Resonance From the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art
February 4, 2008
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The Palmer Museum of Art announces Resonance from the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art. The exhibition will be on view at the museum February 19 through May 11, 2008.
New Orleans is often called "the most African of American cities." Its music and cuisine are recognized worldwide as unique contributions to the cultural fabric of the Americas; the most famous of those contributions-jazz, America's quintessential musical idiom-is intrinsically African in origin. It is, therefore, appropriate that the New Orleans Museum of Art was among the first American municipal museums to form an important collection of African art. Unlike most European national museums, which began as repositories for the material culture of their colonies, the New Orleans Museum of Art focused on aesthetics. In 1966, the museum opened a permanent gallery for the arts of Africa and a major bequest in 1977 from Victor K. Kiam added significantly to the collection.
Resonance from the Past features nearly 100 examples of the finest works of African sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art including masks, figures, musical instruments, ceramics, and fabric and beadwork costumes. While covering much of the African continent, the museum's collection is not an encyclopedic presentation of the art of all African peoples but is focused on the art of west and central Africa. The exhibition includes important groups of sculpture from the Dogon and Bamana peoples of Mali as well as a selection of figures and masks of the Dan, Wè, and Bete people of Ivory Coast, and Akan sculpture from the Baule.
A highlight of the show is the outstanding collection of Yoruba art used in ceremonies of the Ogboni, Gelede, Ifá, and Epa cults. Two of the most famous Nigerian sculptors of the early twentieth century-Areogun of Osi-Ilorin and Olowe of Ise-are represented. A sculpted house post by Olowe and an intricate figurative bowl and tray by Areogun suggest how individual genius modifies what is often taken to be traditional African style. Also included are a richly adorned beaded king's tunic and several examples of sumptuous beadwork. Other works from Nigeria come from the kingdom of Benin and from the Igbo and Ijo peoples.
The art of equatorial Africa is represented by a royal mask and figure from the Cameroon Grasslands, three major Fang reliquary figures from Gabon, and a female mourning mask of the Punu/Lumbo. Works from the Congo basin include ancestor and power figures, in wood and ivory, from the Bembe, Teke, and Yombe. The exhibition concludes dramatically with figures from the Chokwe, Luba, and Tabwa peoples of Angola.
Resonance from the Past is a collaboration between the Museum for African Art, New York, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Frank Herreman is the guest curator. This exceptional selection has been touring the country since 2005 while the African galleries at NOMA have been undergoing extensive renovation. The presentation of the exhibition at the Palmer is made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art, as well as support from Penn State's Equal Opportunity Planning Committee, Diversity Committee of the College of Arts and Architecture, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Department of Anthropology, Department of Art History, and Africana Research Center.
Please contact Joyce Robinson, curator, for more information on the exhibition at 814-865-7673 or through email at jhr11@psu.edu.
Contact: Ali Bradley, 814-863-9182, abradley@psu.edu