Above: Standing figure of a hornbill, Kporopyan. Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire. Wood. Private collection. Photo courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Below: Wall hanging portraying Hevioso, the Fon god of thunder, with a mythical warrior. Fon, Republic of Benin. 20th century. Appliquéd cotton. Dallas Museum of Art. 70 CONVERSATIONS Washington, DC—One of the world’s preeminent private collections of African American art is having its first public viewing at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue brings together artworks from two world-class collections: the National Museum of African Art and the Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr. Collection. The exhibition will remain on view through early 2016 and is a major component of the museum’s fiftieth anniversary, which celebrates its unique history and contributions toward furthering meaningful dialog between Africa and the African diaspora. Conversations presents selected pieces from the Cosby Collection, including works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Beauford Delaney, Loïs Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Keith Morrison, Faith Ringgold, Augusta Savage, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Alma Thomas. With the exception of one piece, the Cosby Collection has never been loaned or seen publicly, and pieces from it have only rarely and selectively been published. The Cosby pieces, along with other works of African American art, are placed in thematic dialog with African traditional works of art from the museum’s permanent collection as well as with modern and contemporary works of art by African artists. The exhibition and its accompanying publication are organized to explore intersecting ideas about history, creativity, power, identity, and artistry and the ways that they resonate with people the world over. ART on View ART AND IDENTITY IN WEST AFRICA Cleveland—Some of the most beloved artistic creations of sub-Saharan Africa, Senufo masks, figures, and decorative art objects have been the subject of numerous studies by African, American, and European scholars since the 1930s. The interest in sculpture identified as Senufo was largely stimulated by its discovery by the artistic avant-garde in the early twentieth century. Through a stunning selection of objects in diverse styles and media, Senufo: Art and Identity in West Africa focuses on the Poro and Sandogo societies, the primary settings for the production and use of works of art in the Senufo-speaking region of northern Côte d’Ivoire. However, drawing on recent research in Mali and Burkina Faso, the exhibition also includes sculptures not usually attributed to Senufo-speaking artists or patrons, thus shattering the boundaries of the corpus typically identified as Senufo. Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it can be seen February 22–May 31, 2015, the exhibition will subsequently also travel to the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, France. It will be the subject of an article in the next issue of Tribal Art magazine. ADD TO, TAKE AWAY Dallas—“Add to” and “take away” refer to basic techniques African textile artists use to decorate cloth. “Add to” techniques include embroidery and appliqué. “Take away” refers to the removal of threads from cloth to create intricate patterns. Decorated cloth is often a powerful expressive medium in African life, a kind of visual language that can be read by those familiar with it. Add To, Take Away: Artistry and Innovation in African Textiles features textiles drawn primarily from the Dallas Museum of Art’s collection and explores these techniques as they have been— and still are—practiced in Mali, the Republic of Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Examples range from daily clothing to prestige cloths and wall hangings, all created by hand with a particular care to detail that is rarely found today. The exhibition will be on view until December 6, 2015. Top right: Helmet. Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire. Wood, metal. H. 34.9 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1975.152. Photo: Howard Agriesti, courtesy The Cleveland Museum of Art.
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