ART on View 66 Left: Central sections from a man’s skirt, mapel. Kuba peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Early 20th century. Raffia. L: 753 cm. Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, EO.0.0.16469 (entered museum collection, December 20, 1913). Photo: Collection RMCA Tervuren; photo J.-M. Vandyck, RMCA Tervuren ©. Far left, top to bottom Royal headdress. Kuba (Bushoong group), Democratic Republic of the Congo. Late 19th century. Raffia, cotton, cowrie shells, glass beads. L: 33 cm. Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, EO.0.0.31183. Collected by Gerard Louis Edouard Andreae before 1894. Photo: Collection RMCA Tervuren; photo J.-M. Vandyck, RMCA Tervuren ©. Border for a man’s skirt. Kuba peoples (Bushoong group), Democratic Republic of the Congo. Late 19th century. Raffia, cut-pile. L: 1,200 cm. Collected between 1890–1910 by William H. Sheppard. Hampton University, William H. Sheppard, 11.401. Photo: Alexander Kravitz. Belt, nduun. Kuba (Bushoong group), Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mid-20th century. Raffia, cowrie shells, glass beads, camwood powder. L: 250.5 cm. Collected by Deconnick, Gift Friends of the Museum, September 29, 1960. Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, EO.1960.39.1014. Photo: Collection RMCA Tervuren; photo J.-M. Vandyck, RMCA Tervuren ©. KUBA TEXTILES Purchase—The Kuba peoples, in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, are renowned for their cut-pile raffia cloths. When sewn together and layered, they form extraordinary skirts and overskirts that wrap around the body multiple times. Like other Kuba arts, these garments are intricate to a degree found in no other African kingdom. Remarkable not only for their beauty but also for their large scale—some of these textiles reach nearly thirty feet in length—they are worn on special occasions by men and women and display the status of the wearer. Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time, at the Neuberger Museum of Art from March 1–June 28, 2015, is the first exhibition to bring together works from two of the earliest collections of Kuba textiles: the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium, founded by Leopold II in 1897; and the Sheppard Collection at Hampton University in Virginia, gathered between 1890 and 1910 by the American Presbyterian Congo missionary William Henry Sheppard, who in 1892 was the first Westerner to be received by a Kuba king. Additional important loans to the exhibition come from the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and three private collections. In total, the exhibition features eightytwo Kuba artworks (forty-one textiles and forty-one objects), most being publicly exhibited for the first time. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalog and will be the subject of an article in the next issue of Tribal Art magazine. ARTISTRY IN WEAPONS Cambridge, MA—Nearly as pervasive as war itself is the practice of decorating the objects used to wage it. Arts of War: Artistry in Weapons across Cultures is a new exhibition at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum that presents the varied beauty and craftsmanship of weapons drawn from cultures around the world. From maces, clubs, daggers, and spears, to shields, helmets, and entire suits of armor, this exhibition highlights more than 150 striking examples of deadly objects that are also extraordinary works of art. On view until October 18, 2017, it unveils the stories behind some of the most stunning war artworks ever created and reveals the passion and purpose of the people who made them. Poster for Arts of War Peabody Museum, Harvard University.
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