Los Angeles, 20 June 2013
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is to inaugurate its new, permanent gallery, dedicated to the arts of Africa with the exhibition ‘Shaping Power: Luba Masterworks from The Royal Museum for Central Africa’, on display from 7 July 2013 to 5 January 2014.
The exhibition is to explore artistic traditions and emblems of power from the Luba Kingdom, one of the most influential in Central Africa. Rare sculptures from the Luba people of the Democratic Republic of Congo will be on display, including figurative thrones, sceptres, royal cups, intricately carved headrests and ancestral figures. It is rare that such works should be exhibited in the United States, and it is the first time the collection will be shown in Los Angeles
The exhibition is co-curated by LACMA and the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium. A press viewing for the exhibition is currently scheduled for 10 July 2013, between 10am and noon.