Description: This is a fantastic and RARE Vintage Tribal African Art Ethnographic Museum Exhibition Poster, silkscreen on thick woven paper, for the Museum of African Art in Washington D.C., USA. This vintage poster is a true gem for any art collector. Featuring a stunning modernist illustration of a round Ghanian animal head mask, it was created for a "Museum of African Art" exhibition, likely during the 1960s - 1970s. The poster is beautifully framed and made of high-quality paper. This piece showcases the rich culture and mythology of Africa, with a modernist twist. It is a limited short run 1st edition exhibition poster that celebrates the continent's artwork, architecture, famous places, people, and social history. Good condition for age, with some light rippling to the paper at the edges, and mild scuffing and edge wear to the original vintage aluminum frame (please see photos.) This rare poster would be a great addition to any tasteful home or serious African Art collection. I could not find any other example of this particular poster, and I doubt that another will ever surface again for decades. Acquired in Los Angeles County, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About the Museum of African Art, Washington D.C.: In the late 1950's, American Foreign Service officer Warren M. Robbins purchased 32 pieces of African Art in an antique shops near Hamburg, Germany. In 1963 he founded the Center for Cross Cultural Communication, a non-profit educational institute and cultural center. In 1964, the Frederick Douglass House on Capitol Hill came on the market. Robbins put all of his savings down in cash for half of the purchase price and procured a mortgage for the rest. Money raised by the Center for Cross Cultural Communication enabled Robbins the ability to found the Museum of African Art.The museum was formally founded in 1964 as the Museum of African Art, and its first show consisted of the collection and two outside pieces. Under Robbins's tenure, the museum focused on traditional African art and its educational mission to teach black cultural heritage. It also served as a convivial meeting place for individuals interested in American racial politics, in keeping with the 1960s and 1970s Black Arts Movement effort to change American perceptions towards African cultures. Robbins referred to his museum as "an education department with a museum attached". By 1976, the African art museum had a 20-person staff, 6,000-object collection, and Robbins had visited Africa for the first time.To ensure the museum's longevity, Robbins lobbied the national legislature (Congress) to absorb his museum into the Smithsonian Institution, a federal group of museums and research centers. The House of Representatives approved this plan in 1978 with backing from Representatives John Brademas, Lindy Boggs, Ron Dellums, the Congressional Black Caucus, and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The Smithsonian directors adopted the museum the following year and began plans to move the collection from the townhouses into a proper museum. In 1981, the museum was renamed the National Museum of African Art.In early 1983, Sylvia Williams became the museum's director. Later that year, the Smithsonian broke ground on a new, dedicated building for the African art museum on the National Mall. The complex was situated mostly underground and expanded the museum's exhibition space upon its September 1987 opening. Over time, perspectives towards African art shifted from ethnographic interest to the study of traditional objects for their craftsmanship and aesthetic properties. Williams took a scholarly, art historian approach to the museum and pursued risky, high-cost pieces before their ultimate values were settled. The collection expanded into contemporary works and works from Arab North Africa, beyond the traditional Sub-Saharan. The museum's founder criticized this direction and felt that the institution was neglecting its public role for "esoteric scholarship".Following Williams's death in 1996, curator Roslyn Walker, served as director from 1997 through her 2002 retirement. Walker continued the direction of her predecessor and added a dedicated contemporary art gallery and curator. She also created a development office, which raised money for an early 2000s renovation of the museum's pavilion. Sharon Patton, former director of Oberlin College's Allen Memorial Art Museum, served as director between 2003 and 2008. Her tenure included more shows targeting children and an advisory board mass resignation over Smithsonian leadership.Johnnetta Cole, an anthropologist and former president of Spelman and Bennett College, became the museum's director in 2009. Her tenure became associated with a controversial 2015 exhibit that featured works from comedian Bill Cosby's private collection just as allegations of sexual assault against him became public. Two years earlier, the 2013 federal budget sequestration closed one of the museum's permanent exhibitions. Cole retired in March 2017 and was succeeded by British filmmaker and curator Gus Casely-Hayford in February 2018.In 2021 museum consultant Ngaire Blankenberg became director. When she was appointed director on July 7, 2021, she announced her ambition to "redefine, heal and reconcile". During her tenure, Blankenberg was a leading advocate for repatriation of artifacts in the museum's collection, and in 2022 the museum returned 29 looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. Blankenberg resigned from her position on March 31, 2023, citing "individual and institutional resistance".Reviewers had criticized the National Mall building's architecture, particularly its lack of natural light. The museum was scheduled for remodeling as part of the Smithsonian's South Mall project starting in 2014, but plans were subsequently scaled back.
Price: 475 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2024-12-09T01:17:50.000Z
Shipping Cost: 45 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Size: Large
Signed: No
Title: "Museum of African Art"
Material: Paper
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Region of Origin: Maryland, USA
Framing: Framed
Franchise: Museum of African Art
Subject: Africa, Animal Head, Masks, Mythology, Tourism
Type: Poster
Item Height: 18 3/8 in
Style: Modernism, African
Theme: Advertising, Animals, Architecture, Art, Continents & Countries, Cultures & Ethnicities, Events & Festivals, Exhibitions, Famous Places, History, Mythological, People, Social History, Travel & Transportation
Features: 1st Edition, Limited Edition
Time Period Manufactured: 1960-1969
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 24 1/4 in
Handmade: Yes
