initiation may be completed during vacation and holiday periods.

In many African societies, death is not considered an end but rather another
transition. The passing of a respected elder is a time of grief and lamentation but
also celebration. In this final rite of passage, the deceased joins the realm of the
honored ancestors. While the dead are buried soon after death, a formal funeral
often takes place at a later time. Funeral ceremonies with masked performances
serve to celebrate the life of an individual and to assist the soul of the deceased
in his or her passage from the human realm to that of the spirits (image 3). Such
ceremonies generally mark the end of a period of mourning and may be collective,
honoring the lives of the deceased over a number of years.
Figurative sculpture is also employed to commemorate important ancestors.
Representations of the deceased, individualized through details of hairstyle,
dress, and scarification, serve not only as memorials but also as a focal point for
rituals communicating with ancestors (images 15, 20). In some central African
societies, certain bones of the deceased are believed to contain great power and
are preserved in a reliquary. In such cases, figurative sculpture attached to the
reliquary does not represent the ancestor but honors and amplifies the power of
the sacred relics (image 27).

Art and the Individual

While many kinds of African art are employed in communal contexts, others serve
the needs of individuals. Domestic furnishings and objects of personal use, while
practical in purpose, also have an aesthetic dimension. The artistic enhancement
of objects of utilitarian function reflect and reinforce an individual’s standing and
status in society. Details of form and decoration personalize an object, marking
it as the property of a specific individual and, occasionally, providing information
about ethnic affiliation, social status, or rank. At the same time, the artistic
inventiveness and careful execution of such works clearly indicate a desire to
integrate aesthetics into daily life.

Personal adornment and dress are important forms of aesthetic expression.
Scarification and hairstyle, in particular, are regarded by Africans as means
by which the body is refined and civilized. Specifics of bodily ornamentation
are often depicted in fine detail on masks and figurative sculpture, indicating
their importance as symbols of cultural, personal, and/or professional identity
(images 5, 7, 10, 13). Dress is also a means of self-expression and definition.
Certain forms of textiles identify the wearer by age or status and may also
convey personal identity as well (images 33, 36). Textiles have also historically
been conceived as a form of wealth and their extensive use comments upon the
wearer’s access to riches.

Western Appreciation of African Art

The appreciation of African art in the Western world has had an enormous impact
not only on the development of modern art in Europe and the United States, but
also on the way African art is presented in a Western museum setting. Although
objects from Africa were brought to Europe as early as the fifteenth century, it
was during the colonial period that a greater awareness of African art developed.
The cultural and aesthetic milieu of late-nineteenth-century Europe fostered an
atmosphere in which African artifacts, once regarded as mere curios, became
admired for their artistic qualities.

African sculpture, in particular, served as a catalyst for the innovations of
modernist artists. Seeking alternatives to realistic representation, Western artists
admired African sculpture for its abstract conceptual approach to the human
form. For example, the powerfully carved Fang reliquary figure, with its bulbous
and fluid forms, attracted the attention of the painter André Derain and the
sculptor Jacob Epstein, both of whom once owned the sculpture (image 27).
Increasing interest among artists and their patrons gradually brought African
art to prominence in the Western art world. Along with this growing admiration
for African art, the aesthetic preferences of collectors and dealers resulted in
the development of distinctions between art and artifact. Masks and figurative
statuary in wood and metal—genres and media most readily assimilated into
established categories of fine art in the West—were preferred over more overtly
utilitarian objects, such as vessels or staffs. Masks and figurative statuary are
more commonly found in western and central Africa. The legacy of early Western
taste, with its emphasis on sculptural forms such as masks and figures, continues
to inform most museum collections of African art.
As African art became more widely appreciated in the West, scholars began
to study both its stylistic diversity and the meanings that African artifacts hold
for their makers. Our understanding of African art has been shaped by the work
of anthropologists and art historians, many of whom have spent considerable
time doing research in Africa on specific cultural traditions. African scholars are
also undertaking research into their own heritage. Their sustained commentaries
have led to new information and insights, providing a better understanding of
the complex cultural meanings embodied in art. At the same time, scholars today
recognize that interpreting the creation, form, and use of African art is an inexact
science, as meanings and functions shift over time and across regions.

Artists and Patronage

Artists in Africa

Traditional African artists are generally regarded as skilled professionals, though
they have varied training. Some are born into families of specialist artisans.
Among Mande cultures in western Africa, such as the Bamana of Mali, artisans
are a separate caste from the majority farmer group. Artisans such as blacksmiths,
carvers, potters, and leather workers inherit their professions and generally marry
within their groups (image 6). In the former kingdom of Dahomey (now Republic
of Benin), members of the Huntondji family served Fon kings as jewelers and
smiths for generations beginning in the eighteenth century (image 16).
Other artists learn through long-term apprenticeship and study under a master
artist. The Yoruba artist Olowe of Ise, who was active in what is now Nigeria from
the late nineteenth century until his death in 1938, became a master sculptor
after years of apprenticeship (image 18). Some artists are self-taught and learn
their craft informally. In some African societies, artists believe they are called to
their profession by a spiritual force. The master artist Zlan, active among Dan and
We communities during the first half of the twentieth century, considered carving
to be his destiny (image 12). His profession was originally ordained in a relative’s
dream before his birth and confirmed during his youth when an adze fell from a
palm oil tree his uncle was cutting.

European-style art schools, introduced in the colonial period, also offer
artistic training. Most traditional artists in Africa do not produce art as a fulltime
occupation, but must earn a living through other means, such as farming.
However, some royal kingdoms, such as Dahomey and Benin, supported guilds
where artists worked exclusively for the king and his court.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the materials artists work with and their techniques
are historically specialized according to gender. Wood carving and metallurgy, for
example, are often the exclusive domain of male artists, while pottery is typically
considered women’s art. In areas in which men and women practice the same
art, such as weaving, their work is usually differentiated by technique, material,
or style. For example, throughout western Africa, men weave long strips of cloth
using a horizontal loom, while women produce wider textiles using a vertical
loom. There are, of course, exceptions that suggest these gender divisions are
not rigid. Kuba men and women in Democratic Republic of Congo collaborate
in the creation of raffia textiles, which are woven by men and embroidered
by women (image 33). In some communities, like the Mangbetu (Democratic
Republic of Congo), men work as potters. The We master carver Zlan is said to
have been assisted in sculpting by his wife, Sonzlanwon (“snail, if God agrees”)
(image 12).

Artists have diverse social roles within their communities throughout Africa.
Some are highly regarded for their artistic skills. Others are respected for their
ability to work with certain materials. For example, blacksmiths are generally
regarded as exceptionally powerful individuals, whose ability to transform
ore into workable metal is seen akin to the creation of human life. In some
communities, an artist who creates powerful objects is considered dangerous or
socially aberrant. His exceptional abilities are thought to be outside the realm of
ordinary human behavior.

Although historically, most artifacts created by African artists were unsigned,
their authors were not anonymous. The artist’s name was often known and
remembered by the owner of the artifact and others within their community.
Among the Yoruba, for example, respected artists are celebrated and recalled
through the recitation of oriki, a genre of recited praise poetry (image 18).
Unfortunately, until the second half of the twentieth century, most collectors
failed to record such information and therefore museums lack the documentation
necessary to identify an artifact by its artist. Happily, there are instances in which
the artist’s name is known (images 12, 18, 19) or an individual’s stylistic traits
have been identified (image 34).

Absent such information about the artist, however, African objects are usually
identified by their ethnic or regional origin. Earlier studies of African art equated
ethnicity with style. Today, scholars recognize that, although certain formal
parameters of artistic expression may predominate in any given society, style
is not exclusively determined by culture. While artists often work within local
conventions of form and style, it is important to remember that they also work
creatively. An artist’s aesthetic choices, such as proportion, scale, details, and
decoration, individualize the artwork.
Furthermore, style is not a fixed entity. There may be multiple styles of art
within one cultural group. Some Fon artists, for example, produce luxury objects
sheathed in silver for royal patrons, while others in the same society create
artifacts encrusted with organic materials used in divination (images 16, 17).
Style may cross cultural borders—as patrons commission works from artists
in neighboring societies—or change over time. The concept of cultural style is
perhaps most problematic in the case of African artists who work in contemporary
urban or global contexts (images 39, 40).

Patronage

African artists historically responded to the specific needs of a patron. Patrons
may be political leaders or groups, members of associations, families or lineages,
or individuals. Artists generally work for patrons from the same culture and
therefore share a common understanding about an object’s style and use. Artists
can also produce objects for neighboring or foreign patrons, which sometimes
leads to the introduction of new forms or styles. For instance, the tradition of
carving and performing wooden masks is a recent one among the southern
Bwa in Burkina Faso, adopted within the past hundred years from neighboring
peoples (image 8). The patronage of African artists at coastal carving centers by
Image 34
Image 40
33
Portuguese navigators during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries resulted in the
creation and export of finely carved ivory prestige items, like the saltcellar made
for the table of a European noble (image 9).
The patron who buys and uses the artwork plays an important role in the
object’s appearance and its social context. While an artist may follow local
conventions of style and form, specific features or stylistic innovations may be
incorporated during the process of creation at the patron’s request. The patron
may also contribute to the appearance of the object after it has been purchased
from the artist. For example, palm oil may be applied to the surface of a figural
sculpture during its ritual use (image 27). and masks may be repainted by their
owners from year to year.

Materials and Techniques

Many tradition-based works of African art are made of perishable materials and
are therefore subject to damage wrought by climate and insects in Africa. Most
artifacts in museums were collected in the early twentieth century and were
generally no older than a century at that time. For that reason, they have been
dated from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Unlike Western
art, which places a high value on permanence, many forms of African art were
meant to meet the needs of only the original patron or even to serve a short-lived
function. Importance was placed on the creative process itself, whether it be art
making or ritual performance. The object itself could be renewed or replaced.

Wood

African sculpture is generally made of wood, an impermanent material subject
to termite or other environmental damage. Wooden sculptures from Africa in
Western collections generally date no earlier than the late nineteenth century,
though some older objects are known to exist. In arid climates like the western
Sudan, wood sculpture has been preserved for longer periods (image 4). In such
cases, the wood used for the sculpture may be dated by radiocarbon analysis,
a method of calculating the age of organic materials (such as wood, bone, and
shell) based on measuring the radioactive decay of carbon. This method is useful
only if the artifact is more than 200 years old.
The type of wood chosen by a sculptor is sometimes symbolically significant
and may require ritual preparation. Some Dogon sculptors, for example, must
offer a sacrifice to the spirit of a tree before using its wood.

Most African wood sculpture is made from a single piece of wood. Carving
in wood (as with stone or ivory) is a subtractive technique. The traditional tools
of an African sculptor are the ax or the adze. An adze is similar to an ax, except
that the blade is perpendicular rather than parallel to the handle. Using an ax or
adze, the sculptor blocks out a generalized form from a large block of wood. As he
refines the form through increasing definition, the sculptor may also use a knife
to cut fine details. Some sculptures are smoothed and shined, some painted with
locally made or imported pigments, and others encrusted with organic and other
materials.

In the Yoruba creative process, the various stages of the carving process are
clearly defined. After visualizing the desired form, the sculptor selects a piece of
freshly cut, green wood, which he keeps wet to facilitate carving. The first of four
stages, called ona lile, involves the preliminary blocking out of the wood with an
ax or adze. In the next step, aletunle, these main forms are refined into smaller
masses, such as ears, hands, and eyes, using an adze or chisel. Smoothing of the
carving, using a knife or chisel, is the third stage, called didan. Finally, the artist
Image 18 uses a knife to carve fine details, completing the sculpture, a stage known as fifin.
Image 4
35
In Yoruba society, a potential carver begins an extended apprenticeship
with a master sculptor around age ten. The sculptor supervises the apprentice,
introducing him to tools and materials as well as principles of design and their
execution. In the beginning, the apprentice assists only with the most basic
tasks such as the smoothing of the wood surface. With experience, he is allowed
to block out the preliminary form. After several years of training, a talented
apprentice may continue as a paid assistant and then eventually establish his
own workshop.
Ivory
Ivory from elephants holds both material and symbolic value. It is prized for
its physical properties such as strength, density, and smoothness. Considered
a luxury material, ivory was an important commercial commodity in trade
with Europe. Because the elephant denotes strength and power in many
African societies, ivory is also often used for arts associated with leadership. In
centralized kingdoms, such as Benin (Nigeria), the use of ivory was historically an
exclusive prerogative of royalty. The color of ivory is significant in some cultures,
since white is associated with ritual purity and spirituality in general (image 21).

Ivory was generally carved by the same artist who sculpted wood, using similar
techniques. Carvers used a knife or adze and polished the surface with a rough
textured leaf or other abrasive material. Fresh ivory, from the tusks of recently
killed elephants, was more oily and therefore easier to carve. In some societies,
ivory carvers constituted a separate category of artisans. At the court of Benin,
for example, the ivory carvers were organized into a guild known as Igbesamwan
and lived and worked in separate quarters. In Lega society, the ownership of ivory
artifacts historically has been restricted to members of the highest levels of the
Bwami association, the core political and social institution. Today, ivory carving
is still practiced in some areas of Africa, though to a much lesser extent given the
international ban on ivory trade.

Stone

While the large-scale stone sculptures of ancient Egypt are well known, in sub-
Saharan Africa stone has not been as widely used as wood as an artistic medium.
The massive architectural structures at Great Zimbabwe and the large stelae at
Aksum are among the few examples of the use of stone on a monumental scale.
Among those societies that used stone as a medium, such as the Kongo, the
material was often associated with inevitability and permanence (image 29).
Although many traditions of stone carving have not continued in the present
day, some forms of sculpture are products of more recent artistic developments.
One well-known artistic movement is that of contemporary Zimbabwean stone
sculpture, which was initiated in the late 1950s by Frank McEwen, director of
the National Museum of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Local Shona artists were
encouraged by McEwen, a British artist, to work in stone, a material associated
with the ancient ruins and sculpture of Great Zimbabwe, and many artists
continue to produce stone sculpture today.

Metal

Metalworking in sub-Saharan Africa may date to at least the seventh century
B.C. There is early evidence of iron smelting technology and the forging of iron
ore to create agricultural tools and weapons. Because metalworking was both an
intrinsically dangerous process and an important technological skill, blacksmiths
were (and are) highly regarded throughout much of Africa. In many African
origin stories, for example, the founding culture hero is either a blacksmith
or introduces the necessary skills to his people. Iron as a material is generally
thought to be inherently powerful, and is often associated with the gods (image
16). Most ironworking throughout sub-Saharan Africa involves highly ritualized
practices, as the process of transforming ore into metal is likened to the creation
of human life.

Luxury metals available locally include gold and copper alloys (bronze and
brass). Indeed, at one point in history, most of the gold supply in Europe came
from West Africa. Through trade with Europe beginning in the fifteenth century,
metals like copper alloy and silver became more plentiful. Because these metals
were considered precious materials, they were generally used for prestige objects
and signified wealth and power. Such metals were most often cast (images 20,
22, 28), but could also be worked in other ways, such as hammering into sheets.
In some cultures, encasing a wooden object in sheet metal or metal foil was one
way to maximize the visual effects of a costly material without using the vast
quantities of metal required for casting (images 14, 16).

The art of lost-wax casting, dating to at least the ninth century south of the
Sahara, is an important one in Africa. The technique is similar to that used in
Europe, but was developed independently. In fact, the virtuoso lifesize cast metal
sculptures of Ife were created beginning around the twelfth to thirteenth century,
a time when European artisans had not mastered casting on such a scale.
To briefly summarize the technique, the process begins by covering a core of
clay with a layer of wax. This wax layer is then modeled, carved, and incised by
the sculptor to create final surface details. Another layer of clay then encases the
wax form and is left to dry. After drying, the clay mold is heated to melt the wax.
Molten metal is poured in the clay mold. Once the metal has cooled, the clay
mold is broken open, resulting in a unique work.
Clay
Works made of fired clay, or terracotta, are among the earliest surviving artifacts
from the African continent. Sites in the Sahara Desert have yielded terracotta
objects that have been dated to the eighth millennium B.C. The corpus of
terracotta figures known as Nok constitutes the earliest known sculptural
tradition in sub-Saharan Africa. Works made of terracotta include vessels as well
as figurative objects (images 1, 15, 40). Many terracotta works—both figurative
and nonfigurative—are used in important rituals, particularly those relating to
funerary practices (image 15).

The technique of making ceramic vessels of clay is highly developed
throughout Africa and usually practiced by women. Vessels are almost always
built from hand without the aid of a potter’s wheel. Expert potters create perfectly
formed vessels by coiling or molding. After the vessel dries, it is fired outside in
open pits. Decoration is usually done before firing, either by working designs into
the clay or applying slip or vegetal solutions. The process of firing clay, like that
of working metal, is also highly ritualized, though to a lesser extent. Traditionally,
the process has been accompanied by certain taboos and restrictions intended
to ensure successful firing. Potters today continue to use traditional methods
of production, though some contemporary ceramic artists introduce new
technologies in their work (image 40).
Mud, which is clay in its most basic form, is also used in African architecture.
It serves as a building material, either applied over a preexisting framework or
used in the form of mud bricks. Mud is also used for the exterior decoration of
houses, where it may be molded into relief designs or used as paint. Perhaps
the most well-known example of mud brick architecture is the Great Mosque at
Jenne, originally built in the thirteenth century, in Mali. The mosque is believed
to be the largest adobe structure in the world and certainly is among the greatest
achievements of African architecture.
Fiber
In Africa, cloth is made from locally available fibers, including cotton, wool, silk,
raffia palm leaves, and bark, as well as imports such as rayon (images 33, 38).
Pounded bark may have been the earliest form of cloth in Africa and continues
to be produced by some pygmy groups in central Africa. The other materials
are woven on looms. Weaving is done by both men and women throughout
Africa, although methods of production are generally differentiated by gender.
In western Africa, for example, men weave long, narrow strips of cloth on a
loom that is oriented horizontally. Women produce broader lengths of woven
cloth on a vertical loom. Woven textiles are decorated using diverse methods,
such as dyeing, painting, stamping, appliqué, embroidery, and printing. Other
forms of natural fibers, such as reeds and grasses, are used in basketry. Basketry
techniques are used to produce objects, such as containers, hats, and shields, as
well as in some forms of architecture.

Painting

The use of pigment for artistic expression in Africa may date to as early as
70,000 years ago. Paintings on rock are found throughout the African continent,
the earliest examples in the Saharan region possibly dating to 8000 B.C.
Other significant examples of rock painting are found in eastern and southern
Africa. With important exceptions, such as rock painting and also Ethiopian
manuscripts and painted church interiors (image 37), pigments are applied to
three-dimensional forms in Africa—sculptural works (images 8, 19), architectural
structures (image 18), and the human body. Historically, artists used naturally
derived pigments, such as ocher and indigo, although today commercially made
paints are also used. Often, certain colors or materials have symbolic value
(image 8). For example, white clay, called kaolin, is used widely throughout Africa,
applied on the human body or on artifacts, to signify spirituality (image 13). Paint
has become an increasingly popular medium from the twentieth century to today,
especially in the vernacular sign paintings found throughout western Africa and in
the work of academically trained contemporary artists.

Other Materials and Media

African artists use many other kinds of materials in the creation of artworks.
Beads are used throughout much of Africa, often in the making of prestige
objects. Many kinds of beads, particularly those made of seeds, shells, bone, or
coral, are locally available in Africa. Others, especially glass beads, are of Indian
or European manufacture and historically have been imported, often in great
quantities. Animal hide, a strong and durable material, is also used to create
objects, such as shields or items of dress. Different materials are often combined
for practical, symbolic, or aesthetic effect (image 3). Organic material, derived
from plants or animals, may be added or applied to an object for ritual purposes
(images 6, 17). The technique of covering a wood form with animal skin is unique
to a part of eastern Nigeria (image 24). Western techniques and materials, such as
photography and concrete, are also widely used in Africa today (image 39).

Introduction to the Visual Materials

The images of art in this section are grouped by geographic region and within
each region according to ethnic group. Images 38–40 depict modern and
contemporary works of art.
Dimensions of each artwork are noted to avoid misunderstandings about scale.
Keep in mind that many of these objects were used in certain practical contexts.
For example, remind the students that the masks and headdresses are intended to
be seen in motion and together with costume. (You may want to view the enclosed
video, which provides appropriate context for some of the headdresses.) Many of
the three-dimensional works of art were also adorned and carried in rituals.
Please familiarize yourself with the images and their descriptions. Initially you
might have the students view some of the images without providing information
to see what their reactions and questions will be. Ask the students to describe
what they see. When your class is ready to look at the images in more depth,
you may decide to lead the discussion or assign one or more works of art to
each student, who will study the descriptions and be the “expert” for those
images. The description of each work of art is followed by questions designed to
stimulate class discussion. (In addition, selected works are presented in pairs in
the Comparisons for Classroom Discussion section of this resource. By engaging
in these comparing and contrasting exercises, the students will discern the
distinctive features of the works of art.) As the discussion proceeds, students will
become more comfortable expressing ideas about how the formal elements of art
clarify its meaning and function.

1 Seated Figure, 13th century; ca. 1235
Mali, Inland Niger Delta region
Terracotta; H. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
Purchase, Buckeye Trust and Mr. and Mrs. Milton Rosenthal Gifts, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest
and Harris Brisbane Dick and Rogers Funds, 1981 (1981.218)
Among the earliest known examples of art from sub-Saharan Africa are terracotta
figures like this one from the inland delta of the Niger River, near the present-day
home of the Dogon and Bamana peoples. In this region of Mali, the ancient city
of Jenne-jeno (“Old Jenne”) flourished as a center for agriculture, trade, and art
from the middle of the first millennium until about 1600. The terracotta figures
associated with this civilization represent men and women, singular and in pairs,
in a variety of attire and poses, including sitting, kneeling, and on horseback. The
diversity of imagery and the skill with which they were modeled reveal the rich
sculptural heritage of a sophisticated urban culture.
This figure sits, hunched over, with both arms clasping an upraised leg, its
head tilted sideways to rest against its bent knee. The posture evokes a pensive
attitude that is reinforced by the expressiveness of the facial features: the
bulging eyes, large ears, and protruding mouth are all stylistically characteristic
of works from this region. The fluid contours of the body emphasize the long
sweeping curve of the neck and back and the rhythmic play of intertwined limbs.
Except for the barest suggestion of shoulder blades, fingers, and toes, the figure
lacks anatomical details. On the back are three rows of raised marks and two
rows of marks punched into the clay. These have been variously interpreted as
scarification marks or symptoms of a disease.
Thermoluminescence tests indicate that this figure was fired during the
first half of the thirteenth century. Other terracotta figures recovered (and, in
many cases, looted) from various sites throughout the Inland Niger Delta have
been dated from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Artists—either men
or women—modeled the figures by hand, using clay mixed with grog (crushed
potsherds). Details of dress, jewelry, and body ornament were either added on
or incised. Once complete, the work was polished, covered with a reddish-toned
clay slip, and then fired, probably in an open-pit kiln. The surviving figures vary in
style and subject matter, suggesting that the sculptors had considerable artistic
freedom.
Our understanding of the use and meaning of such works remains speculative.
A few controlled archaeological digs have revealed similar figures that were
originally set into the walls of houses. Oral history collected recently in the
region supports the archaeological evidence, as the figures are said to have been
venerated in special sanctuaries and private homes. There is little consensus,
however, on the meaning of the various forms of the terracotta figures. Scholars
have suggested that this figure conveys an attitude of mourning. Its seated pose,
shaved head, and lack of dress recall mourning customs still practiced by some in
this region of western Africa.

