MORE EVENTSNEWS
Art Throb--Jane Alexander: Wrestling with the Spirits
"Alexander's work does rouse a sense of ontological vertigo, and the eerie materiality of her sculptures finds visual echoes in Christian customs and practices..."
Africa is a Country--Strange Cargo: Jane Alexander at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
"It takes a lot of fearlessness to 'be' with Alexander's work... This is not 'easy' work; these are not 'pretty' sculptures - though they are obviously so beautifully made."
ArtFund--"Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist" at Tate Modern
Over 80 paintings go on show in this retrospective of the Sudanese painter Ibrahim El-Salahi, charting the artist's career over 50 years.
El Pais--Criaturas en una catedral
Spain's largest daily newspaper, El Pais, reviews the exhibition Jane Alexander: Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope).
Juxtapoz Magazine-- Jane Alexander "Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope)" @ The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC
Juxtapoz Magazine informs its readers of the exhibition Jane Alexander Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope) currently on display in New York City.
NEH On the Road Exhibit: "Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art"
Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art will be on display at the Walters History Museum West Gallery through May 25, 2013, as part of the NEH On the Road program. This amazing exhibit features the art of basketry brought to America by former slaves.
Hyperallergic--Apartheid Subversion in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
South African artist Jane Alexander has long worked with blurring the evolutionary line between humanity and animals, using anthropomorphic sculptures to respond to the dehumanizing nature of the Apartheid. Yet with her work's installation in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, one of New York's most hallowed spaces, this space between what is human and what is beast becomes even more interesting.
Dog Star Blog--GO SEE "Jane Alexander: Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope)" @ Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Dog Star is incredibly excited about this new art installation at one of New York City's most famous sites. Jane Alexander's figures challenge us to see ourselves better than animals in the face of horrific violence and global atrocities.
The New York Times--The Beast in the Human, and Vice Versa: Jane Alexander's Work at St. John the Divine
The strange and wonderful show "Jane Alexander: Surveys (From the Cape of Good Hope)" at St. John the Divine is the artist's first New York solo.
The New York Times--Slide Show of "Jane Alexander: Surveys (From the Cape of Good Hope)"
A slide show of images from the exhibition "Jane Alexander: Surveys (From the Cape of Good Hope)" at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
The New York Times--Art Workshops Inspired by the Work of Jane Alexander
In two workshops for children 4 and older, participants can investigate Jane Alexander's sculptures and tableaus and create their own pieces that tell stories and explore identity.
Stockholm Travel Blog--African masterpieces: "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria" at The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities
The objects show the worldview, rituals, and religion of one of the most advanced urban societies of its time. The exhibition reveals a side of African history that might change visitors' perspectives on Africa.
The New York Times T Magazine--Now Showing | Jane Alexander
The New York Times writes that the exhibition Jane Alexander: Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope) is "a spellbinding and somewhat unsettling collection of humanoid sculptures and photomontages."
Swedish National Museums of World Culture--African Masterpieces in the Skeppsholmen Caverns
In the fall of 2013, Varldskulturmuseerna / Swedish National Museums of World Culture will show the exhibition Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria.
Our Uptown Family: The Youth Ambassadors Program Offers Paid Internships for High School Students
This paid internship offers New York City high school students the opportunity to engage in learning about African art and culture while developing hands-on work experience.
Applause Africa--Major Exhibition of Important South African Artist Jane Alexander to be Presented in New York City
Jane Alexander's hybrid mutants speak to the porous borders between humans and other forms of animal life.
Harlem One Stop--"Jane Alexander - Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope)"
This is the first major North American survey of tableaux, sculptures, and photomontages by Jane Alexander, one of the most significant South African artists working today.
Artdaily.org--The 35th Annual Museum Mile Festival to be held on June 11
The Museum for African Art will participate in the 35th annual Museum Mile Festival on June 11, 2013.
Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82
Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author and towering man of letters whose internationally acclaimed fiction helped to revive African literature and to rewrite the story of a continent that had long been told by Western voices, died on Thursday in Boston. He was 82.
AnnArbor.com-- UMMA displaying stunning Africa-inspired artwork of El Anatsui
Effortlessly mingling mythology with custom, custom with history, and history with pride of place, this art will pass the test of time as among the most original of this era.
Arts at Michigan--PREVIEW: Crush, Crumple, Fold: The Art of El Anatsui
As a part of the "EL Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa" exhibit, UMMA will be hosting a film screening of a documentary on the artists work. This film will discus the process, inspirations, and challenges of the world renowned artist. Tuesday, February 19th at 7 pm in the Helmut Stern auditorium.
ARTINFO--El Anatsui: A Joy To See
Judith H. Dobrzynski discusses recent installations of El Anatsui's work.
The Guardian Nigeria--Amid hope of restitution, Nigeria hosts foreign museums
ARTnews--The Other Modernism
This summer in London, Tate Modern will open a retrospective of Sudan-born painter Ibrahim El-Salahi; this too is part of a larger initiative to globalize art history.
University of Michigan Record--Don't miss: African artist discusses his work
Ghanaian artist El Anatsui will be interviewed in a public presentation at 5:10 p.m. Thursday in the Michigan Theater as part of the Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series.
Philly.com--Spring Arts Review
"Grass Roots" at the Berman Museum. This exhibition examines the African origins of an American art form, the coiled grass basket. It explains how these beautiful baskets can be viewed simultaneously as works of art, objects of use, and containers of memory. Jan. 29-March 16.
Philadelphia Weekly--"Grass Roots: African Origins of An American Art"
Exhibit runs from January 28th through March 16th, 2013, in the Main Gallery of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College.
