Left: The King’s Acquaintances Memi and Sabu, ca. 2575-2465 B.C. Egyptian (48.111) Right: Seated Couple, 18th–early 19th century. Dogon artist; Mali (1977.394.15)
Left: Guardian Figure, ca. 1919–1885 B.C. Egyptian (14.3.17) Right: Commemorative Portrait of a Chief (Singiti), late 19th–early 20th century. Hemba artist; Upper Congo River, Democratic Republic of the Congo (2015.119)
L: “Fragment of a Queen’s Face,” New Kingdom, mid Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III or Akhenaten (ca. 1353–1336 B.C.), Jasper R: Edo artist, Igbesanmwen guild, Court of Benin; Nigeria Iyoba (Queen Mother) Pendant Mask, 16th century, Ivory, iron, copper(?) Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
Overview Paired Works Scholars today recognize Africa as the source of our common ancestry. But in 1974, Senegalese scholar and humanist Cheikh Anta Diop shocked and challenged historians by asserting the influence of ancient African civilizations in his groundbreaking book The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. This exhibition pays homage to Diop by presenting masterpieces from the Museum’s collections from west and central Africa alongside art from ancient Egypt for the first time in The Met’s history.
Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The African Origin of Civilization will remain on view while The Met’s galleries of Sub-Saharan African Art are closed for the complete renovation of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. The re-envisioned wing is expected to reopen in 2024, and will feature three distinct suites of galleries for Sub-Saharan African Art, Ancient American Art, and Oceanic Art.
The exhibition is made possible by The Daniel P. Davison Fund and Louise Grunwald.
As a complement to the exhibition, an initiative to present selected works from West and Central Africa in galleries throughout the Museum will be introduced, revealing surprising connections between works of art from different cultures. The first four installations, on view in the galleries for Ancient Near Eastern Art, Greek and Roman Art, Medieval Art, and European Paintings, begin December 2. New installations are scheduled to appear later this winter and spring. ________________________________________
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARTS EXHIBITION STATEMENT THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION
The birthplace of modern humanity Africa has been the locus from which the earliest migrations moved across the globe it is the stage upon which our ancestors first expressed abstract thought in visual terms and deliberately imbued their material creations with beauty. Africa is also the home to a seventh of the world's population who speak a third of the world's languages. This rich concentration of cultural diversity is a direct outcome of the unparalleled longevity of its settlement that pluralism is reflected in an array of complex worldviews that have encompassed the sun cult. Ancestral veneration, divine kingship as well as Christianity and Islam through their beginnings the earliest evidence of ideas expressed visually survive in the form of okra tablets engraved in Southern Africa 80,000 years ago. The canon of human proportions developed by ancient Egyptian sculptures mark yet another creative quantum leap studied by the Greeks. Ancient Egypt remained a paradigm of classical antiquity and the cornerstone of western representation until the early 20th century at the turning point Africa's creative ingenuity once again provided a new way forward to artists who encountered works from sub-Saharan Africa in European capitals despite shared origins African cultural achievements separated by thousands of years for the most part have been categorized by the West as unrelated at the met that legacy is evident in the independent histories of its Ancient Egyptian and sub-saharan art collections.
The influential Egyptologist scientist activist and historian of the modern era Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) has emphasized both Ancient Egypt's foundational role in the development of global traditions and its inextricably deep cultural connections with the rest of the continent. Self-determination for new nation-states across Africa in the middle mid 20th century exposed the need for a more expansive and critical understanding of the continent's past deal outlined proposals for political and economic unification challenging attitudes about Africa's place in history and re-centering it as both the source of modern humanity and the fount of civilization. This exhibition's pairing of African icons from ancient cradle civilization with those other major cultural traditions that follow pay homage to Diop's seminal 1974 publication The African Origin of Civilization, Myth or Reality?
The exhibition is made possible by the Daniel P. Davison fund and Louise Grunwald.