2 Ritual Container (Adun koro), 16th–19th century
Mali; Dogon
Wood; L. 93 in. (236.22 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.255)
The Dogon call this monumental receptacle, carved from a single block of wood,
the adun koro, or “ark of the world.” The flat-bottomed, rectangular box with a
hollowed-out interior is used during annual harvest rituals to hold offerings to
the spiritual world. This type of vessel has been interpreted by art historians as a
representation of the mythic ark central to Dogon accounts of genesis.
According to some accounts, the Creator Amma sent the mythic ark down from
heaven to populate the world. Inside the vessel were the eight original ancestors
equipped with everything essential to life on earth. The ark was guided from
heaven by Nommo, a primordial being who was transformed into a horse upon
the ark’s landing. The horse’s head and tail, sculpted on the ends of this vessel,
suggest Nommo’s role as leader and subsequent earthly transformation. The eight
original ancestors may be depicted here as a series of stylized squatting figures,
carved in relief on the side of the container. They are represented in two groups of
four, separated by a schematic animal, possibly a lizard.
The Dogon live in remote villages, sheltered by the steep cliffs that stretch
125 miles parallel to the Niger River. The environment is particularly harsh, and
Dogon farmers struggle to provide food for their families in this dry terrain. A
successful harvest is therefore a time of celebration and the giving of thanks.
Each year during winter solstice, after the millet is reaped, lineages (extended
families) participate in a ritual known as goru. The word goru is defined as
humidity, richness, and abundance, all of which are seen by the Dogon as
blessings from the spiritual world. In order to show gratitude to the ancestors and
to Amma the Creator, the head of a lineage offers pieces of goat and sheep meat
as sacrifices to the family altar. These offerings are dramatically presented in the
adun koro, the monumental container that evokes the mythic “ark of the world.”

Mask and Hood (Kanaga), 19th–20th century
Mali; Dogon
Wood, fiber (sanseveria), hide, pigment; L. 22 13/16 in. (57.9 cm)
Gift of Lester Wunderman, 1987 (1987.74h,i)
Dogon masks, such as this one called kanaga, are worn primarily at dama, a
collective funerary rite for Dogon men. The ritual’s goal is to ensure the safe
passage of the spirits of the deceased to the world of the ancestors. The
ceremony is organized by members of Awa, a male initiation society with ritual
and political roles within Dogon society. As part of the public rites related to
death and remembrance, Awa society members are responsible for the creation
and performance of the masks.
Like other Dogon wooden masks, kanaga masks depict the face as a rectangular
box with deeply hollowed channels for the eyes. The superstructure above the
face identifies this mask as a kanaga: a double-barred cross with short vertical
elements projecting from the ends of the horizontal bars. This abstract form has
been interpreted on two levels: literally, as a representation of a bird, and, on a
more esoteric level, as a symbol of the creative force of god and the arrangement
of the universe. In the latter interpretation, the upper crossbar represents the sky
and the lower one, the earth.
This kanaga mask was collected complete with some of its costume elements.
Attached to the wooden face mask is a hood composed of plaited fiber strips
dyed black and yellow with a short fiber fringe that covers the dancer’s head. A
ruff of red and yellow fibers frames the face. The dancer also wore a black vest
woven of fiber and embroidered with white cowry shells and fiber armbands at
the wrists and elbows. This ensemble included a long skirt of loosely strung, curly
black fibers and a short overskirt composed of straight red and yellow fibers, worn
over trousers.
More than eighty different types of masks, of both wood and fiber, have been
documented in dama performances. They represent various human characters
familiar to the Dogon community, such as hunters, warriors, healers, women,
and people from neighboring ethnic groups. The masks may also depict animals,
birds, objects, and abstract concepts.
Because preparations are elaborate and costly, the dama may be held several
years after the death and burial of an individual. Performances take place over
a six-day period, culminating with a procession of masked dancers who escort
the souls of the dead from the village, where they might cause harm, to their
final resting place in the spiritual realm. The ceremony recalls the origins of the
Dogon people, while also marking the end of the mourning period for the recently
deceased. Today, such masks continue to be worn at dama performances but are
also danced on other, more secular occasions, such as national holidays and as
demonstrations organized for the benefit of tourists.

Mother and Child (Gwandusu), 15th–20th century
Mali; Bamana
Wood; H. 48 5/8 in. (123.5 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.121)
Seated Male with Lance (Gwantigi), 15th–20th century
Mali; Bamana
Wood; H. 35 3/8 in. (89.9 cm)
Gift of the Kronos Collection in honor of Martin Lerner, 1983 (1983.600a,b)
The large, naturalistic figures of a woman and man shown here are associated
with Jo, a society of initiated Bamana men and women found primarily in southern
Mali, near the towns of Bougouni and Dioila. They are also used in Gwan, a
division of Jo concerned with women’s fertility and childbirth. Now displayed
together in the Museum’s collection, each of these figures originally came from a
different community where they were paired with mates of their own size.
Each of these works embodies complementary Bamana ideals of physical
beauty and moral character. The seated mother with child is referred to as
Gwandusu, a name evoking strength, passion, and conviction. It combines
Gwan, the name of the organization itself that also means hot, hard, or difficult,
and dusu, which translates as soul, heart, passion, courage, and anger. She
is represented as both a nurturing mother and a female with extraordinary
powers. Her heavy breasts hold the promise of milk for the child that clings
to her abdomen. On her head is a hat decorated with amulets in the form of
small animal horns filled with ritual ingredients, and strapped to her left arm is
a dagger. Both the knife and hat are commonly associated with powerful male
hunters: their representation here underscores the exceptional nature of this
ideal woman.
The male figure is called Gwantigi, or “Master of Gwan.” He is identified as
a hunter and wears an amulet-laden headdress and a dagger on his arm. He is
represented seated on a chair, an indication of his status as a leader. The lance he
holds in his raised right hand confirms his power and authority.
Jo and Gwan sculptures demonstrate a range of gestures and attributes that
suggest a possible link to the terracotta statuary of the Inland Niger Delta region.
These two sculptures are probably not the work of the same artist, although they
are quite similar stylistically. Note their long, massive torsos with wide, arching
shoulders, exaggerations of the human figure that emphasize their power. Their
faces are thin and tapered, with large, heavy-lidded eyes, a slender nose, and
sharply projecting lips. Represented as archetypes of humanity, they embody
Bamana ideals of male and female social roles that, while distinct, are considered
equally important in Bamana society.

Jo and Gwan sculptures are cared for by senior members of the associations
and displayed as part of a sculptural ensemble during annual festivals. Prior to
their public presentation, the sculptures are cleaned, oiled, and adorned with
clothing. Annual displays organized by Jo typically involve only a pair of male
and female figures. Those of the Gwan association are more elaborate, and may
include up to seven figures in their grouping. Impressive in size and infrequently
displayed, the sculptures evoke wonder during their annual presentations and are
described by some Bamana as “extraordinary and marvelous things.”
The wood from which these sculptures are carved has been dated as early
as the fifteenth century by radiocarbon analysis, which measures the amount
of radioactive decay of carbon found in organic material. Wood is a perishable
medium subject to damage in a warm, moist climate or by the ravages of insects.
The unusually well preserved condition of the figures is largely due to the arid
conditions of the region in which they were found.

Male and Female Antelope Headdresses (Ci wara kun), 19th–20th century
Mali, Segou region; Bamana
Wood, metal bands; 1978.412.435: H. 35 3/4 in. (90.8 cm); 1978.412.436: H. 28 in. (71.1 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1964
(1978.412.435, 1978.412.436)
Pairs of carved wooden headdresses in the form of antelopes, like these
examples, refer to the mythic culture hero Ci Wara, a divine force conceived
of as half man and half antelope. Bamana oral traditions credit Ci Wara with
introducing to humanity agricultural methods and an understanding of earth,
animals, and plants. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ci Wara was
invoked and honored by members of a men’s agricultural association, also called ci
wara, in village-wide performances that celebrated the skills of successful farmers.
These performances featured a pair of dancers wearing sculpted headdresses,
one representing a male antelope and the other a female. They held sticks in their
hands to paw the earth just as the mythic Ci Wara did when he first taught men to
plant seeds. (See video of ci wara performances on the enclosed DVD.)
In performance, the paired dancers symbolize the union between men and
women, essential for the continuity of the community. The formal features of the
headdress also reference elements of nature necessary to sustain life. The male
serves as a metaphor for the sun, while the female is associated with the earth.
The long strands of raffia fibers attached to the headdress, concealing the dancer,
are likened to streams of water.

Although ci wara headdresses are generally described as representing
antelopes, they incorporate features of other animals, including aardvarks and
pangolins. These animals are selected for their symbolic value. In this pair, the
horns and long, arched neck represent the antelope, associated with grace and
strength. The head with a long, pointed nose and the low-slung body are features
of the aardvark, admired for its determination in digging. The sculpted headdress
is attached to a basketry skullcap (now missing on these examples) and secured
on top of the dancer’s head with a cotton strip. The dancer’s face would be
covered by a semitransparent cloth, and a costume of darkened raffia fiber would
cloak the dancer’s body.

The silhouette-like nature of sculptural representation is noted for its elegant
play of positive and negative space. The male, identified as a roan antelope,
is distinguished by its long horns and elaborate openwork mane. The female,
representing an oryx antelope, carries a fawn on her back, a reference to human
mothers, who carry babies on their backs as they till the fields. The face and horns
of both are decorated with delicate chip-carved patterning, incised linear designs,
and metal appliqué and strips.

The Bamana, who live in the southern part of present-day Mali, have long
considered farming to be among the most noble of all professions. Traditionally,
Bamana farmers have worked arduously in the savanna fields from May to
October, when it rains regularly, in order to provide enough food during the long,
dry season. Today, despite the significant social changes that have impacted
contemporary Bamana experience, farming remains central to their identity.
Although many Bamana have adopted Islam over the course of the last century,
theatrical ci wara dances continue in many Bamana villages, celebrating their
agrarian lifestyle. Among the continent’s most well-known forms of expression,
the elegantly abstract form of the ci wara headdress has also been adopted as a
national symbol of cultural identity, used as a logo by Mali’s official airline and
found on the national currency.

Komo Headdress (Komokunw), 19th–20th century
Mali; Bamana
Wood, bird skull, horns, cloth, porcupine quill, sacrificial material; L. 33 3/4 in. (85.6 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.150)
This headdress was made and used by a member of the Komo society, an
association of blacksmiths found among the Bamana and other Mande-speaking
communities in the region. Komo association members enforce community
laws, make judicial decisions, and offer protection from illness, misfortune, and
malevolent forces. The headdress embodies the secret knowledge and awesome
power of the society; its rough and unattractive form is therefore intended to be
visually intimidating. While works like the Bamana maternity figure (image 4)
depict a human ideal, this headdress is explicitly about harnessing the forces of
untamed nature, a concept expressed visually in its form and material.
The wooden structure of the headdress has a domed head, gaping mouth,
and long horns. Attached are antelope horns, a bird skull with a sharp beak, and
porcupine quills, elements chosen for their metaphorical associations since
they provide animals with power and protection. The animals themselves hold
symbolic value in Bamana culture. Birds, for example, are associated with wisdom
and divinatory powers, while porcupines signify the importance of preserving
knowledge. The mask was further enhanced by the application of ritual substances
formed from a mixture of earth, sacrificial animal blood, and medicinal plants.
This material was replenished on a regular basis, endowing the mask with the
critical life force, or nyama, that is the source of its extraordinary power.
Komo society headdresses are made by blacksmiths, a specialized artisan
group among the Bamana whose profession is inherited. Blacksmiths are greatly
respected within their community for the special knowledge and technical skills
that allow them to use fire, water, and air to transform iron ore into tools and
weapons. Ironworking is considered an especially dangerous profession, one that
requires courage and extraordinary abilities to manage the potentially destructive
spiritual forces released during the process. Blacksmiths are therefore uniquely
qualified to create Komo headdresses, which combine terrifying forms and
inherently harmful materials in an object of benefit to the community.
The headdress is worn in dramatic performances that serve as a focal point of
Komo society meetings. Held in private and restricted to initiated members, these
meetings provide an opportunity to gain an understanding of the society’s history,
beliefs, and rituals. Accompanied by bards and musicians, a high-ranking Komo
member appears wearing a headdress like this strapped on the top of his head.
His face is covered with a semitransparent cloth and he wears a costume of black
feathers enhanced with amulets over a hooped skirt. The dancer’s performance
is acrobatic and intense, featuring spectacular feats that suggest extraordinary
powers. His performance responds to petitions for assistance from members of
the community. Through song and dance, the Komo member gradually reveals
solutions to a variety of concerns that have been presented to him, from crop
failure to infertility.

Considered the most powerful of men’s associations in the region, Komo has
an ancient history and was well established by the time the Mali empire rose to
power in the thirteenth century. Individual community branches of Komo, which
are distributed widely across the region, gain authority through strong leadership,
coalitions with wilderness spirits, and effective use of power objects.

Ancestral Couple (Pombibele), 19th–20th century
Côte d’Ivoire, Korhogo region; Senufo
Wood, pigment; H. male, 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm); H. female, 23 7/10 in. (60.2 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.193,194)
The Senufo are a diverse people who have varied cultural backgrounds and
speak different dialects. Nonetheless, they share a central social institution—
Poro—to which all men belong. Within a Senufo community, each occupational
group—farmers, traders, artisans—has its own Poro chapter. Poro supervises
the initiation of adolescent boys and provides continuing social and political
guidance to its members. Members of its female counterpart, the Sandogo
association, are diviners whose responsibilities include the maintenance of good
relations with the spiritual world. Together, the men’s and women’s societies work
to ensure the physical and spiritual well-being of the community.

This male and female pair, representing an ideal Senufo man and woman,
commemorate the original ancestors of the Senufo account of creation. Poro’s
leadership commissions such figural pairs for display to reinforce social teachings
during initiation ceremonies. The figures are also displayed at funerals of
important Poro elders, a time of community grief and loss. Embodying Senufo
beliefs concerning order and continuity, the figures remind the living of the
importance of preserving connections with past generations.
Similar in form, the figures stand erect, legs slightly flexed and facing forward,
with large ears cocked forward and jutting chin. Their elongated columnar torsos
are framed by broad curving shoulders from which attenuated arms extend
fluidly, swelling into blocky hands. Both the frontal poses and the exaggerations
of human anatomy visualize ideas about power, determination, and vitality. The
extended navels refer to an awareness of the wisdom of the ancestors and, in
the case of the female figure, also stress the role of women in the continuity of
human life. The figures’ eyes are nearly closed, as if in meditation, a reference to
the inner strength they possess.
The male figure carries a scythe, a symbol that he is the farmer and provider.
The woman’s exaggerated conical breasts and swelling belly indicate that she
bears and nurtures children. The man’s extraordinary headdress, the woman’s
equally impressive coiffure, their facial scarification and body adornments signify
their high status. Together, they reflect the complementary social roles of men
and women in Senufo culture.

Mask (Nwantantay), 19th–20th century
Burkina Faso; Bwa
Wood, pigment, fiber; H. 72 in. (182.9 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1964
(1978.412.306)
Among the southern Bwa peoples in Burkina Faso, large wooden plank masks
are carved to represent various flying spirits that inhabit the natural world. These
spirits, though largely invisible, are associated with water and can take physical
form as insects that gather around a pool after a heavy rain or as a large water
fowl, like an ibis. Some Bwa describe a mythological encounter in which a flying
spirit appeared before a human, offering protection and service. A tall plank mask
was created after this encounter to honor the spirit and ensure its continued
beneficence.

This mask has a circular face and tall, vertical superstructure with a series
of downward-curving hooks projecting from both the front and the back. The
protruding, diamond-shaped mouth with jagged teeth is pierced to allow the
wearer to see. Brightly painted patterns in red, black, and white enhance the
bold geometric shape of the plank. These designs refer to important Bwa ideals
of social and moral behavior that are taught over the course of initiation. Each
symbol has multiple levels of meaning that older initiates reveal gradually to
novices as they mature. The checkerboard pattern of black and white squares,
for example, refers on one level to the animal skins on which people sit: white
representing the clean, fresh hides assigned to youths and black suggesting the
darkened skins owned by elders. On a less literal level, the juxtaposition of white
and black squares suggests abstract concepts such as the separation of good from
evil, and of light from dark.

Nwantantay masks are part of diverse ensembles of masks that represent
animals, insects, humans, and supernatural creatures. The masks are
commissioned and owned by large, extended families, or clans. The masks are
used on several occasions throughout the year, including initiations, burials,
annual renewal rites associated with planting and harvesting, and ceremonies
celebrating the consecration of a new mask. These events are often competitive,
with individual clans striving to present the most elaborate and inventive
performance in the community.

The mask is worn by a skilled dancer who secures it over his face by gripping
a fiber rope on the mask’s back with his teeth. His body is concealed by a bushy
fiber costume, traditionally dyed red or black, but now also seen in the bright
green, yellow, and purple of European dyes. Accompanied by musicians playing
flutes and drums and women singing songs, the masquerader moves rapidly,
imitating the behavior of a flying spirit. With fiber costume twirling, he twists
back and forth, then dips low to the ground, rotating the mask to suggest a
disembodied apparition.

The tradition of carving and performing wooden masks is a recent one among
the southern Bwa, adopted within the past hundred years from the neighboring
Nunuma and Winiama peoples. Previously, the Bwa had created masks of leaves,
vines, and grasses for use in ceremonies honoring Do, the earthly representative
of the creator god. Resulting from the constant interplay of people and ideas, this
example of cultural borrowing demonstrates the dynamism of masking traditions
in the region and, in particular, the openness to innovation and adaptation that
characterizes Bwa culture.

Lidded Saltcellar, 15th–16th century
Sierra Leone; Sapi-Portuguese
Ivory; H. 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm)
Gift of Paul and Ruth W. Tishman, 1991 (1991.435a,b)
This magnificent lidded ivory saltcellar was carved by a Sapi sculptor working in
what is now Sierra Leone. This work is part of a group of ivory artifacts created
during the earliest period of exchange between Africans living south of the
Sahara and Europeans. During the second half of the fifteenth century, journeys
of exploration brought Portuguese navigators into direct contact with cultures of
coastal western Africa. At a number of coastal centers in present-day Sierra Leone
and Guinea Bissau, as well as Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo, the
travelers encountered African carvers of considerable talent and professional skill.
They commissioned African works in ivory for export as souvenirs of their travels
or as gifts for the European nobility who financed their voyages. Many of the
artifacts entered European princely collections, formed as cabinets of curiosities.
These works, whose African origins had been forgotten until recent art historical
research unearthed them, have come to be known as Afro-Portuguese ivories.

At the time, salt was rare and therefore very expensive in Europe. To be able to
display this precious commodity in such a finely carved and elaborately detailed
vessel was a symbol of wealth and prestige at the table of a wealthy Portuguese.
Local artists are believed to have been shown European prototypes on which to
base their creations. This vessel’s form and some elements of its decoration recall
European saltcellars. For example, an acorn nestled inside the stylized petals of a
rose crowns the top of the container, while four rosettes carved in relief surround
the upper part of the lid. Most of the designs, however, are distinctly African,
reflecting Sapi artistic sensibilities. Four figures wearing local dress are sculpted
around the base. Two are warriors bearing swords and shields, and two are
women. Above them, curving around the disk of ivory, are four delicately carved
snakes that drop down toward four dogs represented in a state of alarm with
bared fangs, drawn-back ears, and bristling fur.

Although the Sapi peoples have dispersed to other locales since the sixteenth
century, traditions associated with contemporary peoples related to the Sapi,
notably the Baga, provide insights into the meaning of such imagery. In Baga
belief, snakes are identified with local water spirits, called Niniganné. The
Niniganné are described as powerful beings with long, smooth hair and brilliant
scales. They are believed to be capable of spanning two realms—the earthly and
the spiritual—and are associated with waterways, wealth (in the form of clothing
and metal), and danger. These attributes coincide with Sapi perceptions of the
Portuguese seafarers, whose flowing hair and unusual attire may be compared
to descriptions of Niniganné. Like the water spirits, the Portuguese visitors were
regarded as powerful individuals with mystical abilities who traveled across the
water bringing great riches, in the form of trade. They also brought danger, since,
beginning as early as 1512, the Portuguese king required that ships returning from
Africa be laden with slaves.

