ART on view materials and stylistic elements, as well as how much their skills were appreciated by Portuguese navigators, who commissioned many works that found their way into eclectic European collections in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The third part of the exhibition is divided into several subsections and addresses both artistic and sociocultural 82 issues, placing emphasis either on a particular people or more general subjects relevant to all of Sub- Saharan Africa. Among the artworks here are groups of stone statues and small-format works. The latter include many sculptures that are extraordinary jewels. Attributions are touched upon again, for a total here of seven different workshops and six individual masters. Among these are two Yoruba fi gurines by Agbonbiofe Adeshina and Olowe of Ise, twentieth-century masters whose names are known; and two Luba Shankadi sculptures attributed to the Master of the Cascading Coiffure (fi g. 11), a name that refers to two artists from the small Central African kingdom, to whose hands eighteen works have thus far been credited. Important anthropological notions are introduced and supported by the presentation of objects in the fi nal section of the exhibition: initiation and fertility rites (explored through an examination of the works of the Sande and Tiwara societies), ancestor worship, divination, life in the royal courts, weapons (the throwing knives on display are especially important), objects of daily life, masks, and musical instruments. Although works by masters are concentrated in the other galleries, this section of the installation maintains the overall level of quality, since the organizers were able to obtain exceptional examples of their genre. Two wonderful works of types that are usually considered minor demonstrate this attention to quality: an anthropomorphic Ashanti drum from the Rietberg Museum in Zurich and a sublime Karamajong headrest with exceptional purity of line (fi g. 12). In short, this is an exhibition that is not to be missed. Africa, terra degli Spiriti Through August 30, 2015 Museo delle Culture, Milan mudec.it Catalog by Claudia Zevi in collaboration with Gigi Pezzoli, published in Italian by 24 Ore Cultura, 350 pages, 356 photos and illustrations, 42 euros NOTE 1. The original Italian title of the article is “Non cercate Fidia, il suo nome è tribù.”
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