Search

This guide examines America's oldest collection of Benin art, and one of its least published. Ivory, brass, and wooden art from one of the greatest African precolonial states--the only sub-Saharan polity with 500 years of surviving art--are examined through contextual lenses that provide insight into the Ẹdo people's creativity and world view. The guide also considers the collection's specific history and growth, and current plans to repatriate the artworks back to Nigeria's Benin Kingdom. For readers unfamiliar with Benin and its art, this introduces the complexities of the palace, its successive monarchs and chiefs, and interprets metaphorical motifs such as mudfish, leopards, and elephants. Artworks refer to family and court rivalries, as well as the strict court hierarchies that dictated who could use which materials and wear particular regalia. Interactions with the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries, their impact on trade and luxury goods, and their introduction of Catholicism paint a portrait of a society that absorbed only what they found useful and flourished in both war and peace. Original fieldwork illuminates Benin art and culture and previously published archival material provides insight regarding major collectors and individuals who shaped the field of African art history.

This exhibition catalogue explores the art of Nigeria's Benin Kingdom via theatrical metaphors that echo palace settings, performers and ceremonies. It also considers what happens during non-celebratory moments of preparation and relaxation, the impact Benin art and culture have on surrounding regions, and how they both recovered from the 1897 British invasion and have spread their reach world-wide. The catalogue concentrates on the collection of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, but also features loan objects and extensive field photographs, reconstructive drawings and maps. An index, glossary and extensive bibliography are included. The catalogue was a seminar project for the IYARE! exhibition held at the Penn Museum in 2008; Curnow wrote the chapter text and some catalogue entries, while students contributed other entries.

Exhibition catalogue celebrating recent work by distinguished artist Juan Logan. Essay by Kathy Curnow with an introduction by Tweed Museum of Art Director Ken Bloom.

Narrative Wisdom and African Arts considers ways in which historical and contemporary African arts make visible narratives rooted in collective and individual memory and knowledge. In acknowledgment of the convergence between certain historical arts and oral traditions, the points of departure for this exploration are forms that intersect at the visual and the verbal as well as pictorial works that feature figurative scenes suggesting part of or an entire narrative. Historical works made by artists across sub-Saharan Africa from the 13th to the 20th century dialogue with contemporary works created by African artists practicing around the globe. Narrative Wisdom and African Arts offers a rich variety of sculpture, textiles, works on paper, photography, painting, and time-based media created for diverse patrons. These arts facilitate, document, reinforce, or critique narratives concerning the legitimacy of leaders, memory of place, prescriptions for healing and destiny, and enduring ancestral wisdoms.

"Overview of African homes and household art objects with closer examination of the Tuareg, Fulani, Bamana, Hausa, Nupe, Akan, Yoruba, Cameroon Grassfields, Kuba and Zulu"--Provided by publisher.