Headdress (D’mba or Yamban), 19th–20th century
Guinea; Baga
Wood; H. 46 1/2 in. (118.1 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.17)
This massive headdress is an example of a regional artistic tradition that dates
to at least 1886 and possibly to the early seventeenth century. Among Baga
subgroups the headdress is referred to variously as D’mba or Yamban, an
abstract concept personifying local ideals of female power, goodness, and social
comportment.
Carved from a single piece of wood, this work takes the form of a large head
and slender neck supported by a yoke with four projecting legs. Flat, pendulous
breasts signify that the subject is a mature woman who has nursed many children.
She is distinguished from ordinary Baga by her intricately braided coiffure with
high central crest, a hairstyle associated with Fulbe women, who are renowned
for their physical beauty. This coiffure is also a reminder of cultural origins, as
the Fulbe live in the Futa Jallon mountains, the ancestral homeland of the Baga
people. Incised linear patterns representing scarification marks decorate her
face, neck, and breasts. Such monumental structures, carried on the shoulders of
the performer, often weigh more than eighty pounds. In its original context, the
headdress would have had a thick raffia skirt attached to the bottom of the yoke.
A shawl of dark cotton cloth, imported from Europe, would be tied around the
shoulders, hiding the legs of the yoke.
The ideals of womanhood expressed symbolically by the strong forms
of the headdress are reinforced by the movement of the male dancer, who
communicates a model of virtuous behavior for Baga women (fig.1). Performances
documented in the 1990s describe the dramatic entrance of the masquerader in a
central plaza, preceded by a processional line of drummers. Despite its unwieldy
size, the headdress is manipulated skillfully by the dancer, whose movements are
alternately composed and vigorous. As the dancer twirls to the accompaniment
of drums, the assembled audience of male and female onlookers participates
actively. Some reach to touch the breasts of the headdress, affirming its blessings
of fertility, while others throw rice, symbolizing agricultural bounty. Songs
prescribing proper social behavior are led by women who are joined in the chorus
by men. Beginning at sunrise, the celebration continues through sundown and
sometimes over the course of many days.
Historically, such masks were used in dances held at planting times and
harvest celebrations, as well as at marriages, funerals, and ceremonies in honor
of special guests. Following Guinea’s independence from France in 1958 and
its adoption of a Marxist government, the tradition was suppressed by Muslim
leaders and state officials. In the 1990s, the lifting of decades of censorship was
followed by a popular revival of earlier art forms. In Baga society, D’mba (or
Yamban) now appears publicly on occasions marking personal and communal
growth, including marriages, births, and harvest festivals, as well as celebratory
occasions such as soccer tournaments.

Mende Helmet Mask, 19th–20th century
Sierra Leone, Moyamba district; Mende or Sherbro
Wood, metal; H. 18 7/8 in. (47.9 cm)
Gift of Robert and Nancy Nooter, 1982 (1982.389)
This helmet mask reveals the hand of a master through its refined carving,
harmonious design, and innovative elements. Within Mende and Sherbro culture,
helmet masks are carved with symbolic features intended to endow the wearer
with spiritual power. Senior members of two distinct initiation societies, Sande
and Humui, may have worn this work in performances.

Sande is a powerful pan-ethnic women’s association responsible for the
education and moral development of young girls. Helmet masks of this kind
represent its guardian spirit and allude to an idealized female beauty. Historically,
the Sande initiation process took months to complete, yet today sessions are
coordinated with the calendars of secondary schools and may be completed
during vacations and holidays. Such masks are worn by initiated Sande women
at performances that celebrate the completion of the young initiates’ training
period. The masks are finely carved to convey admired feminine features:
an elaborate coiffure, a smooth, broad forehead, narrowly slit eyes, a small,
composed mouth, and a sensuously ringed neck. This composition of forms
and symmetry creates a serene facial expression that implies self-control. The
presence of a beard, a symbol synonymous with the wisdom men achieve with
age and experience, may suggest that, through Sande, women attain knowledge
equal to men. Directly below the curve of the beard are two slots through which
the performer can see.

The mask’s glossy black patina evokes the beauty of clean, healthy, oiled skin.
It may also refer to the blackness of the river bottom, where the Sande spirit is
believed to reside. In this interpretation, the ringed neck may refer to the
circular ripples of water that are formed as the Sande spirit emerges from her
watery realm.
In Humui, a medicine society for men and women, this type of helmet mask
has been used to address curative needs, especially mental illness. The four
projecting animal-horn amulets that rise from the perimeter may be a reference
to the animal horns filled with protective medicinal ingredients worn by Humui
members.

Ceremonial Ladle (Wunkirmian or Wake mia), before 1960
Artist: Zlan
Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire; We/Dan
Wood, fiber, metal, pigment; L. 23 in. (58.4 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.254)
Among the We and neighboring Dan peoples, large, sculpted ladles like this
one are created to honor women known as wunkirle, a title earned through their
exceptional generosity and hospitality. This title is bestowed upon one woman
from each village quarter who has demonstrated outstanding abilities as an
industrious farmer, a bountiful provider of food, and a gracious host. The chosen
woman is expected to offer hospitality to all who come to her door at the great
celebrations that occur before the planting season begins. As wunkirle, she leads
a procession of women carrying pots of cooked rice and soup and directs the
distribution of the food to all the guests in attendance. Her duties also include
hosting itinerant bands of musicians and entertainers as well as later providing
food for men who toil in the fields during the planting season.

Such ladles are carved as an emblem of honor for a particular wunkirle and are
typically passed on to the successor she selects to replace her. According to We
belief, these ceremonial ladles embody a spiritual force, called dü, which sustains
the wunkirle’s exceptional abilities to organize feasts, bringing her great fame and
social status. Women who have been honored as wunkirle often accompany male
dancers wearing masks in performances. Bearing their ladles in hand, the women
dance with the masker, offering gifts and blessings.

This ladle takes the form of a long, scooplike bowl surmounted by a handle
in the shape of a female head. It is attributed to the artist Zlan, a master carver
active during the first half of the twentieth century. The face, sculpted in a style
characteristic of Zlan’s work, features slit eyes, a generous mouth with four metaltab
teeth, and a line of delicately incised scarification from forehead to nose.
White kaolin clay around the eyes and extending to the sides represents the band
of white kaolin clay that Dan women often apply cosmetically to symbolize the
heightened powers of sight one must possess to be aware of the spiritual realm.
A carved coiffure of two large crescents extending front to back is embellished
with plaited fiber along the central ridges. On such ladles, the sculpted head is
believed to be a portrait of the original owner of the ladle, whose individuality
is conveyed through details of specific scarification and coiffure design features,
rather than physical likeness.
Zlan’s work was much sought after by wealthy patrons in Dan, Mano, and We
villages in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. The son of a carver, Zlan was born around
the turn of the twentieth century in a We town on the River Cess, which forms a
border between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia. Zlan’s early demonstration of artistic
talent was recognized and encouraged by his mother, who gave him his first adze.
He secured his first commission for a sculpture around the age of thirteen and
eventually gained widespread recognition for his masterful carvings, many of
which now grace museum collections in the United States and Europe. Until his
death sometime before 1960, Zlan served as a mentor to many students during
their apprenticeship, establishing his village of Belewale as a major center of
carving. According to the recollections of locals, Zlan was often assisted in carving
by his wife Sonzlanwon, who blocked out forms in the wood for Zlan to finish. The
tradition of carving has continued in Zlan’s family, at least through the late 1980s,
carried on by his nephews Wrudugweh and Blekwa as well as a niece, Ziate.

Pair of Figures, 19th–20th century
Côte d’Ivoire; Baule
Wood, pigment, beads, iron; H. male, 21 3/16 in. (55.4 cm); H. female, 20 2/3 in. (52.5 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1969
(1978.412.390,.391)
Carved by the same hand, these figures reflect and embody Baule ideals of
civilized beauty. In Baule society, diviners commission such figures from artists
to attract the attention of asye usu, or nature spirits. Asye usu are considered to be
grotesque and volatile beings associated with the untamed elements of nature.
The spirits are seduced from the wilderness by the figures’ dazzling beauty and
lured into inhabiting the sculptures, which embody the civilized values the asye
usu lack and therefore find so desirable. The asye usu are then induced into sharing
spiritual insights, conveyed through the medium of the diviner.

Such figures are prominently displayed during ritual sessions with clients who
seek clarification about their difficulties, which can range from poor harvests
to physical illness. The presence of the sculptures and the sacrificial material
applied to their feet (never to the smooth surfaces of their bodies), along with
repeated striking of a gong, help to induce the trance state that allows the
diviner to communicate with the asye usu. The diviner can then gain insights and
revelations regarding the source of the client’s problems. The ownership of such
extraordinary works also serves to further the professional standing of the diviner,
who must impress potential clients with the caliber and sophistication of the
instruments used in his or her practice (fig. 2).

Although depicted separately, the male and female figures are perfectly
harmonized through their matched forms, gestures, stances, and expressions.
Their elaborate coiffures, intricate scarification, and beaded accoutrements
signify cultural refinement and status. Their erect, balanced pose and partially
closed eyes imply respect, self-control, and serenity. The fully rounded muscles of
their flexed legs suggest physical strength, youthful energy, and the potential for
action. White kaolin accentuates the elegant arches of their eyebrows, reflecting
the practice of diviners, who apply the fine clay around their eyes to facilitate
communication with the spirits.

Linguist Staff (Okyeamepoma), 19th–20th century
Ghana; Akan, Asante
Gold foil, wood, nails; H. 61 5/8 in. (156.5 cm)
Gift of the Richard J. Faletti Family, 1986 (1986.475a-c)
This magnificent gold-covered staff was created to serve as an insignia of office
for an okyeame, a high-ranking advisor to an Asante ruler. The position of okyeame
encompasses a broad set of responsibilities, including mediation, judicial
advocacy, political troubleshooting, and the preservation and interpretation of
royal history. The okyeame’s most visible public role is as principal intermediary
between the ruler and those who seek his counsel, leading to the popular
characterization of his profession as being that of a linguist (fig. 3). Drawing upon
vast knowledge and considerable oratorical and diplomatic skills, the okyeame
eloquently engages in verbal discourse on behalf of the chief and his visitors. He
relays the words of visitors to the king and transmits the king’s response, often
with poetic or metaphorical embellishment.

Imagery on the finial of linguist staffs typically illustrates Asante proverbs
about power and institutional responsibilities. Here, a spider on its web is flanked
by two figures, representing the proverb: “No one goes to the house of the spider
to teach it wisdom.” The spider is a fitting symbol for respect due to a person with
great oratorical and diplomatic skills. In Ghana, Ananse the spider is the bringer
of the wisdom of Nyame, the supreme creator god of the Asante, and is the
originator of folk tales and proverbs. The staff is composed of a long wooden shaft
carved in two interlocking sections and a separate finial attached to the base. It is
covered entirely with gold foil, a material that alludes to the sun, and to the vital
force or soul contained within all living things.

Although the institutional office of okyeame is believed to be centuries old,
the use of figural wooden linguist staffs as insignia is probably a more recent
development. Prior to the late nineteenth century, linguist staffs took the form
of a simple cane, a tradition likely borrowed from European prototypes in the
mid-seventeenth century. During the late nineteenth to early twentieth century,
the British gave official staffs, often made with figural finials, to Akan chiefs who
represented the colonial authorities. Since 1900, hundreds of figural linguist
staffs have been carved not only for linguists but also for representatives of other
institutions, such as associations of fishermen, carpenters, and musicians.
The Asante kingdom, part of the larger Akan culture, was formed around 1700
under the leadership of Osei Tutu. Osei Tutu brought together a confederation
of states that had grown wealthy and powerful as a result of the area’s lucrative
trade in gold, sold to both northern merchants across the Sahara and European
navigators. The centralized system of government that emerged was a complex
network of chiefs and court officials under a single paramount leader. A variety of
gold regalia was used to distinguish rank and position within the court.

Memorial Head, 19th–20th century
Ghana; Akan
Terracotta; H. 12 5/16 in. (31.3 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1964
(1978.412.353)
Since the late sixteenth century, Akan women potters have created ceramic
heads and sometimes complete figures to commemorate deceased royals
and individuals of high status. During the funeral, family members placed
the terracotta portraits of the deceased in a sacred grove near the cemetery,
sometimes with representations of other family members. These sculptures
served as the focal point for funerary rites in which libations and food were
offered to the ancestors.

This example has a rounded face with protruding elliptical eyes that tilt
downward and a delicately shaped nose. These circular shapes are repeated
by the eyebrows, ears, and open, oval-shaped mouth which projects from the
smooth surface of the face. An incised line curves around the forehead, indicating
the hairline. The surface of the sculpture has been covered with a clay slip tinted
black, a color linked to the ancestral world and spiritual power in Akan thought.
Like other examples of African portraiture, these commemorative sculptures
are idealized representations that convey individuality through specifics
of scarification and hairstyle. The artist would typically be summoned to
the deathbed of the deceased in order to observe his or her distinguishing
characteristics, which she would depict later, working from memory to capture the
individual’s essence. The figural terracotta sculptures vary enormously in style,
ranging from fairly naturalistic and sculpturally rounded forms to examples that
are solid, flat, and more dramatically stylized.

Buffalo (Bocio), 19th century
Republic of Benin; Fon
Silver, iron, wood; H. 12 in. (30.5 cm)
Gift of Anne d’Harnoncourt and Joseph Rishel, in memory of René and Sarah Carr
d’Harnoncourt and Nelson A. Rockefeller, 2002 (2002.517.1)
Royal works of art, like this silver buffalo, were made by members of the
Huntondji family, who served Fon kings as jewelers and smiths since the
eighteenth century. Though small in size, this shimmering silver creature radiates
strength and determination. Bulging eyes, bared teeth, black curved horns, cocked
ears, and swishing tail create this effect. Its eyes, horns, and tail are made from
iron, a material associated with the Fon war god, Gu. The forest buffalo was an
emblem of the Fon king Guezo, who ruled Dahomey (modern Republic of Benin)
from 1818 until 1858. The qualities associated with a ruler’s emblem—in the
case of the buffalo, strength, enduring memory, and royal legacy—were seen as
defining a king’s reign. Although he came to power by usurping the throne of his
older brother, Guezo is recalled as an important leader who unified the diverse
constituencies of the kingdom.

Symbols of Fon kings were determined in a divination ceremony known as fa,
which predicted the nature and character of each king’s reign. The buffalo emblem
is one of 256 different fa divination signs, which were represented in a variety of
artistic media created to support and enhance the king’s authority. Sculptural
forms, like this example, in addition to functioning as royal symbols, also served
as bocio, empowered objects that provided protection to the king. Placed in palace
shrines where they served as the focus of prayer, these works were given potency
through the presence of powerful substances in their interiors. Royal bocio were
also displayed during ceremonial processions and transported to battlefields
during times of war.

To create this buffalo figure, the sculptor sheathed a solid wooden core with
very thin pieces of silver. He tacked these pieces to the surface in individual
sheets, creating a patchwork effect. Then he finished the surface with hatching
marks to simulate hide and incised vertical lines for the large, bared teeth. The
sculptor’s technique was a clever one, because silver was a luxury material derived
primarily from European coins. The artist’s technique of encasing wood in sheet
metal maximized the visual effects of a costly material without using the large
quantities of metal required for lost-wax casting.

The Fon kingdom of Dahomey, founded in the early seventeenth century, was
an important regional power renowned for its strong monarchy, military prowess,
and impressive court arts. Dahomey’s influence expanded in the eighteenth
century with the capture of the port city of Ouidah. From this coastal center, the
kingdom participated in lucrative trade with Europeans, growing prosperous first
by serving as a middleman in the Atlantic slave trade and, later, by selling palm
oil. French colonization and the subsequent abolishment of the institution of
kingship led to the fall of Dahomey in the late nineteenth century.

Figure (Bocio), 19th–early 20th century
Republic of Benin; Fon
Wood, bone, metal wire, sacrificial materials; H. 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm)
Purchase, The Denise and Andrew Saul Philanthropic Fund Gift, 1984 (1984.190)
This bust once served as a protective device, or bocio, ensuring its owner’s health
and well-being, and safeguarding against potential harm. Ending in a pointed
stake, it was hammered into the ground. Unlike the sumptuous bocio made for Fon
kings, this kind of art is prescribed by diviners for use by nonroyal individuals.
The carvings are most often made by nonspecialists for their family members and
then empowered by a diviner who adds various organic substances. The most
powerful bocio are made by ritual specialists such as diviners, called bokonon, and
priests associated with the deities known as vodun.

The unrefined carving style and the rough surfaces combine to create an
aesthetic of raw energy. The massive head is carved with faces on either side.
The larger, more dominant head faces front, its inscrutable gaze and pursed
lips suggesting intense concentration. On the other side is a smaller, skull-like
face whose otherworldly gaze is accentuated by its asymmetrical, empty eye
sockets. The disproportionately large head underscores the centrality of physical
perception, while the presence of two sets of eyes suggests a state of heightened
vision and watchfulness.

Plant and animal materials give the work supernatural powers. A dog’s
skull crowns the head, and a garland of serpent bones encircles the neck. Such
materials have symbolic significance. The presence of the skull of a dog, an
animal praised for its protective skills, reinforces notions of guardianship and
surveillance central to the efficacy of this object. Snakes call to mind poisonous
attacks.

The resulting work functions proactively as a defense mechanism, responding
to the varied needs of its owner. Uses may include the detection of thieves,
protection from sorcery, and the manipulation of weather. As a surrogate for the
individual who commissioned it, a bocio serves as a decoy, drawing harmful forces
away from its owner. Operating at the intersection of the spiritual and human
realms, bocio are strategically situated along paths, roadways, agricultural fields,
and near family compounds, or placed inside homes and shrines.

Veranda Post: Equestrian, before 1938
Artist: Olowe of Ise (ca. 1873–1938)
Nigeria, Ekiti region; Yoruba
Wood, pigment; H. 71 in. (180.3 cm)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1996 (1996.558)
In the early twentieth century, a Yoruba ruler commissioned this architectural
column from one of the most renowned sculptors in the history of Yoruba art,
Olowe of Ise. Born in the nineteenth century in Efon-Alaiye, a famed carving
center, Olowe moved as a youth southeast to Ise. There, his artistic reputation
was established when he carved a program of architectural sculptures for its king,
the Arinjale. Subsequent commissions of architectural sculpture for the palaces
of other regional leaders brought Olowe even greater recognition as a master
sculptor. Admired by his contemporaries, Olowe’s artistic talent is recalled in
oriki, or praise poems, composed in his honor. His accomplishments were also
recognized in the West. In 1924, a pair of his palace doors was exhibited in
London and acquired for the British Museum.

Olowe created this veranda post, one of several, for the exterior courtyard of
a Yoruba palace. Carved from one piece of wood, the composition combines two
classic Yoruba icons of power and leadership. The most prominent of these is the
equestrian warrior, who is depicted frontally sitting regally on a diminutive horse.
He holds a spear and a revolver. The image of the mounted warrior symbolizes
the military might needed to form kingdoms. Local leaders adopted this image to
validate their rule. At the base of the post, the kneeling female figure is depicted
as the dominant form. In Yoruba culture, women are honored as the source of
human life and embody ideas of spiritual, political, and economic power. These
allegorical representations underscore the wealth and power of the ruler who
commissioned the work.

Here, as in other examples of African sculpture, proportion and scale are
altered and exaggerated to symbolize ideas. The disproportionately large heads
represent character, self-control, and motivation. Eyes are large to suggest
awareness. Among the Yoruba, the most beautiful people have a gap between
their upper front teeth. The woman’s exaggerated breasts symbolize her ability to
have children and to nurture them. The woman is represented slightly larger than
the warrior, suggesting that she is the essential support. The warrior’s horse, less
important than its rider, is depicted as smaller. The subordinate role of the two
youths by the woman’s side is suggested by their small scale.

Stylistically, Olowe was very innovative in his composition. He is especially
known for the manner in which figures project beyond the immediate boundaries
of the sculptural space. Here, instead of the usual Yoruba practice of depicting
figures in frontal poses, he sculpted the female figure turning toward the left with
the two smaller attendants radiating outward at oblique angles. The compressed
style of the upper portion of the column, with its weighty and self-contained
equestrian figure, contrasts with the sense of kinetic energy created by the
dynamic composition of multiple figures below. The sculpture’s formal complexity
is enhanced by its textured surface, with details originally painted in black, white,
and royal blue. The deep carving style was well suited to the intense raking
sunlight of its original setting just inside an exterior veranda.
The Yoruba, who live in southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin, are a
diverse people with a rich cultural and artistic heritage of considerable antiquity.
Although they number over 15 million people, the Yoruba embrace an overarching
common identity through shared language and history. They trace the origins
of both life and civilization to their founding city of Ile-Ife, which was a thriving
urban center by the eleventh century. In the centuries that followed, numerous
autonomous city-states developed, related through professed descent from
Ile-Ife. In general, each city-state was governed by a sacred ruler, whose power
was balanced by a council of elders. Artists working for these regional leaders
produced a wide range of art forms designed to glorify the status of the king and
his court.

Helmet Mask (Gelede), ca. 1930–71
Artists: Fagbite Asamu of Idahin and Falola Edun
Republic of Benin, Ketu region; Yoruba
Wood, metal nails, pigment; H. 41 in. (104.1 cm)
Gift of Roda and Gilbert Graham, 1992 (1992.225.1)
The masking tradition known as Gelede is believed to have originated among the
Yoruba people of the Ketu region, in today’s Republic of Benin, sometime in the
late eighteenth century. Gelede honors the spiritual powers of elderly women
who are referred to as awon iya wa, or “our mothers.” Their powers are not limited
to human fertility but extend to agricultural bounty, wealth, and human health,
and are believed to be akin to those of the gods. In order to direct their potent
energies positively, such elderly women must be appropriately honored.

Each year, at the beginning of a new agricultural cycle, Gelede performances
are organized by the male and female titled elders of the Gelede society. While
entertaining, and often ribald, the masquerades are a serious tribute to the
contributions made by elderly women in order to maintain social order, preserve
well-being, and reinforce cultural values. Numerous masquerades appear in
sequence over a two-day period. The maskers, all male, wear sculpted wooden
masks on top of their heads and, in some cases, carved wooden breasts and
stomachs. The textiles used for their costumes are borrowed clothes of local
women. The masked dancers perform in pairs, offering social and spiritual
commentary through role recognition and satire. The elaborately choreographed
dances are accompanied by an orchestra of drums and a chorus of male and
female singers.

The imagery of the masks used in Gelede address a range of subjects relating
to all aspects of Yoruba society. Usually, the base of a Gelede mask is a human
face. The calm expression indicates patience and self-control, highly valued
characteristics of female role models. The imagery above the face may depict
animals, objects, or humans that refer to a particular individual or situation in
the community, or it may illustrate a popular proverb or song. Such imagery
often serves as a metaphor, designed to reinforce positive behavior within
the community. In this example, one of an original pair, the face is flanked by
long curving snakes that are devouring antelopes. Representations of animals
consuming other animals are depicted frequently on Gelede masks. They are
allusions to competing spiritual or social forces and encourage other, less
destructive means to resolve conflict.