Renewals: the arrival of a Temple and a New Wing
In 1964 Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop joined the committee that oversaw a 35-year collaboration by the United Nations educational scientific and cultural organization UNESCO to produce the eight volume general history of Africa a work that covered prehistory to the president engaged over 230 scholars in parallel to that initiative to highlight Africa's deep and complex past UNESCO's call for global engagement in the 1960 international campaign for the preservation of the monuments of Nubia. The efforts to rescue and relocate historical structures impacted by Lake Nasser which had been created by the newly built Aswan dam led to the gifting of the Temple of Dendur to the United states this Roman period cult temple dedicated to the goddess Isis and two Nubian saints is now housed at the Met. A generational shift in social consciousness general shift in social consciousness in the late 1960s led to the expanded presence presence of the achievements of African artists in fine art institutions across the united states in 1969 the men accepted a transformative gift of sub-Saharan African works from Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller that included the entire museum of primitive art and expanded its campus to present the collection since it's ongoing in 1982 the Michael C Rockefeller MCR wing named for Nelson Rockefeller's son has come to accomplish some of the 4,000 works created in Africa from the 12th century to recent decades and related to 206 distinct cultures in 39 nations additional forthcoming volumes of the UNESCO history project consider a global Africa that is multifaceted present in different regions of the world Africa's generative role in the shaping foundations that argues for recognition of the cultural legacy both at its source and a as a presence worldwide almost half a century since its inauguration the MCR wing is undergoing a re-envisioning that will open to the public in 2024. this period of renewal affords the opportunity to bring together the Met's two African art collections shoulder to shoulder for the first time.
there's a lot of other pictures here but they are too big to post If you feel like doing it you can but please re-size and include descriptions
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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posted
I'm not entirely sure what CRT is but you can't progress Black folks forward if we can't identify the mistake that keeps us in the position we are in the Americas.
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quote:Originally posted by Thereal: I'm not entirely sure what CRT is but you can't progress Black folks forward if we can't identify the mistake that keeps us in the position we are in the Americas.
posted
Personally I don't believe civilization has a single origin nor is civilization superior to "uncivilized".
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
^ I totally agree
Nonetheless it's refreshing and encouraging to see the title of the American language edition of two Cheikh Anta Diop works abridged under one cover The African Origin of Civilization: myth or reality finally acknowledged and debuting of all places in the very Eurocentric mainstream MET.
Don't about now but African art was at the Museum of Natural History (with beaver dams and beehives and doo) around the corner from the MET. Other black peoples' art was also not featured at the MET (but modern art inspired by African art made by Europeans was at the MET).
Egyptian art was always at the MET as Egypt is claimed one foundation of "Western Civilization" whatever that means and was/is to be removed from Africa to now reside in MENA.
Chastised and abused our own Big O Asante et alias is the champion of Egypt - Africa paired artworks. Go sue the met man for intellectual property theft of your methodology man. Your work is more 1:1 on the mark culturally similar, accurate, and convincing than what the MET's presenting.
quote:Originally posted by Tukuler: ^ I totally agree
Nonetheless it's refreshing and encouraging to see the title of the American language edition of two Cheikh Anta Diop works abridged under one cover The African Origin of Civilization: myth or reality finally acknowledged and debuting of all places in the very Eurocentric mainstream MET.
Don't about now but African art was at the Museum of Natural History (with beaver dams and beehives and doo) around the corner from the MET. Other black peoples' art was also not featured at the MET (but modern art inspired by African art made by Europeans was at the MET).
Egyptian art was always at the MET as Egypt is claimed one foundation of "Western Civilization" whatever that means and was/is to be removed from Africa to now reside in MENA.
Chastised and abused our own Big O Asante et alias is the champion of Egypt - Africa paired artworks. Go sue the met man for intellectual property theft of your methodology man. Your work is more 1:1 on the mark culturally similar, accurate, and convincing than what the MET's presenting.
Chill the Met always had a section for African Art. They had a whole hall. IIRC, One time it was right by the Egyptian wing all classically considered African Art history.
Posts: 1781 | From: New York | Registered: Jul 2016
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posted
Actually it is a soft shoe attempt to get ahead of the work being done by amateurs outside of the field to show the parallels between the Nile valley and rest f Africa. Of course they aren't going to go in depth on it because they would be going against the status quo. Suffice to say something like this is just enough for them to admit to connection without overturning the apple cart....
quote: Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The above could mean anything from there being a common core African cultural prehistory from which all these cultures sprang or something more simple like there are echoes from the Nile diffused into other parts of Africa. And honestly this is something that SHOULD be a PHD course in African Studies or archeology but it isn't.