The Reporter--New exhibits at Mercer Museum and Ursinus College
Opening Monday at the Berman Museum is "Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art," an exhibit organized by the Museum of African Art in New York that explores African coiled baskets as an art form, as functional objects and their significance as a container of memory.
AdobeAirstream--"El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa"
The works of El Anatsui tell a story of Africa from migration and colonialism to consumption and mythology. As the artist himself has said: "Rather than recounting history, my art is telling about what history has provoked."
Vanguard--Events that shaped the visual art in 2012
The Museum's exhibition "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria" is listed as an event that shaped the arts in 2012.
Artdaily--Tate Modern to present the UK's first major exhibition of Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi
"Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist" is <span class="messageBody" data-ft="{">the first museum retrospective of the Sudanese artist, who is one of the most significant figures in African and Arab Modernist art.
Ursinus College--"Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art" visiting as part of the NEH on the Road program
On January 28 the Museum's exhibition "Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art" will open at the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College as part of the NEH on the Road program.
Art van Africa--Lisa Binder on Cosmopolitanism, Trends to Watch, and Work as Curator at Museum for African Art
Interview with Museum for African Art Curator Lisa Binder.
The San Francisco Examiner--'Desert Jewels' takes a bold look at North Africa
The exhibition of North African jewelry and 19th century photographs is on display at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco through January 21, 2013
New York Times--New Harlem Cultural Center Ready to Open
MIST Harlem, a long-planned cultural center at 40 West 116th St., will host the Museum for African Art's year-end celebration on Wednesday, December 5th.
Mail & Guardian--It's Africa's turn at the Tate
Next year, Tate Modern will show the Museum for African Art's exhibition Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist.
Ole Miss News--'Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art' Now Open at UM Museum
"The University Museum is excited to be sharing the story of these remarkably beautiful woven baskets with university audiences."
AOL Real Estate--One Museum Mile: Great Views Near High Culture
The building's nickname, One Museum Mile, hints at its proximity to some of New York City's most famous museums.
Denver Art Museum Blog--A Preparator's Role in Unpacking El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
Blog post from Denver Art Museum preparator Amy Barrett on unpacking the artworks from the exhibition "El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa."
Time Out Doha--'Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist' is a collection of the Sudanese artist's work from more than 50 years
An interview with Ibrahim El-Salahi.
Huffington Post--"Desert Jewels" at the Museum of the African Diaspora
"Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection" features tribal jewelry and nineteenth-century photographs from an era when advancements in photographic technology allowed documentarians and artists to take advantage of and further intensify European fascination with the Orient.
Arts + Culture Houston--Review: Jane Alexander at CAMH
Review of Jane Alexander: Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope) at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
Gulf Times--Acclaimed Sudanese artist's works go on show at Katara
Katara, the Cultural Village, in collaboration with the Museum for African Art, New York, last night unveiled "Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist," the first museum retrospective of the acclaimed Sudanese artist.
Another Africa--Art Exhibition Recommendations
Another Africa's top picks for exhibitions in October around the globe.
Qatar is Booming--Katara and the Museum for African Art collaborate to host Ibrahim El-Salahi
Katara, the Cultural Village, in collaboration with the Museum for African Art, New York, last night unveiled "Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist," the first museum retrospective of acclaimed Sudanese artist, Ibrahim El-Salahi. The exhibition, which opened last night, will run until Tuesday 27th November 2012
Denver Westword--Now Showing: El Anatsui
This traveling exhibition is El Anatsui's first-ever retrospective. It was organized by the Museum for African Art in New York by curator Lisa Binder, with the Denver Art Museum's Nancy Blomberg acting as host curator.
Denver Post--El Anatsui's puzzling, dazzling tales of Africa come to Denver
El Anatsui has emerged as an improbable darling of the contemporary art world over the past decade. He is 68 and lives in Nigeria, which makes him a mature find for a cultural community obsessed with youth, as well as a bit far-flung for a creative industry that presently finds its idols on every continent except Africa.
Qatar Business--On Display Next Week in Doha: 'Ibrahim El Salahi: A Visionary Modernist'
The Museum for African Art in New York and the Cultural Village Foundation (Katara), will soon unveil 'Ibrahim El Salahi: A Visionary Modernist', the first museum display of acclaimed Sudanese artist, Ibrahim El Salahi.
Boulder Weekly--The artist in everyone, anywhere, from anything: African artist El Anatsui exhibit shows up-cycled art
In each location his work appears, the way it is hung is decided by the people who hang it. The Denver Art Museum's staff created undulating curtains that seem to have picked up a breeze. Warm, bright lights illuminate the shining folds. How the curtain-like sculptures are hung and how pieces like "Open(ing) Market," an arrangement of hundreds of tin boxes made from repurposed tin advertisements, are placed in the space is up to the people at the site.
Denver Post--Photos: El Anatsui retrospective brings contemporary African art to the Denver Art Museum
Photographs from the exhibition "El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa," on view at the Denver Art Museum through December 30, 2012.
Gulf Times--Sudanese artist's works to go on show at Katara
Katara, the Cultural Village Foundation, is to bring to Doha "Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist," the first museum retrospective of acclaimed Sudanese artist, Ibrahim El-Salahi.
AMEinfo--Katara joins forces with the Museum for African Art
Including approximately 80 works encompassing over five decades of the artist's career, this retrospective highlights drawings and paintings from international institutions and private collections. "A Visionary Modernist" follows work produced during El-Salahi's travels and ongoing spiritual journey.
