Growing the Presence of African Art

Magdalene Odundo, Untitled, 1990. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund. © Magdalene Odundo. Photo: Emile Askey

The Museum’s new gallery for the display of African art will feature nearly 150 works by artists from Africa and its diasporas in a range of media, spanning the ancient to the contemporary and embodying the ways that Africa has existed within a global network of material, conceptual, and iconographic exchange for thousands of years. Multiple voices and perspectives will be present, including those of artists, scholars, students, and spiritual leaders. For example, on labels in the galleries, visitors will find Magdalene Odundo’s words about her elegant ceramic sculpture, in addition to artist Victor Ekpuk’s insights into a carved wood headdress with origins in his family’s hometown of Eket, Nigeria.

The installations and object pairings—which encompass sculpture, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, photography, works on paper, and painting—will offer different lenses through which visitors might approach the diverse artworks on view. One focuses on material exchange and creativity—commodities traded for centuries between Africa and Europe brought power and wealth to both places and spurred artistic innovation. Knowledge about the resources available across Africa also eventually fueled the continent’s exploitation—through the Transatlantic trade in enslaved people and, later, colonization. These histories will be exposed through attention to materials—including gold mined in Africa, imported copper alloys and glass beads, and elephant ivory.

Another lens shines a light on the different networks through which art from Africa circulated to Princeton in the twentieth century, with a focus on Congo. An adjacent display of contemporary photography by Sammy Baloji will prompt reflection on the legacies of the mining industry in Congo today and advance a vital conversation about museum collections acquired in colonial contexts.

The gallery will also highlight strengths of the collection, such as Yoruba art from Nigeria. The Museum’s holdings of textiles from the African continent has grown in recent years to showcase some of the finest examples of craftsmanship and artistry. Christian art from Ethiopia, Jewish ritual art from North Africa, and artworks featuring Islamic iconography from across the continent reveal the centuries-old presence of these world religions in Africa. Other displays will explore cultural memory in the historical and contemporary art of Benin Kingdom, or the role of women in sustaining artistic lineages. Together, these lenses reveal historical complexity and raise critical questions for the entire gallery and beyond.

Perrin Lathrop 
Assistant Curator of African Art