Diverging Streams: Eastern Nigerian Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art

A new gallery for thematic exhibitions of African art at the Baltimore Museum of Art debuts with the reopening of the Museum's collection galleries. Diverging Streams: Eastern Nigerian Art features nearly 20 headdresses, masks, and costumes from the eastern Nigerian region of Africa, demonstrating the exchange between the Igbo, Jukun, Igala, Ogoni, Boki, Idoma, Ibibio, and Ejagham artists who lived between the Benue and Cross rivers.

Visit the BMA website for more information.

Janiform head crest  -  Cross River, Nigeria  -  Early 20th century

Installation view at the BMA

Arts du Nigeria révisites

Without aspiring to exhaustively detail the cultural production of Nigeria across its 2000-year history, the collection at the Musée Barbier-Mueller is very rich in several respects. Faithful to chronological continuity, it provides a sample of the production of the major cultural centers of Nigeria, shedding light on archaeological pieces from Nok, Katsina, and Sokoto, works from Ife and the kingdom of Benin, and Yoruba, Ijo, and Igbo objects, as well as items from the Cross River and the Benue Valley. By virtue of their rarity, certain pieces in the collection constitute “monuments” of African art. Others, by their emblematic force, are among its great “classics.” Arts du Nigeria révisites, on view through January 17, 2016, sets out to present these remarkable objects, highlighting their aesthetic qualities while explaining, by means of the exhibition's accompanying catalogue, the ethnographic context of their production and use.

To find out more, visit the official exhibition website.

Worship fan  -  Yoruba

Head depicting a woman  -  Ife

Helmet mask  -  Igbo

Head crest  -  Afo

Images courtesy of the Musée Barbier-Mueller

Royals and Regalia: Inside the Palaces of Nigeria's Monarchs

Until August 9, the New Jersey's Newark Museum presents Royals & Regalia: Inside the Palaces of Nigeria’s Monarchs, a showcase of forty visually stunning portraits from a new series by acclaimed Nigerian photographer George Osodi. Exhibited for the first time in the US, these vibrant color photographs feature the regional rulers of modern-day monarchies throughout the country. They provide audiences with a rare and intimate look inside Nigeria’s palaces and throne rooms, capturing the personalities of the rulers, the splendor of their dress, and the details of their settings. The near life-size photographs will be shown to dramatic effect along with select examples of prestige dress and regalia from the internationally renowned collections of the Newark Museum.

For more information, visit the exhibition's official website.

Images and info courtesy of the Newark Museum

Balance of Power: A Throne for an African Prince

According to Yoruba oral history, artist Olówè of Ise (about 1870–1938) could sculpt a person’s likeness on the spot—without looking at the wood he was carving. This special exhibition spotlights a single extraordinary work by Olówè: a throne he made for Prince Ilori, heir apparent of the town of Isè in southwestern Nigeria. This exhibition is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. On view until March 16th, 2014.

Visit the DIA website.

Image courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts

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

Arts of Africa at the Mint Museum

The African continent has remarkable diversity in topographical features and ecology: three enormous rivers – Nile, Niger, and Congo – with countless tributaries; large, dense forests and hilly grasslands; huge deserts; and snowcapped mountains. Social and political systems, equally varied, range from great empires to small villages: large kingdoms and city-states, small chieftaincies, and nomadic bands of hunters or semi-nomadic herders. Thus there are many different Africas, and consequently, great diversity in the arts and their histories. Art forms date from 27,000 BCE to yesterday, with countless interactions among native Africans themselves over time; with Muslims, beginning around 1000 BCE; and with Europeans, beginning in the late 15th century. This exhibition is organized by The Mint Museum.

View the exhibition's official website.

Royal cap  -  Yoruba, Nigeria  -  20th century

Mask  -  Yaka, DR Congo  -  20th century

Antelope effigy  -  Edo, Nigeria  -  20th century

Information and images courtesy of The Mint Museum

African Art - Fragility and Patrimony

Holland Cotter of The New York Times recently published an article covering the tumultuous history of the handling of African artifacts, former and current stances on patrimony in the world of African art, and the dangers facing African antiquities in the future. "Imperiled Legacy for African Art" touches significantly on the fate of the prehistoric Nok terracottas of Nigeria and the centuries-old Djenne sculptural tradition of the Inner Niger Delta of Mali, as well as the present-day destruction of sacred sites by religious militants.

Read the article here.

Seated figure  -  Djenne, Mali

Seated figure  -  Djenne, Mali

Images courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley

An impressive new showcase of traditional Nigerian art will open this week at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley presents more than 150 objects drawn from international collections, offering a comprehensive view of the arts from along the banks of the Benue, the great river that flows across the center of Nigeria and joins the Niger River on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. On view through October 14, Central Nigeria Unmasked reveals arts and cultures of diverse peoples who are far less known and studied than those of the majority populations in the country’s northern and southern regions.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

Embodying the Sacred in Yoruba Art at Kean University

Embodying the Sacred in Yoruba Art, on view through April 18 at Kean University’s Karl and Helen Burger Gallery, comprises twenty-eight Yoruba masterpieces from Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, all sourced from the collection of the Newark Museum. The pieces in the show, which were produced from the late nineteenth through the twentieth century, highlight the relationship between art and the spiritual world.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Staff of authority, ipawo ase  -  Nigeria

Crown, ade abetiaja  -  Nigeria, 1970s

Twin figure, ere ibeji  -  Nigeria, 20th century

Sword of authority, ida ase  -  Nigeria, 19th–20th century

Dance vest with Esu figures  -  Nigeria, 19th–20th century

Divination tray, opon ifa  -  Nigeria, first half of 20th century  -  Attributed to Areogun or atelier

Egungun mask  -  Nigeria, 20th century

Information and images courtesy of Kean University and the Newark Museum.