One: Egúngún

200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn: New York, United States

February 08, 2019 - August 18, 2019 Exhibition February 08, 2019 August 18, 2019 Europe/London One: Egúngún 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn: New York, United States

One: Egúngún tells the life story of a twentieth-century Yorùbá masquerade dance costume (egúngún), from its origins in Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, Nigeria, to its current home in Brooklyn. Composed of over three hundred textiles from Africa, Europe, and Asia, this egúngún swirls into motion during festivals honouring departed ancestors. Centuries old, egúngún is still practised in Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, and in the Yorùbá diaspora. By highlighting a single egúngún, this exhibition emphasizes the global connections of African masquerades while challenging the misconception that cultural practices are static. At the request of the Lekewọgbẹ family—the makers of this egúngún—this exhibition honours their family name and masquerade heritage. One: Egúngún is curated by Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Sills Family Consulting Curator, African Arts, Brooklyn Museum.

Tribal Art London

The Mall Galleries: London, United Kingdom

September 03, 2019 - September 08, 2019 Fair September 03, 2019 September 08, 2019 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,show casing a select group of exhibitors displaying tribal art from around the world. Each piece has been chosen for its quality and authenticity.

Ex Africa: Stories and Identities of a Universal Art

Museo Civico Archeologico, Via dell’Archiginnasio: Bologna, Italy

March 29, 2019 - September 08, 2019 Exhibition March 29, 2019 September 08, 2019 Europe/London Ex Africa: Stories and Identities of a Universal Art Museo Civico Archeologico, Via dell’Archiginnasio: Bologna, Italy

“Ex Africa semper aliquid novi”, wrote Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, and this is the start for our exhibition that shows us how African and European affairs have intermingled EVER since ancient times. This will be done through ‘stories’ of art, identity, journeys and encounters, beginning with travellers’ tales and the first contacts between Europeans and Africans. The exhibition is divided into a number of sections: from formal quality expressed by large and small works to ancient objects from famous African kingdoms, together with masks and figures representing rituals and power.

Parcours des Mondes

Saint-Germain-des-Prés: Paris, France

September 10, 2019 - September 15, 2019 Fair September 10, 2019 September 15, 2019 Europe/London Parcours des Mondes Saint-Germain-des-Prés: Paris, France

Parcours des Mondes is widely recognized as the world’s most important tribal art fair due to the quality and diversity of its participants. Since 2002, each year it has brought together some sixty galleries specializing in the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

La Biennale

Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill: Paris, France

September 12, 2019 - September 17, 2019 Fair September 12, 2019 September 17, 2019 Europe/London La Biennale Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill: Paris, France

Renowned art fair, La Biennale Paris assembles this year national and international exhibitors under the roof of the Grand Palais presenting more than six millenniums of art. Annual since 2017, its visibility is rising. Equipped with a Biennale Committee, presided by Christopher Forbes, as well as the independent Vetting Commission (CAO), one of the most exigent in the world, it guarantees not only the selection of the participating galleries but also the highest level of authenticity, trust and transparency for the collectors. Great ephemeral museum, La Biennale Paris celebrates its 31th edition from September 13th to 17th 2019 with the Gala Dinner on September 11th and the Private Opening on September 12th.

Tribal Arts, Archeology, Pre-Columbian Art From an Important European Private Collection, Part I

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

September 26, 2019 - September 26, 2019 Auction September 26, 2019 September 26, 2019 Europe/London Tribal Arts, Archeology, Pre-Columbian Art From an Important European Private Collection, Part I 118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré 75008: Paris, France

Public exhibition: September 21, 2019 from 11:00 to 18:00, September 22, 2019 from 14:00 to 18:00, September 23, 2019 from 10:00 to 18:00, September 24, 2019 from 10:00 to 18:00, September 25, 2019 from 10:00 to 18:00, September 26, 2019 from 10:00 to 12:00.

Félix Fénéon (1861-1944)

37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

May 28, 2019 - September 29, 2019 Exhibition May 28, 2019 September 29, 2019 Europe/London Félix Fénéon (1861-1944) 37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

The Musée d’Orsay, the Musée de l’Orangerie, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, pay tribute to Félix Fénéon (1861-1944), an important figure in the artistic world in the late 19th and early 20th century. Anarchist, art critic, editor, gallery director and collector, Fénéon espoused an open-minded vision of creation at a time when art was on the verge of the shift to modernity and strove for the recognition of non-western arts.

