Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley

See more than 150 works created by the diverse people of the Benue River Valley in Central Nigeria - the source of the most abstract, dramatic, and inventive sculpture in sub-Saharan Africa.

September 14, 2011 – February 12, 2012

African Art Museum

Artists in Dialogue 2: Sandile Zulu and Henrique Oliveira

Observe two artists creating site-specific works in response to each other's style and artworks.

February 2, 2011 – January 8, 2012

African Art Museum

Brave New World

View artist Theo Eshetu's Brave New World II, a compelling video installation that examines the theme of travel.

August 9, 2010 – November 27, 2011

African Art Museum

The Healing Power of Art: Works of art by Haitian children after the earthquake

View nearly 100 paintings and drawings created by Haiti's young people at Plas Timoun (The Children's Place), arts centers housed in converted buses at two locations in Port-au-Prince after the 2010 earthquake.

June 17, 2010 – February 27, 2011

African Art Museum

Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art

Trace the story of the beautiful coiled basket on two continents, demonstrating the enduring contribution of African peoples and cultures to American life in southeastern United States.

June 23, 2010 – November 28, 2010

African Art Museum

Paul Emmanuel: Transitions

Artist Paul Emmanuel employs various media, including photography and film, to reveal complex concerns relating to his identity as a young white male living in post-apartheid South Africa.

May 12, 2010 – August 22, 2010

African Art Museum

Artful Animals

Explore how African artists create striking works of art, using images from an array of domestic and untamed animals, in this exhibition dedicated to young audiences.

July 1, 2009 – July 25, 2010

African Art Museum

Yinka Shonibare MBE

See the most comprehensive exhibition of works by this internationally renowned Nigerian, London-based artist to date.

November 10, 2009 – March 7, 2010

African Art Museum

Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas

Explore 500 years of the visual culture and history of the water spirit, Mami Wata, that is celebrated throughout much of Africa and the African Atlantic world.

April 1, 2009 – July 26, 2009

African Art Museum

Artists in Dialogue: Antonio Ole and Aime Mpane

Antonio Ole of Angola and Aime Mpane of the Democratic Republic of Congo bring their subtle and sophisticated manipulation of found and organic materials to create visually rich multimedia installations.

February 4, 2009 – July 21, 2009

African Art Museum

Black Gold I

See a large-scale, mixed media piece by artist Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962, England) that demonstrates the technique of painting on fabrics, commonly referred to as Dutch wax cloth.

November 1, 2008 – April 9, 2009

African Art Museum

African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection

View 88 pieces representing 20 African countries and 75 peoples that covers 5 centuries of African art, and includes most major styles.

February 15, 2007 – March 31, 2009

African Art Museum

Special Inaugural Exhibition

View paintings and objects that reflect President Obama's image and the art of his father's homeland, along with textiles and photographs that exhibit the ways Africans use cloth to recognize leadership and make political statements.

January 17, 2009 – February 28, 2009

African Art Museum

El Anatsui's Nukae-1 (2006)

See how the artist El Anatsui addresses global ideas about the environment, consumerism, and the social history and memory of the "stuff" of our lives, in this piece that celebrates the woven and stamped textile traditions that remain vibrant in Ghana and Nigeria today.

March 12, 2008 – January 18, 2009

African Art Museum

Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermes Collection

See highlights from the renowned Paris-based fashion empire Hermes' collection of both stunning North African jewelry and historic late 19th- and early 20th-century photographs by some of the region's most prominent photographers.

October 8, 2008 – January 11, 2009

African Art Museum

TxtStyles: Fashioning Identity

View never before or rarely seen African costumes and textiles drawn from the National Museum of African Art's collection.

June 11, 2008 – December 28, 2008

African Art Museum

Africa Rifting: Lines of Fire, Namibia/Brazil

Watch a video that uses coastal landscapes of southern Africa and Brazil to explore the concepts of rift, synchronicity, and transcendence, concepts that the artist infuses with deep spiritual meaning.

June 14, 2006 – October 31, 2008

African Art Museum

El Anatsui: Gawu

View an exhibition of works by El Anatsui, one of Africa's leading contemporary artists, using discarded metal objects to create weavings with the abstraction of modernist paintings.

March 12, 2008 – September 2, 2008

African Art Museum

Treasures 2008

See 74 artworks made of ivory ranging from small personal objects, such as containers and jewelry, to large public objects, such as carved tusks and staffs, dating from the 15th through the 20th centuries.

April 17, 2008 – August 24, 2008

African Art Museum

Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World

View more than 200 decorative works that depict the culture and arts of the Tuareg people of Mali, Niger, and Algeria from the 19th century to the present.

October 10, 2007 – January 27, 2008

African Art Museum

Body of Evidence: Selections from the Contemporary African Art Collection

View art using the human body—directly or indirectly—as a primary canvas for self-expression for these 20 African contemporary artists.

June 14, 2006 – December 2, 2007

African Art Museum

Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries

View a selection of objects that reflect the influence of Portugal on African art forms and African artists' response to Portuguese presence in Africa, beginning in the 16th century.

June 24, 2007 – September 16, 2007

African Art Museum

Inscribing Meaning: Writing + Graphic Systems in African Art

See the first comprehensive exhibition that addresses the interaction between African art and the communicative power of graphic systems, language, and the written word.

May 9, 2007 – August 26, 2007

African Art Museum

The Art of the Personal Object

View an exhibition of over 100 objects -- drawing from the museum's permanent collection -- that features utilitarian objects that come principally from eastern and southern Africa and celebrates their aesthetic value.

September 25, 1991 – March 5, 2007

African Art Museum

Resonance from the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art

See approximately 85 traditional sculpted art works, including masks, figures, musical instruments, ceramics, fabric, and beaded costumes from the New Orleans Museum of Art.

October 5, 2006 – January 28, 2007

African Art Museum