National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Name: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Address: 950 Independence Avenue, Washington D.C., DC, 20560, US
Telephone: +12026334600
Rating: 4.7

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National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Open every say 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except for Tuesdays
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09/30/2023

Community Day is on! Join us today for curator led tours, fashion showcases, drummers circles, hair workshops, food tasting & dancing into the night.

07/07/2023

Join our Workshop Series with Khalid Thompson

Afro abstraction, creating the moment, intuitive painting and drawing, expressionism

RSVP via link in bio and follow us on Eventbrite for the latest info about our upcoming events ☝🏿

07/01/2023

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️We at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art () acknowledge and celebrate all artists working to represent + centered stories.

Under the leadership of curator Kevin D. Dumouchelle (), we are thrilled to announce the development of a new exhibition and publication featuring out artists whose artwork and often intimately connected activist practices are connected to their identities and
experiences as LGBTQ+ individuals.

Centering the voices of LGBTQ+ artist activists making work about their identity in and about Africa, this project seeks to build upon narratives and actions that confirm the existence, longevity, breadth, and dynamism of LGBTQ+ communities in Africa and its global diaspora. It also hopes to help strengthen and extend networks of communication and collaboration between and among artists and activists.

Kevin has an exciting—and growing!—list of confirmed and potential collaborators and looks forward to sharing more as the project develops. (And, to that end, he also welcomes any tips or suggestions for voices that should not be overlooked. Share below, or tag him directly.)

While 2023 may be concluding, we are bringing the spirit of forward into our work in the years to come. Watch this space. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

***
Imaged (from the collection) – work by , , , and

06/28/2023

The Joy of African Movements
Mentally and physically recharge Saturday mornings using a variety of ancient and contemporary African practices.
RSVP via link in bio and follow us on Eventbrite for the latest info about our upcoming events ☝🏿

06/21/2023

Celebrate the first Saturday of summer with us!

Solstice Saturday kicks off with NMAFA's Sounds of Africa concert series celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop!
Come and enjoy an afternoon of music, tours, and traditional African games.
Beverages, food, and fun await.
Museum store is open until 10 p.m., and all galleries are open until midnight!

Solstice Saturday
June 24, 2023
5:30 p.m.–midnight
National Museum of African Art

Register here : https://t.ly/yDQ2
For the latest info about upcoming events, follow us on EventBrite

06/09/2023

Art-based therapy, emotional wellness, self-expression, and healing

RSVP via link in bio and follow us on Eventbrite for the latest info about our upcoming events ☝🏿

05/31/2023

🧵 This gourd container has a hand-sewn bamboo extension on its mouth and lid allowing it to seal shut.

It was used for selling to***co in the market.

🔎Container with lid, late 20th century, Undetermined artist, Kaolack, Senegal

05/30/2023

05/29/2023

This is one of those moments when art depicts moments in history.

🖼️ The painting depicts the events of the morning of November 24, 1964 at the airport in Stanleyville (now Kisangani) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city was under the control of the Simbas, rebel forces that held a large number of hostages, both foreign and locals, for 111 days.

🇨🇩 The central government in Kinshasa had requested outside help and the response was Operation Dragon Rouge which included an American aircraft and Belgian paratroopers. The paratroopers were to open the airstrip blocked by water filled oil drums so that planes could land and airlift out the hostages. Fighting was more intense than anticipated but the mission was accomplished.

🛬 The scene at the airport became a staple of local genre painting. Details of the fight vary depending on whether the artist and patrons favor the political stance of the central government or the rebel forces but the general composition and subject remain the same.

🔎"Air Drop of Paratroopers on Stanleyville," 1964-1979, Wande F., Democratic Republic of the Congo

05/28/2023

🐂 Buffaloes may not be the the kings of the forest, but they are still majestic!

👑 The image of the bushcow is associated with Dahomey's King Ghezo (1828-1858). Families claiming descent from the king would use the bushcow image on ancestral altars.

🙅🏾‍♂️ This object was supposedly owned by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds, the French general who defeated the armies of the Kingdom of Dahomey under King Béhanzin, and seized the palace in Abomey.

