The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End
September 30, 2008–March 22, 2009
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas—The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, 1st floor
Dazzling textile traditions have constituted an important form of aesthetic expression throughout Africa’s history and cultural landscape. Textiles have long been a focal point of the vast continental trading networks that carried material culture and technological innovations across regional centers and linked Africa to the outside world. Leading contemporary artists reflecting on Africa’s distinctive cultural heritage and its relationship to the world at large have drawn upon the imagery of textiles in sculpture, painting, photography, installation art, video, and other media.
This exhibition illustrates the stunningly diverse classical textile genres created by artists in West Africa through some of their earliest documented and finest works. Highlights of the Metropolitan’s own holdings will be presented along with some twenty works that entered The British Museum’s collection by the early twentieth century. Selected works will represent inventive variations on major themes of the influential classical genres. The exhibition will relate these genres to contemporary art forms by affording an appreciation of the cultural context and visual language of these traditions and exploring their synergy and resonance in works by eight living artists.
The publication The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press will accompany this exhibition.
The exhibition is made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Fred and Rita Richman, and The Ceil & Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation, Inc.
It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the British Museum, London.
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EDUCATION PROGRAMS
September 30, 2008–March 22, 2009
LECTURE/DISCUSSION
Saturday, October 4
Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall
Crossing Paths, Bridging Genres: Textile Sources in Contemporary Ghanaian Art
Doran H. Ross, senior research scholar, The James S. Coleman African Studies Center,
University of California at Los Angeles
2:00
Panel Discussion: Modes of Contemporary Expression in Africa (to 4:45)
Following the lecture is a panel featuring artists whose work relates to the exhibition and leading scholars in the fields of art history, history, and African studies. Alisa LaGamma, curator, and Christine Giuntini, textile conservator, both of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, moderate.
Artists: Abdoulaye Konaté, Atta Kwami, Grace Ndiritu, Oyenike Okundaye, Duro Olowu,
and Sue Williamson
Scholars: Christa Clarke, Curator of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, The Newark Museum; Mamadou Diouf, Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and director, Institute of African Studies, Columbia University; Chika Okeke-Agulu, assistant professor, Center for African American Studies and Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University; and Zoë Strother, Riggio Professor of African Art, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University
This lecture and panel discussion are organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with New York University’s Africa House and Grey Art Gallery.
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Programs are free with Museum admission contribution unless otherwise noted.
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CONCERTS & LECTURES
SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAM
Lecture
African Textiles
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the
University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. Africa’s cultural heritage has much to tell us about the region’s relationship to the world at large. The vibrant textile traditions of Africa are extremely diverse in materials, modes of production, and motifs. Dazzling silk and cotton kente woven in Ghana, earth-toned mud cloth from Mali, and deep indigo–toned fabrics dyed in northern Nigeria all reflect cross-cultural connections.
Friday, October 24, 6:00: $23
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
For subscription program tickets call (212) 570-3949, Monday–Saturday, 9:30–5:00, and
Sunday, 12:00–5:00. You may also visit the Concerts & Lectures box office in the Museum’s Great Hall, Tuesday–Thursday, 10:00–4:30, Friday–Saturday, 10:00–7:00 and Sunday, 12:00–5:00, or go to www.metmuseum.org/tickets.
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SUNDAYS AT THE MET
Sunday, November 9
An Afternoon with El Anatsui
A conversation between El Anatsui, artist, and Alisa LaGamma, curator, Department of the
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
3:00
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Contemporary artist El Anatsui, whose work recently acquired by the Met is a centerpiece of the exhibition, discusses his art in an interview with Alisa LaGamma, curator of the exhibition.
This program is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with
New York University’s Africa House and Grey Art Gallery.
Sunday, February 1
Design Without End
This afternoon program focuses on Africa’s rich textile tradition in a contemporary context.
Speakers include Alisa LaGamma, curator, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and
the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Christine Giuntini, textile conservator,
Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and John Mack, Professor of World Studies, Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, University of East Anglia.
2:00–4:30
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GALLERY TALKS
Meet at exhibition entrance, Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas,
The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, first floor.
Wednesday, October 29, 4:00. Yaëlle Biro
Thursday, November 20, 11:00. Alisa LaGamma
Friday, December 19, 11:00. Alisa LaGamma
Wednesday, January 21, 11:00. Yaëlle Biro
Tuesday, February 10, 11:00. Yaëlle Biro
Tuesday, March 17, 11:00. Yaëlle Biro
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
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DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Three Friday screenings of films from the 2008 Real Life Documentary Film Festival, Accra,
Ghana, with an introduction by Awam Amkpa and Lydie Diakhaté, founders and directors of the festival. Due to seating limitations, these screenings will be ticketed. Tickets are free with Museum admission and may be picked up on a first-come, first-served basis at the Event Desk in the Uris Center for Education beginning at 5:00 on the afternoon of the event. All screenings occur in the Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Uris Center for Education.
