Future Exhibitions

African Forms
30 January - 14 March 2003

African Forms is the first American exhibition to examine handcrafted objects over a broad stylistic range from Algeria and Morocco in the north to Namibia and South Africa. More than 400 objects from throughout the continent will be displayed in the show which reveals the care and creativity devoted to household possessions, weapons, jewelry, textiles, musical instruments, and devotional items. Their creators used amazingly diverse materials, ranging from bronze, iron, and silver to ivory, bone, wood, glass, clay, hide, silk, cotton, horn, shell, raffia, and other fibers, to fashion these objects.

Curator Frank Herreman, who organized the exhibition at the Museum for African Art in New York, worked closely with collector Marc Ginzberg, the founder of that groundbreaking institution. Together they chose objects that expand viewers' appreciation of African art beyond the figurative sculptures and masks that are traditionally highlighted in such exhibitions. Expert craftsmanship and design principles can be seen in these less familiar works of art which not only delight but, in many cases, astonish the viewer with their imaginative and technical brilliance. Ginzberg notes in the catalogue's introduction: "In the vast array of useful objects that have emerged from Africa, we have a resource of designs and patterns that can be applied in our own cultures. We also have a textbook on the integration of the material life into the spiritual life, and we have a panoply of beauty that surprises the eye. The images before us are startling and delightful."

Besides having an aesthetic impact, the works in the exhibition were designed to serve a true function, as furniture, personal adornment, tools, and so forth. That use has significantly contributed to their inherent beauty. In her New York Times review of African Forms, critic Roberta Smith writes, "Few African peoples neglected the expressive opportunities implicit in the creation of handmade objects, no matter how basic.... Many objects for daily use were produced by the same artists who were making masks and figures; they were usually commissioned and were owned and used by a single individual. Their forms adhered to local styles, like the low stools with three disc-like legs of the Kamba people of Kenya. They communicated both cultural tradition and personal status.... Two huge bright red berets, one made of human hair, the other of cotton, were specifically the accessories of married Zulu women. This is a beautiful show, with much of that beauty emanating not only from the recurring elegance of the forms, but also from the patina of human use, especially in the objects made of wood or hide."

Baskets Zambian (rotse)

While the exhibition is drawn primarily from the vast holdings of Marc and Denise Ginzberg, it also includes objects collected by Gilbert and Roda Graham. Following an exhibition of the Grahams' African textiles at Mount Holyoke in the spring of 1997, they presented a selection of those works to the museums at Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Amherst. Several of these are featured in African Forms and, even more importantly, will remain in the permanent collections of these area museums after the close of the show.

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