Posts: 8889 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Actually it is a soft shoe attempt to get ahead of the work being done by amateurs outside of the field to show the parallels between the Nile valley and rest f Africa. Of course they aren't going to go in depth on it because they would be going against the status quo. Suffice to say something like this is just enough for them to admit to connection without overturning the apple cart....
quote: Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The above could mean anything from there being a common core African cultural prehistory from which all these cultures sprang or something more simple like there are echoes from the Nile diffused into other parts of Africa. And honestly this is something that SHOULD be a PHD course in African Studies or archeology but it isn't.
There isn't any connection, the only shared cultural traits are with Nubia that's it
what's next ? Mesoamerica and egypt connected because both had pyramids ?
Posts: 1779 | From: Somewhere In the Rif Mountains | Registered: Nov 2021
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
What do you mean chill?
Why would you even want to me to chill instead of just offering your alternative?
What has offended you so that I should chill
Everybody expresses themselves as they will including melanophobic diatribe spewers black-baiting as in the post above this one but me you tell me to chill
No you chill.
How are you going to tell me that what I experienced for myself didn't happen 'youngster'.
The gall
Where were you before 1982? Does "always" "IIRC" precede that year
quote:Originally posted by Elmaestro:
quote:Originally posted by Tukuler: ^ I totally agree
Nonetheless it's refreshing and encouraging to see the title of the American language edition of two Cheikh Anta Diop works abridged under one cover The African Origin of Civilization: myth or reality finally acknowledged and debuting of all places in the very Eurocentric mainstream MET.
Don't [know] about now but African art was at the Museum of Natural History (with beaver dams and beehives and doo) around the corner from the MET. Other black peoples' art was also not featured at the MET (but modern art inspired by African art made by Europeans was at the MET).
Egyptian art was always at the MET as Egypt is claimed one foundation of "Western Civilization" whatever that means and was/is to be removed from Africa to now reside in MENA.
Chastised and abused our own Big O Asante et alias is the champion of Egypt - Africa paired artworks. Go sue the met man for intellectual property theft of your methodology man. Your work is more 1:1 on the mark culturally similar, accurate, and convincing than what the MET's presenting.
Chill the Met always had a section for African Art. They had a whole hall. IIRC, One time it was right by the Egyptian wing all classically considered African Art history.
quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Actually it is a soft shoe attempt to get ahead of the work being done by amateurs outside of the field to show the parallels between the Nile valley and rest f Africa. Of course they aren't going to go in depth on it because they would be going against the status quo. Suffice to say something like this is just enough for them to admit to connection without overturning the apple cart....
quote: Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The above could mean anything from there being a common core African cultural prehistory from which all these cultures sprang or something more simple like there are echoes from the Nile diffused into other parts of Africa. And honestly this is something that SHOULD be a PHD course in African Studies or archeology but it isn't.
There isn't any connection, the only shared cultural traits are with Nubia that's it
what's next ? Mesoamerica and egypt connected because both had pyramids ?
There are numerous connections but the point is that these institutions generally have no interest in promoting it or studying it. This has been discussed here numerous times before. Case in point, the earliest evidence for mummification comes from the Sahara and the Tashwinat mummy. A lot of these cultural traits are from a common African cultural complex with various manifestations over time and place.
FWIW, I think it's a neat experience to come face to face with any kind of cultural artifacts in a museum setting, but it's true that at least some of these artifacts were forced out of their native homelands as imperialist trophies. I suppose a compromise could be returning the originals as much as possible while displaying replicas at the museum instead?
quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Actually it is a soft shoe attempt to get ahead of the work being done by amateurs outside of the field to show the parallels between the Nile valley and rest f Africa. Of course they aren't going to go in depth on it because they would be going against the status quo. Suffice to say something like this is just enough for them to admit to connection without overturning the apple cart....
quote: Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The above could mean anything from there being a common core African cultural prehistory from which all these cultures sprang or something more simple like there are echoes from the Nile diffused into other parts of Africa. And honestly this is something that SHOULD be a PHD course in African Studies or archeology but it isn't.
