African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde

On view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde, an  exhibition highlighting specific African artifacts acquired by the New York avant-garde and its most influential patrons during the 1910s and 1920s. Reflecting on the dynamism of New York's art scene during the years that followed the 1913 Armory Show, the exhibition brings together African works from the collections of many key individuals of the period, such as Alfred Stieglitz, Marius de Zayas, John Quinn, Louise and Walter Arensberg, Alain LeRoy Locke, and Eugene and Agnes Meyer.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Reliquary head  -  Betsi Fang, Gabon  -  19th century

Negro Song I, Francis Picabia, 1913

Portrait of Max Weber, Clara Sipprell, 1916

Female caryatid stool  -  Luba, D R Congo  -  Late 18th or early 19th century

Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, 1918-1919

Information and images courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

African Influences on Modern Art

In the early twentieth century, traditional African art had a profound influence on the creative development of European abstraction. Thousands of African art objects had been brought back to Europe in the aftermath of colonial expansion and became assimilated into European visual culture, with dramatic repercussions. African Influences on Modern Art brings together works from the Dallas Museum of Art’s collection by Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Klee, presented alongside objects from the Museum’s internationally acclaimed collection of African art.

View the exhibition's official website.

Pablo Picasso  -  Bust, 1907–08

Kifwebe mask  -  Songye or Luba, D. R. Congo  -  Late 19th to early 20th century

Information and images courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art

"Art of Central Africa" at Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore

Congo River: Arts of Central Africa is now on display at the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore. Known as the 'river that swallows all rivers," the Congo today links the nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Gabon. Drawing from the Musee du quai Branly and other European collections of African art, Congo River: Arts of Central Africa is the first exhibit of its kind to be held in Southeast Asia. 

Central Africa is home to various Bantu-speaking peoples with a shared past. The artistic heritage of this region has often been studied as the art of disparate groups of unrelated cultures. These cultures are nevertheless linked by themes that stretch across a region that is 5,000 times the size of Singapore. Themes include heart-shaped masks, reliquary figures for ancestor veneration and female representations. 

The exhibition links diverse cultures as well three modern nations, whose rich artistic traditions are explored. The show features beautifully crafted sculptures, masks and ancestor figures, and highlights their importance in ceremonies, rituals, and dances. The visual power of these objects have long impressed collectors and artists, and the exhibition also displays works by Pablo Picasso, who in the early 20th century was strongly influence by African art as he developed his modernist style. 

A full range of programs for families, adults and students will be held in conjunction with the exhibition. 

Source: Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore