Helena Rubinstein. Madame’s Collection

37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

November 19, 2019 - September 27, 2020 Exhibition November 19, 2019 September 27, 2020 Europe/London Helena Rubinstein. Madame’s Collection 37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

An extraordinary figure, the first 20th-century businesswoman, a self-made and emancipated woman, a visionary... There is no shortage of superlatives to describe the incredible rise to fame of Helena Rubinstein (1870-1965), dubbed the Empress of beauty by Cocteau, but her role as an experienced collector and a pioneer in the recognition of African and Oceanic arts in Europe and North America is often overlooked. Primarily amassed in Paris through her various encounters, "Madame’s collection", now dispersed, comprised over 400 pieces of non-European art including precious Kota and Fang reliquary guardians, exceptional Baoulé, Bamana, Senoufo and Dogon pieces. The exhibition places the spotlight on her passion for non-Western arts - primarily African art - through sixty pieces, as well as her fascination for their expressive intensity and character.

Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art

34-35 New Bond Street: London, United Kingdom

October 02, 2020 - October 02, 2020 Auction October 02, 2020 October 02, 2020 Europe/London Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art 34-35 New Bond Street: London, United Kingdom

This October, Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary African Art is pleased to present a selection of exceptional works from across the African continent. As market leaders in the field, Sotheby’s sales of Modern and Contemporary African Art champion the work of African artists, and our upcoming auction includes a specially curated collection of paintings, photographs, drawings and sculpture from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Bonhams Modern and Contemporary African Art

101 New Bond Street W1S 1SR: London, United Kingdom

October 08, 2020 - October 08, 2020 Auction October 08, 2020 October 08, 2020 Europe/London Bonhams Modern and Contemporary African Art 101 New Bond Street W1S 1SR: London, United Kingdom

1-54 London

Somerset House, South Wing Strand: London, United Kingdom

October 08, 2020 - October 11, 2020 Fair October 08, 2020 October 11, 2020 Europe/London 1-54 London Somerset House, South Wing Strand: London, United Kingdom

1-54 is the first leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Founding by Touria El Glaoui, the fair holds annual editions in London since 2013, New York since 2015 and Marrakech since 2018. Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1-54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange.

Zemanek-Münster 95th Africa, Oceania & pre-Columbian Art Auction

Hörleingasse 3-5 D-97070: Wurzburg, Germany

October 24, 2020 - October 24, 2020 Auction October 24, 2020 October 24, 2020 Europe/London Zemanek-Münster 95th Africa, Oceania & pre-Columbian Art Auction Hörleingasse 3-5 D-97070: Wurzburg, Germany

We are pleased to present you this masterpiece, provenance Ludwig Bretschneider, in our Autumn auction on the 24th of October. We would like to place a special focus on four collections: the Rolf Huisgen Africa collection, the Knud Nielsen art collection, the Edmondo Trombetta art collection and the Pre-Columbian Art collection of Günther Hartmann.

Cornette de Saint Cyr Africa Unite!

6 Avenue Hoche, 75008: Paris, France

October 28, 2020 - October 28, 2020 Auction October 28, 2020 October 28, 2020 Europe/London Cornette de Saint Cyr Africa Unite! 6 Avenue Hoche, 75008: Paris, France

Pan-African solidarity charity sale in collaboration with La Marocaine des Arts, Casablanca.

Tribal Art Fair

Online: Online

October 29, 2020 - November 01, 2020 Fair October 29, 2020 November 01, 2020 Europe/London Tribal Art Fair Online: Online

At the Tribal Art Fair you can find objects from Oceania, Africa, Asia and North and South America. The exhibition include jewellery, sculptures, textiles, masks, implements and furniture. All objects at the Fair will be judged by experts of that region. This year the fair will be only online. Due to the Covid-19 situation, the fair won’t take place in the Duif in Amsterdam. The fair will open on Thursday 29 October at 3.00 pm and will continue until 1 November 10.00 pm. In between these times you can visit the online fair. Every gallery will show their recent acquisitions on a special website. You can contact the gallery owner directly if you are interested in something. During these days there are also lectures which you can follow from home. Let’s meet at this digital platform and next year again in the Duif!