New York Times--'Le Cargo,' With Faustin Linyekula, at Gould Hall
When a Country's Situation Is So Bleak, Can Telling a Story Make a Difference?
Denver Westword--Two new exhibits combine cultures with beauty and intelligence
The stunningly beautiful and staggeringly intelligent exhibit is the African artist's first-ever retrospective.
Art Media Agency--El Anatsui, Ghanaian sculptor
The Museum for African Art is organising until 30 September a retrospective of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui, titled "When I Last Wrote to You about Africa". This exhibition gathers various works of the artist, from his wooden montages, a reflect of his country's traditional art, to his ceramics. His works, all made out of recycled materials, fascinate the whole world. He has been sculpting for 40 years and does not intend to finish his career soon. He said, during an interview with the AFP, he saw himself "as as artist. And as an African".
Houston Public Radio--Contemporary Arts Museum curator Dean Daderko talks about Jane Alexander
Wall Street Journal--El Anatsui: Master of Scrap
Imagine the glittering surface of a Gustav Klimt painting, minus the subjects, blown up to gargantuan proportions then artfully draped across a gallery wall, and you will have some idea of the magical works of the African artist El Anatsui.
Englewood Herald--Contemporary African art at DAM
A basic theme among the more than 60 objects in the exhibit is "the things that connect us as human beings."
Auction Central News--'African' artist El Anatsui retrospective opens in Denver
Sculptor El Anatsui, who was born in Ghana and lives and creates in Nigeria, has mined Africa's history and culture to carve, mold and weave forms that captivate viewers around the world.
Atlanta Black Star--'El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa' Exhibit at Denver Art Museum
El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa traces the prolific career of El Anatsui, one of contemporary art's leading figures, from his early woodwork in Ghana to today's metal wall sculptures created in his studio in Nigeria, offering an unprecedented opportunity for visitors to follow the artist's creative development and process throughout 40 years.
Art Daily--Comprehensive retrospective of African artist El Anatsui opens at the Denver Art Museum
"El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa" traces the prolific career of El Anatsui, one of contemporary art's leading figuresfrom his early woodwork in Ghana to today's metal wall sculptures created in his studio in Nigeria, offering an unprecedented opportunity for visitors to follow the artist's creative development and process throughout 40 years.
Art & Coin--Comprehensive Retrospective of African Artist El Anatsui Opens at the Denver Art Museum
Anatsui, who was born in Ghana and lives and creates in Nigeria, has mined Africa's history and culture to carve, mold and weave forms that captivate viewers around the world.
About.com--"El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa"
Anatsui visited Denver to discuss a retrospective of his work at the Denver Art Museum. "El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa" will be on display from Sept. 9 - Dec. 30, 2012. The exhibit is a traveling exhibit culled from several collections, and organized by the Museum for African Art in New York.
Denver Post--At Denver Art Museum, looking deeply at contemporary artist El Anatsui
This is a big fall for the Denver Art Museum, and the exhibit "El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa" is one of the biggest reasons. The retrospective assembles the best works from the artist, a leading figure in the international contemporary art scene, starting with his early carved-wood works in Ghana and including his astonishing "bottle-cap" series of textiles, made from thousands of caps strung together.
CBS Denver--Denver Art Museum Opens New El Anatsui Exhibit
A new exhibit opens Sunday at the Denver Art Museum, and CBS4 Critic at large Greg Moody believes it's a great way to explore a different culture.
Kansas City Star--Onward, to the region's art exhibits
The highlight of the Denver Art Museum is a traveling retrospective of Ghanian-born El Anatsui, known for his shimmering tapestries made from bottle tops.
Denver Art Museum: Planning the Layout for "El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa"
The exhibition El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa is a wonderful example of the difficulties and pleasures of designing an exhibit layout.
Broadway World--Choreographer Faustin Linyekula Returns to NYC, 9/17 & 18
The Museum for African Art and the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), New York's premiere French cultural center, present the Congo-based director, choreographer and performer Faustin Linyekula as part of the 2012 Crossing the Line festival. Known for creating intricate and powerful performance works that reflect the political, social and cultural history as well as the present-day struggles of his home country, Linyekula returns to New York following his sold-out, critically acclaimed performances of more more more... future, which was present at The Kitchen as part of the 2011 Crossing the Line festival.
Denver Fall Arts Preview: El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa at the Denver Art Museum
Fall art shows feature a tribute to a leading figure in the international contemporary art scene, El Anatsui, at the Denver Art Museum.
CultureMap Houston--Acclaimed South African artist Jane Alexander unleashes animal-human hybrids in CAMH show
Finally, after a prolific four-decade career, Alexander is getting her first solo museum show in the United States, which opens Friday at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH). Organized by New York's Museum for African Art, Jane Alexander Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope) offers work from the last 15 years: four large-scale installations, a selection of photos, a video piece and a smattering of free-standing sculptures.
Huffington Post--South African Artist Jane Alexander's "Surveys" Open at Contemporary Art Museum In Houston
South African artist Jane Alexander has long had a penchant for mutant sculptures. Over her four-decade-career, she has created a host of hybrid characters, imagined from the bodies of human beings and the heads and limbs of baboons, rabbits, and jackals. Now Alexander's motley cast of characters is heading to the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston for an exhibit titled "Surveys (From the Cape of Good Hope)."
Art in America--Global Context: Q+A with Jane Alexander
Encompassing furnishings, ominously spiked tools, wires, fences and vast landscapes, the theatrical staging of "Jane Alexander" often leads visitors to her shows feeling they have been transported to a magical place.
