The Arts of Africa

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Over 250 works spanning more than 2,500 years represent art from the African continent in the Museum's first-floor galleries. Additional related art from ancient Egypt and Islamic North Africa can be found in the second- and third-floor galleries. Th... more
Over 250 works spanning more than 2,500 years represent art from the African continent in the Museum's first-floor galleries. Additional related art from ancient Egypt and Islamic North Africa can be found in the second- and third-floor galleries. The art on view in the first-floor galleries ranges from ancient Nubian pottery and sculpture, Berber jewelry, and West African masks to East African beadwork, Ethiopian processional crosses, and a contemporary ceramic vessel by the Kenya-born artist Magdalene Odondo. The main focus of the African collections is on sculpture from West and Central Africa. The gallery is arranged geographically, as if the viewer were moving across Africa—first from west to east and then, as the gallery turns, from north to south. The gallery seeks to celebrate the creative artistic genius of African artists by presenting exceptional examples of their work. At the same time it tries to help the viewer understand the cultural context in which these pieces were made and used. The groupings reflect stylistic relationships among objects produced in individual cultures as well as relationships among the diverse cultures found in Africa. Labels and panels describe... more

Over 250 works spanning more than 2,500 years represent art from the African continent in the Museum's first-floor galleries. Additional related art from ancient Egypt and Islamic North Africa can be found in the second- and third-floor galleries. The art on view in the first-floor galleries ranges from ancient Nubian pottery and sculpture, Berber jewelry, and West African masks to East African beadwork, Ethiopian processional crosses, and a contemporary ceramic vessel by the Kenya-born artist Magdalene Odondo. The main focus of the African collections is on sculpture from West and Central Africa.

The gallery is arranged geographically, as if the viewer were moving across Africa—first from west to east and then, as the gallery turns, from north to south. The gallery seeks to celebrate the creative artistic genius of African artists by presenting exceptional examples of their work. At the same time it tries to help the viewer understand the cultural context in which these pieces were made and used. The groupings reflect stylistic relationships among objects produced in individual cultures as well as relationships among the diverse cultures found in Africa. Labels and panels describe the role that art plays in African life, while photographs and videos illustrate how, in many of these societies, art continues to transmit the traditions and values that have sustained African peoples for thousands of years.

Among the most famous pieces on view in the gallery are a figure of a hornblower, cast in brass for the king of Benin in the 16th century, and an ivory gong also made for the royal court in Benin at about the same time. A seventeenth-century figure of a Kuba king is the only one from that period in North America, and a Luluwa mother-and-child figure is world-renowned. The gallery also shows textiles, ceramics, jewelry, masks, and figures from more than 50 different cultures.


Drag the street view to look around 360°.
Use the arrow buttons to navigate down the street and around the neighborhood!

Brooklyn Museum

200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11238
(718) 638-5000

Admission From

Free

Category

Arts

Other Arts Events

Planet Heart's 16th Annual World Peace Earth Day Celebration & Benefit 2024

Come join us as we embark on a collective journey of awakening and transformatio... view

Jenny Holzer: Light Line

This exhibition will present a reimagination of Jenny Holzer’s landmark 1989 ins... view

FAD Market at Brooklyn Brewery

FAD Market’s thrilled to return to the iconic Brooklyn Brewery this spring, cont... view

Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

The Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening F... view

 

Suneil Sanzgiri: Here the Earth Grows Gold

How do we live through and narrate moments of revolution and revolt, and how do ... view

Historic House Trust of NYC Founders Award Gala 2024

Join the Historic House Trust of New York City for an evening to remember at Gra... view

Thannhauser Modern Art Collection at the Guggenheim

The Thannhauser Collection, formed by the collector and art dealer Justin K. Tha... view

Crafting the Ballets Russes: The Robert Owen Lehman Collection

Robert Owen Lehman’s extraordinary collection of music manuscripts has been an i... view