This mask reflects the creative collaboration of two generations of sculptors
from the same workshop. The face was sculpted by Ketu master Fagbite Asamu,
an artist who is remembered for his innovative Gelede creations which included
movable attachments that could be manipulated by the performer. On this
example, the hinged extensions in the form of snakes were carved by Fagbite’s
son, Falola Edun, who completed the work in 1971. The fluid forms of the serpents
are composed of interlocking segments of wood secured by nails. Because a
premium is placed upon innovation in Gelede performances, new designs are
continually introduced into the repertory of forms.
(Please see also two excerpts from the film Efe/Gelede Ceremonies among the
Western Yoruba, which may be viewed on the Museum’s website. One shows the
sculptor Falola Edun completing work on the Gelede mask, while the other shows
the mask being performed. [For complete information on these excerpts, see the
Videography in the Selected Resources section.])

Head of an Oba, ca. 1550
Nigeria, kingdom of Benin; Edo peoples
Brass; H. 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.86)
Cast brass heads such as this one were commissioned by the kings of Benin to
be placed on royal ancestral altars. The kingdom of Benin was a state founded
around 1300 in the southern part of today’s Nigeria. It flourished for over half a
millennium led by a succession of dynastic leaders, known as Obas. The Oba,
who was considered to be semi divine during his lifetime, was the political and
spiritual leader of his people. He governed a complex network of lesser chiefs
with varied political, administrative, and ritual duties. Upon ascending the throne,
one of the Oba’s first ritual duties was to establish an altar commemorating the
life and achievements of the previous king, his father.

The heads cast in brass are idealized representations of the individual Obas.
This head, which dates to the mid-sixteenth century, is among the earliest
examples of the genre, as indicated by the thin casting and naturalistic style.
Later examples are more stylized, heavier castings, as metal became more
plentiful through trade with European merchants. Here, the face is softly
modeled, with broad nose, generous lips, and fleshy cheeks. Iron inlays originally
filled the pupils of the large eyes, to intensify the gaze; iron was associated with
formidable strength. The Oba’s crown, formed of diagonally woven strands of
coral beads with long fringes, and his tiered coral necklace are rendered with
exacting precision. The focus upon the head to represent the Oba is symbolically
significant: in Benin culture, the head is believed to have a special role in
directing an individual’s success in life. Because the welfare of the entire kingdom
is dependent on the king’s guidance, his head was itself the focus of ritual
attention.

Placed on the ancestral altar, the brass head not only commemorates a
deceased Oba but offers an enduring reminder of his successful leadership
throughout his reign. Such an altar was a point of contact with the spirit of the
deceased king, should the Oba need support and advice from his ancestors.
Palace ceremonies, in which the continuity of divine kingship was reinforced,
took place—and continue to take place today—in front of these altars. Located
in an open courtyard, royal ancestral altars are low, semicircular mud platforms.
Hollow-cast brass heads, each supporting a carved ivory tusk (inserted into the
large hole on top), would be placed on each altar along with other royal objects,
including brass altar tableaus and figurative representations, carved wooden
staffs, brass bells, and ceremonial swords. Brass and ivory, both valuable and
durable materials, symbolized the Oba’s power and wealth.

Historically, the Oba was the principal patron of the arts in Benin. The
artists’ guilds—which included blacksmiths, brass casters, sculptors in wood
and ivory, bead workers and costume makers, and leather workers—worked
under his patronage. Most of the art created served to glorify the king, reinforce
royal hierarchies, and enhance court life. Traditional art production under
the patronage of the king came to an abrupt end in 1897, when British troops
destroyed the capital city and looted the palace. Today the kingdom of Benin
exists as a political subdivision within Nigeria. Many of its ritual, political,
and artistic activities resumed in 1914, when the son of the king exiled in 1897
returned to Benin. Heirs to this tradition continue to represent their people as
cultural leaders within the contemporary Nigerian state.

Pendant Mask, 16th century
Nigeria, kingdom of Benin; Edo peoples
Ivory; H. 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1972
(1978.412.323)
This pendant mask was created in the early sixteenth century for an Oba named
Esigie, in honor of his mother Idia. The face has softly modeled, naturalistic
features, with graceful curves that echo the oval shape of the head. Four carved
scarification marks, a number associated with females, indicate her gender.
Iron inlays for the pupils and rims of the eyes intensify the Queen Mother’s
authoritative gaze and suggest her inner strength. The two vertical depressions on
her forehead were also inlaid with iron. She is depicted wearing a choker of coral
beads and her hair is arranged in an elegant configuration that resembles a tiara.
The intricately carved openwork designs are stylized mudfish alternating with
the faces of Portuguese traders. Both motifs are associated with the Oba and his
counterpart, the sea god Olokun. The mudfish is a creature that lives both on land
and in water, and a symbol of the king’s dual nature as both human and divine.
Similarly, the Portuguese, as voyagers from across the sea, may have been seen
as denizens of Olokun’s realm. Like the sea god, they brought great wealth and
power to the Oba.

In Benin culture, ivory holds both material and symbolic value. As a luxury
good, ivory was Benin’s principal commercial commodity and helped to attract
Portuguese traders who, in turn, brought wealth to the kingdom in the form
of copper and coral. In addition, ivory is white, a color that symbolizes ritual
purity and is also associated with Olokun, who is considered to be a source of
extraordinary wealth and fertility.
Queen Idia is honored as a powerful and politically astute woman who
provided critical assistance to her son during the kingdom’s battles to expand.
Upon the successful conclusion of the war, Esigie paid tribute to Idia by
bestowing upon her the title of Queen Mother, a custom that has continued with
subsequent rulers until the present time. The title of Queen Mother, or Iyoba, is
given to the woman who bears the Oba’s first son, the future ruler of the kingdom.
Historically, the Queen Mother would have no other children and, instead, devote
her life to raising her son. Oba Esigie is said to have worn the mask as a pectoral
during rites commemorating his mother. The hollow back, holes around the
perimeter, and stopper composed of several tendrils of hair at the summit suggest
that the mask functioned as an amulet, filled with special and powerful materials
that protected the wearer. Today, such pendants are worn at annual ceremonies of
spiritual renewal and purification.

Plaque: Oba on Horseback, ca. 1550–1680
Nigeria, kingdom of Benin; Edo peoples
Brass; H. 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1965
(1978.412.309)
Around 1600, a Dutch visitor to the court of Benin described the magnificent
palace complex, with its high-turreted buildings, as one of immense size and
striking beauty. In the long, square galleries, wooden pillars were covered from
top to bottom with brass plaques. Cast in relief from a wax model, the plaques
were mounted on the palace pillars by nails punched through the corners. The
plaques depicted the Oba and various members of his retinue, including warrior
chiefs, titleholders, priests, court officials, attendants, and foreign merchants.
Shown singly or in small groups, the figures are portrayed in meticulous detail,
their role and status indicated by costume, ornament, and hairstyle. On plaques
with multiple figures, the scale of the figures denotes their position within Benin
court hierarchy. The largest one is most important, with others decreasing in size
according to their relative significance.

On this plaque, a regally dressed Oba seated sidesaddle on a horse is
accompanied by prominent officials and other attendants. To emphasize his power
and authority, the Oba is positioned in the center, is the largest figure, and wears
his full coral bead regalia, including a high collar of stacked necklaces and crown
of beads. All coral was owned by the Oba and, because it comes from the sea, is
associated with Olokun, god of the sea. The Oba is attended by two smaller figures
holding protective shields. These titled administrative officials were responsible for
palace provisions and for supplying ceremonial sacrifices. Swordbearers of lesser
rank, indicated by their smaller size, support the king’s outstretched arms. Smaller
still, and therefore of least importance, are the two miniature figures who hover in
the corners above the Oba and the one who supports his feet. The background is
ornamented by quatrefoil motifs representing river leaves, an allusion to Olokun
and the prosperity brought across the seas through trade with the Portuguese.
In African art, the materials are often as meaningful as the forms the artist
gives them. Because brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, was scarce and costly,
its use was dictated exclusively by the Oba, whose possession and control of
brass connoted his power, wealth, and authority. The durability of the metal was
fitting for objects intended to be lasting tributes to the greatness of Benin kings.
The shiny, reddish gold surface of polished brass was considered beautiful yet
intimidating, an appropriate symbol for royal power.

Although it is not known how the brass plaques were originally arranged on
the pillars, scholars generally agree that they were conceived in groups. By the
end of the seventeenth century, the plaques were no longer used as decoration
but were stored in the palace and consulted on matters of court etiquette,
costume, and ceremony. Almost 900 of these plaques survive today, providing a
detailed visual record of court life.

Shrine (Ifiri), 19th–20th century
Nigeria, Niger Delta region; Western Ijo
Wood, paint; H. 25 7/16 in. (64.8 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Matthew T. Mellon Foundation,
1960 (1978.412.404)
Sculptural shrines, called ifiri by the Western Ijo, are found among the diverse
communities of peoples living in the Niger Delta region of coastal Nigeria. The
creation and use of ifiri are informed by the warrior ethos of the Ijo, who proudly
regard themselves as warlike people. The form of ifiri is notable for its raw ferocity,
conveyed visually through a combination of imagery that evokes both human
and animal elements. Owned by an individual, clan, or family, an ifiri embodies
notions of aggression and personal achievement. It offers protection against
violence, while serving as a menacing reminder of the owner’s accomplishments
and destructive potential.

This shrine takes the form of a human being seated on a stool on top of a
snarling, four-legged animal. The animal’s massive rectangular head with two
large horns, gaping mouth framed by fangs, and bared teeth convey a threatening
demeanor. There is no consensus on the source of the animal imagery, which
may incorporate the features of leopards, hippos, and/or elephants. On its legs
are human heads or skulls with similarly prominent teeth. The figure above
represents a warrior, perhaps the owner of the shrine. He wears a headdress with
four inverted horns and bares his teeth. The sharp pointed shapes of the horns
and fangs add to the sense of aggression. In his right hand, he grasps a cup with
which he will pour libations to the shrine. In his left, he displays a small fan that,
along with his seated position and scarification marks, symbolize status and
wealth.

While the exact meaning of such imagery may be unclear, the function of the
work is unambiguous. Offerings to these shrines were believed to contribute to
the success of such male occupations as hunting, trade, and war by enhancing
strength and ferocity. Additionally, libations were made to express gratitude
for past successes and protection. Such shrines continue to be employed as a
deterrent against urban violence.

Janus-Faced Headdress, 19th–20th century
Nigeria, Cross River region; Ejagham, Akparabong clan
Wood, leather, paint, cane, horn, nails; H. 21 in. (53.3 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.299)
Skin-covered headdresses are owned by associations whose membership is
defined by age, sex, vocation, or skill. These associations include hunter and
warrior societies, age-level groups, and societies of wealthy men and women. The
headdresses are worn during funerals and initiations of association members and
sometimes used for ceremonies related to agricultural concerns.
The technique of covering carved wood headdresses with leather is unique to
the area along the Cross River, which straddles the border between the presentday
nations of Nigeria and Cameroon. Artists use antelope skin softened by
a lengthy soaking in water. The skin is then stretched over the carved wooden
form and bound and pegged in place, where it eventually dries and stiffens. A
glossy surface is achieved by rubbing the headdress with palm oil prior to its
performance. The performer, who wears a long gown of string netting or cotton
cloth, attaches the basketry cap of the headdress to the top of his head with a
chinstrap. His face is covered with semitransparent cloth. Between performances,
the headdress is wrapped and stored with great care.

This exceptional example has a solid wooden core carved with two similar
faces in opposing directions, often referred to as a Janus face. The strikingly
lifelike faces, covered with leather, have eyes made of separate pieces of leather
pegged into the finished piece. Four curved and ribbed antelope horns, accented
with blue pigment, are set into holes on the top of the head. Painted designs
on the forehead and cheeks of the faces represent nsibidi, an indigenous writing
system whose symbols were sometimes tattooed on the human body. Multiple
levels of meaning are attached to such symbols, knowledge of which is often
restricted to association members of the highest status and rank. Likewise, the
Janus face has several levels of meaning. It conveys the ability to simultaneously
see what is in front and behind, to discern connections between past and future
events, and to observe both the human and spiritual worlds.

Figure of a Chief (Lefem), 19th–20th century
Cameroon; Bangwa
Wood; H. 40 1/4 in. (102.2 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1968
(1978.412.576)
In the various Bangwa chiefdoms of western Cameroon, figurative sculptures,
known as lefem, are created to commemorate royal ancestors. These monumental
portraits depict the chief, or Fon, as well as other members of the royal family.
Commissioned during the lifetime of the chief, the sculptures would be presented
publicly after his death, during funeral ceremonies honoring the Fon and marking
the installation of his successor. They were displayed in the palace courtyard
along with other commemorative portraits of rulers from previous generations.
Viewed together, these sculptures document dynastic lines of leadership and
serve as visual reminders of the Fon’s legacy.

This dynamic figure of a Bangwa Fon emphasizes the power, wealth, and
privilege of his position. The cap he wears represents a type of prestige hat
that is woven and decorated with knotted tufts of yarn. Around his neck is an
elaborate collar of leopard’s claws, a symbol of the ruler’s strength. The Fon is
depicted holding other official insignia of ritual importance. In his right hand is
a beaded calabash, a container for palm wine; in his left is a long-stemmed pipe
for smoking tobacco. Palm wine and tobacco were believed to have life-giving
properties whose consumption reinforced the Fon’s power. The figure’s dynamic
stance, with his head turning one way and the lower body another, is unusual in
African sculpture. His bent legs, flexed arms, large bulging eyes, and open mouth
further suggest that the potent energy of the Fon remains even after his death.

Palm-Wine Container, 19th–20th century
Cameroon; Grassfields
Gourd, glass beads, cloth, cane; H. 30 in. (76.2 cm)
Purchase, Gifts in memory of Bryce Holcombe, 1986 (1986.336a,b)
Of the many ritual items in a Grassfields kingdom’s royal treasury, beadembroidered
calabashes are among the most important. These containers were
used exclusively by the Fon (chief) to store palm wine served on ceremonial
occasions (fig. 4). The ritual consumption of palm wine was considered a sacred
activity and reinforced the Fon’s spiritual and political power. Palm wine was also
an essential component of sacrificial libations to the ancestors.
This example features a long-necked calabash attached to a tall cylindrical
basketry base. The carved wood stopper has two horned animal heads facing
opposing directions and a third animal head pointing upward, symbols of allseeing
powers. The entire assemblage is covered with cloth embroidered with
strands of translucent and opaque glass beads that form intricate and colorful
circular, diamond-shaped, and zigzag patterns.

These abstract geometric motifs symbolize attributes of royal power. The
circular medallions surrounding the spherical body refer to the earth spider, a
symbol of supernatural wisdom and communication. Because this type of spider
burrows in the earth, it is believed to have the ability to unite humans, who live
above the ground, with the ancestors who are buried below. Diamond-shaped
motifs on the stopper and on the sides and bottom rim of the stand represent the
frog, a symbol of fertility and increase. Their presence on the container conveys
the idea that, with the support of many people, a peaceful and prosperous
kingdom is possible.

Rulers throughout the many kingdoms in the Grassfields region of western
Cameroon employed a range of art objects to assert their political, economic,
and religious power. Presented publicly in lavish displays of wealth and power,
many court objects were distinguished by their elaborate bead embroidery.
Imported from Europe, beads were considered a luxury material whose use and
distribution were controlled by the Fon. The decoration of wooden sculpture with
vast quantities of brilliantly colored beads transformed utilitarian objects, such
as stools, vessels, and pipes, into symbols of royal status and prestige.

Reliquary Figure (Nlo Byeri), 19th–20th century
Gabon; Fang
Wood, metal, oil; H. 25 1/4 in. (64.1 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1965
(1978.412.441)
The Fang peoples of Gabon believed that ancestral relics held great spiritual
power. Byeri was a Fang association devoted to the veneration of lineage
ancestors and founders, leaders, and fertile women who made significant
contributions to society during their lifetime. After death, their relics, particularly
the skull, were conserved in cylindrical bark containers and guarded by carved
wooden heads or figures mounted atop the receptacles (fig. 5).
The lustrous black surface of this carved female figure still glistens from
repeated applications of palm oil used for ritual purification. The sculptor
shaped this figure to illustrate the ability to hold opposites in balance, a
quality admired by the Fang. He juxtaposed the large head of an infant with the
developed body of an adult. The static pose and expressionless face contrast with
the palpable tension of the bulging muscles and the projecting forms of the arms,
legs, and breasts.

These reliquary sculptures may be male or female and are not considered
portraits of the deceased. They were often decorated with gifts of jewelry or
feathers and received ritual offerings of libations, such as palm oil. On the
occasion of initiation into Byeri, the figures were removed from their containers
and manipulated like puppets in performances that dramatized the raising of the
dead for didactic purposes.
During the early twentieth century, Fang reliquary sculpture began to be
acquired by Western collectors, who admired the inspired interpretation of the
human form. This particular work was formerly in the collections of two wellknown
modernist artists, the painter André Derain and the sculptor Jacob Epstein.

Crucifix, 16th–early 17th century
Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola; Kongo
Brass; H. 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm)
Gift of Ernst Anspach, 1999 (1999.295.7)
When Portuguese explorers first arrived at the mouth of the Zaire River in 1483,
the Kongo kingdom was thriving and prosperous, with extensive commercial
networks between the coast, interior, and equatorial forests to the north. Portugal
and Kongo soon established a strong trading partnership. In addition to material
goods, the Portuguese also brought Christianity, which was rapidly adopted by
Kongo rulers and established as the state religion in the early sixteenth century
by King Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga. The adoption of Christianity allowed Kongo
kings to foster international alliances not only with Portuguese leaders but
also with the Vatican. In response to their new faith, Kongo craftsmen began to
introduce Christian iconography into their artistic repertoire.

This crucifix demonstrates how Kongo artists adapted and transformed
Western Christian prototypes. Although the general depiction of the central
Christ figure with arms extended follows Western conventions, the features of the
face are African. The presence of four smaller figures with clasped hands—two
seated on the top edges of the cross, one at the apex, and one at the base—is
a departure from standard iconography. These figures are more abstract and
remote, in contrast to the expressionistic treatment of Christ.

Western forms like the crucifix resonated profoundly with preexisting Kongo
religious practices. In Kongo belief, the cross was already regarded as a powerful
emblem of spirituality and a metaphor for the cosmos. An icon of a cross within
a circle, referred to as the Four Moments of the Sun, represents the four parts of
the day (dawn, noon, dusk, and night) that symbolize more broadly the cyclical
journey of life. Kongo kings, having adopted Christianity as the state religion,
commissioned locally made crucifixes for use as emblems of leadership and
power. These crucifixes were cast with copper alloys. The use of copper, a valued
import from Europe, reinforced the association with wealth and power. Although
Christianity was eventually rejected by the Kongo in the seventeenth century, such
works continued to be made as symbols of indigenous cosmological concepts.

Seated Figure (Tumba), 19th–20th century
Democratic Republic of Congo; Kongo, Bambona
Steatite; H. 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1968
(1978.412.573)
In the Boma region of Democratic Republic of Congo, Kongo peoples placed
carved stone figures representing important individuals on their graves to
remember their deeds in life. These figures are characterized by their wide range
of gestures and postures. They are also distinguished by their use of stone,
unusual in sub-Saharan Africa, where most carving traditions are based on wood.
The association of stone with the concept of permanence makes it appropriate for
use in commemorative funerary statuary.

The person commemorated in this example, made of steatite, was probably
a ruler or noble. He wears a royal cap and a necklace, which symbolize rank and
leadership. He sits cross-legged, left hand at his waist and right supporting his
large, slightly tilted head. Downcast eyes imply deep thought, while his faint
smile suggests serenity and calm. The figure appears closed in on the right side
by its large arm. In contrast, the angular pose of the shorter left arm opens up
the figure’s form. Kongo commentators describe this cross-legged seated posture
as funda nkata, a position that emphasizes balance, composure, and reflection.
On a symbolic level, the circular shape formed by the crossed legs refers to
the unfolding cycle of an individual’s life. Embodying responsible and wise
leadership, the sculpture presents an ideal image of the deceased that illustrates
the Kongo dictum: “I seat myself nobly, upon the circle of my life, weighing what
is going on.”

Power Figure (Nkisi nkondi), 19th century
Democratic Republic of Congo; Kongo
Wood, iron, glass, terracotta, shells, cloth, fiber, paint, seeds, beads; H. 28 1/2 in. (72.4 cm)
The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, in honor of
Douglas Newton, 1990 (1990.334)
This large figure was carved by a Kongo sculptor for a ritual practitioner, who
transformed the object into a vehicle of spiritual communication. Its pose—feet
planted firmly, hands on hips, and head tilted upward—suggests heightened
awareness and readiness. However, the figure could not fulfill its function until
the ritual practitioner activated it with spiritually charged ingredients (fig. 6).
These included certain earths associated with the ancestors and their supernatural
abilities as well as other organic materials, the names of which reference attributes
that can heighten the figure’s effectiveness. The ritual practitioner packed these
sacred substances into the rectangular box inserted into the figure’s abdomen, a
bodily site that the Kongo consider the source of life and personal achievement. He
inserted other empowering ingredients, such as dog’s and leopard’s teeth, into the
figure’s clay hat. Pieces of glass mirror, over the rectangular box and inlaid in the
eyes, serve to deflect malevolent forces, while the white clay covering the face refers
to the realm of the ancestral spirits from which the figure derives its powers. The
figure’s protruding tongue refers to the Kongo word venda, meaning “to lick in order
to activate medicines,” implying that the figure is continually activated.

The Kongo refer to such power objects as nkisi. They are used by ritual
practitioners to solve the problems of the community. This example is an especially
powerful type of nkisi that is associated with moral judgment. Known as nkisi nkondi,
its purpose was to identify and hunt down wrongdoers, such as witches, thieves,
and adulterers (nkondi means “hunter”). Each time the figure’s powers were called
upon, a ritual expert would insert an iron blade, spike, or nail.
The variously shaped bits of metal covering the body provide a visual history of
its use, its surface continually added to with each invocation. Many of the blades
are identified as baaku, a type of knife used in palm wine extraction. The similarity of
this word to baaka, meaning “to demolish or destroy,” is a deliberate visual pun that
relates to the figure’s function of destroying evil within the community.

Chair (Ngumdja), 19th–20th century
Angola; Chokwe
Wood, brass tacks, leather; H. 39 in. (99.1 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1970
(1978.412.619)
This chair or throne was one of the principal symbols of the authority of a Chokwe
chief. The Chokwe state was founded in the sixteenth century, when nobles from
the neighboring Lunda empire migrated to northern Angola and asserted their
rule over local peoples. As the state grew in wealth and power, so too did the
Chokwe chiefs, who emphasized the divine nature of their ancestry. The political
and religious importance of the chiefs was underscored through the creation of
lavishly carved utilitarian objects, including staffs, tobacco mortars, combs, and
chairs, that served as insignia of rank and prestige.

