About the Collection
This collection focuses on the vast expanses of land throughout the African landscapes; from the rolling savannahs and sun baked desert to the tropical forests and cool highlands, this collection of art and artifacts identifies the different communities of people and their expressions of religious beliefs, social customs, and their life experiences through a spectacular array of stories, music, dance and art.
About the Curator
Mr. Ndubuisi Ezeluomba is the head curator of the Museum’s African Collection; former curatorial assistant to Andrew W. Mellon, mr Ezeluomba is also the Francoise Billion Richardson curator of African Art at the New Orleans museum of Art.
Resist-Dyed Textile (Adire Cloth) 20th C. Yoruba
There is a tradition in Yoruba Textile of using designs to encode messages, embody wishes, project values, or to offer prayers. The wearer can actively wish these prayers upon him-herself by using certain patterns & designs.
Words are frequently incorporated into the designs of àdìre cloths & other textiles after european colonization. The phrase “SURULEERE” (patience is profitable) appears as a repeated motif in this design.
Material: Textile-Cotton
Dimensions: 48 x 66 ½ in
Artisan: Unknown
King’s Beaded
Robe (20th C.)
Yoruba
Yoruba ceremonial vestments with fabrics and beads in many colors are associated with different deities (ÓrÌsás). Ritual surrounds the creation of a work of art as significant as a royal robe, which represents a pinnacle of Yoruba beadwork.
The front of the robe presents an asymmetrical composition that includes several long triangular patterns known as knives, a motif that derives from embroidery designs of the Hausa people. The design on the back frames a dramatic image of a face with three- dimensional eyes and nose surrounded by a patterned ring. Faces like this on royal vestments are interpreted as representing an ancestral king (Odúwá), the founder and first king of the Yoruba
Material: Textiles-Velvet, Wool, Damask fabrics, Glass beads, String
Dimensions: 47 ¾ in, H x 75” W
Egúngún Mask (Costume) 20th C. Yoruba
Festivals to honor the Ancestors are important annual events in many Yoruba communities.
Eguńgun masks with their great cascades of textiles entertain large, enthusiastic crowds and refreshes the bonds between the living and the departed. Eguńgun masks often accompany the joyful renewal of family’s ancestral ties but are also brought out in a family shrine for funerals or moments of community crisis. As commanding voices of the ancestors, Eguńgun may also be called on as judges for resolving disputes.
Materials: Yoruba textilecloth, metal, mixed media.
Dimensions: 63 H x 43 W in
Artisan: unknown
Eshu Dance Hook (19th-20th C. Yoruba
The invisible half of the Yoruba cosmos (Ōrun) is populated by a diverse host of deities, including the ancient gods, culture heroes, ancestors and nature spirits. Èsù serves as a divine messenger, navigating between humans and other ÒrÌsà, he intercedes on behalf of the living to resolve problems and conflicts. His help is crucial to success in life and to relationships with the gods and with the inner head, (Orì Inú). The two faces evokes his movement between earth & sky, ayé and Ōrun, and his magical ability to communicate in both worlds and be ubiquitous in different places.
Material: Yoruba Material-Wood, Cowries, Fiber, Beads, Stones seeds
Dimensions: 15 ⅜ x 4 x 9 ¾ in
In reference to it‘s great strength and cunning, the African Cape buffalo is an important symbol of royalty in the grassfields kingdoms of Cameroon. Images of buffalo appear on royal jewelry & thrones, as a palace of decoration & masks. It is within the kings’ perogrative to grant the use of the buffalo image to men belonging to the Knifoyns, associations civic leaders responsible for enforcing laws overseeing criminal justice, and uploading the social values of the kingdom.
Material: weed, glass beads
Royal buffalo mask, 19th-20th C. Bamum Culture (Cameroon)
Elephant Mask ensemble of a Kuosi Society Member, 19th-20th C.
Elephants are symbols of political power in the highly stratisfied kingdoms of the Cameroon grasslands. The animals might & intelligence are associated with the Fon (king). Beadwork too is a sign of wealth & high rank. Thus, this mask ensemble symbolizes great power. The right to wear elephant masks is reserved for the governing society of the Bamileke, known as the Kuosí, which includes royal family members, court officials, wealthy tittle holders, & great wamers who support the Fon. The masks are worn every two years during special society meetings or for other important ceremonies, such as funerals for a Fon or Kuosí member.
Material: Fabric, monkey fur, glass beads, feathers, reeds, string, horse tail, ivory.
The descent from the Cross, Burial, & resurrection, Ca. 1800.
The scenes depicted in this wall painting are of Joseph of Animata & Nicodemus removing the body of Christ from the cross and wrapping it in a shroud, the body of Christ being laid to rest the sleeping Roman soldiers guarding the tomy and the resurrection directly above the scene of hell
Material: Tempura on cloth
This large gallery has been arranged according to dikenga, the Kongo culture’s sign for the life cycle and the associated beliefs.
Dikenga equates the daily passage of the sun with four pivotal stages of life:
DAWN=birth; NOON= maturity; SUNSET=gateway to death; and MIDNIGHT=day in the realm of the ancestors.
Following Dikenga geometry, the layout of this gallery mirrors trhe strongly symbolic and spiritual qualities of African art and echoes its recurring themes of both, family and community, rites of passage, leadership, and ancestral bonds