Bonhams Modern and Contemporary African Art

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

October 03, 2019 - October 03, 2019 Auction October 03, 2019 October 03, 2019 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 03, 2019 - October 06, 2019 Fair October 03, 2019 October 06, 2019 Europe/London 1-54 London Somerset House, South Wing Strand: London, United Kingdom

Founded by Touria El Glaoui in 2013, 1-54 is the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora with annual editions in London, New York and Marrakech. 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.

IncarNations. African Art as Philosophy

Bozar, Centre for Fine Arts, Rue Ravensteinstraat: Brussels, Belgium

June 28, 2019 - October 06, 2019 Exhibition June 28, 2019 October 06, 2019 Europe/London IncarNations. African Art as Philosophy Bozar, Centre for Fine Arts, Rue Ravensteinstraat: Brussels, Belgium

IncarNations is an exhibition created by the South African artist Kendell Geers in dialogue with the Congolese collector Sindika Dokolo. A fascinating initiative that reflects the diversity of the African artistic heritage, from an Afrocentric point of view and including the itineraries of slaves, colonialism and independence movements. As the Senegalese philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne stresses: "Ethnographic museums are a negation of art because they prevent the objects on display from really looking at us. Because ethnography is constituted, at its colonial origins, as a science of what is radically other, it is in its nature to fabricate strangeness, otherness, separateness". Taken from Sindika Dokolo's impressive collection, the works of African artists enter into dialogue with those of the diaspora while contemporary works will be displayed alongside classical works. Incarnations looks at African art as a living philosophical practice.

Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art

34-35 New Bond Street: London, United Kingdom

October 15, 2019 - October 15, 2019 Auction October 15, 2019 October 15, 2019 Europe/London Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art 34-35 New Bond Street: London, United Kingdom

Since the inauguration of the dedicated sales of Modern and Contemporary African Art in 2017, Sotheby’s sales in the category have achieved over sixty world records, championing the work of artists from across the African diaspora and underscoring the rising global interest.

Lyon & Turnbull African & Oceanic Art and Antiquities

33 Broughton Place, EH1 3RR : Edinburgh, United Kingdom

October 16, 2019 - October 16, 2019 Auction October 16, 2019 October 16, 2019 Europe/London Lyon & Turnbull African & Oceanic Art and Antiquities 33 Broughton Place, EH1 3RR : Edinburgh, United Kingdom

African & Oceanic Art & Antiquities.

Christie’s Paris Avant-Garde

9 Avenue Matignon: Paris, France

October 17, 2019 - October 17, 2019 Auction October 17, 2019 October 17, 2019 Europe/London Christie’s Paris Avant-Garde 9 Avenue Matignon: Paris, France

Paris Viewing: 12 Oct 10am - 6pm, 13 Oct 2pm - 6pm, 14 Oct 10am - 6pm, 15 Oct 10am - 6pm, 16 Oct 10am - 6pm, 17 Oct 10am - 6pm

ART X Lagos

The Civic Centre, Victoria Island: Lagos, Nigeria

November 01, 2019 - November 03, 2019 Fair November 01, 2019 November 03, 2019 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.

Contemporary African Art

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

November 07, 2019 - November 07, 2019 Auction November 07, 2019 November 07, 2019 Europe/London Contemporary African Art 118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré 75008: Paris, France

9th sale of contemporary African art at PIASA. Public exhibition: November 4, 2019 from 10:00 to 18:00, November 5, 2019 from 10:00 to 18:00, November 6, 2019 from 10:00 to 18:00, November 7, 2019 from 10:00 to 12:00.

American Indian & Ethnographic Art

63 Park Plaza: Boston, United States

November 09, 2019 - November 09, 2019 Auction November 09, 2019 November 09, 2019 Europe/London American Indian & Ethnographic Art 63 Park Plaza: Boston, United States

American Indian & Ethnographic Art

Bonhams The Graham Beck Collection of African and Oceanic Headrests

580 Madison Avenue NY 10022: New York, United States

November 11, 2019 - November 11, 2019 Auction November 11, 2019 November 11, 2019 Europe/London Bonhams The Graham Beck Collection of African and Oceanic Headrests 580 Madison Avenue NY 10022: New York, United States

The Graham Beck Collection of African and Oceanic Headrests.

