Out of Africa: Dynasty and Divinity at the British Museum

For many people, even those most enlightened when it comes to art and culture, Africa remains “the dark continent” out of which little emerges that sparks interest. The Museum for African Art, set to open in 2011 in New York City, hopes to shine new light on the ancient art of Africa and establish that tradition as just as rich, diverse, and important as those more familiar to the Western world. Featuring more than 100 bronze, terra-cotta, and stone sculptures created between the ninth and fifteenth centuries, Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria kicks off this effort to bring a taste of the majesty and magic of African art to the west while simultaneously drawing in the imaginations of the intellectually curious who have always wanted to pierce to the heart of the darkness surrounding a continent and its people. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Out of Africa."

[Image: Head called “Lajuwa.” Ife Palace, Ife. 12^th-15^th century C.E. Terra-cotta. © National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. Photo Courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundacion Marcelino Botin. (Photo: Karin L. Willis.)]

[Many thanks to the Museum for African Art for providing me with the image, press materials, and a review copy of the catalog for Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, which will be one of their inaugural exhibitions when they open in 2011.]