This chair was modeled on a type of European chair that was imported into
the area by Portuguese officials beginning in the seventeenth century. Having
previously used caryatid stools as seats of office, Chokwe chiefs adopted the
chair as a symbol of their authority because the form was associated with
powerful foreigners. Like its European prototype, the Chokwe chair was made
from several pieces of wood joined together, rather than a single block of wood
typical of African carving traditions.

Aspects of the chair are European in derivation, such as the leather-covered
seat and decorative brass tacks, an imported luxury. However, Chokwe artisans
incorporated the style and iconography of their established sculptural traditions.
On this example, the backrest is topped on either side by a carved head wearing a
chief’s headdress, while in the center, two birds drink from a shared vessel. Rows
of figures along the rungs and back splats depict characters and scenes from
both everyday and ceremonial life. Here, images of hunting, trade, and domestic
activities are juxtaposed with representations of ritual events, such as initiation
and masquerades. Together, the scenes describe an ordered and harmonious
society over which the chief presides.

Mask, 19th–20th century
Democratic Republic of Congo; Yaka
Wood, cane, raffia, pigment, cloth; H. 17 3/4 in. (45.1 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
(1979.206.235)
This mask was created to be worn during the initiation ceremonies of Yaka boys
(fig. 7). It is composed of a carved wooden face with raffia collar attached to a
basketry framework covered with fiber cloth. A four-legged beast crouches at the
summit. Its outstretched fiber arms with carved wooden hands extend toward the
face, which has exaggerated features. Enormous protruding circular eyes, a long
nose, fangs, and cocked ears convey a sense of extraordinary curiosity and energy.
Among the Yaka, the institution responsible for initiation of boys into
manhood is called nkhanda. In the past, boys resided within an initiation camp,
located outside the village, for a training period of one to three years. Today,
these initiations last approximately a week and provide historical, social, and
religious instruction. The boys also undergo a number of physical ordeals,
including circumcision, culminating in their symbolic death as children and
rebirth as men.

Throughout their seclusion and upon conclusion of their training, members of
nkhanda present a variety of masked performances. The masks are believed to offer
protection to the boys during the period of physical and spiritual vulnerability.
They also serve to introduce important Yaka moral and social precepts as well as
to entertain. Historically, these masks were destroyed at the end of the initiation
period.
Although the specific meaning of the imagery is unclear, Yaka masks generally
illustrate ideas about gender differences, translating song lyrics that focus
on male and female social responsibilities into visual form. On this mask, for
example, the bulging eyes are round like the moon, relating to lunar cycles and,
indirectly, alluding to the role of women.

Prestige Panel, 19th–20th century
Democratic Republic of Congo; Kuba
Raffia; 20 1/4 x 45 3/4 in. (51.4 x 116.2 cm)
Gift of William B. Goldstein M.D., 1999 (1999.522.15)
This double panel of raffia cloth with cut-pile embroidery was created to serve
as a prestige item in Kuba society. The Kuba kingdom has a complex political
structure composed of independent chiefdoms under the central authority of
a king. It was founded in the early seventeenth century by Shyaam a-Mbul a
Ngoong, a ruler who brought together some seventeen different ethnic groups
into a unified polity. Shyaam is recalled as a dynamic and innovative leader
who introduced a number of important Kuba artistic traditions, including lavish
woven and embroidered textiles made of raffia. In fact, the Kuba founding ruler
is said to have identified so closely with the patronage of these textiles that he
adopted the term for raffia palm, shyaam, as his name.

In this complex composition, each panel features a large central interlacing
motif against a diamond-patterned background. The dense patterns have been
embroidered with strands of dyed raffia fiber that are cut close to the surface,
creating a soft, velvety texture. Varying in both tone and texture, the patterns
project dramatically from the gold field.
The preparation, production, and design of Kuba raffia textiles require the
collaborative efforts of both men and women. Men are responsible for cultivating
raffia palm trees and collecting the outer layers of the fronds, which yield fiber
strands. They weave these strands on a vertical heddle loom into panels of cloth
(fig. 8). Individual woven units, known as mbala, are softened and refined to a
linenlike texture by pounding. These flat-woven panels may then be decorated
and stitched together to form garments. Women assemble and decorate their
own skirts, which can be up to nine yards in length. Men fashion their skirts,
which can be of greater length and have a border of raffia tufts. Both genders
employ a range of decorative processes, including dying, appliqué, embroidery,
and patchwork, although some distinctive techniques, such as openwork and cutpile,
are practiced only by women. The completed garments are worn differently:
women wrap the skirt around their bodies, while men gather the cloth around
their hips, secured by a belt with the top folded over.

Some raffia cloth, like this panel, was not fashioned into garments, but was
displayed instead as prestige items. In the past, individual panels of raffia
textiles were used as objects of exchange in financial, legal, and even marital
transactions. They were also displayed and offered as memorial gifts during
funerals, as an indication of the deceased’s importance as well as the generosity
of the surviving family members. Today, despite the availability of machinemade
cotton cloth, raffia textiles are still regarded as the only kind of garment
appropriate to adorn the body of the deceased. An important individual may be
buried dressed in multiple layers of raffia skirts, often family treasures passed
down through generations.

Stool, late 19th century
Attributed to the Buli Master, possibly known as Ngongo ya Chintu
Democratic Republic of Congo; Luba
Wood, metal studs; H. 24 in. (61 cm)
Purchase, Buckeye Trust and Charles B. Benenson Gifts, Rogers Fund and funds from
various donors, 1979 (1979.290)
Sculpted seats are among the most important insignia of office used exclusively
by Luba rulers, including kings, chiefs, and the heads of clans or lineages. A royal
stool is believed to serve as a receptacle for a ruler’s spirit. It therefore holds
great symbolic value as the repository and wellspring of sacred kingship. Such
seats, part of the ensemble of regalia that constitutes a Luba treasury, are an
integral part of the investiture ceremony establishing a ruler’s political authority.
Except for these rare ceremonial occasions, the royal stool was wrapped in cloth
and safeguarded by a specially designated official.

This figurative example is supported by a standing female figure whose high
status is indicated by her elaborate four-lobed coiffure and intricate raised
scarification patterns on her torso, both front and back. The depiction of women
on royal stools acknowledges their important political and symbolic roles in Luba
society. Historically, female royals were often married to chiefs in outlying areas,
helping to expand and unify the kingdom. Because the Luba trace succession
and inheritance through the female line, such marriages established important
bonds of kinship and allegiance. The imagery of the female supporting the stool
symbolizes the fact that the chief or king inherits the right to rule through his
female ancestors. Luba leaders owned a series of items of regalia depicting
female figures which referred to the female body as a receptacle for the spiritual
power of divine kingships.

This royal ceremonial stool was created by an artist known as the Buli
Master, celebrated for the distinctive formal structure and emotional appeal
of his sculptures. His extraordinary artistic legacy is a corpus of about twenty
stylistically related works, all demonstrating a unique expressionism. Lacking the
youthful idealism more commonly seen in African sculpture, this figure has an
elongated face with prominent cheekbones, arching brows, half-closed eyes set
in sunken sockets, a high rounded forehead, and pursed lips. Her body is small
and stooped, suggesting that the seat weighs heavily upon her. These features
create a sense of sadness or suffering not typically seen in African sculpture,
which tends to be fairly emotionless. The Buli Master, named after a village in
the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo where some of his works were
acquired, is believed to have been active in the mid- to late nineteenth century.
The sculptor has created a dynamic formal composition, building in volume
and complexity from the base to the top. Her large feet, barely raised from the
base of the stool, provide the foundation for the stool’s vertical support formed
by her short sturdy legs, torso, and large oval head. The seat rests upon her
coiffure and the tips of her fingers. The sense that she bears a heavy burden is
reinforced by exaggerated flattened hands.

All royal stools are conceived of as replicas of an original seat of office given to
the Luba king Kalala Ilunga. The Luba kingdom was said to have been founded by
Kalala Ilunga, a heroic prince who overthrew his despotic uncle to establish a new
dynasty of divine rulers. Leaders of the various Luba chiefdoms in the area have
historically traced their descent from this founding ruler. Their exalted position
within this sacred line of succession is expressed materially by the possession of
royal insignia designed to bolster chiefly authority.

Harp, 19th–20th century
Democratic Republic of Congo; Mangbetu
Wood, hide, twine, brass ring; H. 26 1/2 in. (67.3 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1960
(1978.412.412)
In northern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Mangbetu peoples established an
influential centralized kingdom that reached its apex of power during the second
half of the nineteenth century. Mangbetu aristocrats surrounded themselves with
a variety of finely crafted utilitarian objects, including boxes, stools, weapons,
and musical instruments. The opulence of the kingdom captured the attention of
European visitors to the region, who described Mangbetu court life and its artistic
traditions in glowing terms.

This musical instrument, with freestanding strings that rise in a horizontal
plane from its belly to neck, is a harp. The curved neck ends in a finely carved
head with partially open mouth, as if in song. The wooden sound box is covered
with carefully stitched animal hide. When playing the harp, a musician sat with
the sound box on his lap and the neck pointing away from him. He held the neck
with his left hand and plucked the strings with both. The harp player adjusted the
tone of each string by turning the tuning pegs set in the harp’s neck. Harp players
performed for the entertainment of community groups and, as they played, sang
about events in their travels and heroic deeds of the past.

The presence of a carved head on this harp may reflect an African response to
Western aesthetic taste and patronage. In the colonial period, Europeans began
to commission sculpture from local Mangbetu artists, expanding the demand for
such works. Fascinated by the bound and elongated heads once common among
the Mangbetu (fig. 9), European patrons encouraged artists to include human
forms on objects that were previously nonfigurative. Although popular as gifts to
visiting foreign dignitaries, these figurative objects were rarely commissioned for
local use and their production eventually ceased.

Apron (Ijogolo), 19th–20th century
South Africa; Ndebele
Leather, beads, thread; H. 29 3/4 in. (75.6 cm)
Gift of J. Camp, 1980 (1980.328)
This five-paneled garment is known as an ijogolo, a bridal apron worn by Ndebele
women. Upon marriage, the groom’s family traditionally gave the bride a plain
leather or canvas apron with five flaps. The newly married Ndebele woman
embroidered that apron, creating bold geometric designs with imported glass
beads. She would wear this apron on important ceremonial occasions to signify
her married status (fig. 10). The multiple panels, referred to as “calves,” symbolize
the future children the woman will bear.

Throughout southern Africa, peoples wear beaded garments that comment
upon their stage in life and convey aspects of their individual identity. Different
types of beaded artifacts may communicate social and marital status, number of
children, and a person’s home region or ethnicity.

Although the historical origins of southern African beadwork are uncertain,
it is known that glass beads from Europe were available in the area as early as
the sixteenth century through trade with the Portuguese. During the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, the region became the world’s largest consumer of glass
beads. Dating beaded works is difficult, although the color and size of the beads,
the patterns and motifs, and the material used can all provide some indication
of age. Older works typically have leather backings and use mostly small, white
beads with minimal color designs, as in this example.

Page from an Illuminated Gospel (“The Ascension”), early 15th century
Ethiopia, Lake Tana region
Wood, vellum, pigment; H. 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1998 (1998.66)
This full-page illumination is one of twenty-four from a manuscript of the Gospel
that reflects Ethiopia’s longstanding Christian heritage. The Ethiopian Orthodox
Church was established in the fourth century by King Ezana (r. 320–350). He
adopted Christianity as the official state religion of Aksum, a kingdom located
in the highlands of present-day Ethiopia. As the Christian state expanded over
the centuries, monasteries were founded throughout the region. These became
important centers of learning and artistic production, as well as influential
outposts of state power.

The manuscript was created at a monastic center near Lake Tana in the early
fifteenth century. It is composed of 178 leaves of vellum bound between acacia
wood covers. The illuminations depict scenes from the life of Christ and portraits
of the Evangelists. This text and its pictorial format are based upon manuscripts
produced by the Coptic Church. Here, however, these prototypes are transformed
into local forms of expression. For example, the imagery is two-dimensional
and linear, which is characteristic of Ethiopian painting. Additionally, the text is
inscribed not in its original Greek, but in Ge’ez, the ancient liturgical language of
Ethiopia. Ge’ez is one of the world’s oldest writing systems and is the foundation
of today’s Amharic, Ethiopia’s national language.

In this depiction of the Ascension of Christ into heaven, he appears framed
in a red circle at the summit, surrounded by the four beasts of the Evangelists.
Below, Mary and the Apostles gesture upward. The stylistic conventions seen
here, such as the abbreviated definition of facial features and boldly articulated
figures, are consistent throughout the manuscript, suggesting the hand of a single
artist. The artist depicts the figures’ heads frontally and their bodies frequently in
profile. The use of red, yellow, green, and blue as the predominant color scheme
is typical of Ethiopian manuscripts from this period. The images were intended to
be viewed during liturgical processions.

The Gospels were considered among the most holy of Christian texts by the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Such manuscripts were often commissioned by
wealthy patrons for presentation as gifts to churches. While the text demonstrated
the erudition of its monastic creator, the elaborate ornamentation reflected the
prestige of the benefactors. Many works of Ethiopian art were destroyed by Islamic
incursions during the sixteenth century, making this manuscript a rare survivor.

Textile Mantle (Lamba Mpanjaka), 1998
Martin Rakotoarimanana (b. 1963)
Madagascar; Malagasy (Merina)
Silk; H. 108 in. (274.3 cm)
Purchase, Rogers Fund and William B. Goldstein Gift, 1999 (1999.102)
Situated in the Indian Ocean just off the east coast of Africa, the unique island
cultures of the Malagasy peoples emerged from a confluence of African, Asian,
and Arab origins. While sharing a common heritage, their diversity finds
expression in the variety of hand-woven textiles that have long been produced on
the island. Among the most celebrated of Malagasy textile traditions is silk cloth
produced by Merina weavers in the central highlands since precolonial times.
Historically, such brilliantly colored and intricately patterned textiles were
made by female weavers from dyed silk thread purchased from Arab and Indian
traders. Beginning in the nineteenth century, the silk was locally grown. Weavers
create the textile on a horizontal, fixed heddle loom with a continuous weft and
warp using a technique called akotofahana. Geometric designs were created by
adding supplementary weft threads that “float” over the woven ground. These
motifs, which may derive from plant and animal imagery, use color and pattern
combinations to dazzling effect.

Merina silk textiles were highly regarded for their durability, sheen, and warmth.
Privileged classes of Merina society wore the cloth as lamba, a type of mantle
that is draped around the shoulders or over the body. In death, the cloths served
as funerary shrouds for these nobles. The value and prestige associated with
akotofahana textiles was such that they were also given as gifts to foreign dignitaries.
The tradition of weaving elaborately patterned silk textiles was abandoned
by the late nineteenth century, with the increasing importation of less costly
European textiles. A century later, however, finely worked akotofahana is again being
produced in the central highlands of Madagascar. In the 1990s, a group of Merina
weavers based in Antananarivo began to create silk textiles, often replicating
historic nineteenth-century designs of textiles in museum collections, such as
the British Museum. The extraordinary example here was made by Imerina master
Martin Rakotoarimanana in 1998 as part of this contemporary revival.

Untitled Portrait, 1956–57, printed 1995
Seydou Keïta (1923–2001)
Bamako, Mali
Gelatin silver print; 15 3/8 x 21 3/4 in. (39.1 x 55.2 cm)
Purchase, Joseph and Ceil Mazer Foundation Inc.
Gift, 1997 (1997.364)
Commercial studio portrait photography was introduced in Mali in the 1930s
and developed into a thriving industry in Bamako, the capital city, during the
postwar period. Bamako’s rapid economic development and accompanying
population boom fueled demand for photographic portraits. Such photographs
were commissioned by members of the growing middle class as mementos to be
displayed on the walls of their homes or sent to faraway family members.
Among the busiest portrait studios in Bamako was that of photographer
Seydou Keïta. Born in 1923, Keïta originally apprenticed as a carpenter but found
his vocational calling when he was given a 6 x 9 Kodak Brownie camera by his
uncle. After experimenting on his own, Keïta learned darkroom techniques from
two established commercial photographers. He opened his own studio in 1948 in
Bamako-Koura, an area of the city whose proximity to a train station and popular
marketplace ensured a steady stream of potential clients.

Keïta soon became highly successful as a commercial photographer, producing
tens of thousands of portraits over the course of his career. He developed a
consistent and recognizable signature style that proved popular with local clients,
who requested that their prints include a stamp with Keïta’s name. A typical
sitting took place during the day in his outside courtyard and could last up to
an hour. Keïta gave his sitters the opportunity to individualize their portraits,
helping them select a flattering pose and offering a variety of accessories as
props. He posed his clients against a printed cloth, which often resulted in
vibrant juxtapositions between the patterns of the sitter’s clothes and that of the
backdrop. Other compositional strategies included the use of a shallow depth of
field and an emphasis on repetition and symmetry in framing his subject.

In this portrait, a woman reclines on her side with a relaxed and self-possessed
dignity. The tight cropping places the focus entirely on the sitter, while the
camera angle makes her appear on a slightly tilted slope, creating a symmetrical
composition. The floral print of the woman’s boubou (a traditional form of dress)
contrasts with the bold black and white checkered blanket in the foreground and
the swirling arabesques of the cloth backdrop, creating a syncopated clash of
patterns and rhythms. Her dress and pose communicate significant aspects of
her identity, revealing how traditional concepts of portraiture are maintained and
modified through the medium of photography. Her head wrap is worn in a trendy
style called “à la Gaulle,” its jaunty angle framing the scarification marks of ethnic
affiliation that she bears on her forehead. She rests her left arm casually at her
waist, dangling her long slender fingers, which are considered a sign of high
social standing.

When Mali won independence from France in 1962, Keïta was offered a
position as official government photographer, where he remained until 1977. His
governmental responsibilities required him to close his studio in 1964 and he
never reopened his portrait practice, although he did continue his photography.
Beginning in the 1990s, Keïta’s work was included in several exhibitions in the
United States and Europe, bringing him considerable fame in the international art
world.

ntitled (Vessel), 1997
Magdalene Odundo (b. 1950)
Red clay; H. 19 3/4 in. (50.2 cm)
Purchase, The Katcher Family Foundation Inc. Gift, and Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, by
exchange, 1998 (1998.328)
The contemporary ceramic vessels of Kenyan-born artist Magdalene Odundo
embody the diverse formal and functional sources that have inspired the artist.
Initially trained as a graphic artist, Odundo moved in 1971 to London and
enrolled as a student at the Royal College of Art. An interest in the possibilities
of clay as a medium led her to return to Africa to study various pottery-making
techniques in Nigeria and Kenya. There, she observed women potters handbuilding
and firing vessels using techniques passed down for generations.
Odundo also examined the pottery traditions of San Ildefonso Pueblo in New
Mexico, where women produce highly polished blackware ceramics.
While absorbing these experiences, Odundo has developed her own technique
and style. Like traditional potters, she hand-builds her vessel, shaping the
clay without the aid of a potter’s wheel (fig. 11). When the clay has dried, she
burnishes the vessel, covers it with slip, and burnishes it again. Initial firing in
a gas kiln results in an orange-red color. Vessels are often fired again, this time
using wood fuel in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere, imparting a surface that is
partially or completely blackened.

Odundo’s vessels may be described as variations on a theme, in which
subtle modifications of form have great aesthetic impact. Certain shapes—a
swelling bowl, nipple-like protrusions—are suggestive of the female body. This
long-necked vessel has softly bulging contours that express a sense of fullness.
Dramatic striations of color are the unexpected result of the unpredictable nature
of Odundo’s firing technique.

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / l'oeil et la main /galerie d'art premier / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:50:14 GMT

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas. The museum was founded in 1870 and its current location dates to 1909. In addition to its curatorial undertakings, the museum is affiliated with an art academy, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and a sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in Nagoya, Japan. The current director of the museum is Malcolm Rogers.

History
Boston Museum of Fine Arts building, Back Bay occupied from 1876 - 1909

The Museum was founded in 1870 and opened in 1876, with a large portion of its collection taken from the Boston Athenaeum Art Gallery. Francis Davis Millet was instrumental in starting the Art School attached to the Museum and getting Emil Otto Grundmann (1844 - 1890) appointed as its first director.

Originally located in a highly ornamented terra cotta brick Gothic Revival building designed by John Hubbard Sturgis and located on Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, it moved to its current location on Huntington Avenue, Boston's "Avenue of the Arts," in 1909.

The museum's present building was commenced in 1907, when museum trustees hired architect Guy Lowell to create a master plan for a museum that could be built in stages as funding was obtained for each phase. The first section of Lowell’s neoclassical design was completed in 1909, and featured a 500-foot (150 m) façade of cut granite along Huntington Avenue, the grand rotunda, and the associated exhibition galleries. Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans then funded the entire cost of building the next section of the museum’s master plan. This wing along the Back Bay Fens, opened in 1915 and houses painting galleries. From 1916 through 1925, John Singer Sargent created the art that lines the rotunda and the associated colonnade. Numerous additions enlarged the building throughout the years including the Decorative Arts Wing in 1968 and the Norman Jean Calderwood Garden Court and Terrace in 1997. This wing now houses the museum's cafe, restaurant, and gift shop as well as exhibition space.

The libraries at the Museum of Fine Arts house an extensive collection of 320,000 items. The William Morris Hunt Memorial Library is named in honor of the Vermont native and Boston painter and arts teacher, many of whose works are in the museum's permanent collection. Among the museum's holdings of Hunt's canvases is the 1866 Italian Peasant Boy.

The current president of the Museum of Fine Arts is George T.M. Shackelford, formerly the museum's chair of European art. A native of North Carolina, Shackelford graduated from Dartmouth College and Yale University. He serves as President of the Association of Art Museum Curators. Shackelford formerly worked at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, as the curator of European painting and sculpture.

2000s expansion

In the mid-2000s, the museum embarked on a major renovation project. This includes the construction of a new wing for the arts of the Americas, redesigned and expanded education facilities, and extensive renovations of its European galleries, visitor services, and conservation facilities. This expansion will increase the size of the MFA by 28% with an additional 133,500 square feet (12,400 m2) of space.

The new wing is was designed in a restrained, contemporary style by the London architectural firm of Foster and Partners, under the directorship of Lord Norman Foster. Groundbreaking for the addition took place in 2006. In the process, the present garden courtyard will be transformed into a climate-controlled year-round glass enclosure. Landscape architects Gustafson Guthrie Nichol have redesigned the Huntington Avenue and Fenway entrances, gardens, access roads, and interior courtyards. The opening of the new wing is scheduled for late 2010.

