Join us as we take you on a tour of African Arts—Global Conversations. Curated by Kristen Windmuller

Join us as we take you on a tour of African Arts—Global Conversations. Curated by Kristen Windmuller-Luna and presented by Bank of America. African Arts—Global Conversations puts African arts where they rightfully belong: within the global art historical canon. This exhibition pairs diverse African works with objects from around the world in groupings throughout the Museum.These groupings explore how shared themes such as portraiture, faith, modernism, and origins developed independently in different parts of the globe and fill in the blanks of decades of art history teaching.Beginning in our introductory gallery, two idealized portraits of African rulers made centuries apart greet visitors.These portraits respect cultural norms about how a ruler is expected to look, often combining distinctive individual features with visual concepts such as divinity or rulership.Kuba artist (Bushoong clan). Ndop figure depicting Nyim Mbó Mbóosh (reigned circa 1650), Nyim Mishé miShyááng máMbúl (reigned circa 1710), or Nyim Kot áNée (reigned circa 1740), circa 1760–80. Mushenge (Nsheng), Kasai Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wood, tukula, 19 ½ x 7 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. (49.5 x 19.4 x 21.9 cm). Purchased with funds given by Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, Mrs. Donald M. Oenslager, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Blum, and the Mrs. Florence A. Blum Fund, 61.33.Kuba ndop (commissioned royal portraits) represent the concept of leadership and contain a ruler’s life essence.The hand on this drum identifies this ruler as one of three Kuba nyim (kings): Mbó Mbóosh, Mishé miShyááng máMbúl, and Kot áNée.Other royal indicators include his long-brimmed headdress, cowrie belt and armbands, and calm expression.Egyptian artist. Ptolemaic Prince, 51–30 B.C.E. Egypt. Quartzite, 12 ½ x 5 5/16 x 3 3/8 in. (31.8 x 13.5 x 8.5 cm). Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 54.117.Ancient Egyptian sculptures use hieroglyphic text to identify subjects by name, but a blank back pillar suggests this sculpture is unfinished. Although this figure is unidentified, his youth, crown, and Hellenistic hair and face suggest that he is Caesarion, son of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar.Warriors hold a valued place in many societies across time and place. Warriors’ memorials reflect what societies think these figures “should” look like, often representing ideals rather than individuals.Huastec artist. Warrior Figure, circa 1440–1521. Xico Viejo, Veracruz, Mexico. Sandstone, 65 3/16 x 14 ¾ x 7 ½ in. (165.6 x 37.5 x 19.1 cm). Frank L. Babbott Fund, 39.371.Wooden stelae (left/middle) memorializing powerful Konso warriors in Ethiopia were grouped with additional sculptures of weapons, slain animals, and defeated foes. The stelae memorialize specific male Konso ancestors, emphasizing his individual deeds as well as his connection to shared experiences and values.The stone Huastec warrior figure (right) from Mexico is adorned with fearsome symbols of death such as the human skulls on his skirt and bead-and-human-heart necklace. Huastec viewers who saw these elements knew he was likely Micoatl-Camaxtle, the god of hunting and warfare.Nestled amongst our European paintings and sculpture collection are three Ethiopian processional crosses. Beginning in the medieval period, the Christian Ethiopian Kingdom and numerous Italian states enjoyed a lively relationship that included travel and exchange of religious art and ideas between the two regions.Ethiopian Orthodox priests carried these copper alloy crosses atop staffs (right).just as their Italian Catholic counterparts carried wooden ones like this (left).Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Possibly Lalibela, Ethiopia. Copper alloy, 11 ½ x 7 3/16 in. (29.0 x 18.3 cm). Gift of George V. Corinaldi, Jr., 81.163.2.An Ethiopian artist incised Mary holding the Christ child, archangels, and saints on this fifteenth- or sixteenth century cross.Master of Monte del Lago (Italian, School of Umbria, second quarter of the 14th century). Double-Sided Processional Cross, second quarter of the 14th century. Umbria, Italy. Tempera and gold on panel, 39 1/16 x 16 9/16 x 4 5/8 in. (99.2 x 42.1 x 11.7 cm). Gift of Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank L. Babbott, Jr., in memory of their father, Frank L. Babbott, 34.845.While the Master of Monte del Lago painted Crucifixion scenes on this fourteenth-century gilded Italian cross.A trio of ceramics made by living artists born in Kenya, Korea, and Nigeria shows the ways that modern ceramicists can choose to draw inspiration from their own regional heritage, or not.Magdalene Anyango N. Odundo DBE (British, born 1950, Kenya). Symmetrical Reduced Black Narrow-Necked Tall Piece, 1990. Farnham, Surrey, England. Terracotta, 16 x 10 x 10 in. (40.6 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm). Purchased with funds given by Dr. and Mrs. Sidney Clyman and the Frank L. Babbott Fund, 1991.26. © Magdalene Anyango N. OdundoDame Magdalene Anyango N. Odundo fires her dramatic pots multiple times to create glossy, iridescent surfaces. Born in Kenya, she learned ceramics in Britain (where she lives today), citing pottery traditions from multiple other countries as her primary influences, drawing ideas from Nigerian Gwari ceramics, Native American Pueblo pottery, European Modernism, and even ancient Cycladic art.Kang Suk Young (Korean, born 1949). Untitled, 