🔎 Figure of a buffalo, late 19th century,Fon artist, Abomey, Benin

05/27/2023

Saturdays are for 😴

🔎 Helmet mask, Igbo artist, Nigeria

05/26/2023

We're almost halfway through the year!

What art wins are you celebrating?

05/25/2023

Happy Africa Day everyone! Be like and visit our museum today. You can also visit any other day of the week!

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05/23/2023

➕ A true masterwork of abstract, geometric shapes, this stylized human form once guarded ancestral bones preserved in large baskets.

👀 While the transverse crest of the coiffure and the large concave face are striking, the most unique feature is the small face on the back. Perhaps the ritual efficacy of the figure was better with two pairs of eyes. Because metal was a precious material, the metal surface on this figure serves as both an offering of wealth and a tangible metaphor for diverting harm.

🔎 Reliquary guardian figure, late 19th-early 20th century, Gabon

05/22/2023

Three's a crowd?

🖼️ We're loving this Tingatinga painting by Edward Saidi Tingatinga, founder of the school of art.

🎨 The patterns are influenced by the patterns of factory print cloth, and their cursive nature of decorative patterns may be traced to Swahili art and calligraphy.

🔎 Conger Birds, 1972, Edward Saidi Tingatinga, Tanzania

05/21/2023

🧸 These dolls were given to young girls as toys.

🤰🏾Adult women who wished to become pregnant or who wished to assure the birth of a healthy and beautiful child carried the figure in their wrapper.

🔎 Female figure, mid-20th century, Fante artist, Ghana

05/20/2023

🖼️ This brightly colored, abstract painting illustrates artist Uche Okeke's mastery of modernist forms and techniques that he skillfully adapts to address local themes--in this case, masked spirit dancers that appear at funerals.

🇳🇬 As a major proponent of Natural Synthesis, an artistic manifesto designed by the Zaria Rebels which he helped found, Okeke turned to his knowledge of Igbo culture to create a viable synthesis of tradition-based and modernist artistic forms.

Where would you hang this gorgeous piece of art?

🔎 Ana Mmuo (Land of the Dead), 1961, Uche Okeke, Nigeria

05/19/2023

💎 Pendants, worn on the hips, display a variety of human and animal images.

👑 As shown in the pendant, in Benin art, as well as in contemporary court ceremonies, an oba is frequently seen flanked and supported by two attendants.

🔎 Pendant, mid-16th to mid-17th century, Edo artist, Nigeria

05/17/2023

is sitting pretty and we love it! 🙌🏾 😍

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05/16/2023

📸 Say cheese!

🔎 Camera, Nigeria

05/15/2023

🔙 Travel with us to 19th century present day Congo where Bwami sculptures are being used as proverb images illustrating the principles of moral perfection.

🙂 The name and precise meaning of this head is not known, but its features can be interpreted. The smooth, luminous bald head covered with a cap of cowrie shells, for example, represents a high-ranking Bwami elder who has, through successive initiations, achieved supreme wisdom.

🚫 Sculptures like this are rare because the Bwami society was outlawed in 1948, owing to the Belgian colonial government's misunderstanding of its beliefs and aspirations. Beginning in 1910, the Belgians also sporadically imposed a ban on elephant ivory, a primary raw material for Lega art. Theft or intentional destruction of hundreds of ivory carvings are a further cause of their rarity.

🔎 Head, early to mid-20th century, Lega artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo

05/13/2023

👨🏾 Meet Eshu (also known as Elegba), the divine messenger and an agent for change.

🛑 Often referred to as a trickster, Eshu is present wherever there is a possibility for change or conflict i.e. the market, crossroads, home doorways. The dance staff carried by his worshippers usually features a male figure with a hook formed by a long hairstyle, a sign of sexuality and spiritual potency.

🐚 The second face on the tail of the coiffure suggests his pervasive power and presence, as well as the contradictions in his character. Along the crest of the hair are depictions of gourd medicine containers. The cowrie shells and indigo dye refer to wealth, often a cause of change and dispute.

🔎 Staff, late 19th to mid-20th century, Yoruba artist, Nigeria

05/12/2023

You picked the perfect reading spot ! 🙌🏾 😍

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05/11/2023

A forest is made up of more than one tree. We achieve more with unity.