Online Education--15 Great Field Trip Spots in New York City
Outreach programs led by artists bring African arts -- visual, dance, music, poetry, crafts and much more -- to the public schools, and programs for all ages take place at venues around the city and beyond.
The Epoch Times--Tapping the Last Central Park Addresses
To "anchor" the northernmost point of this culturally significant corridor, the developers built the Museum for African Art on the ground floor of One Museum Mile.
Nelson Mandela Turns 94 on July 18
The Museum for African Art salutes Nelson Mandela on the occasion of his 94th birthday.
Summer 2012 Outdoor Concert Series with SummerStage
This July and August, the Museum partners with SummerStage to present four electrifying outdoor musical events featuring some of the biggest stars and most exciting new talents from Africa and the Diaspora. All concerts are FREE and open to the public.
EmergeNC Magazine--"El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa"
There is definitely something for everyone to enjoy, as his bodies of work include paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics, woodcarvings and sculpture.
FELA! returns to NYC for 32 performances this summer!
Use the code FELAART when you purchase your ticket and $20 will be donated to the Museum for African Art
Association of Zoos & Aquariums--New exhibits, activities at the Bronx Zoo
Guests are invited to create their own animal prints and puppets based on the zoo's African animals with the help of artists from the Museum for African Art.
New York Times Arts Beat--'Crossing the Line' Festival Announces Fall Lineup
Faustin Linyekula, a Congolese director and choreographer, will conduct a conversation with the stage director Peter Sellars on the power of the arts as an agent for change as well as present a new solo work, "Le Cargo," all co-presented by the Museum for African Art.
Time Out New York Kids--Museum programs for NYC families in July 2012
Museum family programs are a great excuse to get together and make and enjoy art!
Akron Art Museum Selects "El Anatsui" Catalogue as its Fall Book Club Pick
This fall book club members will take on their first exhibition catalog as they read El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa, which documents the artist's career retrospective organized by the Museum for African Art.
Independent Weekly--A Taste of Gollywood: Screening Saturday at NCMA
An event highlighting the film industries in Nigeria and Ghana, coinciding with the exhibition, El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
The Museum of the American Revolution Unveiled in Historic Philadelphia
Robert A.M. Stern, architect for the Museum for African Art's new building on Museum Mile, unveiled the architectural design for the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
CultureMap Austin--"El Anatsui" Wins Austin Critics' Table Award for Best Touring Art Show
The exquisite "El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa" at the Blanton won for best Touring Art Show.
The Nation--Duke, Ooni, Others Extol Values of Great Ife Art
The Ife art returned home after five years of preparation and tour of seven major museums in Spain, Great Britain and the United States.
Nigerian Tribune--The Treasures of Ife
The enchanting artworks highlight "the technical and artistic achievements of the men and women who created these masterpieces, in stone, terra cotta and metal, starting more than a thousand years ago."
The Guardian Nigeria--Ancient Ife Art: Proof of Africa's contribution to world civilisation
When the touring exhibition of Ife artefacts berthed in Lagos a week ago as "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria," it was a celebration of what has been established as one of Africa's templates of pre-colonial civilisation.
Statesman--"El Anatsui: When Last I Wrote to You About Africa" Nominated for the Critics' Table Awards
"El Anatsui: When Last I Wrote to You About Africa" was nominated for the 17th annual Austin Critics' Table Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in the arts.
Daily Times Nigeria--Ife artworks return home
After a tour of Europe and the United States, more than 100 extraordinary brass, terracotta and stone sculptures will feature in an exhibition of Ife art which opens on Friday at the National Museum, Lagos.
Business Day--Exhibition of Ife arts returns to Nigeria
The exhibition, entitled "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria'' is making a return to Nigeria after presentation at various cities in Europe and the U.S.
Critically Acclaimed Exhibition "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria" Returns to Nigeria
Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, an important exhibition devoted to the art of Ife, the ancient city-state of the Yoruba people of West Africa, makes its return to Nigeria for a presentation at the National Museum, Lagos. The exhibition opens on May 18, 2012. The widely acclaimed exhibition includes more than 100 extraordinary brass, terra-cotta, and stone sculptures, ranging in date from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries, all from the collections of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. It was co-organized by the Museum for African Art, New York, and the Fundacion Botin, Santander, Spain, in collaboration with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria. It has been shown in major museums in Europe and the United States before returning to Nigeria.
Amsterdam News--Jazz Notes: Jazz Shrines Fest
Jazzmobile, in collaboration with the Museum for African Art, will present "Dancing Mambo/Park Palace Live!," a recreation of the Sunday matinee dances featuring a multigenerational Afro-Cuban jazz band led by arranger, composer and drummer Bobby Sanabria with special guest artists and the legendary Candido on congas. The Magic Johnson Theaters are located at the corner of 124th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. For more info, visit harlemjazzshrinesfestival.com.
The News & Observer--Out of 'Africa,' so much beauty
El Anatsui's creations are warm, approachable and disarmingly familiar.
Zawya--Sharjah Museums Department receives huge public response
The Department of Interpretation and Education at Sharjah Museums Department has launched a series of special educational programmes on the side lines of the exhibition "Ibrahim El Salahi: A Visionary Modernist" from the Museum for African Art.
BroadwayWorld.com--City Parks Foundation Announces The Richard Rodgers Amphitheater Grantees for 2012-13
The Museum for African Art was awarded a grant for two free community-based outdoor music festivals in summer 2013, featuring bands from across the African Diaspora and the Latin world. The festivals will bridge the diverse communities surrounding Marcus Garvey Park through the cross cultural languages of music and dance.