ART X Lagos

The Civic Centre, Victoria Island: Lagos, Nigeria

November 06, 2020 - November 08, 2020 Fair November 06, 2020 November 08, 2020 Europe/London ART X Lagos The Civic Centre, Victoria Island: Lagos, Nigeria

ART X Lagos is West Africa’s premier international art fair, designed to showcase the best and most innovative contemporary art from the African continent and its Diaspora. Launched in 2016, the art fair has since become a cornerstone of the Lagos art calendar, drawing local patrons and a host of international collectors, curators, and critics annually.

El Anatsui. Triumphant Scale

Bern Art Museum, Hodlerstrasse 8–12, 3011 : Bern, Switzerland

March 13, 2020 - November 11, 2020 Exhibition March 13, 2020 November 11, 2020 Europe/London El Anatsui. Triumphant Scale Bern Art Museum, Hodlerstrasse 8–12, 3011 : Bern, Switzerland

In collaboration with Haus der Kunst in Munich, the Kunstmuseum Bern is mounting a large-scale exhibition of the work of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. He is arguably Africa’s most renowned contemporary artist and famous for his large sculptures of recycled bottle caps that decorate whole walls like magnificent tapestries. At the same time, the former metal bottle caps of liquor bottles reflect the (post-)colonial relationship between Europe, Africa and the New World. The exhibition focuses on the monumentality of El Anatsui's work and reveals how it developed out of his life-long passion for drawing, his wooden sculptures carved with chainsaws, and the ceramics he produced in the early years of his artistic career.

African Arts—Global Conversations

Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn: New York, United States

February 14, 2020 - November 15, 2020 Exhibition February 14, 2020 November 15, 2020 Europe/London African Arts—Global Conversations Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn: New York, United States

African Arts—Global Conversations puts African arts where they rightfully belong: within the global art historical canon. It brings those works into greater, meaningful art historical conversations and critiques previous ways that encyclopedic museums and the field of art have or have not included them. African Arts—Global Conversations presents thirty-three works, including twenty by African artists. Highlights include a celebrated eighteenth-century Kuba sculpture, fourteenth- to sixteenth-century Ethiopian Orthodox processional crosses, and a mid-twentieth-century Sierra Leonean Ordehlay or Jollay society mask. Also featured are recent works by Atta Kwami, Ranti Bam, Magdalene Odundo OBE, and Taiye Idahor, which are paired with artworks by Māori, Seminole, Spanish, American, Huastec, and Korean artists.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

April 11, 2020 - November 29, 2020 Exhibition April 11, 2020 November 29, 2020 Europe/London Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa is the first major exhibition addressing the scope of Saharan trade and the shared history of West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe from the eighth to sixteenth centuries. Weaving stories about interconnected histories, the exhibition showcases the objects and ideas that connected at the crossroads of the medieval Sahara and celebrates West Africa’s historic and under-recognised global significance. Presenting more than 250 artworks spanning five centuries and a vast geographic expanse, the exhibition features unprecedented loans from partner institutions in Mali, Morocco, and Nigeria, many of which will be seen in North America for the first time.

Sotheby’s Arts d’Afrique, d’Océanie, d’Indonésie et des Amériques

Online: Online

December 04, 2020 - December 04, 2020 Auction December 04, 2020 December 04, 2020 Europe/London Sotheby’s Arts d’Afrique, d’Océanie, d’Indonésie et des Amériques Online: Online

From 25 November to 4 December, we are proud to announce Sotheby's first online auction devoted entirely to art from Africa, Oceania, Indonesia, and the Americas. The selection of artefacts, presented alongside Contemporary Art and emblematic Design pieces, will celebrate the prodigious formal creation by artists from these continents and their impact on 20th Century Art.

Piasa Contemporary African Art

118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré 75008: Paris, France

December 10, 2020 - December 10, 2020 Auction December 10, 2020 December 10, 2020 Europe/London Piasa Contemporary African Art 118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré 75008: Paris, France

Wo ist Afrika?

