August 2018-June 2020: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday, 10
a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, 12-4 p.m. Second Friday of the month, 10 a.m.
to 8 p.m. This special installation, drawn from the
SCMA collection, traces the unique histories of over twenty of the
Museum's most important works of African art. New research has connected
artists with objects that were previously unattributed, while the roles
of
collectors and donors are examined in conjunction with the objects' own
cultural histories and meanings. The Smith College Museum of Art began
collecting African art in 1939, with the acquisition of a ceremonial axe
made by the Luba people in the present-day
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, the collection has grown
to over two hundred pieces of sculpture, textile, painting, photography
and video. Dating primarily to the 20th and 21st centuries, the
collection continues to expand in the areas of photography,
mixed media and video as well as sculptural objects. Object
Histories was
curated by Susan E. Kart, Smith class of 1996, Assistant Professor of
the Arts of Africa, Lehigh University. The installation was supported
by SCMA members and donors to the
museum's 2015 Annual Appeal.
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