MUSEUM NEWS
Dallas Museum of Art
DALLAS—Two exhibitions on view at the Dallas Museum
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of Art this spring highlight very different art forms
from two different continents. The fi rst, Hopi Visions:
Journey of the Human Spirit, examines the breadth of
Hopi material and spiritual culture throughout time,
ranging from ancestral Sikyatki polychrome ceramic
vessels to historic kachina (katsina) dolls, such as one
of Palhik Mana, the Water-Sipping Maiden. Notable
in the installation is a mural painting by Hopi artists
Michael Kabotie and Delbridge Honanie, which complements
the ancient to contemporary objects drawn
from the DMA’s collection. On view until December 2,
2018, the exhibition marks the fi rst time the Journey
of the Human Spirit mural will be on view outside of
Arizona and the Museum of Northern Arizona. The
exhibition was curated by Kimberly L. Jones, curator
of the arts of the Americas at the DMA.
Opening April 15, 2018, and on
view until August 12, 2018, The Power
of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from
Ghana offers a dazzling vision of more
than 200 gleaming gold items of regalia,
colorful and intricately woven
silk kente cloth, ceremonial furniture,
state swords, linguist staffs, and other
signifi cant objects related to Asante
royals from the nineteenth through the
twenty-fi rst centuries. Founded around
1700 with wealth derived from the gold
trade with North Africa and Europe, the
Asante Kingdom was a powerful polity
in West Africa. Together these explore
the unique role and impact of gold on
the development of Asante society,
economy, and arts. Curated by Roslyn
A. Walker, the DMA’s senior curator of
the arts of Africa, the Americas, and the
Pacifi c, The Power of Gold is inspired by
works in the DMA’s collection and will
feature objects from private and public
collections, including the British Museum;
the Cleveland Museum of Art; the
Detroit Institute of Arts; the Metropolitan Museum of
Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the National
Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution; the
Toledo Museum of Art; the Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts; and the Whydah Pirate Museum. The exhibition
is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog.
LEFT: State sword.
Asante, Ghana. 1935 to mid
20th century.
Courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art.
BELOW RIGHT: Sword
ornament in the form of a
lion. Asante, Nsuta, Ghana.
Mid 20th century.
Cast gold, felt.
Dallas Museum of Art, the Eugene and
Margaret McDermott Art Fund Inc.,
inv., 2010.2.McD.
BELOW: Sword ornament in
the form of a spider.
Asante, Ghana.
Late 19th century.
Gold-copper-silver alloy.
Dallas Museum of Art, McDermott
African Art Acquisition Fund,
inv. 2014.26.1.
LEFT: Kachina doll
representing Palhik Mana
(Water-Sipping Maiden).
Hopi, Arizona. 1920–1930.
Wood, paint, wool.
Dallas Museum of Art, given in
memory of Congressman James M.
Collins by his family, inv. 1993.71.
BELOW: Michael Kabotie
and Delbridge Honanie,
Journey of the Human Spirit
– The Emergence (panel 1),
2001.
Acrylic on canvas.
Shown at the Dallas Museum of Art,
courtesy of the Museum of Northern
Arizona.
© Gene Balzer.