INSCRIPTIONS
93
FIG. 14 (above):
Face mask.
Idoma or Akweya artist.
Benue State, Nigeria.
c. 1920–1940.
Wood, pigment, metal.
H: 21.3 cm.
National Museum of African
Art, Smithsonian Institution,
gift of Walt Disney World Co.,
a subsidiary of The Walt Disney
Company, inv. 2005-6-88.
Photo: Franko Khoury.
FIG. 12 (left):
Spoon.
Edo artist. Benin City,
Edo State, Nigeria.
16th to 17th century.
Ivory. H: 16.5 cm.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, bequest of
Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss,
inv. 69-20-4.
Photo: Franko Khoury.
FIG. 13 (below):
Staff fi nial.
Kongo artist. Mayombe
region, Kongo Central
Province, Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
19th century.
Ivory, stone. H: 19 cm.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, gift of Walt
Disney World Co., a subsidiary of
The Walt Disney Company,
inv. 2005-6-33.
Photo: Franko Khoury.
These range from contemporary dances sponsored
by the museum to masquerades recorded
throughout the continent during the late twentieth
century. A distinctive mask by an Idoma or
Akweya artist (fi g. 14) anchors the corner of this
space, addressing masquerade as performance
art. As the mask features a blending of styles
that originated along the Benue River, an area
where the arts move across ethnic divisions and
between several men’s associations, it also serves
to reinforce the broader conceptual aim of this
section.
MUSEUM INSIGHTS
Visionary concludes with a nod to the most recent
life that each of these objects has come to
lead—as museum objects. “Museum Insights”
considers how museums do the work of connecting
more closely to objects. The formation
and ongoing development of a museum collec-