Linden-Museum, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Hegelplatz 1: Stuttgart, Germany

March 16, 2019 - December 31, 2020 Exhibition March 16, 2019 December 31, 2020 Europe/London Wo ist Afrika? Linden-Museum, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Hegelplatz 1: Stuttgart, Germany

The Linden-Museum Stuttgart presents its new permanent exhibition "Wo ist Afrika?" from 16 March 2019. "Wo ist Afrika?" invites the visitor to critically explore and re-evaluate contexts and narratives associated to Linden-Museum Stuttgart’s collection of artefacts from the African continent. The exhibition shows how the collections were established, how they developed over time, and which rules of classification they adhered to. A large part of the objects on display were acquired from Cameroon, the Congo basin, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania between the end of 19th and the first half of the 20th, at the height of the European "Scramble for Africa". "Wo ist Afrika?" examines stories and histories inscribed into these objects and what they can mean for us today. The exhibition opens up a space of cultural creativity, which allows the visitors to near themselves to a wider understanding of culture. "Wo ist Afrika?" has a process-oriented approach, questioning the authority of the museum by showing a multitude of parallel narratives and asking important questions addressed to our contemporary societal cohabitation.

Ancestors in Stone

NOMA, One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park: New Orleans, United States

August 16, 2019 - December 31, 2020 Exhibition August 16, 2019 December 31, 2020 Europe/London Ancestors in Stone NOMA, One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park: New Orleans, United States

Among African cultures, deceased ancestors remain important members of the community who are revered in the afterlife. They are venerated by surviving family and community members who ask for divine intercession from their forebears in matters related to wealth, fertility, and agricultural prosperity. This exhibition focuses on NOMA’s recently acquired akwanshi stone monolith from the Cross River region of Nigeria, supported with figures and objects rendered in part or whole in stone from other regions of West Africa. The show speaks to the significance of stone as both a natural element and a significant material in the veneration of ancestors. Although carved stones represent ancestors, uncarved stones may also represent ancestors. Such characteristics suggest the importance of stone to this and other African cultures.

Summer Exhibition 2020

Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD: London, United Kingdom

October 06, 2020 - January 03, 2021 Exhibition October 06, 2020 January 03, 2021 Europe/London Summer Exhibition 2020 Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD: London, United Kingdom

The Summer Exhibition has run without interruption since 1769 and we don’t intend to break that streak in 2020. It is the world’s largest open submission art show, and anyone can apply to enter. Each year, a committee of diverse artists choose an array of art in all mediums – prints and paintings, film and photography, sculpture, architectural works and more – for everyone and anyone to enjoy. You’ll see work by leading artists, Royal Academicians and household names, as well as new and emerging talent you might not know. So, explore art you love, art you hate, and art that simply puts a smile on your face.

A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, MD, 21218: Baltimore, United States

June 01, 2020 - January 17, 2021 Exhibition June 01, 2020 January 17, 2021 Europe/London A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, MD, 21218: Baltimore, United States

Across central Africa’s matrilineal belt, the most important artworks were those that depicted the female body. In these 19th and early 20th century communities, group identity and familial responsibility flowed through the maternal line. Artists responded to this reality by sculpting visual markers of motherhood onto a range of objects associated with status and authority. In these societies, mothers not only created life and nurtured families but also stood at the centre of the moral order, ensuring the continuity of entire communities. From monumental headdresses of elderly mothers to sculptures that represent mythic female ancestors, this exhibition brings together nearly 40 objects from public and private collections to demonstrate how artists have represented the power of African mothers and used maternal imagery to signal moral, cultural, and spiritual authority.

Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory

Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS: London, United Kingdom

August 11, 2020 - January 24, 2021 Exhibition August 11, 2020 January 24, 2021 Europe/London Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS: London, United Kingdom

The first-ever UK exhibition by Nigerian-American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, this epic cycle of new work will explore an imagined ancient myth, with an immersive soundscape by artist Peter Adjaye. Toyin Ojih Odutola, recognising the pen as a ‘writing tool first’, plays with the idea that drawing can be a form of storytelling. Working exclusively with drawing materials including pastel and charcoal, she approaches her process of drawing as an investigative practice. Ojih Odutola proposes speculative fictions, inviting the viewer to enter her vision of an uncannily familiar yet fantastical world. Drawing on an eclectic range of references, from ancient history to popular culture to contemporary politics, Ojih Odutola encourages the viewer to piece together the fragments of the stories that she presents.

Akan, the Values ​​of Exchange

Monnaie de Paris 11, quai de Conti: Paris, France

September 08, 2020 - February 28, 2021 Exhibition September 08, 2020 February 28, 2021 Europe/London Akan, the Values ​​of Exchange Monnaie de Paris 11, quai de Conti: Paris, France

The Akan peoples, Ashanti in particular, used gold as a means of payment until colonial currencies were imposed at the beginning of the 20th century. Kept in powder in small boxes, this gold was weighed with scales and weights. Over 2,000 of these weights are kept in the collection of Monnaie de Paris, thanks to various legacies and donations, the last of which occurred in 2018. Through a selection, the 11 Conti Museum explains the origins and unexpected originalities of these small bronze figures that immerse us in the daily life of this region of Africa. The visitor will discover that beyond the gold weighed to trade, the weights say much more than a simple price! This universe - far removed from Western metrology - is recontextualised within the rich Akan culture and the relations which linked Africa - and in particular the Gold Coast - with the West.

Zanele Muholi

Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG: London, United Kingdom

November 05, 2020 - March 07, 2021 Exhibition November 05, 2020 March 07, 2021 Europe/London Zanele Muholi Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG: London, United Kingdom

Tate Modern presents the first major mid-career survey of visual activist Zanele Muholi in the UK. Born in South Africa, Muholi came to prominence in the early 2000s with photographs that sought to envision black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex lives beyond deviance or victimhood. Muholi’s work challenges hetero-patriarchal ideologies and representations, presenting the participants in their photographs as confident and beautiful individuals bravely existing in the face of prejudice, intolerance and, frequently, violence. While Muholi’s intimate photographs of others launched their international career, their intense self-portraits solidified it. This exhibition will present the full breadth of Muholi’s photographic and activist practice.

Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art

11150 East Boulevard: Cleveland, United States

November 01, 2020 - March 14, 2021 Exhibition November 01, 2020 March 14, 2021 Europe/London Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art 11150 East Boulevard: Cleveland, United States

Second Careers explores the connections between historical African art and contemporary practices through a selection of exemplary highlights from the museum’s African collection and loaned works. CMA objects from nine cultures in Central and West Africa—male and female figures and masks, masquerade costume, a hunter’s tunic, and a prestige throne—are juxtaposed with large-scale installations, sculptures, and photographs by six leading contemporary African artists. The exhibition considers the status of canonical African art objects when they begin their “second careers” upon entering museum collections.

Not Visible to the Naked Eye: Inside a Senufo Helmet Mask

1717 North Harwood, Texas: Dallas, United States

November 23, 2019 - March 21, 2021 Exhibition November 23, 2019 March 21, 2021 Europe/London Not Visible to the Naked Eye: Inside a Senufo Helmet Mask 1717 North Harwood, Texas: Dallas, United States

The DMA’s Conservation and Arts of Africa departments, in an exciting and cutting-edge collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center, will present CT scans of a Senufo helmet mask from the Museum’s African art collection. This kind of mask is worn like a helmet by a medium at initiations, funerals, harvest celebrations and secret events conducted by the powerful male-only Komo society, which has traditionally maintained social and spiritual harmony in Senufo villages in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Visible attachments on the mask include a female figure, cowrie shells, and imported glassware. The CT-scans reveal unexpected materials beneath the surface and objects contained in the attached animal horns that empower the mask.

