Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time

Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time, at the Neuberger Museum of Art from March 1–June 28, 2015, is the first exhibition to bring together works from two of the earliest collections of Kuba textiles: the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium, founded by Leopold II in 1897; and the Sheppard Collection at Hampton University in Virginia, gathered between 1890 and 1910 by the American Presbyterian Congo missionary William Henry Sheppard, who in 1892 was the first Westerner to be received by a Kuba king. Additional important loans to the exhibition come from the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and three private collections. In total, the exhibition features eighty-two Kuba artworks (forty-one textiles and forty-one objects), most being publicly exhibited for the first time.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Woman's overskirt  -  Kuba, D.R. Congo  -  Late 19th to early 20th century

Image courtesy of the Neuberger Museum of Art

Majestic African Textiles at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

A new exhibition titled Majestic African Textiles, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art through March 2, 2014, presents a spectacular array of royal and prestige cloths, masking and ritual garments, and superbly beaded and embellished objects from across the African continent. Featuring more than sixty pieces drawn from the museum’s extensive permanent collection and augmented with a few major loans, the show highlights a significant and diverse group of richly patterned and elaborately decorated textiles, most of which served as potent symbols of power and wealth.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Royal tunic  -  Yoruba, Nigeria  -  20th century

Man's trousers  -  Hausa, Nigeria  - 20th century

Hat  -  Yoruba, Nigeria  -  20th century

Images courtesy of the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Expanding Africa at the Newark Museum

For nearly a century, the Newark Museum has been a pioneer among U.S. museums in the collecting and display of African art. Today, the Museum’s nationally known collection includes nearly 5,000 works representing artistic creativity, past and present, from throughout the continent.

Expanding Africa at the Newark Museum: New Visions, New Galleries features exceptional works of art from the Museum’s extensive and ever-growing collection. Bringing together contemporary and historic works in a range of different media, the exhibition seeks to broaden conventional ideas about African art while encouraging dialogue about its constantly evolving definition. The exhibition also introduces the Newark Museum’s initiative to expand its galleries for the exhibit and teaching of African art, the completion of which is planned to coincide with the centennial of this important collection in 2015.

Visit the official website of the Newark Museum.

Female figure  -  Chokwe, Angola  - Late 19th or early 20th century

Many Came Back, 2005  -  El Anatsui

Shawl (lamba akotofahana)  -  Madagascar  -  19th century

Untitled (Seated Woman), 1956–1957  -  Seydou Keita

Text and images courtesy of the Newark Museum