Smithsonian Insider: New Ways of Seeing African Art in “Visionary”

Review by Grace Aldridge Foster

The National Museum of African Art's new permanent collection galleries, Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, received a thorough and thoughtful review from Smithsonian Insider.

This striking exhibition is organized into seven sections that highlight the perspectives of the many people involved with these artworks: the collectors who buy them, the scholars who study them, the artists who created them, the sponsors who commissioned them or who they were created for, the performers who may have used them in ceremonies, the museums that display them, and you, the visitor. Every section is designed to teach a better understanding of the artists’ intent, how the works made an impact and their ongoing lives in collections and museums.

At every turn, the show demands engagement. Upon entering each new area visitors are confronted by critical questions at eye level in red text. For example, “Why do people commission artworks?”; “What makes a great artist?”; “How do you find the key visual details that reveal many different stories about Africa’s arts?” and “Is there a particular artwork by a Yoruba artist that captures your attention? Why do you think that is?”

The questions are designed to invite visitors into a conversation with the art, explains National Museum of African Art Curator Kevin Dumouchelle.

After joining the staff in October 2016, Dumouchelle, a former Brooklyn Museum curator, says Visionary was a wonderful way to begin his tenure at the National Museum of African Art. “I got to learn the collection firsthand, but I also had the chance to learn everyone at the museum and their personalities, their roles and their secret hidden talents and strengths,” he says.