Also Known As Africa

Carreau du Temple, 4 rue Eugène Spuller 75003: Paris, France

November 08, 2019 - November 11, 2019 Fair November 08, 2019 November 11, 2019 Europe/London Also Known As Africa Carreau du Temple, 4 rue Eugène Spuller 75003: Paris, France

AKAA proposes to highlight the diversity of the links that unite Africa with other regions of the world, both spiritual and cultural, commercial or ideological, and to examine their resonance in contemporary artistic creation.

Binoche et Giquello Arts D’Afrique

Room 9, Drouot-Richelieu, 9 rue Drouot: Paris, France

November 14, 2019 - November 14, 2019 Auction November 14, 2019 November 14, 2019 Europe/London Binoche et Giquello Arts D’Afrique Room 9, Drouot-Richelieu, 9 rue Drouot: Paris, France

Public Viewings: Tuesday, November 12 and Wednesday, November 13, 11am-6 pm Thursday, November 14, 11am-12

Magdalene Odundo: The Journey of Things

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts UEA, Norwich NR4 7TJ: Norwich, United Kingdom

August 03, 2019 - December 15, 2019 Exhibition August 03, 2019 December 15, 2019 Europe/London Magdalene Odundo: The Journey of Things Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts UEA, Norwich NR4 7TJ: Norwich, United Kingdom

Magdalene Odundo OBE is one of the world’s most esteemed artists working in the field of ceramics. This major exhibition will bring together more than 50 of Odundo’s works. They will be shown alongside a large selection of objects chosen by Odundo from across the globe and spanning 3000 years, to reveal the rich and diverse range of objects and making traditions that have informed the development of her own work. The Journey of Things at the Sainsbury Centre will allow Transition II to be presented in the context of Odundo’s ceramic practice.

Dimensions of Power: African Art

100 Moose Krause Circle, Notre Dame: Indiana, United States

August 22, 2018 - December 31, 2019 Exhibition August 22, 2018 December 31, 2019 Europe/London Dimensions of Power: African Art 100 Moose Krause Circle, Notre Dame: Indiana, United States

The Snite Museum of Art African art collection will reopen this fall within a larger, more prestigious space on the main floor of the Museum. The reinstallation will explore themes of power. In the past, African art was often tied into the way African leaders promoted their agendas. Royalty and rulers used art to project their authority; religious groups promoted their faiths; while the wealthy desired to display 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. Fifty-nine outstanding works from the Snite Museum collection will illustrate these ideas through themes of economic, political, social, and spiritual power in Africa. Most of these works have never been on public view before. Nearly a third belong to the Owen D. Mort Jr. Collection, with art primarily from Democratic Republic of Congo, where Mort worked for many years. As he said, “My hope is to educate people on Africa. It’s been a great love of mine… Ideally Notre Dame would use the collection for education, to get interest going in Africa.”

Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths

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

April 18, 2019 - December 31, 2019 Exhibition April 18, 2019 December 31, 2019 Europe/London Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

For more than two millennia, ironworking has shaped African cultures in the most fundamental ways. Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths reveals the history of invention and technical sophistication that led African blacksmiths to transform one of Earth’s most basic natural resources into objects of life-changing utility, empowerment, prestige, spiritual potency, and astonishing artistry. Striking Iron is an international travelling exhibition organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA that combines scholarship with objects of great aesthetic beauty to create the most comprehensive treatment of the blacksmith’s art in Africa to date. The exhibition includes over 225 artworks from across the African continent focusing on the region south of the Sahara and covering a time period spanning early archaeological evidence to the present day. Striking Iron features artworks from the Fowler collection as well as American and European public and private collections.

Every Day: Selections from the Collection

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

July 14, 2019 - January 05, 2020 Exhibition July 14, 2019 January 05, 2020 Europe/London Every Day: Selections from the Collection The Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum Drive, MD, 21218: Baltimore, United States

Every Day: Selections from the Collection is the BMA’s first reinstallation of its contemporary collection centered on black artistic imagination. Nearly 50 works of painting, sculpture, video, printmaking, and photography from the BMA’s permanent collection, alongside a select group of loans primarily from the celebrated Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection, foreground the critical contributions black artists have made to postwar visual art. Works by black American and African diasporic artists occupy anchor positions in the thematic reinstallation, emphasizing the ways in which these artists have shaped thinking and making in contemporary art. Themes explored include history, shape, material, gesture, self, ceremony, and violence. Every Day represents the BMA’s collection history, highlights new acquisitions purchased with proceeds from the auction of recently deaccessioned works, and continues the BMA’s efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive art experience for Baltimore.