Collection and exhibits
"Nine Dragons" handscroll section, by Chen Rong, 1244 AD, Chinese Song Dynasty, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Some highlights of the MFA's collection include:

    * Egyptian artifacts including sculptures, sarcophogi, and jewelry.
    * French impressionist and post-impressionist works including Paul Gauguin's Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?) as well as works by Manet, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne and many others.
    * 18th and 19th century American art, including many works by John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent.
    * the Morse collection of 5,000 pieces of Japanese pottery, part of the largest museum collection of Japanese works outside of Japan.
    * the Gund Gallery which hosts temporary exhibits while a Japanese garden provides a quiet, contemplative space outside the museum itself.

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / l'oeil et la main /galerie d'art premier / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

British Museum

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:32:38 GMT

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million objects, are among the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present.

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington in 1887. Until 1997, when the current British Library building opened to the public, replacing the old British Museum Reading Room, the British Museum was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library in the same building.

The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. As with all other national museums and art galleries in Britain, the Museum charges no admission fee, although charges are levied for some temporary special exhibitions. Since 2001 the director of the Museum has been Neil MacGregor.

History

Though principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities today, the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). During the course of his lifetime Sloane gathered an enviable collection of curiosities and whilst not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for the nation, for the princely sum of £20,000.

At that time, Sloane’s collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas.

Foundation (1753)

On 7 June 1753 King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The Foundation Act, added two other libraries to the Sloane collection. The Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dated back to Elizabethan times and the Harleian library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library, assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four "foundation collections" included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf.

The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum - national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, whilst including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element and meant that the British Museum now became both national museum and library.

The body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the site now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location.

With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. In 1757 King George II gave the Old Royal Library and with it the right to a copy of every book published in the country, thereby ensuring that the Museum's library would expand indefinitely. The predominance of natural history, books and manuscripts began to lessen when in 1772 the Museum acquired its first antiquities of note; Sir William Hamilton's collection of Greek vases. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several further gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts and David Garrick's library of 1,000 printed plays, but yet contained few ancient relics recognisable to visitors of the modern museum.

Indolence and energy (1778-1800)

From 1778 a display of objects from the South Seas brought back from the round-the-world voyages of Captain James Cook and the travels of other explorers fascinated visitors with a glimpse of previously unknown lands. The bequest of a collection of books, engraved gems, coins, prints and drawings by Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode in 1800 did much to raise the Museum's reputation however Montagu House became increasingly crowded and decrepit and it was apparent that it would be unable to cope with further expansion.

The museum’s first notable addition towards its collection of antiquities, since its foundation, was by Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803), British Ambassador to Naples, who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artefacts to the museum in 1784 together with a number of other antiquities and natural history specimens. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784 refers to the Hamilton bequest of a "Colossal Foot of an Apollo in Marble". It was one of two antiquities of Hamilton's collection drawn for him by Francesco Progenie, a pupil of Pietro Fabris, who also contributed a number of drawings of Mount Vesuvius sent by Hamilton to the Royal Society in London.

Growth and change (1800-25)

In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. After the defeat of the French Campaign in the Battle of the Nile, in 1801, the British Museum acquired more Egyptian sculpture and in 1802 King George III presented the Rosetta Stone - key to the deciphering of hieroglyphs.Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British Consul General in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, laid the foundations of the collection of Egyptian Monumental Sculpture. Many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803 removed the large collection of marble sculptures from the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens and transferred them to Britain. In 1816 these masterpieces of western art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament and deposited in the museum thereafter.The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815. The Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich.

In 1802 a Buildings Committee was set up to plan for expansion of the museum, and further highlighted by the donation in 1822 of the King's Library, personal library of King George III's, comprising 65,000 volumes, 19,000 pamphlets, maps, charts and topographical drawing.The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an eastern extension to the Museum "... for the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it ..." and put forward plans for today's quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the King's Library Gallery began in 1823. The extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. However, following the founding of the National Gallery, London in 1824,[e] the proposed Picture Gallery was no longer needed, and the space on the upper floor was given over to the Natural History collections.

The largest building site in Europe (1825-50)

The Museum became a construction site as Sir Robert Smirke's grand neo-classical building gradually arose. The King's Library, on the ground floor of the East Wing, was handed over in 1827, and was described as one of the finest rooms in London although it was not fully open to the general public until 1857, however, special openings were arranged during The Great Exhibition of 1851. In spite of dirt and disruption the collections grew, outpacing the new building.

Archaeological excavations

In 1840 the Museum became involved in its first overseas excavations, Charles Fellows's expedition to Xanthos, in Asia Minor, whence came remains of the tombs of the rulers of ancient Lykia, among them the Nereid and Payava monuments. In 1857 Charles Newton was to discover the 4th-century BC Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In the 1840s and 1850s the Museum supported excavations in Assyria by A.H. Layard and others at sites such as Nimrud and Nineveh. Of particular interest to curators was the eventual discovery of Ashurbanipal's great library of cuneiform tablets, which helped to make the Museum a focus for Assyrian studies.

Sir Thomas Grenville (1755–1846) was a Trustee of The British Museum from 1830 assembled a fine library of 20,240 volumes, which he left to the Museum in his will. The books arrived in January 1847 in twenty-one horse-drawn vans. The only vacant space for this large library was a room originally intended for manuscripts, between the Front Entrance Hall and the Manuscript Saloon. The books remained here until the British Library moved to St Pancras in 1998.

Collecting from the wider world (1850-75)

The opening of the forecourt in 1852 marked the completion of Robert Smirke's 1823 plan, but already adjustments were having to be made to cope with the unforeseen growth of the collections. Infill galleries were constructed for Assyrian sculptures and Sydney Smirke's Round Reading Room, with space for a million books, opened in 1857. Because of continued pressure on space the decision was taken to move natural history to a new building in South Kensington, which would later become the British Museum of Natural History.

Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man sometimes called the "second founder" of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Anthony Panizzi. Under his supervision, the British Museum Library (now the British Library) quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national library. The quadrangle at the centre of Smirke's design proved to be a waste of valuable space and was filled at Panizzi's request by a circular Reading Room of cast iron, designed by Smirke's brother, Sydney Smirke.

Until the mid 19th century the Museum's collections were relatively circumscribed but, in 1851, with the appointment to the staff of Augustus Wollaston Franks to curate the collections, the Museum began for the first time to collect British and European medieval antiquities, prehistory, branching out into Asia and diversifying its holdings of ethnography. Overseas excavations continued and John Turtle Wood discovered the remains of the 4th century BC Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, another Wonder of the Ancient World.

Scholarship and legacies (1875-1900)

The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal to the new British Museum of Natural History, now the Natural History Museum, in 1887. With the departure and the completion of the new White Wing (fronting Montague Street) in 1884, more space was available for antiquities and ethnography and the library could further expand. This was a time of innovation as electric lighting was introduced in the Reading Room and exhibition galleries.

In 1882 the Museum was involved in the establishment of the independent Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society) the first British body to carry out research in Egypt. A bequest from Miss Emma Turner in 1892 financed excavations in Cyprus. In 1897 the death of the great collector and curator, A.W. Franks, was followed by an immense bequest of 3,300 finger rings, 153 drinking vessels, 512 pieces of continental porcelain, 1,500 netsuke, 850 inro, over 30,000 bookplates and miscellaneous items of jewellery and plate, among them the Oxus Treasure.

In 1898 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the glittering contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of almost 300 pieces of objets d'art et de vertu which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica, in the tradition of a schatzkammer or treasure houses such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe. Baron Ferdinand's will was most specific, and failure to observe the terms would make it void, the collection should be,
“     placed in a special room to be called the Waddesdon Bequest Room separate and apart from the other contents of the Museum and thenceforth for ever thereafter, keep the same in such room or in some other room to be substituted for it.    ”

New century, new building (1900-25)

By the last years of the nineteenth century, The British Museum's collections had increased so much that the Museum building was no longer big enough for them. In 1895 the trustees purchased the 69 houses surrounding the Museum with the intention of demolishing them and building around the West, North and East sides of the Museum. The first stage was the construction of the northern wing beginning 1906.

All the while, the collections kept growing, Emily Torday collected in Central Africa, Aurel Stein in Central Asia, D.G. Hogarth, Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence excavated at Carchemish. In 1918, because of the threat of wartime bombing, some objects were evacuated to a Postal Tube Railway at Holborn, the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and a country house near Malvern. On the return of antiquities from wartime storage in 1919, some objects were found to have deteriorated. A temporary conservation laboratory was set up in May 1920 and became a permanent department in 1931. It is today the oldest in continuous existence. In 1923, the British Museum, welcomed over one million visitors.

Disruption and reconstruction (1925-50)

New mezzanine floors were constructed and book stacks rebuilt in an attempt to cope with the flood of books. In 1931 the art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen offered funds to build a gallery for the Parthenon sculptures. Designed by the American architect John Russell Pope, it was completed in 1938. The appearance of the exhibition galleries began to change as dark Victorian reds gave way to modern pastel shades.[f] However, in August 1939, due to the imminence of war and the likelihood of air-raids the Parthenon Sculptures along with Museum's most valued collections were dispersed to secure basements, country houses, Aldwych tube station, the National Library of Wales and a quarry. The evacuation was timely, for in 1940 the Duveen Gallery was severely damaged by bombing. The Museum continued to collect from all countries and all centuries: among the most spectacular additions were the 2,600 BC Mesopotamian treasure from Ur, discovered during Leonard Woolley's 1922–34 excavations. Gold, silver and garnet grave goods from the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (1939) and late Roman silver tableware from Mildenhall, Suffolk (1946). The immediate post-war years were taken up with the return of the collections from protection and the restoration of the museum after the blitz. Work also began on restoring the damaged Duveen Gallery.

A new public face (1950-75)

In 1953 the Museum celebrated its bicentenary. Many changes followed: the first full time in house designer and publications officer were appointed in 1964, A Friends organisation was set up in 1968, an Education Service established in 1970 and publishing house in 1973. In 1963 a new Act of Parliament introduced administrative reforms. It became easier to lend objects, the constitution of the Board of Trustees changed and the Natural History Museum became fully independent. By 1959 the Coins and Medals office suite, completely destroyed during the war, was rebuilt and re-opened, attention turned towards the gallery work with new tastes in design leading to the remodelling of Robert Smirke's Classical and Near Eastern galleries.In 1962 the Duveen Gallery was finally restored and the Parthenon Sculptures were moved back into it, once again at the heart of the museum.

By the 1970s the Museum was again expanding. More services for the public were introduced; visitor numbers soared, with the temporary exhibition "Treasures of Tutankhamun" in 1972, attracting 1,694,117 visitors, the most successful in British history. In the same year the Act of Parliament establishing the British Library was passed, separating the collection of manuscripts and printed books from the British Museum. This left the Museum with antiquities; coins, medals and paper money; prints & drawings; and ethnography. A pressing problem was finding space for additions to the library which now required an extra 1 1/4 miles of shelving each year. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997.

The Great Court emerges (1975-2000)

The departure of the British Library to a new site at St Pancras, finally achieved in 1998, provided the space needed for the books. It also created the opportunity to redevelop the vacant space in Robert Smirke's 19th-century central quadrangle into the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court – the largest covered square in Europe – which opened in 2000.

The ethnography collections, which had been housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind at 6 Burlington Gardens from 1970, were returned to new purpose-built galleries.

The Museum again readjusted its collecting policies as interest in "modern" objects: prints, drawings, medals and the decorative arts reawakened. Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out in places as diverse as New Guinea, Madagascar, Romania, Guatemala and Indonesia and there were excavations in the Near East, Egypt, Sudan and the UK. The Weston Gallery of Roman Britain, opened in 1997, displayed a number of recently discovered hoards which demonstrated the richness of what had been considered an unimportant part of the Roman Empire. The Museum turned increasingly towards private funds for buildings, acquisitions and other purposes.

The Museum today
African Garden - The British Museum Facade - created by BBC TV programme Ground Force

The Museum was founded 250 years ago as an encyclopædia of nature and of art. Today it no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library. The Museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over thirteen million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library.

The Round Reading Room, which was designed by the architect Sydney Smirke, opened in 1857. For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the Museum's vast library. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at St Pancras. Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre. This contains the Paul Hamlyn Library of books about the Museum's collections, which is open to all visitors.

With the bookstacks in the central courtyard of the museum now empty, the process of demolition for Lord Foster's glass-roofed Great Court could begin. The Great Court, opened in 2000, while undoubtedly improving circulation around the museum, was criticised for having a lack of exhibition space at a time when the museum was in serious financial difficulties and many galleries were closed to the public. At the same time the African and Oceanic collections that had been temporarily housed in 6 Burlington Gardens were given a new gallery in the North Wing funded by the Sainsbury family.

Governance

In technical terms, the British Museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through a three-year funding agreement. Its head is the Director. The British Museum was run from its inception by a 'Principal Librarian' (when the book collections were still part of the Museum), a role that was renamed 'Director and Principal Librarian' in 1898, and 'Director' in 1973 (on the separation of the British Library)

A board of 25 trustees (with the Director as their accounting officer for the purposes of reporting to Government) is responsible for the general management and control of the Museum, in accordance with the British Museum Act of 1963 and the Museums and Galleries Act of 1992.[33] Prior to the 1963 Act, it was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons. The board was formed on the Museum's inception to hold its collections in trust for the nation without actually owning them themselves, and now fulfil a mainly advisory role. Trustee appointments are governed by the regulatory framework set out in the code of practice on public appointments issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For a list of current trustees, see here.

Building

The Greek Revival façade facing Great Russell Street is a characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke, with 44 columns in the Ionic order 45 ft (13.7 m) high, closely based on those of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia Minor. The pediment over the main entrance is decorated by sculptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting The Progress of Civilisation, consisting of fifteen allegorical figures, installed in 1852.

The construction commenced around the courtyard with the East Wing (The King's Library) in 1823–1828, followed by the North Wing in 1833–1838, which originally housed among other galleries a reading room, now the Wellcome Gallery. Work was also progressing on the northern half of the West Wing (The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery) 1826–1831, with Montagu House demolished in 1842 to make room for the final part of the West Wing, completed in 1846, and the South Wing with its great colonnade, initiated in 1843 and completed in 1847, when the Front Hall and Great Staircase were opened to the public.The Museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.

In 1846 Robert Smirke was replaced as the Museum's architect by his brother Sydney Smirke, whose major addition was the Round Reading Room 1854–1857; at 140 feet (42.6 m) in diameter it was then the second widest dome in the world, the Pantheon in Rome being slightly wider.

The next major addition was the White Wing 1882–1884 added behind the eastern end of the South Front, the architect being Sir John Taylor.
Proposed British Museum Extension, 1906

In 1895, Parliament gave the Museum Trustees a loan of £200,000 to purchase from the Duke of Bedford all 69 houses which backed onto the Museum building in the five surrounding streets - Great Russell Street, Montague Street, Montague Place, Bedford Square and Bloomsbury Street.[36] The Trustees planned to demolish these houses and to build around the West, North and East sides of the Museum new galleries that would completely fill the block on which the Museum stands. The architect Sir John James Burnet was petitioned to put forward ambitious long-term plans to extend the building on all three sides. Most of the houses in Montague Place were knocked down a few years after the sale. Of this grand plan only the Edward VII galleries in the centre of the North Front were ever constructed, these were built 1906-14 to the design by J.J. Burnet, and opened by King George V and Queen Mary in 1914. They now house the Museum's collections of Prints and Drawings and Oriental Antiquities. There was not enough money to put up more new buildings, and so the houses in the other streets are nearly all still standing.

The Duveen Gallery, sited to the west of the Egyptian, Greek & Assyrian sculpture galleries, was designed to house the Elgin Marbles by the American Beaux-Arts architect John Russell Pope. Although completed in 1938, it was hit by a bomb in 1940 and remained semi-derelict for 22 years, before reopening in 1962. Other areas damaged during World War II bombing included: in September 1940 two unexploded bombs hit the Edward VII galleries, the King's Library received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb, incendiaries fell on the dome of the Round Reading Room but did little damage; on the night of 10 to 11 May 1941 several incendiaries fell on the south west corner of the Museum, destroying the book stack and 150,000 books in the courtyard and the galleries around the top of the Great Staircase – this damage was not fully repaired until the early 1960s.

The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court is a covered square at the centre of the British Museum designed by the engineers Buro Happold and the architects Foster and Partners.The Great Court opened in December 2000 and is the largest covered square in Europe. The roof is a glass and steel construction with 1,656 uniquely shaped panes of glass. At the centre of the Great Court is the Reading Room vacated by the British Library, its functions now moved to St Pancras. The Reading Room is open to any member of the public who wishes to read there.

Today, the British Museum has grown to become one of the largest Museums in the world, covering an area of over 75,000 m² of exhibition space, showcasing approximately 50,000 items from its collection. There are nearly one hundred galleries open to the public, representing 2 miles (3.2 km) of exhibition space, although the less popular ones have restricted opening times. However, the lack of a large temporary exhibition space has led to the £100 million North West Development Project to provide one and to concentrate all the Museum's conservation facilities into one Conservation Centre. This project was announced in July 2007, with the architects Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners, and is expected for completion by 2011.

Departments

The British Museum houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. A collection of immense importance for its range and quality, it includes objects of all periods from virtually every site of importance in Egypt and the Sudan. Together they illustrate every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley (including Nubia), from the Predynastic Neolithic period (c. 10,000 BC) through to the Coptic (Christian) times (12th century AD), a time-span over 11,000 years.

Egyptian antiquities have formed part of the British Museum collection ever since its foundation in 1753 after receiving 160 Egyptian objects from Sir Hans Sloane. After the defeat of the French forces under Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1801, the Egyptian antiquities collected were confiscated by the British army and presented to the British Museum in 1803. These works, which included the famed Rosetta Stone, were the first important group of large sculptures to be acquired by the Museum. Thereafter, Britain appointed Henry Salt as consul in Egypt who amassed a huge collection of antiquities. Most of the antiquities Salt collected were purchased by the British Museum and the Musée du Louvre. By 1866 the collection consisted of some 10,000 objects. Antiquities from excavations started to come to the Museum in the later 19th century as a result of the work of the Egypt Exploration Fund under the efforts of E.A. Wallis Budge. The collection stood at 57,000 objects by 1924. Active support by the Museum for excavations in Egypt continued to result in useful acquisitions throughout the 20th century until changes in antiquities laws in Egypt led to the suspension of policies allowing finds to be exported. The size of the Egyptian collections now stands at over 110,000 objects.

In autumn 2001 the eight million objects forming the Museum's permanent collection were further expanded by the addition of six million objects from the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Prehistory.[44] These were donated by Professor Fred Wendorf of Southern Methodist University in Texas, and comprise the entire collection of artefacts and environmental remains from his excavations between 1963 and 1997. They are in the care of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan.

The seven permanent Egyptian galleries at the British Museum, which include its largest exhibition space (Room 4, for monumental sculpture), can display only 4% of its Egyptian holdings. The second-floor galleries have a selection of the Museum's collection of 140 mummies and coffins, the largest outside Cairo. A high proportion of the collection comes from tombs or contexts associated with the cult of the dead, and it is these pieces, in particular the mummies, that remain among the most eagerly sought after exhibits by visitors to the Museum.

Key highlights of the collections Include

    * The Rosetta Stone (196 BC)
    * Limestone statue of a husband and wife (1300 BC)
    * Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the "Younger Memnon" (1250 BC)
    * Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
    * Colossal head from a statue of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
    * Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
    * Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx (1300 BC)
    * Mummy of 'Ginger' which dates to about 3300 BC
    * List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II (1250 BC)
    * Limestone false door of Ptahshepses (2380 BC)
    * Granite statue of Senwosret III (1850 BC)
    * Mummy of Cleopatra from Thebes (100 AD)
    * Amarna tablets (Collection of 95 out of 382 tablets found, second greatest in the world after the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (203 tablets)) (1350 BC)[45]
    * Obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II (360–343 BC)


The British Museum, Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities
The British Museum, Room 18 - Parthenon Galleries, Temple of Athena Parthenos (447-438 B.C.)

The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum has one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200BC) to the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine I in the 4th century AD, with some pagan survivals.

The Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented, and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos.
The British Museum, Room 83 - Roman Sculpture

The Department also houses one of the widest-ranging collections of Italic and Etruscan antiquities and extensive groups of material from Cyprus. The collections of ancient jewellery and bronzes, Greek vases and Roman glass and silver are particularly important.

Key highlights of the collections include:

    Athenian Akropolis

    The Parthenon Gallery (Elgin Marbles)

        * The Parthenon Marbles are one of the finest manifestations of human creation. The Magnificent Relief Frieze showing the Panathenaic procession, from Ancient Greece, often praised as the finest achievement of Greek Architecture, its decorative sculptures are considered one of the high points of Greek art.

The British Museum, Room 21 - Mausoleum of Halikarnassos

    Erechtheion

        * One of six remaining Caryatids
        * Surviving Column

    Athena Nike

        * Surviving Frieze Slabs

    Bassae Sculptures

        * Twenty three surviving blocks of the frieze from the interior of the temple are exhibited on an upper level.

    Mausoleum of Halikarnassos

    One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

        * Two colossal free-standing figures identified as Maussollos and his wife Artemisia.
        * Part of an impressive horse from the chariot group adorning the summit of the Mausoleum
        * The Amazonomachy frieze - A long section of relief frieze showing the battle between Greeks and Amazons

    Temple of Artemis at Ephesos

    One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

    Asia Minor

    Nereid Monument

        * Partial reconstruction of the Monument, a large and elaborate Lykian tomb from the site of Xanthos in south-west Turkey
        * Payava Tomb from Xanthos in south west Turkey

    Wider Museum Collection

        * Material from the Palace of Knossos
        * Portland Vase
        * The Warren Cup
        * Discus-thrower (Discobolos)
        * Towneley Sculptures

[edit] Department of the Middle East
The British Museum, Room 7 - Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud
The British Museum, Room 6 - Pair of Human Headed Winged Lions and Reliefs from Nimrud with The Gates of Balawat
The British Museum, Room 10 - Human Headed Winged Bulls from Khorsabad, companion pieces in the Musée du Louvre
The British Museum, Room 8 - Human Headed Winged Lion and Bull from Nimrud, companion pieces in Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The British Museum, Room 6 - Assyrian Sculpture
The British Museum, Room 55 - Cuneiform Collection, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Formerly the Department of the Ancient Near East, the Department recently became the Department of the Middle East when the collections from the Islamic world were moved from the Department of Asia into this department.