Aesthetica Magazine--El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
This exhibition of El Anatsui’s work is a visual feast of bright colours, highlighted by the seemingly unbelievable transformation of ordinary objects and the spirit that each work is imbued with.
Zawya--His Highness Ruler of Sharjah inaugurates "Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist" at Sharjah Art Museum
Shaikh Sultan expressed his extreme admiration for the paintings and artworks displayed at the exhibition due to their historical, artistic and human value & thanked organizers of this exhibition, which adds significantly to Sharjah's landmark achievements.
The Independent Weekly--El Anatsui's optimistic objects
In the exhibition "When I Last Wrote to You about Africa," the North Carolina Museum of Art shows 61 works from Anatsui’s over-forty-year career, in media ranging from his well-known tapestries made from bent and crushed liquor bottle caps to prints and paintings, carved wooden wall hangings, and a terrific array of sculpture made from anything he can get his hands on. Organized by the Museum for African Art in New York, the show moves on this summer to the Denver Art Museum and then the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
The Gulf Today--Sudanese artist to go on show
Sharjah Art Museum will host Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist on view from March 20 through May 31, 2012.
StarNews Online--Museum Exhibit Features Low Country Artistry
NEH on the Road Grass Roots, now on view at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina, explores a rich and fascinating history and shows how a once utilitarian artifact became valued as an art form.
Savannah Now--Art & Soul: South African Jane Alexander's challenging sculptures haunt SCAD MOA
This mind-bending solo exhibit demonstrates the raw, visceral power of Alexander’s hybrid human-animal figures as well as the rich, provocative socio-political subtext that enlivens her work.
Jazz Corner--Second Annual Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival Set for May 7-13
In partnership with the Museum for African Art, Jazzmobile will present Dancing Mambo/Park Palace Live!, a re-creation of the Sunday matinee dances featuring a multi-generational Afro-Cuban Jazz Band led by Bobby Sanabria with special guest artists and the legendary Candido. This event celebrates Park Palace, the true temple for authentic mambo in East Harlem.
Art21 Blog--No Preservatives: Looking Back to Nigeria
The first in a five-part series by Richard McCoy on a trip to Nigeria with Museum for African Art registrar Amanda Thompson to help with the return of more than 100 important artworks to their home country — the works had been out of Nigeria for three years, travelling to six venues in Europe and the USA with the exhibition Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria.
The Nation--Three years after, Ife treasures return
109 priceless Nigerian artworks - loaned to the Museum for African Art by the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments - have attracted the attention of the world, illuminating Nigeria's history and artistic achievement.
Smithsonian Blog--Remembering "The Beautiful Time" at the Natural History Museum
In Sammy Baloji’s native Congo, the mid-20th century is wistfully remembered as la belle époque, or the beautiful time. This brief moment of universal prosperity is memorialized in “The Beautiful Time: Photography by Sammy Baloji,” now on view at the Natural History Museum.
Glasstire Texas--"El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa" at The Blanton Museum of Art
The retrospective exhibition, When I Last Wrote to You About Africa at The Blanton Museum of Art in Austin is an extraordinary glimpse at the breadth of El Anatsui’s work since the mid-1970s, long before he brilliantly began stitching bottle tops together in 2002. The selection of work and extremely well executed installation at The Blanton reintroduces an artist many of us might think we already know.
The Wall Street Journal--Globetrotter's Goal: Extend New York's Museum Mile
Mannie Jackson, who was born in a boxcar and went on to travel the world as owner of the Harlem Globetrotters, has given $5 million to the Museum for African Art for its new Fifth Avenue building, scheduled to open in late 2012.
Time Out New York--Three New NYC Museums
Museum Mile will get a bit longer later this year when the Museum for African Art, previously housed in Long Island City, opens in a 90,000-square-foot space near Central Park's north end.
The Austin Chronicle: The art of El Anatsui charts the geography of Africa from then to now
In addition to calling attention to Africa's past and how it's changed, Anatsui is reclaiming part of it for the continent's future, transforming the worn, the disposable, the discarded, and the junked into gleaming splendors.
Discussing the Importance of African Art: The Michael Eric Dyson Show
If we’re honest about it, most of us don’t know a lot about African art, other than the few masks and ivory tusks we’ve seen in museums that are otherwise more focused on European art. But Elsie McCabe Thompson is out to change that.
Transcript: A Conversation With El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
Lisa Binder in discussion with El Anatsui at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin.
Economist--African visions: New York's first purpose-built museum since the Guggenheim
The organisation aims to transform itself from being a mere museum to becoming an African cultural centre, bringing together under one roof 18 other Africa-themed organisations offering dance, theatre and music.
NEXT|AFTER|THIS review of El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
"...If you haven't seen his works in person I suggest you do in Austin before the time has past to experience this contemporary art as well as African history of El Anatsui's symbols and myths."
Elsie McCabe Thompson on "Conversations with Allan Wolper"
You can now listen to Elsie McCabe Thompson's interview on WBGO JAZZ 88.3FM's "Conversations with Allan Wolper."
Wall Street Journal--"Reaching High on Upper 5th Avenue"
The Museum's Deputy Director & Chief Operating Officer, Kenita Lloyd was quoted in The Wall Street Journal on Friday October 21, 2011.
Fall Benefit 2011 Photos!
The Museum's first annual Fall Benefit and Silent Auction was a wonderful success at the the Museum's new home at 1280 Fifth Avenue!
Blanton shows retrospective of El Anatsui's works
"...striking, cohesive works of art that touch on local, global and personal histories from his west African culture."
Just posted! Videos made by the Museum's Youth Ambassadors Interns.
