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Opened to the public in 1984, the Museum for African Art is dedicated to the arts and cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora. Since that time, it has become internationally recognized as a preeminent organizer of exhibitions and publications related to historical and contemporary African art, with programs that are as diverse as the continent itself.
The Museum was located in a rented townhouse on New York City's Upper East Side from 1984 until 1992, when it moved to rented space in the City's SoHo district. In 2002, the Museum moved to temporary quarters in Long Island City, Queens, and in late 2005 it closed its gallery space there in order to focus on developing plans for a new, larger facility that it would own. In September 2007, ground was broken for a new building that will enable the long-needed expansion of the Museum's exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives.
Designed by the celebrated Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, the new Museum for African Art will open to the public in the second half of 2012. It will be located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 110th Street, in New York City, where it will join Manhattan's "Museum Mile."
The Museum for African Art will own and occupy about 90,000 square feet in a mixed-use joint-development project. With its expansive exhibition and programming spaces, the new facility will enable the institution to dramatically expand the audiences it serves, providing a powerful link between the diverse cultural communities of New York City and those beyond.
While it prepares for the public opening of its new quarters, the Museum continues to develop important exhibitions that travel to major venues internationally and are accompanied by scholarly publications. It also presents a wide range of public programs for adults, families, and school children, held at locations throughout New York City.
Exhibitions
Museum for African Art exhibitions are widely recognized for presenting insightful perspectives on African art, for giving attention to the rich diversity of African art, and for introducing audiences to African artists working throughout the world. Since its opening, the Museum has organized over 60 exhibitions that have traveled to over 150 venues in 15 countries including the United States, bringing the art and cultures of Africa to a wide array of audiences.
Current touring exhibitions organized by the Museum include El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa, the first career retrospective of this major contemporary artist, and Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art , which uses basketry as a lens through which to view the African contribution to the building of America. These will be among the inaugural exhibitions in the Museum's new building. Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, which, with support from Banco Santander, will conclude its European and U.S. tours at the Museum during its inaugural year. The latter is devoted to the extraordinary art of Ife, the ancient city-state of the Yoruba people of West Africa (in present-day southwestern Nigeria). It is co-organized by the Museum for African Art and the Fundación Marcelino Botín, in Santander, Spain, in collaboration with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Recent Museum-organized exhibitions have ranged from The Beautiful Time in Lubumbashi: Photography by Sammy Baloji (2010), to Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermes Collection (2008), to At Arm's Length: The Art of African Puppetry (2006), Lasting Foundations: The Art of African Architecture (2005), and Resonance from the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art (2005), among many others.
Education and Public Programs
With its deep commitment to educational outreach, the Museum for African Art is dedicated to serving the diversity of learning styles and interests of the thousands of schoolchildren it reaches every year. School programs include hands-on workshops, free interdisciplinary teachers' guides; and a program that takes artists into public schools to lead workshops on African art and culture, among other initiatives.
Public programs include symposia, lectures, film series, and other avenues for exploring the art, artists, cultures, history, and current affairs of Africa.