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ART on view Brightest Africa at the DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART On September 25, 2015, the Dallas 84 Museum of Art celebrated the public opening of its new third-fl oor Arts of Africa gallery. The new gallery space, the fi rst major redesign since 1996, features more than 170 works from the museum’s much-admired African art collection, which was established in 1969 with Eugene and Margaret McDermott’s extraordinary gift of 224 Central African works of art from the Clark and Frances Stillman Collection.* The reinstallation was directed by Roslyn Adele Walker, Senior Curator of the Arts of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacifi c and the Margaret McDermott Curator of African Art at the DMA. The curator’s aspirations were brought to fruition by exhibitions designer Skye Malish-Olson and a host of in-house carpenters, painters, a graphics designer, a media specialist, educators, and preparators. Since the opening, museum visitors have been struck by the Arts of Africa gallery’s spaciousness and brightness. The gallery now measures 3,650 sq. ft. In 1996, temporary walls were erected to create a smaller space for a display of 125 objects, most of which were less than 45 inches high. By removing these walls, 460 square feet were regained (fi g. 2). The new installation features 173 objects varying in size from a few inches to more than six feet high. Because textiles are light sensitive, the new installation does not include them, save for masquerade costumes. However, African textiles are periodically displayed in a separate gallery. The once taupe-gray gallery was painted “blossom white,” as much to make the gallery appear larger as for the meaning of the color white in an African context: spirituality, light, healing, peace, ancestors, and the afterlife. By Roslyn Adele Walker FIG. 1 (above): Installation view of the entry to the new Arts of Africa gallery. Photo courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art. FIG. 3 (left): State sword. Asante, Ghana. 1935–mid 20th century. Iron, wood, gold leaf, ray skin, fi ber. L: 69.9 cm. Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Charles and Kent Davis, inv. 2010.3. FIG. 4 (above right): Sword ornament in the form of a lion. Asante, Nsuta, Ghana. Mid 20th century. Cast gold, felt. W: 20.3 cm. Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., inv. 2010.2.McD. FIG. 2 (below): Floor plans for the Arts of Africa gallery contrasting the 1996 and 2015 installations. Courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art. FIG. 5 (right top): Male fi gure. Sokoto State, Nigeria. 200 BC–AD 200. Terracotta. H: 48.9 cm. Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., inv. 1994.195.McD. FIG. 6 (right bottom): Prestige pipe bowl. Bamum peoples, Cameroon. 20th century. Terracotta. H: 39.4 cm. Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Cecil and Ida Green Foundation, inv. 1999.60.


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