The Youth Ambassadors Internship Program participated in a digital media workshop taught by Veralyn Williams, and these videos are the resultant work.
Indianapolis Business Journal: Ife sculptures at IMA paint a thousand words
"While the Europeans were cloak-deep in their medieval period, the Ife were creating remarkable sculptures in copper alloy and terra cotta. And more than 100 of these pieces are on display at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s new show, “Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria.”
Nuvo: Dynasty and Divinity at IMA Review
"...delight in the wonderfully finished, elegant heads of royal personages, most often done in copper alloy; the terra-cotta models of animals and monsters, and primordial forms carved from granite."
Indianapolis Start Photo Gallery--Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria Exhibit Opens at IMA
Photos from yesterdays opening of Dynasty and Divinity at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Time Out New York--Museum News
"Big things are happening at museums around town—get a preview of four institutions that’ll make megachanges in the next few years."
H-Net Reviews--El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
The beautifully designed monograph, El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa, edited by Lisa M. Binder, assistant curator at the Museum for African Art, serves as the catalogue for an exhibit of the same name that she organized for the museum.
Artforum Critics' Pick--El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
"...the US debut of Anatsui's seminal touring retrospective dives deep past the artist's culturally representative status and other ambassadorial shallows to illuminate four decades of rich, manifold graphic and sculptural work."
The Bay State Banner--A Different Kind of Letter from Africa
"one of the most memorable museum shows in Greater Boston this year."
Learn why Elsie McCabe Thompson just won the Ford Foundation Visionary Award in this wonderful video about the vision of the Museum for African Art.
The Museum for African Art is one of only two major American museums devoted solely to African art, and it was Elsie McCabe Thompson"s singular determination that made possible the opening of a high-profile showplace for the museum"s collection.
The Ford Foundation awards President Elsie McCabe Thompson prestigious Visionary Award.
Elsie McCabe Thompson, is president of the Museum for African Art, one of the award recipients. The institution plans to open a permanent building on Fifth Avenue between 109th and 110th streets.
"Dynasty and Divinity" at the VMFA offers a glimpse of an ancient world-Style Weekly
"...some of the most important works of West African art ever shown in the United States."
The Boston Phoenix--El Anatsui Shows Why He's One of the Best
"...El Anatsui's art embodies and broadcasts his homeland, its nostalgia and bad memories, its beauty and trash, its history and dreams."
The Boston Phoenix--Slideshow: 'El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa' at the Davis Museum
"El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa" | Davis Museum | March 30–June 12, 2011
Inquiry: LISA FISCHMAN and LISA BINDER: the artist EL ANATSUI | WICN Public Radio
Tonight on Inquiry, we welcome LISA FISCHMAN, Director of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College and LISA BINDER, Associate Curator at the Museum For African Art in New York. They will be discussing the exhibition EL ANATSUI: WHEN I LAST WROTE TO YOU ABOUT AFRICA at the Davis till June 26. El Anatsui is a contemporary artist, born in Ghana but now based in Nigeria. His works are often created from found objects that are re-purposed through his labor-intensive processes. Some of his pieces are on a monumental scale and are draped like huge sculptural tapestries. Other works are more intimate. His work comments on the cultural, historical and spiritual traditions of West Africa while also dealing with global issues like consumerism and colonialism. This is the first major retrospective of this important artists work. For information on directions to museum, when the museum is open and other exhibitions, please go to: https://www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu/
Richmond Times-Dispatch--African past, U.S. future for Armstrong students
"...using African art — particularly VMFA's groundbreaking exhibit "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria" — as a means of broadening the students' view of what leadership means."
El Anatsui Teaser: Installation video of El Anatsui at the Davis Museum
Amazing video of the installation of El Anatsui at the Davis Museum at Wellesley.
Washington Post review of Dynasty & Divinity by Jason Edward Kaufman
"The sculpture of Ife changes ideas about African art...It's a game changer and is not to be missed."
NYTimes--Museum for African Art received $3 million gift from Ford Foundation
The Museum for African Art in New York has received a $3 million gift from the Ford Foundation toward the completion of its new home on Fifth Avenue, at 110th Street, which is scheduled to open in the fall, the museum said on Tuesday.
RVANews--Dynasty & Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria
The works, "seem to speak with a voiceless, haunting quality that must be experienced to be understood."
Richmond Magazine--Dynasty & Divinity
"... is a splendid exhibition of an art and people about whom we need to know more. Richmond is fortunate to have attained a slot in the six-city tour of the show and is the only place other than New York City where it will be seen on the East Coast."
NY Daily News--"How the Museum for African Art will change the uptown landscape"
"...the Museum for African Art at 1280 Fifth Ave. is a blessed building."
New York Magazine Guides--The New New Harlem
The 75,000-square-foot space debuts with a trio of exhibits including “Grass Roots,” which compares coiled baskets made in Africa and the American South. Until then, the museum is operating in a temporary space in Long Island City.
Imagining Africa: El Anatsui brings his metal tapestries to ROM
He turns the public into time-travelling tourists; in El Anatsui's adept hands, the present and future can be faced with renewed optimism.
Chicago Tribune--The pluralist: Robert A.M. Stern wins the Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture
Congratulations to our architect Robert Stern on this prestigious award!
Voice of America--Nigerian Ife Art on Display in Houston
"A collection of more than 100 items of African art is now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the first stop in a U.S. tour of rare art works from Nigeria's Ife region."
NOW Magazine-Message in a Bottle Cap (Anatsui review)
NOW magazine--"A vivid visual pleasure, those draped, large-scale bottle-cap “tapestries” – there are lots of them here – reference West African textile traditions and the continent’s creative reuse of metal, as well as commenting on the role of the liquor trade in colonialism."