1992. Korea. Unglazed porcelain, 24 13/16 x 6 x 6 in. (63 x 15.3 x 15.3 cm). Purchased with funds given by Dr. and Mrs. Richard Dickes, 2006.20. © Kang Suk YoungKang Suk Young uses porcelain, a medium that is traditional in his home country of Korea, but he creates forms using slip casting, a method he learned in France. He pulls the porcelain from its mold when it is still somewhat soft and twists and bends it to create something that is lively and anthropomorphic.Ranti Bam (Nigerian, born 1982). Antafi, 2019. London, England. Terracotta, 15 3/8 × 8 ¼ × 8 ¼ in. (39 × 21 × 21 cm). Gift of Anne Goldrach in honor of Anne Pasternak, 2019.25. © Ranti BamRanti Bam has created a very complex object, contrasting a heavy clay slab with delicate painting, and a rough surface with areas of shiny glaze. The painted surface references woodgrain, but in an unlikely color of dark pink that gives the vessel its name, Antafi, a word that the artist derived from the Greek word for “rose” (triantafyllo).Although these artists participate in the multinational field of contemporary ceramics, their work has until now been categorized by the museum according to their place of birth.Grouping these ceramics highlights how museums (including Brooklyn!) tend to leave artists  born outside of Europe and the U.S. out of conversations about contemporary art.Kongo (Yombe subgroup) artist. Power Figure (nkisi): Woman and Child, 19th century. Lower Congo Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wood, glass, upholstery studs, metal, metal and glass buttons, resin, 11 x 5 x 4 ½ in. (27.9 x 12.7 x 11.4 cm). Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1138.This sculpture is linked to a Kongo fertility-focused women’s cult that flourished during the height of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. During this period, women both raised children and took on customarily male agricultural roles. Made into an nkisi (power figure), it underscores how Kongo women supported future generations during a time of widespread social upheaval and trauma.Louis Rémy Mignot (American, 1831-1870). Niagara, 1866. Oil on canvas, 61 ½ × 104 ¼ × 4 ½ in. (156.2 × 264.8 × 11.4 cm). Gift of Arthur S. Fairchild, 1993.118.Displayed in a gallery devoted to Civil War and Reconstruction-era (1861–1877) American art, this sculpture provides a poignant Central African perspective on the widespread repercussions of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. On the fifth floor, you’ll find a pairing of two great leaders: Wóót and George Washington. Artist-made images created before the invention of photography, they show how two artists represented their society’s founding fathers. Kuba artist. Mask (Mwaash aMbooy), late 19th or early 20th century. Kasaï Province (former Kasaï-Occidental Province), Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rawhide, paint, plant fibers, textile, cowrie shells, glass, wood, monkey pelt, and feathers, 22 x 20 x 18 in. (55.9 x 50.8 x 45.7 cm). Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1582.The Mwaash aMbooy mask personifies Wóót, mythical ancestor of the D.R. Congo’s Kuba peoples. Kings performed this mask during initiations and funerals. One performance tells the story of Wóót’s role in the Kuba kingdom’s founding and his ties to its first ruler. Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828). George Washington, 1796. Oil on canvas, 96 ¼ x 60 ¼ in. (244.5 x 153 cm). Dick S. Ramsay Fund and Museum Purchase Fund, 45.179.Gilbert Stuart’s larger-than-lifesize portrait of George Washington reminds a young republic of the soldier who led them to victory and the statesman who stepped down from power for the country to flourish for some.Both works rely on extensive symbolism and create enduring images of “founding fathers.” While Stuart’s portrait turned an individual into an icon, the Kuba artist’s Wóót mask connected a current ruler to his dynastic past.Beauford Delaney began including African artworks in a series of compositions from the 1940s as he deepened his engagement with the African American cultural movement called the Harlem Renaissance.Beauford Delaney (American, 1901-1979). Untitled (Fang Sculpture, Crow and Fruit), 1945. Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Fund for African American Art in honor of Arnold Lehman, A. Augustus Healy Fund and Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund, 2014.73. © artist or artist’s estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2014.73_PS9.jpg)In this dynamic and brightly colored still life, a bird of spirit figure hovers over a bowl of lemons, presenting them as an offering to Fang ancestors represented by the reliquary sculpture seen at right.An Ntem River Valley Master. Reliquary Guardian Figure (Eyema-o-Byeri), mid-18th to mid-19th century. Wood, iron, 23 × 5 ¾ × 5 in. (58.4 × 14.6 × 12.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 51.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 51.3_overall_PS9.jpg)By showing this painting alongside its specific source and acknowledging the contributions of Fang master artists, this grouping brings to life a transatlantic cultural dialogue and exchange.This is just a small glimpse of the works on view in this groundbreaking exhibition. Come see for yourself as soon as we reopen our galleries!Thank you for joining us on our tour of African Arts—Global Conversations. Join us next Sunday for another tour of our galleries!Installation views of African Arts—Global Conversations by Jonathon Dorado.  -- source link
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