The art of sub-Saharan Africa is the subject of major museum exhibitions, one touring Europe and the United States.
Spectacular artworks from Central Africa, Ghana's Asante Kingdom, the court of Benin and Nigeria's Yoruba people grace American and European museums in a series of important special exhibitions.
African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection
A selection of 88 African sculptures, masks and large-scale works are on view. They come from a 525-piece collection that represents the artistic traditions of 75 peoples and 20 different countries primarily in west and central Africa. Those cultures whose objects are on display include the Yoruba and Idoma of Nigeria, Senufo of the Ivory Coast, Edo of the Benin Kingdom, Kongo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fon of Benin and Dogon of Mali.
- National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. USA: February 15, 2007-September 7, 2008
Asante Goldweights
The Asante Kingdom in Ghana, West Africa was known for its 19th-century wealth in gold. Mbrammoo (small brass and bronze weights) were used to determine the value of gold dust, the Asante currency. These goldweights were often decorative in design; many incorporated Islamic geometric patterns and floral motifs from Muslim North Africa. Some were incised with foreboding proverbs while others represented humans, animals and court regalia. Asante Goldweights commemorates the 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of the African slave trade as well as the 50th year of Ghana's independence from colonial rule.
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK: February 1-December 31, 2007
Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary
This presentation of sculptural masterpieces from equatorial Africa's rainforest examines the origins and artistic significance of 12 traditions of reliquary creation in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reliquaries were produced in central Africa to commemorate an extended family's important ancestors and preserve their sacred remains, providing the spirits with a visible expression of their function as intermediaries with the divine. Parallels with medieval European and Eastern cultures are made. Many of these African devotional objects inspired early 20th-century avant-garde artists such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), André Derain (1880-1954), Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) and Henri Matisse (1869-1954) when they first appeared in ethnographic museums. These aesthetic associations are also explored.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY USA: October 2, 2007-March 2, 2008
Benin: Kings and Rituals, Court Arts from Nigeria
More than 300 works of art trace the development of the Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria, focusing on the region's culture from the 14th to the late 19th Century. This significant international loan exhibition features valuable ivory and bronze sculptures such as commemorative kings' heads and bas-relief plaques of rulers' and warriors' valorous deeds. Examples of the sumptuous court art of Benin are interpreted in terms of their ritual, social and historical values. A number of the bronze plaques, probably cast during the 16th and 17th Centuries, describe Benin's royal court, official ceremonies and important events. They provide an accurate visual record of what the king, his courtiers and dignitaries looked like as well as annual sacred rites intended to perpetuate the ruler's realm and guarantee its inhabitants' prosperity.
- Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France: October 2, 2007-January 6, 2008
- Ethnologisches Museum-Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany: February 7-May 25, 2008
- Art Institute of Chicago, IL USA: June 27-September 21, 2008
Embodying the Sacred in Yoruba Art: Featuring the Bernard and Patricia Wagner Collection
Yoruba works of art from Dr. Bernard and Patricia Wagner, recently given to the High Museum of Art and The Newark Museum, are the subject of a special exhibition co-organized by and appearing at both institutions. Embodying the Sacred in Yoruba Art... describes the spiritual and aesthetic importance of some 70 works created by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, the Republic of Benin and Togo from the late 19th to the 20th Century. The installation explores the rich artistic traditions of the Yoruba along three themes: the significance of the head as the seat of intelligence, communication and identity as seen in headdresses, crowns and other royal regalia; the complex system of more than 400 traditional deities and the religion's supreme creator god, organized into primordial entities, deified ancestors and spirits of nature; and popular Yoruba masquerade festivals, featuring sculpted and wooden masks and costumes that when worn allow members of the spirit world to manifest themselves during particular ceremonies.
- High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA USA: December 22, 2007-April 20, 2008
- The Newark Museum, NJ USA: June 6-August 24, 2008
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