Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

The Essential Gourd

See approximately 100 gourds from Northern Nigeria that illustrate both traditional and modern motifs, as well as different decorative techniques.

June 20, 1989 – January 4, 1990

African Art Museum

Oshe Shango Staff

View a 16 1/2-inch wooden oshe Shango, a staff carried by devotees of Shango, the god of thunder worshipped by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria.

October 1, 1988 – October 31, 1989

African Art Museum

Gold of Africa: Jewelry and Ornaments from Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal

View more than 200 objects of adornment and regalia worn by people of and royalty of West Africa.

April 5, 1989 – August 28, 1989

African Art Museum

Sounding Forms: African Musical Instruments

See 150 musical instruments made by a number of sub-Saharan African peoples, as well as art objects that depict musicians and their instruments.

April 26, 1989 – June 18, 1989

African Art Museum

Ede/Memorial

View the kinetic sculpture Church Ede by artist Sokari Douglas Camp.

April 1, 1989 – April 30, 1989

African Art Museum

Echoes of the Kalabari: Sculpture by Sokari Douglas Camp

View 13 life-sized sculptures of masqueraders, drummers, and female audience figures--many of them motorized and audible--by the contemporary Nigerian artist.

November 11, 1988 – January 29, 1989

African Art Museum

Kalabari Ancestral Screens: Levels of Meaning

Explore the traditional function, history, and formal qualities of sacred screens used to commemorate the most important ancestors of southern Nigeria's Kalabari people.

November 11, 1988 – January 29, 1989

African Art Museum

Objects of Use

See over 80 utilitarian objects also considered to be objects of art.

September 28, 1987 – September 25, 1988

African Art Museum

Images from Bamum: German Colonial Photography at the Court of King Njoya, Cameroon, West Africa

See 60 photographs that portray life at the court of King Njoya (1902-1915), including Bamum festivals, palace architecture, and royal art as well as the royal family.

June 15, 1988 – September 6, 1988

African Art Museum

Shoowa Design: Raffia Textiles from Zaire

See more than 100 raffia textiles, known for their complex geometric designs, woven by men and embroidered by women of the Shoowa group of Zaire's Kuba peoples.

June 15, 1988 – August 7, 1988

African Art Museum

African Art in the Cycle of Life

See approximately 90 objects in this major international loan exhibition from public and private collections in Europe, the U.S., and Africa that demonstrate that art in Africa intersects most aspects of the life cycle with remarkable consistency.

September 28, 1987 – March 20, 1988

African Art Museum

Patterns of Life: West African Stripweaving Traditions

Trace the stylistic and technical development of West Africa's weaving traditions among the Fulbe, Soninke, Dyula, Ewe, and Yoruba people in this exhibition of 36 textiles.

September 28, 1987 – February 29, 1988

African Art Museum

Royal Benin Art in the Collection of the National Museum of African Art

View 21 objects from the permanent collection, ranging in date from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including wall plaques, altar pieces, and regalia.

September 28, 1987 – February 28, 1988

African Art Museum

Frederick Douglass Gallery

See the black leader's first Washington home with furniture, photographs, books, newspapers and other memorabilia that reflect his life and times.

January 1, 1980 – June 16, 1986

African Art Museum

A Human Ideal in African Art/Bamana Figurative Sculpture

View 45 sculptures in an exhibition that explores and illustrates the traditional use of the human image in the art of the Mali's Bamana people.

April 30, 1986 – June 15, 1986

African Art Museum

The Rising of a New Moon: A Century of Tabwa Art

View approximately 80 carved ancestral figures, masks, musical instruments, and utilitarian objects that present the work of the Tabwa people of southeastern Zaire and northeastern Zambia.

January 29, 1986 – March 17, 1986

African Art Museum

History, Context and Materials: Objects from the Permanent Collection

See 40 objects that demonstrate three areas of study in the field of African art: some objects were selected because they can be attributed; some objects were chosen for their content and are displayed with field photographs to show them in context; the third group illustrates the various materials and processes used to create traditional African art.

November 12, 1985 – January 5, 1986

African Art Museum

Go Well, My Child: Photographs by Constance Stuart Larrabee in Collaboration with Alan Paton

View 80 black-and-white prints by Constance Stuart Larrabee, an American photographer born in South Africa, with captions from the classic novel Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton.

November 26, 1985 – January 5, 1986

African Art Museum

Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos

View the diversity of art styles among the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria illustrated by more than 100 objects in this exhibition.

July 31, 1985 – October 14, 1985

African Art Museum

Duala Cameroon Boat

See a dugout canoe model made by the Duala people of the Cameroon's coastal forests used for sea fishing.

May 10, 1985 – June 20, 1985

African Art Museum

African Masterpieces from the Musee de L'Homme

View 100 world-renowned works of art from West and Central Africa, most of which have never been on display outside of France.

April 8, 1985 – June 9, 1985

African Art Museum

N'Debele Beadwork

View articles--mostly aprons--incorporating the striking geometric designs created by women of southern African villages.

March 1, 1985 – April 30, 1985

African Art Museum

Akan Funerary Commemorative Head

See a head, a figurative pottery piece made by the Akan peoples of southern Ghana, possibly used at the formal funeral of a member of royalty.

December 14, 1984 – April 14, 1985

African Art Museum

Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection

View a major exhibition including 50 objects, primarily figural sculptures and masks from major cultural regions in West and Central Africa.

October 31, 1984 – February 24, 1985

African Art Museum

Gold in Miniature

View a 4-inch gold pendant in the form of a mask, a fine example of the goldsmith's art from the Ivory Coast.

July 13, 1984 – December 2, 1984

African Art Museum