With approximately 330,000 objects in the collection, the British Museum has the greatest collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq. The holdings of Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities are among the most comprehensive in the world.

The collections represent the civilisations of the ancient Near East and its adjacent areas. These include Mesopotamia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Caucasus, parts of Central Asia, Syria, Palestine and Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean from the prehistoric period until the beginning of Islam in the 7th century. The collection includes six iconic winged human-headed statues from Nimrud and Khorsabad. Stone bas-reliefs, including the famous Royal Lion Hunt relief's (Room 10), that were found in the palaces of the Assyrian kings at Nimrud and Nineveh. The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh and Sumerian treasures found in Royal Cemetery's at Ur of the Chaldees.

The earliest Mesopotamian objects to enter collections purchased by the British Museum in 1772 from Sir William Hamilton. The Museum also acquired at this early date a number of sculptures from Persepolis. The next significant addition (in 1825) was from the collection of Claudius James Rich. The collection was dramatically enlarged by the excavations of A. H. Layard at the Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh between 1845–1851.

At Nimrud, Layard discovered the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, as well as three other palaces and various temples. He also opened in the Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh with 'no less than seventy-one halls'. As a result a large numbers of Lamassu's, bas-reliefs, stelae, including the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III were brought to the British Museum. Layard's work was continued by his assistant, Hormuzd Rassam and in 1852–1854 he went on to discover the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh with many magnificent reliefs, including the famous Royal Lion Hunt scenes. He also discovered the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, a large collection of cuneiform tablets of enormous importance. W. K. Loftus excavated in Nimrud between 1850–1855 and found a remarkable hoard of ivories in the Burnt Palace. Between 1878–1882 Rassam greatly improved the Museum's holdings with exquisite objects including the Cyrus Cylinder from Babylon, the bronze gates from Balawat, and a fine collection of Urartian bronzes. Rassam collected thousands of cuneiform tablets, today with the acquisition of further tablets in the 20th century, the collection now numbers around 130,000 pieces. In the 20th century excavations were carried out at Carchemish, Syria, between 1911–1914 and in 1920 by D. G. Hogarth and Leonard Woolley, the latter assisted by T. E. Lawrence. The Mesopotamian collections were greatly augmented by excavations in southern Iraq after the First World War. From Tell al-Ubaid in 1919 and 1923–1924, directed by H. R. Hall came the bronze furnishings of a Sumerian temple, including life-sized lions and a panel featuring the lion-headed eagle Indugud. Woolley went onto to excavate Ur between 1922–1934, discovering the 'Royal Cemeteries' of the 3rd millennium BC. Some of the masterpieces include the 'Standard of Ur', the 'Ram in a Thicket', the 'Royal Game of Ur', and two bull-headed lyres.

Although the collections centre on Mesopotamia most of the surrounding areas are well-represented. The Achaemenid collection was enhanced with the addition of the Oxus Treasure in 1897, by acquisition from the German scholar Ernst Herzfeld, and then by the work of Sir Aurel Stein. From Palmyra there is a large collection of nearly forty funerary busts, acquired in the 19th century. A group of stone reliefs from the excavations of Max von Oppenheim at Tell Halaf, purchased in 1920. More excavated material from the excavations of Max Mallowan at Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak in 1935–1938, and from Woolley at Alalakh in the years just before and after the Second World War. The collection of Palestinian material was strengthened with the acquisition in 1980 of around 17,000 objects found at Lachish by the Wellcome-Marston expedition of 1932–1938.

A representative selection, including the most important pieces, are on display in 13 galleries and total some 4500 objects. The remainder form the study collection which ranges in size from beads to large sculptures. They include approximately 130,000 cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia.

The museum's collection of Islamic art, including archaeological material, numbers about 40,000 objects, one of the largest of its kind in the world. As such, it contains a broad range of Islamic pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions.

Key Highlights of the Collections include

Nimrud:

Alabaster bas-reliefs from:

    * The North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II
    * Central- Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III
    * South-West Palace of Esarhaddon
    * Palace of Adad-Nirari III
    * South-East Palace ('Burnt Palace')
    * The Nabu Temple (Ezida)
    * The Sharrat-Niphi Temple
    * Temple of Ninurta

Sculptures:

    * Pair of Human Headed 'Lamassu' Lions (883-859 BC)
    * Human Headed 'Lamassu' Bull (883-859 BC), sister piece in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    * Human Headed 'Lamassu' Lion (883-859 BC), sister piece in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    * Colossal Statue of a Lion (883-859 BC)
    * Rare Head of Human Headed 'Lamassu', recovered from the South-West Palace of Esarhaddon
    * The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC)

Nineveh:

Alabaster bas-reliefs from:

    * North-Palace of Ashurbanipal
    * Royal Lion Hunt Scenes
    * The 'Dying Lion', long been acclaimed as a masterpiece
    * The 'Garden Party' Relief
    * South-West Palace of Sennacherib

Royal Library of Ashurbanipal:

    * A large collection of cuneiform tablets of enormous importance approximately 22,000 inscribed clay tablets
    * The Flood Tablet, relating part of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh

Khorsabad:

    * Alabaster bas-reliefs from the Palace of Sargon II
    * Pair of Human Headed Winged 'Lamassu' Bulls

Wider Collection:

    * Cyrus Cylinder, from Babylon
    * The Balawat Gates of Shalmaneser III
    * A fine collection of Urartian bronzes, which now form the core of the Anatolian collection
    * The Oxus Treasure
    * The Standard of Ur
    * The 'Ram in a Thicket'
    * The Royal Game of Ur
    * Queen's Lyre

Department of Prints and Drawings

The Department of Prints and Drawings holds the national collection of Western Prints and Drawings. It ranks as one of the largest collections in existence alongside the Musée du Louvre and the Hermitage as one of the top three collections of its kind.
The British Museum, Room 90 - Michelangelo, Epifania - Last surviving large scale cartoon by the artist

Since its foundation in 1808 the Prints and Drawings collection has grown to international renown as one of the richest and most representative collections in the world. There are approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints.The collection of Drawings covers the period 14th century to the present, and includes many works of the highest quality by the leading artists of the European school. The collection of Prints covers the tradition of fine printmaking from its beginnings in the 15th century up to the present, with near complete holdings of most of the great names before the 19th century.

There are magnificent groups of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, (including his only surviving full-scale cartoon), Dürer (a collection of 138 drawings is one of the finest in existence), Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude and Watteau, and virtually complete collections of the works of all the great printmakers including unsurpassed holdings of prints by Dürer (99 engravings, 6 etchings and a substantial number of his 346 woodcuts), Rembrandt and Goya. More than 30,000 British drawings and watercolours include important examples work by Hogarth, Sandby, Turner, Girtin, Constable, Cotman, Cox, Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruikshank, as well as all the great Victorians. There are about a million British prints including more than 20,000 satires and outstanding collections of works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick.[citation needed]

Department of Asia

Amravati Gallery

The scope of the Department of Asia is extremely broad, its collections of over 75,000 objects covers the material culture of the whole Asian continent (from East, South, Central and South-East Asia) and from the Neolithic up to the present day.

Key highlights of the collections include:

    * The most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world, including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati
    * An outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts
    * A fine collection of Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang and the Admonitions Scroll by Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi (344–406 AD)
    * The most comprehensive collection of Japanese pre-20th century art in the western world

Painting by Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi, c. 380 AD.

Painting by Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi, c. 380 AD.

Portrait of Ibrâhîm 'Âdil Shâh II (1580–1626), Mughal Empire of India, 1615 AD.

A Hamsa sacred swan vessel made of crystal, from Gandhara, 1st century AD.

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas

The British Museum houses one of the world's greatest and most comprehensive collections of Ethnographic material from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, representing the cultures of indigenous peoples throughout the world. Over 350,000 objects spanning two million years tells the story of the history of man, from three major continents and many rich and diverse cultures.
The British Museum, Room 24 - The Wellcome Trust Gallery with Hoa Hakananai'a in the centre

The Sainsbury African Galleries display 600 objects from the greatest permanent collection of African arts and culture in the world. The three permanent galleries provide a substantial exhibition space for the Museum's African collection comprising over 200,000 objects. A curatorial scope that encompasses both archaeological and contemporary material, including both unique masterpieces of artistry and objects of everyday life.

Highlights of the African collection include a magnificent brass head of a Yoruba ruler from Ife, Nigeria; Asante goldwork from Ghana and the Torday collection of Central African sculpture, textiles and weaponry.

The Americas collection mainly consists of 19th and 20th century items although the Inca, Aztec, Maya and other early cultures are well represented; collecting of modern artefacts is ongoing.

Department of Coins and Medals

The British Museum is home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections, comprising about a million objects. The collection spans the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day. There are approximately 9,000 coins, medals and banknotes on display around the British Museum. More than half of these can be found in the HSBC Money Gallery (Gallery 68), while the remainder form part of the permanent displays throughout the Museum.

Department of Prehistory and Europe

The prehistoric collections cover Europe, Africa and Asia, the earliest African artefacts being around 2 million years old. Coverage of Europe extends to the present day.

Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science

This department was founded in 1920. Conservation has six specialist areas: ceramics & glass; metals; organic material (including textiles); stone, wall paintings and mosaics; Eastern pictorial art and Western pictorial art. The science department has and continues to develop techniques to date artefacts, analyse and identify the materials used in their manufacture, to identify the place an artefact originated and the techniques used in their creation. The department also publishes its findings and discoveries.

Libraries and Archives

This department covers all levels of education, from casual visitors, schools, degree level and beyond. The Museum's various libraries hold in excess of 350,000 books, journals and pamphlets covering all areas of the museum's collection. Also the general Museum archives which date from its foundation in 1753 are overseen by this department; the individual departments have their own separate archives covering their various areas of responsibility.

Controversy
A few of the Elgin Marbles (also known as the Parthenon Marbles) from the East Pediment of the Parthenon.

It is a point of controversy whether museums should be allowed to possess artefacts taken from other countries, and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of both sets of artefacts to their native countries of Greece and Nigeria respectively.

The British Museum has refused to return either set, stating that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world". The Museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents any object from leaving its collection once it has entered it. Nevertheless, it has returned items such as the Tasmanian Ashes after a 20 year long battle with Australia. Critics have particularly argued against the right of the British Museum to own objects which it does not share with the public.

Supporters of the Museum claim that it has provided protection for artefacts that might have otherwise been damaged or destroyed if they had been left in their original environments.[citation needed] While some critics have accepted this, they also argue that the artefacts should now be returned to their countries of origin if there is sufficient expertise and desire there to preserve them.

The British Museum continues to assert that it is an appropriate custodian and has an inalienable right to its disputed artefacts under British law.

Disputed Items in the Collection

    * Elgin Marbles - claimed by Greece and backed by UNESCO among others for restitution.
    * Benin Bronzes - claimed by Nigeria, 30 pieces sold already by The British Museum privately in the 1960s.
    * Ethiopian Tabots - claimed by Ethiopia.
    * 4 stolen drawings (Nazi plunder) - Compensation paid to Uri Peled in the amount of £175,000 by the British Museum.
    * Achaemenid empire gold and silver artefacts from the Oxus Treasure - claimed by Tajikistan.
    * Aboriginal human remains - returned to Tasmania by the British museum.
    * Mold's Golden Cape - claimed by Wales
    * Rosetta Stone - claimed by Egypt[

Galleries

Building

Main Staircase, Discobolus of Myron (the Discus-Thrower)

Floor Plans

Upper Floors (Rooms 36-73, 90-94)

Museum Galleries

Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan

Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture, view towards the Assyrian Transcept


Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture


Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture


Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture

Department of the Ancient Near East

Room 10 - Khorsabad Palace Reliefs


Room 9 - Nineveh Palace Reliefs


Room 10 - Nineveh, The Royal Lion Hunt


Room 89 - Nimrud & Nineveh Palace Reliefs

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Room 18 - Parthenon Freize


Room 18 - Ancient Greece


Room 84 - Towneley Sculptures


Room 19 - Athens, Erechtheion Sculptures from the Acropolis

Exhibitions

Forgotten Empire Exhibition (October 2005 - January 2006)

Room 5 - Exhibitions Panorama


Room 5 - The Persepolis Casts


Room 5 - Exhibitions Relics


Room 5 - The Cyrus Cylinder

See also

    * Employees of the British Museum
    * People associated with the British Museum

Notes

a. ^ Sculptures and applied art are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum houses earlier art, non-Western art, prints and drawings, and art of a later date is at Tate Modern. The National Gallery, holds the National Collection of Western European Art, with Tate Britain deposited with British Art from 1500.

b. ^ By the Act of Parliament it received a name - the British Museum. The origin of the name is not known; the word 'British' had some resonance nationally at this period, so soon after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745; it must be assumed that the Museum was christened in this light.

c. ^ The estimated footage of the various libraries as reported to the Trustees has been summarised by Harris (1998), 3,6: Sloane 4,600, Harley 1,700, Cotton 384, Edwards 576, The Royal Library 1,890.

d. ^ This was perhaps rather unfortunate as the title to the house was complicated by the fact that part of the building had been erected on leasehold property (the Crown lease of which ran out in 1771); perhaps that is why George III paid such a modest price (nominally £28,000) for what was to become Buckingham Palace. See Colvin et al. (1976), 134.

e. ^ Understanding of the foundation of the National Gallery is complicated by the fact that there is no documented history of the institution. At first the National Gallery functioned effectively as part of the British Museum, to which the Trustees transferred most of their most important pictures (ex. portraits). Full control was handed over to the National Gallery in 1868, after the Act of Parliament of 1856 established the Gallery as an independent body.

f. ^ Ashmole, the Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities appreciated the original top-lighting of these galleries and removed the Victorian colour scheme, commenting:

    The old Elgin Gallery was painted a deep terracotta red, which, though in some ways satisfactory, diminished its apparent size, and was apt to produce a depressing effect on the visitor. It was decided to experiment with lighter colours, and the walls of the large room were painted with what was, at its first application, a pure cold white, but which after a year's exposure had unfortunately yellowed. The small Elgin Room was painted with pure white tinted with prussian blue, and the Room of the metopes was painted with pure white tinted with cobalt blue and black; it was necessary, for practical reasons, to colour all the dadoes a darker colour.

g. ^ Ashmole had never liked the Duveen Gallery:

    It is, I suppose, not positively bad, but it could have been infinitely better. It is pretentious, in that it uses the ancient Marbles to decorate itself. This is a long outmoded idea, and the exact opposite of what a sculpture gallery should do. And, although it incorporates them, it is out of scale, and tends to dwarf them with its bogus Doric features, including those columns, supporting almost nothing which would have made an ancient Greek artist architect whince. The source of daylight is too high above the sculptures, a fault that is only concealed by the amount of reflection from the pinkish marble walls. These are too similar in colour to the marbles...These half-dozen elementary errors were pointed out by everyone in the Museum, and by many scholars outside, when the building was projected.

It was not until the 1980s that the installation, of a lighting scheme removed his greatest criticism of the building.

h. ^ The Cairo Museum has 150,000 artefacts, with leading collections reposited at the Musee du Louvre (60,000), Petrie Museum (80,000), The Metropolitan Museum of art (36,000), University of Pennsylvania (42,000), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (40,000), Museo Egizio, Turin (32,500 objects).

african art / art africain / primitive art / art primitif / artspremiers / art gallery / art tribal / tribal art / l'oeil et la main /galerie d'art premier / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre /www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

Royal museum of central Africa

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:49:10 GMT

The royal Museum of central Africa is located in Tervuren, Belgium, in some kilometres in Brussels.

Created in 1897 at the instigation of the king Leopold II he is intimately linked to the history of the colonisation of Congo by Belgium. The museum of Congo, colonial palace in layout art nouveau constructed in the middle of a sumptuous park linked up in Brussels by a double avenue especially creates, was at origin intended to awaken interest and curiosity of the Belgian people for what was in epoch'« independent State of Congo» (on 1884 in 1908).

After 1908, it became the Museum of Belgian Congo then the royal Museum of central Africa in 1960.

History of the museum

To give a window to his Congo and an idea of the economic potential of this region to the Belgians and so to attract investments, Leopold II wanted to do up a kind of museum by staging the original objects, imported in quantity according to a multiple-subject approach: anthropological, ethnological, botanical, zoological, entomological, geological and mineralogical.

Advertising poster for the museum (1910) On the occasion of the World fair of 1897, he made construct in the royal domain of Tervuren the "Palace of colonies" conceived by the Belgian architect Georges Hobé in style art nouveau of epoch. The temporary exhibition which was done up made the nice part next to "curiosity" of Congo, animals seated with straw and objects of ethnographic interest, in the products of export there: the coffee, the cocoa, the tobacco and forested petrol. In the park among other "attractions" several dozens Congoleses lodged in reconstructed Africain villages were given in looks of the visitors. Seven of them died from diseases or from cold there.

The success of exhibition (more than a million visitors in six months) and the interest of the scientists was such as it was decided to make it permanent. Very fast, places became too cramped, the king fondled plan to make the domain his "small Versailles", the building of the current building, of neoclassical style, entrusted to the French architect Charles Girault started in 1905 to be inaugurated in 1910 on the occasion of a second world fair. Congo has had then for two years stopped being a royal possession to become Belgian colony.

Until 1960, year the independence of Congo, collections did not cease expanding by the dispatches of objects and of samples of every sort and kind performed by servicemen, missionaries, colonial administrators, dealers and scientists.

Later acquisitions were enlarged in the whole Africa.

Collections

The Museum shelters unique collections in the world a weak proportion of which it is possible to display only. He also has invaluable historical archives among which those, complete of Henry Morton Stanley, a photographic collection, a filmothèque, ethnomusicologiques sound archives as well as broad fan of cards and geological and scientific data.

african art / Africain art / primitive art / primitive art / first arts / gallery art / tribal / tribal art art / eye and the hand / gallery of first art / Agalom / Armand Auxiètre / www.african-paris.com / www.agalom.com

Plan�te m�tisse

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:38:24 GMT

Planète Métisse

sous la direction de Serge Gruzinski

To Mix ot not to mix ?

Il s’agit de s’attarder sur la notion de métissage, sujetd’actualité s’il en est, en confrontant le lecteur à une séried’oppositions communes, remettant en question le goût marqué del’Occident pour le dualisme : classique/ethnique, antique/classique,primitif/premier, folklorique/colonial, exotique/typique…

Exposition et publication s’ouvrent sur des questions liées à l’idéede métissage qui conduisent, presque sans transition, à une explorationdes mémoires. Ces éléments incitent logiquement à réfléchir sur lamanière dont se sont « fabriqués » les objets métis dont il est souventmalaisé de définir les contours. Ils pourraient être définis commel'expression d'une création humaine surgie à la confluence des mondeseuropéens et des sociétés d'Asie, d'Afrique et d'Amérique. Ils sesituent au cœur d’une histoire planétaire qui se joue depuis le XVesiècle jusqu’à nos jours.

Après plusieurs étapes qui feront découvrir nombre d’œuvres peuconnues, le parcours s’achève par une rencontre avec les imaginairesmétis contemporains, notamment à travers les cinématographiesasiatiques et hollywoodiennes.

descriptif

184 pages au format 24 x 26 cm

150 illustrations environ

Prix de vente public : 45 €

Couverture cartonnée

Isbn 978-2-7427-7344-2/978-2-915133-81-3

Coédition musée du quai Branly/Actes Sud

commissaire d'exposition

Serge Gruzinski est historien ; directeur de recherche au CNRS, etdirecteur d'études à l’EHESS, il est l’auteur de plusieurs livresfondateurs. Après avoir consacré un ouvrage à la guerre des images ques’étaient livrée les Espagnols et les Indiens mexicains durant lespremiers siècles de la colonisation (Guerre des Images – de ChristopheColomb à « Blade Runner » (1492 – 2019), Fayard, 1990), il signe, en1995, un essai plus largement développé : La pensée métisse. Il estégalement l’auteur de L’aigle et la sibylle, Fresques indiennes duMexique, paru chez Actes Sud / Imprimerie nationale.

Planète métisse : to mix or not to mix

18 mars 2008 - 19 juillet 2009

Métissages, colonisation, mondialisation, "choc des civilisations"...

Rendant compte du contact des peuples et des traditions, de lacoexistence d'identités mélangées, la notion de métissage traduit unemanière de concevoir les rapports entre altérités. L'exposition Planète Métissesouhaite susciter l'imaginaire des visiteurs dans le cadre d'unparcours qui fait dialoguer les objets entre eux, du XVème siècle à nosjours. Elle analyse les répercussions de l'expansion européenne,principalement ibérique, sur les autres civilisations et les influencescroisées entre Est et Ouest dans le sillage des grandes expansions,chinoise et musulmane notamment. Cette exposition sur les objets et lesarts métis met en valeur la richesse des productions artistiques issuesdu métissage des manières de faire et de croire, de créer et deconcevoir.

autour de l'exposition

site internet dédié

consultez et téléchargez le flyer de l'exposition

catalogue : Planète métisse

sous la direction de Serge Gruzinski - 224 p - coédition musée duquai Branly et Actes Sud - 45 €. Pour plus d'information sur lecatalogue, cliquer ici

carnet de l'exposition

- 16 p - 3 €

parcours audioguidé

Avec l’audioguide « Planète Métisse », Serge Gruzinski, commissairede l’exposition, Alessandra Russo, historienne et assistante ducommissaire, et Boris Jeanne, historien, vous accompagnent tout au longdu parcours de l’exposition.

Paris, ville métisse

Une journée de découverte consacrée aux métissages : après la visitede l’exposition, partez à la découverte du quartier chinois de Paris...

en savoir plus sur le déroulement et les tarifs de Paris, ville métisse...

fiche-parcours de l'exposition

téléchargez la fiche-parcours...

cycle cinéma au salon de lecture Jacques Kerchache villes métisses

le dernier samedi du mois à 16h - rendez-vous gratuit et accessible sans réservation dans la limite des places disponibles

voir la programmation détaillée du cycle cinéma villes métisses

archives novembre 2008 : cycle cinéma Métissages de l'image, métissage du regard...

salle de cinéma du musée du quai Branly

14 séances en accès libre, dans la limite des places disponibles

voir le programme des séances...

commissariat : Serge Gruzinski

Spécialisteinternational du Nouveau Monde, Serge Gruzinski a déjà collaboré avecle musée du quai Branly. En 2004, il avait la direction scientifique ducolloque « L’Expérience Métisse », qui proposait de confronterdifférents regards sur la problématique du métissage dans lescivilisations du monde.

