National Museum of African Art
Life...Afterlife: African Funerary Sculpture
November 19, 1981 – March 1, 1982
More than 100 pieces of funerary sculpture from all regions of Africa are displayed with photographs, maps, diagrams, textiles, and utilitarian objects in an exhibition which shows how art is used in African funerals to express concepts of life, death, and the continual cycle of existence, and to celebrate the accomplishments of the deceased. Objects crafted of terra-cotta, stone, wood, ivory, and bronze by artisans from all the sub-Saharan regions of the continent are on view—the Ashanti, Dogon, and Benin of West Africa; the Kuba, Kongo, and Luba of Central Africa; the Chokwe and Songye of Southern Africa; the Giryama of East Africa, as well as others.
Related exhibition: The Four Moments of the Sun: Kongo Art of Two Worlds, NGA.
