MUSEUM NEWS
GOOD AS GOLD
WASHINGTON, DC—In the cities of the West African
38
nation of Senegal, stylish women have often used
jewelry as part of an overall strategy of exhibiting their
elegance and prestige. Rooted in the Wolof concept
of sañse (dressing up, looking and feeling good), a
new long-term exhibition, Good as Gold: Fashioning
Senegalese Women, opening October 24, 2018,
examines the production, display, and circulation of
gold in Senegal. It explores golden adornment as
part of a larger dialogic constellation of identity, nationhood,
politics, wealth, and individual taste that is
largely driven by women. It also celebrates a signifi -
cant gift of gold jewelry to the National Museum of
African Art’s collection. It is guest curated by Amanda
M. Maples, curator of African Art at the North
Carolina Museum of Art, and its opening will be
followed by a full-length publication in spring 2019.
DIMENSIONS OF POWER
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA—In the past, African art
was often tied into the ways in which African leaders
promoted their agendas. Royalty and rulers used art
to project their authority, religious groups promoted
their faiths, and the wealthy displayed their riches.
Ordinary Africans also used art to enable them to
wield their own forms of power. Since supernatural
forces were thought to play a large role in determining
events, it was important to own objects that could
withstand or shape events that lay beyond ordinary
control. Refl ecting these themes, fi fty-nine outstanding
works from the collection of the Snite Museum
at the University of Notre Dame have been brought
together in a reinstallation of the permanent African
gallery under the title Dimensions of Power. Together
the artworks illustrate these concepts through themes
of economic, political, social, and spiritual power in
Africa. Most of the works have never before been on
public view, and nearly a third belong to the Owen D.
Mort Jr. Collection, which is composed of art primarily
from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where
Mort worked for many years. The reinstallation was
curated by Visiting Curator of African Art Elizabeth
Morton, who also authored an illustrated catalog of
the collection.
RIGHT: Mask, gitenga
muganji. Pende,
Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
Mid 20th century.
Plant fi ber, feathers, clay
pigment.
Snite Museum of Art, University
of Notre Dame, the Owen D.
Mort Jr. Collection,
inv. L2010.051.001.
BELOW LEFT: Butterfl y
necklace pendant.
Wolof or Tukulor, Dakar,
Senegal. 1930–1960.
Gold-plated silver alloy.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, gift of Dr.
Marian Ashby Johnson,
inv. 2012-18-45.
RIGHT: Fabrice Monteiro
(b. 1972, Namur, Belgium;
works in Dakar, Senegal),
Signare #1, 2011.
Exhibition print.
Courtesy Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.
FAR RIGHT:
Necklace, bount u sindoné
(detail).
Wolof, Dakar, Senegal. Mid
20th century.
Gold-plated silver alloy.
National Museum of African Art,
Smithsonian Institution, gift of Dr.
Marian Ashby Johnson,
inv. 2012-18-19.