ART ON VIEW
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This part of the installation will open with a
detailed discussion of the many reasons—from
unscientifi c or disinterested collecting practices
to issues of secrecy and otherworldly origins for
certain sacred works—that so many African artworks
remain unattributed to individual artists.
It also reaffi rms the National Museum’s commitment
to sustained scholarly research with
the aim of recovering African artists’ identities,
where possible, and to recognizing their individual
agency, the latter through the repeated use of
the term “artist” in labels when specifi c information
is not available.
This gallery will look closely at three subgroups
of objects within the Disney-Tishman
Collection: ivories, Yoruba works, and animalskin
masks from the Cross River region of Nigeria.
Such skin-covered masks remain a distinctive
holding within this collection and have been the
subject of much study. During the late nineteenth
century, commerce in palm oil brought wealth
and trade items to the Cross River region. Artistic
activity fl ourished and artists created many
forms of masks covered with animal skin for
wealthy patrons associated with infl uential agegrade
and men’s societies. Scholar Keith Nicklin,
FIG. 3 (below):
Crest mask. Possibly by
Etim Bassey Ekpenyong.
Vicinity of Calabar, Cross
River State, Nigeria.
Early 20th century.
Wood, animal skin, plant fi ber, bone,
dye. H: 41.5 cm.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, gift of Walt
Disney World Co., a subsidiary of
The Walt Disney Company,
inv. 2005-6-1.
Photo: Franko Khoury.
a specialist of the masking traditions of southeastern
Nigeria, has speculated that one of these
masks (fi g. 3) is the work of Etim Bassey Ekpenyong,
a distinguished Efi k carver also credited
with a mask that appears in the 1939 movie The
Wizard of Oz.2
VISIONARY ARTISTS
Scholarly research and engaged connoisseurship
can often lead to the identifi cation of artists’
hands. The next section of the installation, sited
at the monumental center of the exhibition, will
look at the role of artists as conduits of extraordinary
technical skill and creative vision.
ART HISTORY MADE VISIBLE
The expansive scope of the Tishman Collection
made it a central resource for scholars seeking
a corpus of related materials for consultation.
Through the openness of the Tishmans and the
Disney Company to exhibitions, publications,
and scholarly researchers, these works became
an important resource in the development of African
art history and the formation of stylistic
canons. The second gallery, also dedicated solely
to Disney-Tishman objects, will use the lens of
scholarship to look at how collections can be resources
for insights into the artistic and social
lives of African artworks.