Houston Press Capsule Review of Dynasty and Divinity
This is a wonderful show and a coup for the museum.
America.gov--Grass Roots review
Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art, an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, tells the story of the coiled sweetgrass baskets made by the Gullah/Geechee people of the southeastern United States — descendants of slaves brought from Africa 300 years ago.
Canadian Art--El Anatsui: Reshaping the Everyday
"...what comes across is Anatsui’s ability to animate, transform and reshape the everyday."
myETVmedia's Introduction to El Anatsui
African artist and sculptor, El Anatsui, premieres his 40 year career retrospective at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto, Canada and myETVmedia is there to revel in the beauty of his extraordinary pieces made up of found and recycled materials discarded by humans.
Houston Press--Faces of Ife
It not only feels like a crowd, it is crowded. "Dynasty and Divinity" is a wonderful show and a coup for the museum.
The Star--Life's shimmering jigsaw puzzle
The currant in my life’s cake is the gleaming El Anatsui curtains currently on show at the ROM, made of flattened liquor bottle caps that look like fish scales on a skin that ripples across the walls. Pure beauty.
Toronto Life--The One Thing You Should See This Week-El Anatsui at the ROM
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, especially for El Anatsui. When the Ghanaian artist came across a bag of discarded liquor bottle tops in 2002, the fortuitous discovery enriched an already fertile body of work by drawing a direct connection between Anatsui’s materials, his art and his people’s history.
The Link Radio Network--Excellent Piece about El Anatsui
On the Link today we look at the work of Ghanaian visual artist El Anatsui who turns junk into awe-inspiring sculptures.
Majesty, serenity and suffering from Ife's golden age on Next.com
When the German explorer Leo Frobenius went on an expedition to West Africa 100 years ago and discovered beautiful terracotta sculptures and brass heads from Ife, he thought he had found Plato's lost city of Atlantis.
El Anatsui Offers A Golden Getaway at the ROM--Torontoist
As we dive into autumn and find our days getting shorter and darker, you may find yourself in need of a warm and golden presence. Luckily, the ROM's new exhibition is the antidote to gloom.
The Star--El Anatsui: finding the meaning of junk
Artist with new ROM show can turn almost anything into engaging works
The Globe and Mail--El Anatsui's shimmering echoes of a painful past
El Anatsui thinks it’s apt that Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum is the premiere venue for a major retrospective of his work that will be touring North America over the next three years.
Faces of kings: Get in a staredown with ancient African art in a MFAH U.S. first
Some art you look at. Some art looks back at you.
Ife art wows the United States on Next
After successful showings in Spain and Britain, the touring exhibition, ‘Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria', has berthed in the US.
El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa - October 2, 2010 - January 2, 2011
The exhibition is a 40-year career retrospective of Ghanaian visual artist El Anatsui and will be his first solo exhibition in Canada.
Wall Street Journal--A Royal Head in a New Exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston
"Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria" displays cooper busts enearthed in 1938.
The Curated Object: Desert Jewels at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
The rich array of baubles, bangles, and beads on display here may contain precious few precious stones, but their wealth (both monetarily and culturally) is undeniable.
Grass Roots review by NEA Intern on arts.gov
In the Grass Roots exhibit, Mary Jackson’s extraordinary baskets take their place among several generations of equally ambitious and time consuming designs. Each takes time and patience to create, from the cutting and peeling of the grass blades to the intricate twisting, tucking and weaving of the leaves. The result is a patterned and often multi-colored assemblage combining durability and design: a rice fanner, a fruit basket, a hat.
Houston Chronicle Review: Amazing realism of Ife
Ancient Nigerian city's treasures reveal sophistication in U.S. debut.
Photos of Museum event at Saks on essence.com!
At Saks Fifth Avenue for the Museum for African Art evening of art and shopping.
Culturemap.com--Opening of "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria"
No other exhibition could give justice to the newly reinstalled African galleries at the MFAH like this show, the U.S. debut of more than 100 extraordinary copper, terra cotta and stone sculptures that were uncovered in the 1910s and 1930s in present-day Southwest Nigeria.
Artnet.com--Ife as one of "Top Twenty Shows" in U.S. Museums
Sophisticated brass, terra-cotta and stone sculptures -- 100 in all -- ranging in date from the ninth to the 15th centuries, in a show organized by the Museum for African Art, New York, and the Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain, in collaboration with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments
MFA Houston Hosts U.S. Debut of the Critically Acclaimed Exhibition "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria"
100 Masterful Sculptures Illuminate Legendary Ancient Kingdom
Jewels of North Africa--The Jewelry Loupe
Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, a director of the Paris-based fashion empire, spent three decades collecting North African jewelry and photography, and the creme of his collection is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Afro News--El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
World Premiere of Contemporary African Artist’s Work at the ROM
Economist article about Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria
Magnificent Mysteries: Ancient West African treasures embark on a journey round America
Artdaily.org--Desert Jewels at Philadelphia Museum of Art
For thousands of years, North Africa, a region that comprises the modern nations of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Egypt, has been a crossroads for trade and the transmission of cultural influences from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. This exhibition explores the richly diverse artistic heritage of North Africa through the presentation of a group of extraordinary works of the jeweler’s art collected over the course of three decades by Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, of the Paris-based fashion empire. Including 93 pieces of jewelry complemented by 28 late 19th- and early 20th-century images by photographers who were captivated by the allure of North Africa, Desert Jewels (September 4 – December 5, 2010) features ornate necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings, many of which have not been publicly displayed before this exhibition.