05/10/2023

🖼️ This painting features architectural motifs taken from the facade of the cathedral in Lubumbashi, which was influenced by the neo-Romanesque St. Andrew's Abbey Church in Brugge, Belgium.

🎨 In the late 1920s, a Belgian colonial official provided paper, colored pencils, brushes and watercolors to several local men. Convinced that they were self-taught and expressing spontaneous manifestations of an African sensibility, the works were exhibited in Europe from 1929-1931. However, far from the romanticized, purely African society that the colonial imagined, the works exhibited evidence of the hybridity of the African colonial experience, with such "non-African" items as umbrellas and bicycles, or as seen here, a European-inspired church in Lubumbashi.

⛪ One of the most prolific artists in this group was Tshyela Ntendu, known to his patrons as Djilatendo. This work, "L'église," or "Church," demonstrates his playful, colorful style, which charmed foreign collectors and fascinated European artists involved with the movement known as Surrealism. The lack of documentation available for Djilatendo, or other prolific artists of his time, is a reminder of how little has been written about the painters, sculptors, illustrators and photographers who worked in African cities in the first few decades of the twentieth century.

🔎 L'église (Church), ca. 1930, Djilatendo, Democratic Republic of the Congo

05/09/2023

👀 Have you visited our new exhibition, "From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson?"

🌊 Inspired by the legend of Drexciya, the exhibition brings to life an immersive, feminist, and sacred aquatopia where African water spirits from Senegal to South Africa both midwife, protect the Drexciyans.

🚢 Jackson uses her own body to convey her message and actively engages in what it might have meant to be among the estimated two million captives who were thrown overboard or jumped voluntarily into the ocean during the transatlantic slave trade.

🔎It is only when you lose your mother that she becomes a myth, 2020, Ayana V. Jackson

05/08/2023

👩🏾‍🦱 Hair styling inspiration anyone? Wood masks whitened with kaolin like this one have been observed among among the Shira, Lumbo, Vuvi, Sango and Punu peoples in south and south central Gabon and southwestern Republic of the Congo since the late 19th century.

👺 It's called the mukudj and has variant names in different geographical locations. The masks appeared in masquerades during funeral celebrations, when masked male dancers on stilts, concealed under fiber costumes, performed acrobatic feats. Contemporary Punu prominently display the masks in their homes as a sign of ethnic identity and wear mukudj masks made specially for performances that celebrate a number of events.

⚪ The sculptor carefully gave the mask feminine attributes such as the hairstyle and scarification patterns on the forehead and temples. The white color, however, is genderless: it symbolizes the afterlife and the spirits of the dead.

🔎 Face mask, late 19th-early 20th century, Punu artist, Congo, Ngounié or Nyanga Province, Gabon

05/05/2023

The Baye Fall are members of the Mouride brotherhood, followers of Sheikh Ibra Tall, the 1st disciple of Sheikh Amadu Bamba.

Distinguished by their patchwork costume, long dreadlocks and club (xiir), they combine the roles of police, directing the crowds at the annual pilgrimage and begging for alms.

🔎 Le Baye Fall, 1984, Alexis Ngom, Senegal

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Videos

Flashback to the first look of our new exhibition, "From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson”. This exhibition marks Ayana V. Jackson's first major institutional solo exhibition and first-time creating costumes, presenting a whole new body of work. Inspired by Drexciya’s legend, Jackson’s work elaborate on this beautiful, tragic myth. She brings to life an immersive, feminist, and sacred Aquatopia where African water spirits from Senegal to South Africa both midwife and protect the Drexciyans. #marianeibrahimgallery #ayanavjackson #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #AfricanDiaspora #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #WashingtonDC #DC #DMV

The making of From the Deep-In the Wake of Drexciya with @ayanavjackson 🎙️Here's an excerpt from EP4 of the From the Deep-In the Wake of Drexciya with @ayanavjackson exhibition podcast series. Get the scoop on how to exhibition came to life and the lessons we can take from it. Link in bio for full episode ☝🏿 With @ayanavjackson @siyabangena22 @erantahor @zweli_mbalo Editor: @mammasibiya #Podcast #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #AfricanDiaspora #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #DC #DMV #DMVEVENTS

