ART on View 64 concerns or the day-to-day needs of rural villages, it has long reflected any number of phenomena, including cultural and religious diversity, urbanization, economic change, tourism, and globalization. Art in contemporary Africa now embraces a multitude of expressive modalities and techniques, from activities geared toward reproduction artworks to billboards, shop signs, and even graffiti intended for domestic use and consumption. As traditional African art has grown in popularity among collectors and connoisseurs around the world, it has become more frequently admitted into the Western Helmet mask. Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire. 20th century. Wood, cotton, feathers, iron, leather, pigment. Lowe Art Museum. Museum purchase through funds from Beaux Arts, the Linnie E. Dalbeck Memorial Endowment, the 50th Anniversary Fund, and memorial gifts in honor of Florence Drosd, inv. 2002.8. DOUBLE TAKE Brooklyn—Celebrating Africa’s continual dynamism and long tradition of artistic creativity, Double Take: African Innovations opens the doors to the Brooklyn Museum’s storied collection with a new, experimental installation that invites surprising and unexpected ways of looking at African art. It suggests universal themes that link seemingly dissimilar works, often across vast distances of time and space, while also presenting them within their own specific context of history and place.In the main Double Take gallery, nearly forty objects, including a number of recent acquisitions, are organized into fifteen pairs or small groups exploring themes, subjects, and techniques that recur throughout African history, including performance, portraiture, the body, power, design, satire, and virtue. A deeper look into the museum’s extensive African holdings can also be found in an adjacent “storage annex” display of an additional 150 African masterpieces. Public feedback is encouraged and will shape updates to the installation and also inform the larger presentation of the African collection in the years to come. ART IN REAL LIFE Coral Gables—African artists producing “traditional” works have long striven to balance community values with individual success. Art in Real Life: Traditional African Art from the Lowe Art Museum explores the inherent tensions of this reality, which is impacted by pressures from a broad range of sectors, including the technological, geopolitical, ecological, and economic. This exhibition, which is drawn from the Lowe’s permanent collection, illustrates the continuing creativity and inventiveness of African artists in the face of an increasingly complex world. Traditional African art has always been an elastic genre. Rather than being restricted to ritual Below: Power figure, nkisi nkondi. Kongo (Kakongo subgroup), Lower Congo Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. 19th century. Wood, iron, glass mirror, resin, pigment. H: 86 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1421. Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum. Left: Composite image Left half: Romuald Hazoumé (Beninois, born 1962), Fiegnon, 2011. Porto-Novo, Ouémé Department, Benin. Plastic jerry can, synthetic hair, copper wire. H: 27.9 cm. Caroline A. L. Pratt Fund, 2014.32.2. © Romuald Hazoumé. Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum. Right half: Fragment of a head. Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. 1100–1500 CE. Terracotta. H: 15.2 cm. The Martin 2012 Family Trust, L54.5. Photo: Brooklyn Museum. world’s conception of “art.” However, the artists who have made it were and are intensely practical. Their creations embody an inherent desire for self-expression while also addressing more prosaic needs, such as supporting their families. These works and the creative processes and traditions associated with them are the subject of Art in Real Life. On view until January 11, 2015, this thoughtful exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 160-page catalog.
Layout1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above