Treasures marks the National Museum of African Art's 25th anniversary as a Smithsonian museum. The first in a new exhibition series, Treasuresis an old-fashioned show about African art, reminiscent of the
exhibitions that represented avant-garde opinions of the early 20th
century. In 1926, Paul Guillaume, Parisian connoisseur and collector,
cautioned readers to defer learning about the history and meaning of
African art until they had studied African art purely as an art form,
because to do otherwise "tends to obscure one's vision of the objects
as sculpture."I chose the familiar--traditional sculpture--to reveal aesthetic variances, to see African art as form, not function. Treasures,
therefore, is about visual exploration and aesthetic discovery. Our
understanding of African art is prescribed by what we see, and often,
what we see is based on works displayed in museums. So, "Treasures" is
just that--a sampling that gives us a peek into the realm of African
art.
Westerners
and Africans alike revere well-made form. Each admires skillful
technique and execution, exquisitely rendered forms, pattern, balance,
symmetry, surface treatments and a sense of completeness. African
artists, however, strive to portray more than that. As metaphor or
symbol, their artworks embody the world of ideas and
beliefs--confirming their notions about themselves, life and death, the
universe and the spiritual realm. Yet, despite our cultural
presumptions that separate art from life, often separating aesthetics
from meaning, and our ignorance of or indifference to what it means and
how it is used, African art astonishes.
An eclectic display of sculptures from East, West, Central, and southern Africa created between the 15th
[ 