100 x Congo: A Century of Congolese Art in Antwerp

MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Hanseatic city 1: Antwerp, Belgium

October 02, 2020 - March 29, 2021 Exhibition October 02, 2020 March 29, 2021 Europe/London 100 x Congo: A Century of Congolese Art in Antwerp MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Hanseatic city 1: Antwerp, Belgium

In 2020 it will be exactly one hundred years ago that Antwerp, in full colonial time, acquired its Congolese museum collection. What are the stories behind the Congolese objects? And how did they end up in the port city? The exhibition focuses on a hundred unique Congolese works and examines their significance for various Congolese peoples. You learn about the impact of Christian missions on Congolese culture and about the view of Congolese people on the 'white' (global).

PAD Paris

Jardin des Tuileries: Paris, France

April 07, 2021 - April 11, 2021 Fair April 07, 2021 April 11, 2021 Europe/London PAD Paris Jardin des Tuileries: Paris, France

PAD, pioneering event for Art and Design aficionados and collectors, has been reinventing for the past 20 years the Cabinet d’Amateur and the notion of eclecticism, anticipating the aesthetic aspirations of its time. Season after season, it offers an intimate cocoon to those who have made decorative arts and design the core of their collection, driven by passion and heritage. Every edition evolves in aim to create an unprecedented dialogue between modern art, historical and contemporary design and jewellery. This year will give greater room to Primitive Art, and will highlight the vitality of raising such perspectives. The engaging aspect of PAD is its invitation to enter a personal collection, conceived by a selection of local and international art dealers – all of whom are leaders in their fields, eager to address each passionate collector in a unique manner. In this salon, mind is enlivened and imagination is exhilarated, as entering a place where the contemporary taste for 20th and 21st Century decorative art is born.

1-54 New York

The Caldwell Factory, 547 West 26th Street: New York, United States

May 07, 2021 - May 07, 2021 Fair May 07, 2021 May 07, 2021 Europe/London 1-54 New York The Caldwell Factory, 547 West 26th Street: New York, United States

1-54 is the first leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Founding by Touria El Glaoui, the fair holds annual editions in London since 2013, New York since 2015 and Marrakech since 2018. Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1-54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG: London, United Kingdom

November 18, 2020 - May 09, 2021 Exhibition November 18, 2020 May 09, 2021 Europe/London Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG: London, United Kingdom

The first major survey of the celebrated London-based painter. Widely considered to be one of the most important painters of her generation, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. Her paintings often allude to historic European portraiture – notably Francisco de Goya, John Singer Sargent and Édouard Manet – yet in subject matter and technique, her approach is decidedly contemporary. Through her focus on the depiction of imagined black characters, Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings raise important questions of identity and representation. This exhibition will bring together over 80 paintings and works on paper from 2003 to the present day in the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date.

Bourgogne Tribal Show

Galerie Bruno Mory, Besanceuil F-71460: Bonnay, France

May 20, 2021 - May 23, 2021 Fair May 20, 2021 May 23, 2021 Europe/London Bourgogne Tribal Show Galerie Bruno Mory, Besanceuil F-71460: Bonnay, France

The Burgundy Tribal Show is the first international tribal art fair to be held in the countryside. In a rural setting, and a relaxed atmosphere conducive to discovery, the Burgundy Tribal Show offers its audience a distinctly different experience.

Zanele Muholi

The European House of Photography, 5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004: Paris, France

March 28, 2021 - June 27, 2021 Exhibition March 28, 2021 June 27, 2021 Europe/London Zanele Muholi The European House of Photography, 5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004: Paris, France

After the Tate Modern in London, the MEP will present the first major retrospective in France devoted to the work of the South African "visual activist" Zanele Muholi. Born in South Africa, Zanele Muholi began to distinguish themselves at the dawn of the 2000s with photos seeking to document the life of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or intersex people, far from the representation that is usually made between deviance and victimisation. The work of Zanele Muholi defies ideology and hetero-patriarchal representations, presenting their subjects as confident, beautiful beings, who dare to exist with courage despite prejudice, intolerance and very often violence towards them.