Under Malick Sidibé’s Eye

Rue Jean-Calvin, 10: Genève, Switzerland

June 19, 2019 - January 12, 2020 Exhibition June 19, 2019 January 12, 2020 Europe/London Under Malick Sidibé’s Eye Rue Jean-Calvin, 10: Genève, Switzerland

Malick Sidibé (1935–2016), a famous Malian photographer, was granted the Hasselblad Award in 2003, among other prizes, and received a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. He is the first artist to earn these two prestigious distinctions. The Musée Barbier-Mueller is paying tribute to this photographer, whose body of work the visitor will first discover through a dozen unpublished portraits, taken within the framework of a competition featuring songs against AIDS, organized in Mali by Monique Barbier-Mueller in 2005. Malick Sidibé photographed the finalists in the competition in front of the unchanging striped backdrop and black-and-white checked floor of his studio. These songs, which bear messages about preventing AIDS, were broadcast to the Malian population over regional radio stations and are retransmitted here. Better-known prints, displayed in the basement, bring the Mali of the 1960s–1970s back to life and bear witness to the kind, curious, and spirited gaze with which Malick Sidibé regarded his peers. The museum wishes to showcase Mali, while at the same time promoting its traditional arts. Extraordinary pieces, including pendants, ornaments and figurines, masks, seats, and statues belonging to the Soninke, Dogon, and Bamana peoples, to cite only a few, are thus exhibited on the mezzanine. Brought together in the museum for the first time, these works will show the artists’ admirable creativity, while opening a window on the many rites and beliefs they sustain.

On Display in the Walled City

308 Charles E. Young Drive North: Los Angeles, United States

September 01, 2019 - January 12, 2020 Exhibition September 01, 2019 January 12, 2020 Europe/London On Display in the Walled City 308 Charles E. Young Drive North: Los Angeles, United States

On Display in the Walled City features 38 objects from the Fowler Museum’s famed Wellcome Collection, which were acquired out of the Nigerian Pavilion during the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, 1924–1925. Nearly twenty Nigerian men and women were invited to participate as artists in the Exhibition, which showcased British wealth and supremacy while simultaneously stimulating trade with and amongst its various colonies. The artists’ families lived in the “Walled City,” where the Nigerian Pavilion was located, and demonstrated their craft daily to public visitors. The Fowler’s presentation includes a model of the royal altar for Oba Ovonramwen from the Kingdom of Benin, various ritual and domestic objects made by Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, and Kanuri artists as well as entry doors, carved on site, from the homes where artists lived. On Display in the Walled City gives the Fowler an opportunity to share some of the research it is doing on its Wellcome Collection (donated to the museum in 1965 by the Wellcome Trust in London) and to offer new insights into the colonial enterprise in Nigeria. This exhibition is organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and is curated by Erica P. Jones, Associate Curator of African Arts.

Melvin Edwards: Crossroads

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

September 29, 2019 - January 12, 2020 Exhibition September 29, 2019 January 12, 2020 Europe/London Melvin Edwards: Crossroads The Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum Drive, MD, 21218: Baltimore, United States

A pioneer in the history of contemporary American art and sculpture, Melvin Edwards (American, b. 1937) has influenced generations of artistic giants with his innovative formal genius and deep political commitment. This exhibition highlights the African roots of his dynamic, muscular abstraction by placing a small selection of works from the BMA’s world-class collection of African art in dialogue with 16 works that span four decades of Edwards’ career. The artist, who is the great-great-great grandson of a West African blacksmith, has lived, taught, and traveled throughout Africa since the early 1970s, forming relationships with artists, students, and politicians in 16 countries. In doing so, he discovered a relationship between his work and that of African blacksmiths and carvers, past and present. The 20+ objects in this exhibition showcase the formal corroborations Edwards found in Africa and highlight the importance of the African continent in the development of American art. Edwards’ work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in numerous collections at prestigious institutions. In 1993, the Neuberger Museum of Art organized Melvin Edwards Sculpture: A Thirty-Year Retrospective 1963–1993. In 2015, the Nasher Sculpture Center organized a second retrospective, Melvin Edwards: Five Decades. Edwards has had a longstanding commitment to public art, working on projects for public housing and universities since the 1960s.

