Christine Liggio

(609) 258-7615/cliggio@princeton.edu

PRINCETON, N.J.—This fall, the Princeton University Art Museum presents Life Objects: Rites of Passage in African Art, an exhibition featuring twenty-three superb works from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, the Princeton University Art Museum; and private collections. Focusing on the conjunction of art, religion, and ritual in key phases of the human life cycle in indigenous African societies, Life Objects makes apparent how the course of birth-death-reincarnation and the interactions of humans, spirits, gods, and ancestors have been made manifest through art. The formal eloquence and the stunning range of styles and media of the “life objects” provide compelling witness to the diversity of artistic traditions and individual creativity in traditional African societies. Life Objects will be on view September 12, 2009, through January 24, 2010.

 

The exhibition, organized by Chika Okeke-Agulu, assistant professor of art and archaeology and African American studies, Princeton University, and independent scholar Holly W. Ross, represents a renewed commitment to exploring the arts of Africa on the part of the Princeton University Art Museum, itself one of the great repositories of global artistic practice in the United States, with international holdings numbering some 72,000 works of art.

 

The organic and active interconnection between the living and the dead, between humans and spiritual entities, and the cyclical path linking the natural and metaphysical worlds characterized the worldviews of many indigenous African societies. Religious and ritual systems as well as social and political practices affirmed, reified, and sustained these complex relationships that were so important to the concept and performance of personhood.

 

“This exhibition is important not only because it brings together rare and exceptional examples of African art to examine the rather complex idea of life cycle, but it also marks the beginning of a new era in the study of African art at Princeton University,” said Okeke-Agulu. Adds Museum Director James Steward, “This dual focus on aesthetics and context in the traditional arts of Africa is an approach visitors can expect to see in many of our forthcoming exhibitions. I’m delighted that African art is returning to center stage so early in my tenure at Princeton.”

 

Objects on view include a vividly colored Nkanu initiation panel, the only sculpture of its kind outside European collections; a rare double-figured Asante akua’ba worn on the backs of women to ensure fertility and healthy children; a Bijogo ceremonial spoon in the form of a female figure; and a Kongo kneeling female figure with child, all of which are on loan from the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.

 

Also on view are two works by master Yorùbá sculptors: a magnificent maternity figure by Areogun of Osi (1885–1954), who worked in the Ekiti state of eastern Nigeria and was known for the rounded volumes of his figures; and the impressive Yorùbá triplet figures (ere ibeta) by Dadaolomo (died ca. 1920), carved with his distinct forward leaning posture.

 

The exhibition also highlights the use of materials other than wood by African artists. A Zulu wedding cape decorated with imported European glass beads shows the exquisite beadwork of the Xhosa- and Zulu-speaking peoples of South Africa. A hat worn by a member of the Bwami society is made from the skin of a scaly pangolin, while a Bembe reliquary figure is constructed from a cane armature and covered with patterned European trade cloth.

 

To illustrate the original context of the works on view, the exhibition includes a number of vintage photo postcards produced by African and European photographers in the first decades of the twentieth century. These photographs depict objects similar to the ones on view in their original contexts. The postcards, works of art on their own terms, provide visual accounts of objects whose cultural contexts are otherwise lost in their new lives as museum objects.

Life Objects: Rite of Passage in African Art will be accompanied by an illustrated handout written by Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu as well as a range of educational programs

The Museum’s collection of African art reveals the immense diversity of artistic production across the African continent. On display are works from west, central, and southern Africa, including objects of prestige and daily use, royal regalia, symbols of secret societies, and sculptures that mark rites of passage such as birth, initiation, and death.

The original bequest for the collection, made in 1953 by Mrs. Donald B. Doyle in memory of her husband, comprised works collected prior to 1923 from what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Among the objects in this collection are a rare double caryatid headrest, an example of the art of the Chokwe peoples, and a distinctively shaped Kuba box. In recent years, numerous important gifts to the collection have come from Perry E.H. Smith, Class of 1957, whose Chokwe chair and Pende ivory pendants are currently on view, and H. Kelly Rollings, Class of 1948, whose emblem of the Leopard Society is a remarkable object from the Cross River region. The Museum’s collection was greatly enhanced in 1998 by the bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951, which includes a vast number of objects of daily use, adornment, and Akan gold pieces.

 

September 24, 6 p.m.

McCosh 10, Princeton University

 

In celebration of the opening of Life Objects: Rites of Passage in African Art, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology and the Center for African American Studies, Princeton University, and co-curator of the exhibition, will discuss the connection between the traditional arts of the African peoples and their religious beliefs and ritual practices. A reception will follow at 7 p.m. in the Art Museum.

October 23, 12:30 p.m., and October 25, 3 p.m.

Chika Okeke-Agulu, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology and

the Center for African American Studies, Princeton University, and co-curator

 

November 6, 12:30 p.m., and November 8, 3 p.m.

Holly W. Ross, independent scholar and co-curator

October 24, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., drop-in program

Princeton University Art Museum

Free and open to all

 

Families will explore the art of Africa in a scavenger hunt that winds through Life Objects: Rites of Passage in African Art and the Museum’s collection of African art, followed by a hands-on art project.

 

This program is made possible through the generous support of Bloomberg, LP.

Life Objects is organized by the Princeton University Art Museum and the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University. Additional funding has been provided by the Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University. The opening reception and associated programming have been supported by the Friends and Partners of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Founded in 1882, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the finest art museums in the country. Its collection features approximately 72,000 works ranging from ancient to contemporary art, and concentrating geographically on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States, and Latin America, with particular strengths in Chinese painting and calligraphy, art of the ancient Americas, and pictorial photography. As a public institution, the Museum is committed to serving the local community, the region, and beyond through innovative and dynamic programming, original research and new scholarship, an active loan program, and the organization of touring exhibitions. By collaborating with experts across many disciplines, fostering sustained study of original works of art, and uniting scholarship with broad accessibility, the Museum contributes to the development of critical thinking and visual literacy at Princeton University and enhances the civic fabric of our nation.

 

The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton University campus, yet only a short walk from the shops and restaurants on Princeton’s Nassau Street. Museum admission is free and open to the public. Hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Free highlights tours of the collection are given every Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays. For information, please visit the Museum’s Web site at http://artmuseum.princeton.edu or call (609) 258-3788.