91
FIG. 9 (left):
Man riding a buffalo.
Pende artist. Kwilu
Province, Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Early 20th century.
Wood, pigment, brass tacks.
H: 56.5 cm.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, estate of
Barbara and Joseph Goldenberg,
inv. 2011-4-1.
Photo: Franko Khoury.
FIG. 10 (right):
Reliquary guardian fi gure,
eyema bieri.
Fang artist. Estuaire or
Woleu-Ntem Province,
Gabon, or Río Muni region,
Equatorial Guinea.
Late 19th to early 20th
century.
Wood, oil. H: 58.7 cm.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, gift of
the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer
Foundation, inv. 72-41-3.
Photo: Franko Khoury.
LOOKING LAB
Bridging the previous section on the original
lives that African objects lived on the continent
with the next that examines the circulation patterns
which set them into motion, visitors are
encouraged to stop into the “Looking Lab”
and take a moment for active, close looking.
The best African artworks reward close examination
with surprising features that may not be
apparent at fi rst glance. Through the objects
presented here, African artists have expressed
a wealth of different stories—personal dramas,
religious enlightenment, and political histories
among them. By giving visitors focused invitations
to seek out details such as color and pattern,
gesture, expression, proportion, scale,
materials, and style, they will have the opportunity
to see as artists do.
A range of physical, interactive, and didactic
activities—from opportunities to feel the differences
between various sample surfaces or to read
VISIONARY