There isn't any connection, the only shared cultural traits are with Nubia that's it
what's next ? Mesoamerica and egypt connected because both had pyramids ?
There are numerous connections but the point is that these institutions generally have no interest in promoting it or studying it. This has been discussed here numerous times before. Case in point, the earliest evidence for mummification comes from the Sahara and the Tashwinat mummy. A lot of these cultural traits are from a common African cultural complex with various manifestations over time and place.
The connections they made where amateur at best... but I also read that wanted to show connections and contrast...
-------------------- It's not my burden to disabuse the ignorant of their wrong opinions Posts: 2699 | From: New York | Registered: Jun 2015
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Actually it is a soft shoe attempt to get ahead of the work being done by amateurs outside of the field to show the parallels between the Nile valley and rest f Africa. Of course they aren't going to go in depth on it because they would be going against the status quo. Suffice to say something like this is just enough for them to admit to connection without overturning the apple cart....
quote: Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The above could mean anything from there being a common core African cultural prehistory from which all these cultures sprang or something more simple like there are echoes from the Nile diffused into other parts of Africa. And honestly this is something that SHOULD be a PHD course in African Studies or archeology but it isn't.
There isn't any connection, the only shared cultural traits are with Nubia that's it
what's next ? Mesoamerica and egypt connected because both had pyramids ?
There are numerous connections but the point is that these institutions generally have no interest in promoting it or studying it. This has been discussed here numerous times before. Case in point, the earliest evidence for mummification comes from the Sahara and the Tashwinat mummy. A lot of these cultural traits are from a common African cultural complex with various manifestations over time and place.
The connections they made where amateur at best... but I also read that wanted to show connections and contrast...
The reason it is being done by "amateurs", along with any potential misinformation and confusion, is because of the history of "African studies" and "African archaeology" to begin with. That was the point I was making. Almost all of the artifacts at the MET are plundered loot whether it be from the Nile Valley, East Africa or anywhere else. This is because of the timing in how these things were collected which coincides with the scramble for Africa which was the beginning of African colonization. But it also coincides with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which was the defacto ruler of North Africa and the "Near East". Coinciding with that was the rise of America as an industrial empire and the rise of the various wealthy robber barons in oil, banking, manufacturing and so forth.
Most of these big museums got their collections from this time as a result of all these factors coming together. They were financed by the elites of the era to carry out expeditions overseas, document what was collected and or house the loot that was acquired. The Ottomans generally did not care about the artifacts in the lands outside of Turkey and allowed various expeditions to cart off artifacts, including from Greece. At this time Egypt truly had no control over its own antiquities as various Ottomans, the British and French were the ones negotiating the trade/theft of antiquities.
quote: The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was established by Muhammad Ali Pasha and the Museum was relocated to the Ministry of Public Education at the Citadel, where objects were intermittently given away. Said Pasha presented the remaining objects in this first collection to Archduke Maximilian Joseph of Austria-Este in 1855, which were then given to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
By 1863, a new museum, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities was opened at Bulaq by Auguste Mariette but flooding in 1878 damaged the building and the collections were moved in 1891 to a former royal palace in Giza. By 1893 in order to address lack of storage and unsuitable display conditions a new museum was planned to house the antiquities in Tahrir Square that was finally completed in 1902.
In turn, because of the overt and deeply ingrained racism in America a lot of the baggage of race was associated with the artifacts from various regions, with the "near east" seen as the cradle of civilization and the rest of Africa, Oceania and other areas being seen as primitive. This is how the objects in the African collection were originally displayed. And as part of reinforcing the colonial system being put into place, the historical narrative was being created by these plunderers. So the Europeans and Americans saw themselves as the inheritors of the cultures of the "Near East" and this just reinforced their notions of superiority in that they had the power and wealth to acquire these artifacts. And similarly, their ability to conquer whole nations and continents of "primitives" also played into that mythology.
quote: Michael’s father, Nelson Rockefeller, founded the Museum of Primitive Art in 1954 in a townhouse on West 54th Street to house his sizable collection of over 3,000 works of non-Western Art, many of them collected by his son, who disappeared in the region in 1961. In 1969, the Met acquired the complete collection in a landmark transfer.
