The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) has redesigned their African art gallery, offering patrons a fresh and inviting way to view this genre of artistic expression.
Most notably, the gallery has moved from an obscure location to a more conspicuous gallery on the third floor adjacent to the escalator.
There, Elizabeth Morton, adjunct curator of African Art at the IMA and associate professor of art history at Wabash College, was able to showcase art pieces that better reflect the people of Africa.
“The new gallery will allow visitors to make connections among the hundreds of language and culture groups of the African continent,” said Morton.
Upon entering the gallery, viewers get a sneak peak into what they will encounter – beautiful masks, jewelry, figures, utilitarian objects, textiles and more. From there the pieces in the gallery, primarily from the 20th century, are grouped into seven themes.
One room in the gallery is dedicated to Power exploring spirituality, including Christianity, rituals and deities.
Associated with power is, Royal Arts, which is broken down by kingdom, featuring objects such as Ashanti gold and beaded Yoruba king crowns.
“In many places in Africa, kings have a divine power and authority,” said Morton.
The Body Adornment room highlights fashion in Africa that showcases status, rank within the community, age, gender or stage in life. For example, a piece called “Woman’s Headpiece” from the Ida ou Nadif people would have been worn by a wealthy woman.
In addition to Body Adornment, the Design for Living section features art pieces primarily from northern Africa and areas that surround the Sahara Desert. People of that area are nomadic and carry around their fine treasures.
“There’s also this really strong belief in the evil eye, which is the idea that a person can glance at you with a malicious gaze and invoke something bad like infertility,” said Morton. “If you wear something really great around the face, like jewelry or nice makeup, someone who might have the intention of the evil eye will look at the jewelry and miss that opportunity to send that evil gaze.”
There’s also Ancestors, an important part of African life, and Life Transitions showcasing pieces that honor birth, becoming a man or a woman, marriage and death – subjects many people can connect with.
Morton said the final section, Collecting African Art, is perhaps the most unique to the art instillation and has an Indiana connection to it.
The majority of the African art in the IMA’s collection belongs to Harrison Eiteljorg, the Indiana businessman whose surname lends itself to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in downtown Indianapolis. Harrison began collecting African art later in his life, which attributes to the variety and eclectic nature of the collection.
He also worked with Roy Sieber, the first African art historian in the U.S. and a professor at Indiana University, who helped him collect and authenticate pieces.
In fact, the gallery is named The Eiteljorg Suite of African and Oceanic Art and is said to retell the story of how Harrison built his collection.
He once wrote,” Perhaps it is the social, political and religious character of African Art, even more than it’s inherent aesthetic merit that intrigues me the most.”
“Sometimes the traders from different tribes in Africa would come in and I remember them spreading pieces on his driveway. He would spend days negotiating with them,” added Roger Eiteljorg, Harrison’s son.
Harrison and his wife, Sonja, donated more than 1,200 works to the IMA in 1989 updating the IMA’s collection to include all of the major regions in Africa.
Morton said that there was a lot of time, thought and dedication put into redesigning the African gallery at the IMA. From how the pieces are displayed, to the individual stories that follow each object, to the lighting in the gallery, there is a fresh focus on aesthetic beauty and culture of the art displayed.
“I’ve visited African galleries in Europe that weren’t as nice as this one at the IMA. They did a great job with this and brought a lot of my father’s pieces to prominence. Indianapolis is very fortunate to have this,” said Roger.
For more information, call (317) 923-1331 or visit www.imamuseum.org.
