Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

A King and His Cloth: Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I

See an exhibition featuring the 7x10' "adinkra" cloth owned by Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, king of Asante in Ghana from 1888 to 1896.

January 29, 1997 – March 23, 1997

African Art Museum

Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History

Explore the relationship of visual representation to memory and history among the Luba, one of the most important kingdoms in central Africa from the 17th to the 19th centuries, in this collection of 100 objects.

October 30, 1996 – February 23, 1997

African Art Museum

Ceramic Gestures: New Vessels by Magdalene Odundo

See 15 recent works by this contemporary ceramicist from Kenya that explore traditional African container forms.

September 18, 1996 – January 1, 1997

African Art Museum

Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the Head

View 180 hats, headdresses, and hairstyles that illustrate how African headwear is used to construct identities.

May 8, 1996 – August 18, 1996

African Art Museum

Seydou Keita, Photographer: Portraits from Bamako, Mali (1950-1960)

See 25 black and white photos of Bamako residents taken during the 50s and 60s by this African photographer that attest to his vision and artistic sensibilities.

March 27, 1996 – July 28, 1996

African Art Museum

Art from the Forge

See metal jewelry, ceremonial arms, and furnishings that reflect the status and prestige of the nobility among the Tuareg, a nomadic people of the central and western Sahara.

September 6, 1995 – March 3, 1996

African Art Museum

Three Explorations: Yoruba, Temne, and Baga

Examine a Yoruba mask, a Temne female figure, and a Baga ritual object in the context of their creation, use, and history.

November 22, 1995 – February 25, 1996

African Art Museum

Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa

See over 300 objects that trace the 3,500-year history of Nubia (c. 3100 B.C.-400 A.D.), an ancient civilization that existed along the upper Nile River.

May 24, 1995 – September 4, 1995

African Art Museum

Grace Kwami Sculpture: an Artist's Book by Atta Kwami

See a 48-page book created by Ghanaian artist Atta Kwami (b. 1956) that opens like the legs of a spider (ananse), a symbol of wisdom and ingenuity in Ghanaian culture.

November 23, 1994 – April 16, 1995

African Art Museum

Mohammad Omer Khalil, Etchings; Amir I. M. Nour, Sculpture

See etchings by Khalil and sculptures by Nourthat reflect the artists' African and Islamic heritages in Sudan (the Republic of Sudan).

November 16, 1994 – February 26, 1995

African Art Museum

Beaded Splendor

See an exhibition that illustrates the colorful tradition of beadworking in dress and regalia, as a way for Africans to express individual status and group identity.

June 1, 1994 – October 10, 1994

African Art Museum

The Face of the Spirits: Masks from the Zaire Basin

See more than 105 masks that reveal artistry and cultural values of 40 ethnic groups found in the Zaire River Basin.

April 20, 1994 – September 25, 1994

African Art Museum

Asen: Iron Altars from Ouidah, Republic of Benin

See two metal altars, called "asen," that typify the blending of European and inland African peoples in the city of Ouidah, once a slave port in what is now the Republic of Benin.

December 17, 1993 – April 24, 1994

African Art Museum

Astonishment and Power: Kongo Minkisi and the Art of Renee Stout

View carved objects from natural and handmade components that are used by ritual specialists to change people's lives.

April 28, 1993 – January 2, 1994

African Art Museum

Dreaming the Other World: Figurative Art of the Baule, Cote d'Ivoire

View an exhibition that examines the Baule idea that each person has a mate of the opposite sex in the "Other World", and the sculptural depiction of these mates in relation to human aesthetics.

June 9, 1993 – November 30, 1993

African Art Museum

Elmina: Art and Trade on the West African Coast

View unique gold objects, appliqued and embroidered cloths, and brass weights that reflect the many influences that shaped Elmina, a fortified trading post established in 1480 by the Portuguese.

October 14, 1992 – May 2, 1993

African Art Museum

Recent Acquisitions/New Dimensions

See recent acquisitions by 9 modern artists from Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, South Africa, and Kenya featuring etchings, linocuts, watercolors, and ceramics.

May 6, 1992 – January 3, 1993

African Art Museum

Between Man and the Gods: Sacrifice and Ceremony on a Cast Metal Ring

See a centuries-old cast metal ring from the Yoruba peoples of Nigeria that provides historic and iconographic evidence for interpretation.

February 5, 1992 – September 7, 1992

African Art Museum

African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire

See several hundred works made by artists from the Mangbetu, Azande, and other peoples of northeastern Zaire, including sculpture, pottery, musical instruments, basketry, jewelry, and furniture that are drawn from objects collected on an expedition by mammalogist and photographer Herbert Lang and ornithologist and artist James Chapin.

March 6, 1991 – January 12, 1992

African Art Museum

Africa Illustrated: Fantasy and Reality Before 1900

See early history, ethnology, and travel books on Africa containing illustrations that reflected and shaped European perceptions of the continent between the 17th and 19th centuries.

June 5, 1991 – November 10, 1991

African Art Museum

Paramount Chiefs of Sierra Leone: Photographic Portraits by Vera Viditz-Ward

View 38 black-and-white and 10 color photographs of paramount chiefs of Sierra Leone by American-born photographer Vera Viditz-Ward.

November 21, 1990 – September 2, 1991

African Art Museum

"A Cloth of Honor" by Okon Akpan Abuje

View a shrine cloth (12 ft. high, 5 ft. wide) featuring an applique panel depicting the deceased, his wife, and his daughter.

February 6, 1991 – May 5, 1991

African Art Museum

Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa

See 100 works focusing on 5 themes in African art--the male and female couple, the woman-and-child, the forceful male with weapon, the rider of horses and other animals, and the outsider/stranger.

October 25, 1989 – September 3, 1990

African Art Museum

Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought

View 100 masterworks of the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin.

May 16, 1990 – August 26, 1990

African Art Museum

The African Desert, 1975-1977: Photographs by Bernard Plossu

View color and black-and-white photographs that reveal the vitality of the Saharan peoples and their harmony with their vast surroundings.

November 8, 1989 – January 28, 1990

African Art Museum