The making of From the Deep-In the Wake of Drexciya with @ayanavjackson

🎙️In EP 2 of the podcast series, Ayana V Jackson shares how she came to work with the National Museum of African Art and the process that brought the exhibition to life. Link in bio for full episode ☝🏿 With @ayanavjackson @siyabangena22 @erantahor @zweli_mbalo Editor: @mammasibiya #Podcast #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

🌊 "What Will the Water Tell Us," an excerpt from @ayanavjackson's exhibition "From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson?" 🖼️ The exhibition is currently on view. All works are from the collection of the artist, courtesy Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, and were produced between 2018 and 2022. Unless otherwise noted, they are archival pigment prints on German Etching paper. 🔎 What Will the Water Tell Us, Ayana V. Jackson #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #AfricanDiaspora #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #DC #DMV #Photography #Mother #AyanaVJackson #Exhibition #FromTheDeep #History

A forest is made up of more than one tree. We achieve more with unity. #NMAFAMoments #NMAFA

📅 Mark your calendars! Tune in for a video viewing on May 11, as @ayanavjackson dives in to explore the history and inspiration behind the exhibition From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya. Here, her artworks bring to life an African, women-led aquatopia founded during the Middle Passage. 🤝🏾 This video originally presented at the Claiming Space Symposium (2022) and is part of the Smithsonian Afrofuturism series, a collaboration of the National Museum of African Art, National Air and Space Museum, and National Museum of African American History and Culture. 🔎She Declined to Dance Naked with the Ship’s Captain, Ayana V. Jackson #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #AfricanDiaspora #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #DC #DMV #Photography #Mother #AyanaVJackson #Exhibition #FromTheDeep #History

Boundaries and limitations are very important #NMAFAMoments #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #YorubaProverbs #Proverbs

"When you talk about colour in South Africa as a context, you're generally talking about race. But when I use my body, I am a particular gendered individual, and in that sense there is a multiplicity of identities that's being explored within the work." - Tracy Murnik These works are from the series "Discolored." The artist, Berni Searle uses her body as a canvas, staining different body parts with henna dye to suggest bruising, trauma, abuse, disease and eventual healing. Manipulating skin color allows Searle to comment upon the history of violence and prejudice associated with shades of skin color within South African history specifically, and world history generally. 🔎 Stain, 1999-2000, Berni Searle, South Africa #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

A month ago, we collaborated on an installation with @lincolnscottage and award winning Beninois artist, Georges Adéagbo. Titled "Create to Free Yourselves: Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing Slaves in America," the installation featured books, newspapers, handwritten notes, and artwork created by a team of artists in Benin. They all have relationships with one another, with their creators, and with the space itself. Here's a look back at the installation process. #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

Practice makes perfect #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

It was a joy to have you at our museum Savoy ES ❤️ Looking forward to having you again 🙌🏾 😍 📸 Keep sharing your best pictures of the museum using #NMAFA! We will repost you❤️ Photo credit: @liveitlearnitdc #NMAFAMoments #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

Hey, we're hiring! Are you a passionate, multi-talented, out-of-the-box thinker that can help us create a 21st Century Global African Art Museum? Apply now for the following! Head of Knowledge Production (Supervisory Museum Curator Art) Public Affairs and Communications Manager (Specialist) Head of Visitor Engagement (Education Specialist) Senior Mountmaker Administration Assistant These are permanent positions, with excellent benefits open to all candidates eligible to work in the US. We are also looking for 2 contractors who can work remotely and do not have to be US citizens: Global Manager Video Editor The Smithsonian Institution is an equal opportunity affirmative action employer. Candidates of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply! More about the positions here: https://africa.si.edu/about/jobs-and-contracts/ #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #Museumjobs

😍😍😍 Tag your sister or haircare partner Video credit: @fedekortez #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

Little drops of water, make a mighty ocean #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

Nothing ventured, nothing gained #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt

Which one are you? 😆 🕺🏾💃🏾 Tag the person who never remembers the routine 👇🏾 Video credit: dancegodlloyd via Tiktok #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa #Art #AfricanArt #AfricanDiaspora #Diaspora #ContemporaryArt #ArtContemporain #Museum #Smithsonian #DC #DMV #Dance #dancegodlloyd #afrobeat ##NMAFAMoments #NMAFA #SmithsonianAfricanArt #Africa