NYTimes Article, "Pulling Museum Mile Uptown"
Mrs. Thompson is preparing to open the museum’s new $95 million home on upper Fifth Avenue next spring.
Ife Exhibition Press after London Opening
Dynasty and Divnity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria also known as Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa has been getting phenominal reviews after its opening at the British Museum in London.
NEA grants Museum $50,000 for Dogon Now: Masks in Motion
This grant was awarded to support the touring exhibition Dogon Now: Masks in Motion, with accompanying catalogue and education programs. The exhibition will present and interpret the evolution of Dogon (Mali) mask dancers and sculpture that have, over the years, assimilated modernity into traditional forms.
NEH awards Museum its second $500,000 Construction Grant
The NEH just announced its second $500,000 grant to the Museum for "direct costs of fit-out of newly constructed Museum for African Art building."
Ife--One of Telegraph.co.uk's "Key art exhibitions of 2010"
Ife is "potentially the exhibition of the year" says Richard Dormant of Telegraph.co.uk. The Museum's Ife exhibition opens at the British Museum in March.
Video of The Pervasive Echo by Ruth Sacks, Presented by the Museum for African Art
A re-examination of the 19th-century pehnomenon that was Jenny Lind, a singer also known as the "the Swedish Nightingale," in which a fragment of Lind's inaugural concert in America was restaged under unusual circumstances at the same site where she gave this historic concert 159 years ago. Presented by the Museum for African Art.
New York Times Profile of Museum President Elsie McCabe Thompson
New York Times reporter Fernanda Santos writes a profile about Museum's President Elsie McCabe Thompson as the wife of mayoral candidate, Bill Thompson.
Empire BlueCross BlueShield Launches "Art Heals" Program with Museum for African Art, Greater New York Hospital Association
Empire BlueCross BlueShield, The Museum for African Art, and the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) present “Art Heals,” a unique program that will bring African art to nearly 100 New York hospitals this fall.
NEH grants Museum $350,000 for Dogon Now: Masks in Motion
The National Endowment of the Humanities has granted the Museum for African Art a $350,000 Implementation Grant for Dogon Now: Masks in Motion. This exhibition will bring over 100 objects together to bring to life the performative experience of Dogon masquerade as a living and dynamic tradition that continues to evolve at the turn of the 21st century. It will open at the Museum's new home on Museum Mile in 2012.
Dynasty and Divinity--International Press
UPDATED--8.12.09 Dynasty and Divninty: Ife in Ancient Nigeria continues to receive press in North America, Europe and Africa while it finishes its time in Santander and prepares to open in Madrid in September.
Immigrants: Africans in New York online publication now available!
The groundbreaking symposium Immigrants: Africans in New York is now available, in part, to Museum for African Art website users.
Celebrate Congo! Workshops presented by the Museum for African Art and Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo hosts ten days of art workshops in collaboration withthe Museum for African Art.
Major Exhibition Illuminates Culture and Civilization of Ife, Ancient African City-State
Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, a landmark exhibition devoted to the art of Ife, the ancient city-state of the Yoruba people of West Africa (in present-day southwestern Nigeria), begins its international tour at the Fundación Marcelino Botín, in Santander, Spain, on June 17, 2009.
Spring 2009 Gala Photos!
The Museum's 25th anniversary annual silent auction and benefit dinner was a wonderful success at Guastavino's this year!
El Anatsui featured in New York Times T Magazine
Today Alexi Worth of the New York Times published an article entitled "A Thousand Bottles" about El Anatsui in the Style Section. You can read it here. The Museum for African Art is presenting the restrospective El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa as one of its inaugural exhibitions in its new building.
NEA grants Museum $100,000 for El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa
On November 28, 2008, the Museum for African Art was awarded a grant of $100,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to partially support its upcoming retrospective exhibition of the work of Ghanaian-born sculptor El Anatsui, with an accompanying catalogue.
El Anatsui Exhibition Receives Support from Warhol and NYSCA
The Museum for African Art recently received support for its highly anticipated inaugural exhibition, El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa, which is set to debut in the Museum’s new building on Museum Mile.
Two Popular Lecture Series Receive Additional Funding
In August, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) awarded the Museum’s two popular lecture series, Time Lines: New Perspectives on Contemporary and Traditional African Art and Conversations with a Continent, $5,000 for the continuation of these programs. This is NYSCA’s second year supporting these series.
PRESS RELEASE: Desert Jewels
Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection
An exhibition of spectacular jewelry and historic photographs from the North African nations of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia opens to the public on October 10 at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection presents approximately 80 never before exhibited pieces of stunning North African jewelry and 27 late 19th- and early 20th-century photographs by some of the period’s most prominent photographers. Desert Jewels is organized by the Museum for African Art in New York and is sponsored by Merrill Lynch.
PRESS RELEASE: Grass Roots
Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art, a highly anticipated exhibition created by the Museum for African Art in New York, opens on August 29, 2008 at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, and runs through November 30, 2008. Through the story of the beautiful coiled basket, Grass Roots revisits the history of the southeastern United States and demonstrates the enduring contribution of African people and culture to American life. Featuring over two hundred objects, including baskets made in Africa and the American South, African sculptures, paintings from the Charleston Renaissance, historic photography, and new video, the exhibition follows the history of the coiled basket on two continents and shows how a simple farm tool once used for processing rice has become a work of art and an important symbol of African-American identity.
Awarded $100,000 from MetLife Foundation
The Museum for African Art is honored to have been awarded a grant at the $100,000 level.