Felix Fénéon (1861-1944). The Modern Times, from Seurat to Matisse

Musées d'Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde: Paris, France

October 16, 2019 - January 27, 2020 Exhibition October 16, 2019 January 27, 2020 Europe/London Felix Fénéon (1861-1944). The Modern Times, from Seurat to Matisse Musées d'Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde: Paris, France

No exhibition has yet paid homage to Félix Fénéon (1861-1944), an important figure in the artistic world in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Musée de l’Orangerie, in association with the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, is honouring this extraordinary man who remains unjustly unknown. The exhibition will demonstrate the different facets of this unusual character, with his Quaker-like appearance and deadpan humour, who combined an exemplary career as a civil servant with strong artistic and anarchist convictions. Columnist, editor at the Revue Blanche, art critic, publisher - he published Rimbaud’s ‘Illuminations’ -, and gallery owner, Fénéon was also an exceptional collector who amassed a large number of masterpieces including a unique set of African and Oceanian sculptures. The exhibition will bring together an exceptional array of paintings and drawings by Seurat, Signac, Degas, Bonnard, Modigliani, Matisse, Derain, Severini, Balla, etc., pieces from Africa and Oceania, as well as documents and archives.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time

Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford Drive: Toronto, Canada

September 21, 2019 - February 23, 2020 Exhibition September 21, 2019 February 23, 2020 Europe/London Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford Drive: Toronto, Canada

Journey along the Sahara Desert’s trade routes during a time when West African gold directly impacted and connected peoples and cultures, arts and beliefs across continents. Experience the first major exhibition to reveal the shared history of West Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from the 8th to 16th centuries and see more than 250 artworks, many shown in North America for the first time.

Fiction Congo

Gablerstrasse 15, 8002: Zürich, Switzerland

November 22, 2019 - March 15, 2020 Exhibition November 22, 2019 March 15, 2020 Europe/London Fiction Congo Gablerstrasse 15, 8002: Zürich, Switzerland

For the first time, the exhibition presents objects and photographs brought back from the Congo in 1938/39 by the art ethnologist Hans Himmelheber: colorful masks, powerful figures and artfully designed everyday objects. This contrasts with contemporary positions of renowned Congolese artists.

I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa

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

June 20, 2019 - July 05, 2020 Exhibition June 20, 2019 July 05, 2020 Europe/London I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

Taking its name from a 1970’s feminist anthem, I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa draws upon a selection of artworks by women artists from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection to reveal a more contemporary feminism that recognizes the contributions of women to the most pressing issues of their times. With experimental and sophisticated use of diverse media, the 27 featured artists offer insightful and visually stunning approaches to matters of community, faith, the environment, politics, colonial encounters, racism, identity, and more.

Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond

The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street: New York, United States

March 22, 2020 - July 25, 2020 Exhibition March 22, 2020 July 25, 2020 Europe/London Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street: New York, United States

The Museum of Modern Art announces Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond, the first exhibition devoted to the influential French art critic, editor, publisher, dealer, and collector Félix Fénéon (1861–1944), on view from March 22 through July 25, 2020. Though largely unknown today and always discreetly behind the scenes in his own era, Fénéon played a key role in the careers of leading artists from Georges Seurat and Paul Signac to Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, each of whom is featured prominently in the exhibition. Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond traces Fénéon’s career through approximately 150 works that highlight his initiatives to help artists via his reviews, exhibitions, and acquisitions; his commitment to anarchism; his literary engagements; and his contributions to the recognition of non-Western art. Bringing together a selection of major works that Fénéon admired, championed, and collected, alongside contemporary letters, documents, and photographs, the exhibition underscores the tremendous impact he had on the development of modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Heroes: Principles of African Greatness

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

November 13, 2019 - November 15, 2020 Exhibition November 13, 2019 November 15, 2020 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.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time

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

April 08, 2020 - November 29, 2020 Exhibition April 08, 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.

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.

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

1717 North Harwood: Dallas, United States

November 23, 2019 - January 03, 2021 Exhibition November 23, 2019 January 03, 2021 Europe/London Not Visible to the Naked Eye: Inside a Senufo Helmet Mask 1717 North Harwood: 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.

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.

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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