Washington, 23 August 2011
The National Museum of African Art will host “Central Nigeria Unmasked : Arts of the Benue River Valley”, from 14 September to 4 March.
The international exhibition will present an overview of the arts produced in the Benue area and feature the most abstract and innovative sculptures produced in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The event will showcase more than 148 various and complex works, often used in rituals. It will demonstrate that Central Nigeria’s history can be studied through the relationship between the people and their arts. The exhibition features maternal images, columnar statues, helmet masks adorned with human faces, masks designed as animal-human fusions, imaginatively anthropomorphized ceramic vessels and elaborate regalia forged in iron and cast in copper alloys.
The exhibition is organised by the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles, in association with the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.