NOMA | New Orleans Museum of Art

The NOMA collection of tribal arts from sub-Saharan Africa is considered one of the most important half-dozen collections of its type in American art museums. NOMA’s commitment to collecting African art is half a century old, dating back to 1953. During the past thirty years, NOMA has made a concentrated effort to develop a comprehensive collection of African art.

The most significant donation to NOMA’s collection was a group of 140 African works bequeathed in 1977 by New York collector Victor K. Kiam. Many of these sculptures, superb examples of their particular type, made NOMA’s holdings one of the strongest in the United States. Since this milestone event, NOMA has continued to expand the African collection through purchases, gifts and additional bequests.

The collection contains in-depth strengths of the major art-producing peoples such as the Bamana, Dogon, Baule, Yoruba, Fang, Tabwa, Luba, Bembe and Chokwe. Among the Yoruba objects are three rare sculptures by the great carver, Olowe of Ise, and two by Areogun of Osi-Ilorin. Also notable is an 18th century shrine figure of Onile, one of seven extant large bronzes from the Ogboni Society.

The collection also boasts valuable ancient terracottas from the kingdoms and cultures of Nok, Sokoto, Benin, Akan, Djenne and Bankoni and exquisitely carved architectural elements from the Yoruba, Dogon, Bamana, Fang peoples and the Kedjom-Keku and Benin Kingdoms. The collection contains masks, figures (reliquary, shrine, ancestor, initiation), textiles, storage and utility vessels, prestige objects, furniture, costumes, marionettes, jewelry and musical instruments made of a fascinating variety of materials including wood, ivory, stone, terracotta, cloth, beadwork and various metals, including gold.

In 2011, NOMA published a comprehensive book of the museum’s permanent African collection called Ancestors of Congo Square: African Art in the New Orleans Museum of Art which is celebrates NOMA’s prestigious collection and offers new scholarship from 50 of the leading experts around the world. The book available in the Museum Shop.