Serge Gruzinski est historien ; directeur de recherche au CNRS, etdirecteur d'études à l’EHESS, il est l’auteur de plusieurs livresfondateurs.
Après avoir consacré un ouvrage à la guerre des imagesque s’étaient livrée les Espagnols et les Indiens mexicains durant lespremiers siècles de la colonisation (Guerre des Images – de ChristopheColomb à « Blade Runner » (1492 – 2019), Fayard, 1990), il signe, en1995, un essai plus largement consacré à la « pensée métisse ».

Qu'est ce qu'un corps ?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:37:22 GMT

Qu'est-ce qu'un corps?

J’aiun corps bien à moi, semble-t-il, et c’est ce qui fait que je suismoi. Je le compte parmi mes propriétés et prétends exercer sur lui mapleine souveraineté. Je me crois donc unique et indépendant. Mais c’estune illusion, car il n’est pas de société humaine où l’on pense que lecorps vaille par lui-même. Tout corps est engendré, et pas seulementpar ses pères et mères. Il n’est pas fabriqué par celui qui l’a, maispar d’autres. Pas plus en Nouvelle-Guinée, en Amazonie ou en Afrique del’Ouest qu’en Europe, n’est-il pensé comme une chose. Il est aucontraire la forme particulière de la relation avec l’altérité quiconstitue la personne. Selon le point de vue de l’anthropologiecomparative adopté ici, cet autre est, respectivement, l’autre sexe,les espèces animales, les morts ou le divin (sécularisé, à l’âgemoderne, dans la téléologie du vivant). Oui, mon corps est ce qui merappelle que je me trouve dans un monde peuplé, par exemple,d’ancêtres, de divinités, d’ennemis ou d’êtres du sexe opposé. Moncorps bien à moi? C’est lui qui fait que je ne m’appartiens pas, queje n’existe pas seul et que mon destin est de vivre en société.

descriptif

224 pages au format 24 x 26 cm

240 illustrations en couleur

1 carte

prix de vente public : 45 €

isbn 2-915133-17-4

Coédition musée du quai Branly/Flammarion

commissaire d'exposition

Stéphane Breton, anthropologue, réalisateur de films documentaires,maître de conférences à l'EHESS, membre du laboratoire d'anthropologiesociale (EHESS/CNRS/Collège de France). Il a publié plusieurs livresparmi lesquels : Télévision, Grasset, 2005, La mascarade des sexes,Calmann-Lévy, 1994, Les fleuves immobiles, Calmann-Lévy, 1994. Il aégalement réalisé trois films, chroniques de séjours passés chez despeuple des Hautes-Terres de Nouvelle-Guinée, les Wodani, et chez lesKirghizes, diffusés sur Arte : Eux et moi, Les films d'ici & Arte, 2001 ; Ciel dans un jardin, Les films d'ici & Arte, 2003, Un été silencieux, 2006.

les auteurs

Michèle Coquet, anthropologue, chargé de recherches au CNRS, membredu laboratoire « Systèmes de Pensée en Afrique Noire » (EPHE/CNRS)

Michael Houseman, anthropologue, directeur d’édudes à l’Ecolepratique des Hautes Etudes, directeur du laboratoire « Systèmes dePensée en Afrique Noire » (EPHE/CNRS)

Jean-Marie Schaeffer, philosophe, directeur de recherche au CNRS,directeur du Centre de recherche sur les arts et le langage(CNRS/EHESS)

Anne-Christine Taylor, anthropologue, directeur de recherches auCNRS, membre de l’équipe de recherche en Ethnologie amérindienne

Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, anthropologue, professeurd’anthropologie au Museu Nacional do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, directeurde recherches associé à l’équipe de recherche en Ethnologie amérindienne (CNRS).

Qu'est ce qu'un corps?

Pendant18 mois, la grande exposition d’anthropologie porte sur les enjeuxuniversels des relations entre les hommes ; elle est l’aboutissementd’une recherche scientifique transversale.

galerie suspendue Ouest (billet d’entrée du musée)
jusqu'au 23 septembre 2007

Qu’est-ce qu’un corps ? À cette question, la première grandeexposition d’anthropologie du musée du quai Branly propose une réponseinattendue.
Elle invite le visiteur à comparer la manière dont le corps et la personne sont représentés dans quatre régions du monde : Afrique de l’Ouest, Europe occidentale, Nouvelle-Guinée, et Amazonie.Contre l’idée typiquement occidentale du corps comme siège d’uneirréductible singularité, l’équipe d’anthropologues dirigée parStéphane Breton montre qu’aucune société humaine – y compris la nôtre,malgré ce qu’elle croit – ne fait du corps une « chose privée », unobjet strictement individuel. En effet, le corps est compris pardifférents peuples comme un produit semi-fini qu’il faut achever : ilest l’objet d’un travail, d’une « fabrication ». « Je ne suis pas seul dans mon corps» : par le corps, l’individu noue une relation avec « quelque chose quin’est pas soi », qui change selon les cultures. Le corps est le lieud’expression d’une confrontation : masculin/féminin, vivant/non-vivant,divin/image, humain/non-humain… Autant d’oppositions qui se retrouventdans les productions rituelles, sociales, artistiques (sculptures,objets, images du corps…) présentées ici.

catalogue
Qu’est-ce qu’un corps ? sous la direction de Stéphane Breton, 224 pages, coédition musée du quai Branly/Flammarion, 45 €

le parcours de l'exposition

Ils’articule autour de quatre grands axes qui mettent l’accent sur unezone géographique bien déterminée en offrant chaque fois une visiondifférente de cet « autre » qui constitue le corps, à savoir, les mortspour l’Afrique de l’Ouest, le divin pour l’Europe, l’autre sexe pourla Nouvelle-Guinée, et le règne animal pour l’Amazonie.

1 - l’Afrique de l’Ouest

le corps et ses doubles (les ancêtres, les fondateurs mythiques et le génie de la brousse)

Dans les sociétés d’Afrique de l’Ouest comme les Dogon, les Bambara,les Sénoufo ou les Lobi, le façonnement du corps est inséparable de larelation étroite qui unit les vivants à leurs ancêtres, garants deprospérité et de fécondité.
Par ailleurs, les hommes vouent un culteaux êtres mythiques qui auraient fondé le village à l’origine. Cesfigures emblématiques s’incarnent en des sculptures à représentationhumaine.
La troisième, tout aussi constitutive du corps, semanifeste à travers le génie de la brousse, sorte d’esprit abstrait etintangible qui, comme les autres doubles, préexiste au corps et luisurvit.

« le corps est de la terre »
L’homme crée des formes, des autels composés d’éléments non figuratifs issus généralement de la terre et figurant les ancêtres.

« le nouveau-né est un étranger »
Le nouveau-néappartient au monde des ancêtres et des génies. Un certain nombre derituels dont la circoncision et la scarification lui permettront dedevenir une personne à part entière.

« jeux de miroirs »
La statuaire renvoie l’imagede figures mythiques exemplaires. La noblesse de l’attitude, lesattributs, insignes de puissance, de sagesse et de richesse, lesmarques attestant un pouvoir de fécondité participent de la qualitéplastique d’une œuvre et de son efficacité symbolique.

La sculpture est ainsi le contrepoint plastique et nécessaire à lareprésentation informe ou informelle des ancêtres et à l’invisibilitédes génies.

2 - Europe occidentale

le corps est image

Dans l’Europe chrétienne, l’idée de l’Incarnation, dont le Christreste le parfait symbole, est fondamentale. L’homme, selon cetteconception, a été créé à l’image et à la ressemblance de Dieu et lecorps, lieu de l’imitation, s’impose comme le signe et l’instrument de cette relation au divin.
Mais dans le monde moderne, en partiedéchristianisé, la transcendance a pris d’autres formes et trouve dansle modèle biologique, un nouvel idéal de beauté.
Cette partie del’exposition, qui s’attache aux différents modes de représentation ducorps en Occident, montre des images souvent dégradées ou déformées,flottant comme des lieux communs dans l’espace. Confrontée à cetunivers virtuel, figure une seule sculpture, œuvre romane du XIIesiècle qui représente le Christ en croix.

3 - Nouvelle-Guinée

la matrice masculine

En Nouvelle-Guinée, les théories de la procréation selon lesquellesl’embryon est formé par le mélange de la substance sexuelle du père (lesperme) et de la mère (le sang), aboutissent à l’idée que le corps estun composé masculin et féminin. L’être humain serait doncfondamentalement androgyne.

« transformation du contenu en contenant »
Le corps masculin est un corps contenu contrairement au corps féminin qui est un corps contenant.
S’ilveut se perpétuer, l’homme doit réaliser ses propres capacitésmaternelles, devenir un corps englobant, un corps fécond qui contiennequelque chose. Cette ambition est réalisée de manière symbolique parles rites d’initiation au cours desquels on utilise des sculpturesrituelles figurant la transformation du corps contenu en corpscontenant.
Dans le Golfe de Papouasie, c’est par la dévoration quele corps masculin affirme sa féminité. De cette manière, l’objetmasculin englouti devient un objet englobant.
Dans la région duFleuve Sépik, les crochets et tubes phalliques ornant les objetsrituels se rejoignent pour transformer le corps masculin en organed’engloutissement.

« le corps féminin est la forme idéale du corps masculin »
Laforme idéale et ritualisée du corps viril accompli est représentée parun ancêtre masculin portant un pagne féminin, par un crocodile ou unmonstre de vannerie mettant symboliquement au monde les garçons pardégorgement ou excrétion. C’est un corps dont la matrice maternelle afourni le modèle plastique et qui devient un corps social, permettantaux pères de se perpétuer dans leurs fils.

4 – Amazonie

un corps fait de regards

En Amazonie, dans les basses terres d’Amérique du Sud, le corps n’apas de forme propre. Il prend celle que lui impose le rapportparticulier entretenu avec tel autre sujet en fonction des regardséchangés, entre celui qui perçoit et celui qui est perçu.
Avoir un corps humain est un état relatif qui dépend aussi de la relation de prédation.

« corps de parent »
Avoir un corps humainimplique des dispositions morales à l’égard de ses congénères et desnon humains. Ces dispositions, inscrites dans le corps, sont signaléespar le vêtement et l’ornementation.
Les plumes de certains oiseaux,par exemple, sont destinées à faire savoir qu’on possède des capacitésà vivre en couple ou « en parents ».

« corps de proie et de prédateur »
La solitude,la faiblesse, la maladie et la mort signalent que notre corps estdevenu une proie, victime d’une prédation invisible.
Devenir unprédateur, au contraire, c’est voir autrui comme une proie. Cettemétamorphose est signalée par des parures de dents et de griffes, pardes peintures, par des comportements singuliers.
Les espritsprédateurs sont souvent matérialisés par des masques ou des trophéeshumains. Ces effigies, toujours pourvues d’yeux et de crocs,matérialisent le corps de non humains animés de dispositions hostiles àl’égard des vivants.

en relation avec l'exposition...

... quelques vitrines du parcours permanent de l'exposition à découvrir.

Afrique de l’Ouest

Une belle sculpture bamana est présentée seule dans la vitrine AF028, une autre est montrée aux côtés de deux autres statuettesféminines dogon et mossi dans la vitrine AF029.
Les vitrines AF030 avec de la statuaire Sénoufo, et AF 061 avec un choix important desculptures lobi permettront de prolonger la visite.

Nouvelle-Guinée

La vitrine OC 004 présente deux crochets et une planche malu liée aurite de passage des jeunes hommes et la vitrine OC 005 ne contient quedes crochets. Nous retrouvons un crochet accompagné d’un masque dans lavitrine OC 008. Une série de masques au long nez est également visibledans la vitrine 0C 024 tandis que la vitrine OC 023 propose desstatuettes d’ancêtres de clans dont un intéressant mortier à bétel.

Amazonie

Les vitrines AM 020 et AM 023 offrent au regard un grand éventail deparures de plumes. La vitrine AM 022 contient une seule grande coiffemojo de Bolivie, impressionnante par la richesse de ses couleurs.

qu’est-ce qu’un corps ?

commissaire général d’exposition : Stéphane BRETON
scénographie : Frédéric DRUOT

D'un regard l'autre

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:36:19 GMT

D'un regard l'Autre

Histoire des regards européens sur l’Afrique, l’Amérique et l’Océanie

D’un regard l’Autre est consacrée aux visions successives portéespar les Européens sur les cultures d’Afrique, des Amériques etd’Océanie. Ce programme est un prétexte pour mettre en perspective, pardes séries thématiques, la relativité de nos regards au seuil d’unnouveau musée. Plutôt qu’un retour vers le passé, ce catalogue (etl’exposition qui en est la source) marque un point de départ.

De la Renaissance jusqu’à aujourd’hui, les « idoles des Sauvages »,« instruments des naturels », « fétiches primitifs », « sculpturesnègres » ou « arts premiers » furent les témoins des goûts et desdégoûts, révélateurs des réflexions sur l’altérité. L’originalité de lapublication tient à cette profondeur historique qui permet d’inscrireces objets dans une histoire de l’art élargie.

Le musée du quai Branly fait appel non seulement à des œuvresd’autres cultures témoignant des premiers contacts avec l’Europe, maisaussi aux œuvres européennes au milieu desquelles elles furentdisposées. Le catalogue montre ainsi, en une suite de chapitressinguliers, comment les regards européens ont progressivement admisd’autres créations, passant, par exemple, de la curiosité émerveilléeaux classements systématiques, des errances évolutionnistes aux imagesde l’Universel.

Au fil des pages, le lecteur voyage avec la Nef de Charles-Quint,trésor du musée d’Écouen, les portraits d’indiens du Brésil peints en1637 pour le palais du prince de Nassau, les coupes en corne derhinocéros des Habsbourg, un masque précolombien en turquoise monté parles Médicis dans une pièce d’orfèvrerie, les ivoires afro-portugais duXVIe siècle, le costume de deuilleur de Tahiti rapporté par lecapitaine Cook, un mystérieux crâne de cristal, La charmeuse de serpentdu Douanier Rousseau, un masque Punu acquis par Picasso en 1908, Noireet blanche de Man Ray…

descriptif

Relié

352 pages au format 25,8 x 28,5 cm

420 illustrations en couleurs

prix de vente public : 49 €

isbn 2-915133-32-8 / 2-7118-5219-9

Coédition musée du quai Branly/Réunion des musées nationaux

commissaire d'exposition

Yves Le Fur, directeur adjoint du département du patrimoine et descollections, responsable des collections permanentes, musée du quaiBranly

les auteurs

Zeno Bianu, Monique Jeudy-Ballini, Adrienne Kaeppler, MaureenMurphy, Pascal Riviale, Nanette Snoep, Claude Stefani, FrançoiseViatte.

D’un regard l’Autre

18 septembre 2006 – 21 janvier 2007, Galerie jardin

Cetteexposition met en perspective la multiplicité des regards que l’Europea portés sur les cultures d’Afrique, d’Amérique et d’Océanie,découvertes par voie de mer essentiellement, de la Renaissance à nosjours.
Véritable manifeste pour le nouveau musée, elle pose laquestion de l’altérité à travers un exceptionnel ensemble d’objets.Idoles, bibelots exotiques, fétiches, sculptures primitives tracent ladiversité de ces approches qui amorcent une histoire de la cultureoccidentale dans son rapport à l’Autre, perçu tantôt comme l’êtreoriginel, pur et innocent, tantôt comme le sauvage ou le cannibale auxinstincts sanguinaires.
Des pièces européennes sont ainsi égalementmontrées afin de mieux faire comprendre le contexte dans lequel lesœuvres d’autres cultures ont pu être accueillies.
Cette promenadedans le temps et l’espace invite à suivre l’évolution et les errancesdu goût, entre l'émerveillement et l'effroi, la curiosité et lefantasme, le mépris et la reconnaissance.

le parcours de l’exposition

L’expositions’articule autour de grandes thématiques qui se déclinent à partir d’uncertain nombre de repères chronologiques. On y retrouve des constantes: la présence récurrente d’un certain type d’objets (les armesnotamment), de certaines images (le sauvage, l’Eden) et la permanenced’une réflexion toujours renouvelée sur l’homme et l’univers.

1. théâtre du monde

Ce premier tableau de l’histoire des regards débute à la Renaissancedès la fin du XVe siècle avec les premières conquêtes des « terraincognita », notamment les côtes de l’Afrique et l’Amériqueprécolombienne, et se termine vers 1760 au moment où se précise l’étudede la cartographie et du corps anatomique. La connaissance du dehors etdu dedans se font alors écho dans une même volonté encyclopédique.
Lescabinets de curiosité ou « chambres des merveilles » font aussi leurapparition avec pour objectif de rassembler en un microcosme lemacrocosme de l’univers, l’ensemble des savoirs, les technologiesnouvelles.
Ainsi, toutes sortes d’objets hétéroclites (ce qui atrait aux parures et aux vêtements, les matières rares et précieuses,les coquillages, les insectes, les plantes aux vertus prétendumentmédicinales, les fossiles, crânes et squelettes, les vestiges del’Antiquité …) sont-ils réunis en fonction de leur forme et de leurpouvoir analogique.

2. histoires naturelles du monde

Entre 1760 et 1800 environ, l’exploration du Pacifique favorise larencontre de mondes en apparence antagonistes. De grandes expéditionssouvent constitué de savants, botanistes, cartographes, peintres ouaquarellistes et dirigées par de grands navigateurs : Cook,Bougainville, La Pérouse, parmi les plus illustres, sillonnent les Mersdu Sud. Le regard de ces voyageurs sur les moeurs et les coutumes des« naturels » influencera le goût des Européens. Les pièces en or, enivoire ou en plumes, par exemple, seront particulièrement prisés etrecherchés.
La notion de « bon sauvage » concernant les hommes, etcelle de « curiosités exotiques » propre aux œuvres réalisées dans cescontrées lointaines se développe à l’aulne des Lumières. En Occident,naît le sentiment de l’étrange, du singulier, de l’insolite,inséparable d’une sorte de fascination mêlée de crainte pour ces objetsqui, en étant détournés de leur destination d’origine, gagnent enmystère.

3. spécimens ou le grand herbier du monde

La première moitié du XIXe siècle est marquée par un intérêtgrandissant pour les sciences naturelles. La flore, la faune, de mêmeque les « productions matérielles » des populations autochtonesd’Amérique ou d’Océanie, sont classifiées, répertoriées, cataloguéessuivant leur provenance et leur usage, et commencent à prendre placedans les premiers musées européens. Cette collecte élargie due à unapprofondissement des connaissances n’exclut pas une vision déformée outransposée, souvent pittoresque et idéalisée des pays et des hommesrencontrés. L’artiste voyageur répond par l’imaginaire aux viséesméthodologiques des savants. Les témoignages de cette époque oscillentainsi souvent entre réalisme documentaire et cliché exotique ouvert surle merveilleux.

4. science des peuples, l’invention de l’humanité

Bien que l’esclavage ait été aboli en France en 1848, le regardporté sur l’Autre, à partir des années 1850, ne s’est pas ennobli. Loins’en faut. L’anthropométrie ou les théories évolutionnistes,établissant une hiérarchie entre races inférieures appelées àdisparaître et races supérieures, vont dans le sens du colonialisme etd’un impérialisme qui se cache derrière l’idée de civilisation.
Lesmusées d’ethnographie, parallèlement, voient le jour et s’enrichissentgrâce à des missions à l’étranger de plus en plus fréquentes. A cetégard, les trophées d’armes largement représentées, et les premièresprises de vue photographiques illustrent bien la notion de capture,florissante en cette fin de XIXe siècle. Au contraire, l’exposition defétiches ou de « grossières idoles » dénoncent la barbarie des« indigènes », qualifiés régulièrement de sauvages.
Il faut attendrele début du XXe siècle pour que d’autres regards se posent sur lesobjets dits primitifs et les hommes qui les ont créées.

5. mutation esthétique

La reconnaissance se fait avant tout au début du XXe siècle par lespoètes, collectionneurs et artistes cubistes, expressionnistes,fauvistes, surréalistes.
Cette prise de conscience d’un panthéon del’art universel, qui englobe toutes les cultures, passe par laredéfinition des termes jusqu’alors employés. Les mots « sauvage »,« nègre » ou « primitif » perdent leur connotation péjorative et sontassociés à la notion d’« œuvre d’art » qui n’avait pas vraiment droitde cité. « Cannibale », « magie », « fétichisme » sont réutiliséségalement en réaction contre des codes bourgeois et à un académisme dugoût.
Tandis que l’exposition coloniale de 1931 laisse à penser,pourtant, que les préjugés raciaux sont toujours tenaces, une réflexionde plus en plus pointue s’est amorcée sur l’identité de l’objet, safonction, son mode de création, même s’il est encore question destyles, de groupes ethniques et d’anonymat de l’artiste. Les critèresesthétiques n’en sont pas moins éclectiques, inégaux et dépendentbeaucoup des modes qui sont lancées et suivies...
En 1947, AndréMalraux construit son « Musée imaginaire », « immense éventail desformes inventées » dans lequel les arts primitifs rejoignent les artssacrés des grandes civilisations. Depuis, quelques manifestationsimportantes dont l’entrée des « arts premiers » au Louvre confirment lavalorisation de sociétés trop souvent méconnues et cette noblesse duregard qui a fini par s’imposer au fil du temps.
Une place importante est réservée à la photographie dans l’exposition.
Issusdes principales collections ethnographiques françaises, souventinédits, les portraits et paysages qui y sont montrés, témoignent d’unecertaine conception de l’exotisme propre au XIXe siècle. Au sièclesuivant, la photographie, elle aussi, change de statut, passant dustade de simple document au rang d’œuvre d’art.

l’exposition internationale

Ils’agit d’une exposition, qui rassemble des œuvres exceptionnelles(fonds du musée du quai Branly, prêts de grands musées étrangers, artcontemporain, créations ...) pendant 3 à 4 mois.
Sa durée de visite est d’environ une heure et demie. Il en est prévu trois pour la saison 2006-2007.

prochaines expositions

Arts de la Nouvelle-Irlande
Le Jardin d’Amour, une installation de Yinka Shonibaré

D’Un regard l’Autre

commissaire d’exposition : Yves LE FUR
direction de projet : Hélène CERUTTI
architectes: Stéphane MAUPIN, Nicolas HUGON