NJ/NY REGIONAL MUSEUMS OF AFRICAN ART

In Motion: The African American Migration Experience - This Black History month exhibit displayed both online and at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, depicts African American migrations over five centuries and actually received 3 million hits on its first day. Rutgers own Mike Siegel, a geography department cartographer, produced more than 50 maps that vividly illustrate mass movements of African Americans in search of political freedom, economic opportunity and cultural enrichment. Carl Blesch's article "Rutgers mapmaker contributes to New York Public Library black history exhibit" published in Rutgers Focus further describes this stunning exhibit. Enjoy!

The African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers - The Society of African Missions has established an art museum containing objects collected and commissioned by missionaries in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. 23 Bliss Avenue, Tenafly, NJ 07670. (201) 894-8611.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The African component of the permanent exhibit, "The Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas," showcases a collection that covers a large geographical area, from western Sudan south and east through central and southern Africa. The works of art include figurative and architectural sculpture, masks, seats of leadership, staff of office, ceremonial vessels, and personal ornaments. While wood is the primary medium, objects made of stone, terracotta, gold, silver, and ivory are also present, as are textiles and beadwork. Check back often with the Met's website for timely information on new African exhibitions.

The Museum for African Art - The Museum for African Art is dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of African art and culture. The museum is recognized worldwide as the pre-eminent organizer of exhibitions and publishers of books devoted exclusively to historical and contemporary African art. The Museum is preparing for an important transformation -- relocating from their temporary space at 36-01 43rd Avenue, Long Island City, NY to their permanent home in a new building at Fifth Avenue and East 110th Street, NY. Here, where New York’s Museum Mile meets the Latino, African and African-American communities of Harlem at the top of Central Park at Duke Ellington Circle, the museum will find its place within the richly diverse cultural landscape that distinguishes our city and nation.

Newark Museum - The Newark museum's African collection dates to the Museum's founder, John Cotton Dana, who traveled in North Africa. The collection includes Yoruba sculpture, ceramics, baskets and metal arts, and a notable collection of cloth. The museum's outreach to teachers is very good and includes an educational loan collection of objects and artifacts that can be used in the classroom.

The Studio Museum of Harlem - The Studio Museum in Harlem is a contemporary art museum that focuses on the work of artists of African descent locally, nationally, and globally, as well as work that has been inspired and influenced by African-American culture. The museum is committed to providing a context within which to address the contemporary and historical issues presented through art created by artists of African descent.

OTHER MUSEUMS OF AFRICAN ART

Sherbro Exhibit - The University of Pennsylvania Museum (UPM) has engaged in archaeological and ethnographic research and collecting in Africa since the late 19th century. The UPM's African Collection, which dates back to the late 19th Century, consists of more than 10,000 artifacts from all regions of the continent. Some of these artifacts are on a permanent exhibition to the public. The rest are available to approved scholars by appointment.

Africa Museum (Belgium) - In order to arouse public interest in the Congo Free State King Leopold II had a major exhibition organized in 1897 on the country and its importance for Belgium. From 1898 onwards the scientific mission of the Museum became its main task and because of the rapid growth of scientific collections from Central Africa, the need for a new and bigger building was felt very soon.

The Rock Art Archive of South Africa - In association with the University of the Witwatersrand and the Bradshaw Foundation

UPenn: African Gallery - These resources are provided by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The majority of objects in this gallery come from the colonial period of Africa's history.

African Music Resources - While there is a lot of different music, one of mankind's biggest passions is the music of Africa. This site gives you a menu of articles, reviews, artists, and labels.

African Art (UVA) - African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning. This electronic exhibition catalog contains a number of photographs from the Bayly Art Museum's recent exhibition of African art. Related materials to be offered in the future include an exhibition of African masks.

Art and Life in Africa Project (Christopher Roy & L. Lee McIntyre) - This is a CD-ROM based program on African art, based on The Stanley Collection at The University of Iowa Museum of Art and supplemented by additional images from important collections across the country organized on the theme of "Art and Life in Africa". Objects will be placed in the context for which they were created in the lives of African peoples. (Christopher Roy & L. Lee McIntyre)

Egypt and Art (Richard Deurer) - This site includes comprehensive resources of photographs on some of the ancient Egyptian monuments and artifacts; pictures and descriptions of the gods and some of the most frequently used symbols; Glossary of Egyptian Mythology, Hieroglyphs, and Egyptian Kings.

G.I. Jones Photographic Archive of Southeast Nigerian Art and Culture - An online archive of over 300 photographs of Southeastern Nigerian Art. The photos were taken in the 1930s by the late Dr. G.I. Jones of the University of Cambridge. Most of the images capture Igbo masquerades in performance. They are of interest to any student of Nigerian ethnology or art history. Online archives created this summer while conducting research with the Jones materials archived at Cambridge.

Sukuma Museum of Tanzania (Mark H.C. Bessire) - The Sukuma people of Tanzania live in an area called Usukuma which is located to the west and south of Lake Victoria. This web site provides series of articles and pictures that documents different issues of Sukuma culture.

SUNO's African Art Project - Over half of the SUNO Foundation collection relates specifically to the art and culture of Zaire and was donated by Drs. William and Jane Bertrand. In 1979 artist and collector Ida Kohlmeyer donated 43 African art pieces. Pascal Imperato donated fourteen African art objects from Mali in 1993 and its most recent acquisition has been the Povey Collection of African textiles.

Akan Cultural Symbols Project - The focus of this project is to utilize the pictograms and ideograms encoded in the arts of the Akan to decode some aspects of the history, beliefs, social organizations, social relations, and other ideas of the Akan of Ghana.

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art - As a leading center for the visual arts of Africa, the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) fosters and sustains--through exhibitions, collections, research, and public programs—an interest in and an understanding of the diverse cultures in Africa as these are embodied in aesthetic achievements in the visual arts.

World Art Treasures - This illustrated "Pilgrimage to Abydos", tries to retrace for the user the very perception and emotions of the pilgrimage undertaken by Seti I himself and his people some 3300 years ago, and which is at the origin of the temple of Abydos, a grandiose ex-voto open once and then closed forever.

Universes in Universe - A comprehensive list of links to online exhibitions, projects, symposiums, research, and publications focusing on various regions throughout Africa and the world.