Masterpiece London

South Grounds, The Royal Hospital Chelsea, SW3 4LW: London, United Kingdom

June 24, 2021 - June 30, 2021 Fair June 24, 2021 June 30, 2021 Europe/London Masterpiece London South Grounds, The Royal Hospital Chelsea, SW3 4LW: London, United Kingdom

Masterpiece London is the unmissable art fair at which visitors can view and buy the finest works of art, design, furniture and jewellery - from antiquity to the present day. The Fair offers an unparalleled opportunity for new and established collectors to discover exceptional works for sale across a range of price points from 160 international exhibitors and across every major market discipline.

Tribal Art London

The Mall Galleries: London, United Kingdom

September 01, 2021 - September 05, 2021 Fair September 01, 2021 September 05, 2021 Europe/London Tribal Art London The Mall Galleries: London, United Kingdom

Tribal Art London is the only Tribal Art Fair of its kind in the UK, showcasing a select group of exhibitors displaying tribal art from around the world. Each piece has been chosen for its quality and authenticity.

PAD London

Berkeley Square: London, United Kingdom

October 04, 2021 - October 10, 2021 Fair October 04, 2021 October 10, 2021 Europe/London PAD London Berkeley Square: London, United Kingdom

Set in the vibrant heart of Mayfair, PAD is London’s leading fair for 20th Century art, design and decorative arts. Inspiring a unique spirit of collecting, PAD epitomises how modern art, photography, design, decorative and tribal arts interact to reveal astonishing combinations and create the most individual and staggering interiors. Prominent international galleries from major cities across Europe, North America and Asia come together to offer an exceptional panorama of the most coveted and iconic works available on the market today. PAD is a place to discover and acquire pieces of museum quality with a distinct history. PAD cultivates eclecticism, authenticity and connoisseurship with passion and flair.

Frieze Masters

Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

October 07, 2021 - October 10, 2021 Fair October 07, 2021 October 10, 2021 Europe/London Frieze Masters Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

Frieze Masters features more than 130 leading modern and historical galleries from around the world, showcasing art from the ancient era and Old Masters to the late 20th century.

Frieze London

Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

October 07, 2021 - October 10, 2021 Fair October 07, 2021 October 10, 2021 Europe/London Frieze London Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

Frieze London features more than 160 of the world’s leading galleries. View and buy art from over 1,000 of today’s leading artists, and experience the fair’s critically acclaimed curated sections and Talks programme.

Clay—Modeling African Design

University Collections Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street: Cambridge, United States

November 17, 2018 - November 14, 2021 Exhibition November 17, 2018 November 14, 2021 Europe/London Clay—Modeling African Design University Collections Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street: Cambridge, United States

This exhibition highlights artistic innovation and creativity in Africa as seen primarily through the traditions of ceramic arts from across the continent and over its long history. Countering the assumption that African arts and societies are largely unchanging and bound to traditions and customs, the remarkable diversity of objects and styles on display here tells a different story. A selection of more than 50 works on loan from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, including those by newly discovered Nigerian artist Alice Osayewe, are shown alongside works from the Harvard Art Museums permanent collections, such as a recently acquired contemporary photograph by Afro-futurist artist Alexis Peskine.

Heroes: Principles of African Greatness

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

November 13, 2019 - November 14, 2021 Exhibition November 13, 2019 November 14, 2021 Europe/London Heroes: Principles of African Greatness Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

Be your best. This is the quest that the greatest of heroes model for us. Through their journeys, struggles, and triumphs, exceptional individuals exemplify values that we celebrate in tales of heroic accomplishment. Through art, artists tell such stories—stories of the world’s current complexity, but also visions of a world that could yet be. Heroes: Principles of African Greatness features artworks from the National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection that tell the story of key heroic principles and personages in Africa’s arts and history. Throughout, core values are considered as each artwork is paired with a specific historic African individual who embodies the value expressed in the selected work. Discover Africa’s heroes—some well-known, others perhaps surprising—and see artworks in new ways.

Connecting African art collectors with dealers and scholars, based on a foundation of knowledge about the origin, use & distinguishing features of listed pieces

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