The Rockefellers, J.P. Morgan and other wealthy industrialists are the ones behind these famous museums such as the Oriental Institute, Metropolitan museum and so forth. And thus the main result of this is that a lot of the historical and cultural artifacts from Africa and elsewhere are in American, European, Australian and other museums from the colonial era. As such these institutions were not in place to promote the idea that these 'primitive' cultures had any connection to advanced civilization. So the problem is that in order to find those connections, often you have to go into the archives and repositories of European institutions to see the artifacts and compare them.
I posted some comparisons of my own in the past related to Congo and the Nile Valley including the head binding photos taken by a European photographer. But it is not just the museums there are educational institutions with large repositories of data and government institutions such as the Smithsonian and private institutions such as National Geographic that also have huge volumes of data on African cultures and traditions (especially in the era leading up to colonization).
quote: Branden Fjerstad, in a recent paper titled "The Evolution of Museology in Egypt: An International Comparative Study of Ancient Egyptian Exhibitions" formulates the problem concisely: "Egyptian museology and archaeology have been shaped and influenced by foreigners."2 The Europeans believed that they had the right to represent the orient in the west all by themselves.3 The nineteenth century witnessed a growth in the construction of museums throughout the world. This of course was associated with intensive collecting. At that time, Egyptians were not fully aware of the value of their antiquities or their significance to the nation. The collecting policy remained uncontrolled and thousands of Egyptian artifacts were transported to Europe without any objection from the Egyptian government.
Museums were founded within Egypt, but were organized and dominated by foreigners. An Egyptian National Museum in Cairo was located in the palace of Ismail Pasha in El Giza in 1890. Then it was moved to Qasr El Nile (its current location). The Greco-Roman Museum was constructed in Alexandria. The Europeans gave their attention not only to the Pharaonic or ancient Egyptian civilization but also to the Islamic civilization. Thus, in 1891, the Arabic (now Islamic) Art Museum was founded in Cairo. In addition, Europeans inspired the Egyptians who founded the Coptic museum. Coptic and Islamic museums came to represent both an emerging scholarly discipline and eras of Egypt’s past.
quote:Originally posted by Yatunde Lisa: The connections they made where amateur at best... but I also read that wanted to show connections and contrast...
The reason it is being done by "amateurs", along with any potential misinformation and confusion, is because of the history of "African studies" and "African archaeology" to begin with. That was the point I was making.
Who are some of these amateurs?
Also I don't know what this sentence means when you say "along with any potential misinformation and confusion" what are you talking about? And when you say that does that apply to the amateurs or African studies departments? And what is wrong with the African studies departments?
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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quote:Originally posted by BrandonP: Not everyone is thrilled about this new exhibit. This editorial argues that it's a way to justify the theft of African artifacts for museums.
FWIW, I think it's a neat experience to come face to face with any kind of cultural artifacts in a museum setting, but it's true that at least some of these artifacts were forced out of their native homelands as imperialist trophies. I suppose a compromise could be returning the originals as much as possible while displaying replicas at the museum instead?
this is a good article. The argument is that this show is an excuse not to return artifacts to their source countries
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
How about countries of shaky stability getting back ownership of their treasures and then granting current holders custodian or caretaker only status as a choice along side complete physical return?
quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Actually it is a soft shoe attempt to get ahead of the work being done by amateurs outside of the field to show the parallels between the Nile valley and rest f Africa. Of course they aren't going to go in depth on it because they would be going against the status quo. Suffice to say something like this is just enough for them to admit to connection without overturning the apple cart....
quote: Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and underrecognized histories.
The above could mean anything from there being a common core African cultural prehistory from which all these cultures sprang or something more simple like there are echoes from the Nile diffused into other parts of Africa. And honestly this is something that SHOULD be a PHD course in African Studies or archeology but it isn't.
There isn't any connection, the only shared cultural traits are with Nubia that's it
what's next ? Mesoamerica and egypt connected because both had pyramids ?
Stop being a fool
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