Awaiting for Men (2007), directed by Katy Lena Ndiaye (Senegal/Belgium). Tells the story
of three women from the “red city” Oualata—at the extreme east of the Mauritanian desert. As they paint and decorate the city walls, the women express themselves with a surprising sense of freedom in a society dominated by tradition, religion, and men (56 min.). Arabic with English Subtitles. Co-winner of the 2008 Walter Mosley Award for best documentary in the international competition.
Friday, October 17, 6:00
Bonne arrivée à Bamako (1998), directed by Karim Akadiri Soumaïla (France/Nigeria).
Follows the journey of the Paris-based Malian fashion designer Xuly Bët (born Lamine Badiane Kouyaté) to Bamako, where he returned to create a new collection based on local materials and fabrics and to meet the photographer Malick Sidibé (52 min.). French with English subtitles.
Friday, November 14, 6:00
Glorious Exit (2007), directed by Kevin Mertz (Switzerland). Jarreth Merz, an actor of
Swiss-Nigerian extraction living in Los Angeles, grapples with his heritage when he learns
that his father has passed away. According to Nigerian tradition, the first-born is responsible for a father’s burial, and Merz begins a journey of discovery back to his origins and a family he hardly knows (75 min). Co-winner of the 2008 Walter Mosley Award for best documentary in the international competition.
Friday, December 12, 6:00
These screenings are organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with the Real Life Documentary Festival.
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PODCAST AND VIDEO
El Anatsui
African artist El Anatsui discusses the meaning, influences, and creative process behind his
2006 sculpture Between Earth and Heaven—a large, undulating, tapestry-like work made from aluminum, copper wire, and thousands of bottle caps—with The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s curator of African art, Alisa LaGamma. This sculpture is on view in the exhibition.
Listen to or download this Met Podcast episode at www.metmuseum.org/podcast.
El Anatsui Installing Between Earth and Heaven
To view a related video in which curator Alisa LaGamma and artist El Anatsui talk about
the installation of Between Earth and Heaven and its significance, go to the “Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas” playlist at www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum.
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FAMILY PROGRAMS
Family Orientations
The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End
These one-hour slide introductions to the special exhibition are designed for young visitors
and their adult companions.
Wednesday, October 1, 11:30–12:30, 1:00–2:00, 2:30–3:30
Saturday, October 4, 3:00–4:00 and 4:30–5:30
North Classroom, Uris Center for Education
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SERVICES FOR VISITORS WITH DISABILITIES
“Picture This!” A Workshop for Visitors Who Are Blind or Partially Sighted
Participants learn about works in the exhibition through description and discussion.
Thursday, October 16, 2:00–4:00
This program is free, but places are limited. Reservations required; please call (212) 879-5500, ext. 3561 or email [email protected].
The Museum is committed to serving all audiences. Please call us about services, including Sign Language–interpreted programs, Verbal Imaging Tours, the Touch Collection, and other programs. Voice: (212) 879-5500, ext. 3561; TTY: (212) 570-3828
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NOLEN LIBRARY IN
THE RUTH AND HAROLD D. URIS CENTER FOR EDUCATION
Nolen Library has information about the Museum’s collection, special exhibitions, and a
Teacher Resource Center with a circulating collection for educators. There is also a Children’s Reading Room, a specially designed space for families to read together from books in the library’s collection. For further information please call (212) 570-3788.
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WEBSITE
For further information about our programs, visit the Museum’s website at www.metmuseum.org.
The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End
The exhibition is made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Fred and Rita Richman, and The Ceil & Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation, Inc. It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the British Museum, London.
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PARALLEL EXHIBITION
The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles / Recent Art
Grey Art Gallery, New York University
100 Washington Square East, New York, NY
September 16–December 6, 2008
Lecture at New York University
Seeing and Wearing: Textiles in West Africa
John Picton, Emeritus Professor of African Art, University of London
Wednesday, November 12, 7:00
Silver Center, New York University
100 Washington Square East, Room 300, New York, NY
This lecture is organized by New York University’s Grey Art Gallery and co-sponsored by the Fine Arts Society, a New York University student organization. For more information about the exhibition and related programs, visit www.nyu.edu/greyart,
email [email protected], or call (212) 998-6780.
