That is the question guiding this presentation of more than 250 sculptures from dozens of distinct cultures across the African continent. It is an exploration that seeks to decolonize the Western aesthetic standards long placed on these objects and to elevate the local indigenous perspectives of the works’ makers and communities.
Pair of Headdresses (Ciwara Kunw), mid-19th to early 20th century
Bamana; Baninko region, Mali. The Art Institute of Chicago, Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment
Learn more about this work.
When Westerners began to collect and study African art in the early 20th century, they admired objects for a range of perceived qualities; however, they rarely if ever took into account any form of local appreciation, value, or criticism. Western scholarship consequently made many assumptions—some correct and some not—about how visual aspects, like size, rare materials, and embellishments, translated into value in the source cultures.
Cup, 19th–early 20th century
Mbuun; Democratic Republic of Congo. MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, purchase, 1920, AE.0281. Photo by Bart Huysmans and Michel Wuyts
Reliquary Guardian Figure (Mbulu Ngulu), 19th century
Kota: Sango; Gabon. Collection of Jan Calmeyn, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Photo by Frédéric Dehaen, courtesy of Studio R. Asselberghs
The Language of Beauty—while acknowledging this narrow historical assessment of African art—focuses instead on showcasing the aesthetic evaluations of the communities and makers who produced the works. Many sub-Saharan cultures share similar criteria for beauty: symmetry and balance, moderation, clarity, and youthfulness. Such determinations, however, go beyond the visual and overlap with an object’s meaning and function. Beauty is often tied to goodness and ugliness to immorality. These connections are especially apparent in sculptural representations of the human form, particularly idealized images of powerful men—usually equestrians or warriors—and caring women, typically shown as mother-and-child figures.
Beautiful art often plays a role in interactions between the material world of humans and the immaterial world of spirits. Individuals facing illness and other adversity, for example, may attempt to honor or entice the spirits with sculpted human figures featuring elaborate hairstyles or body modifications that are the result of human intervention.
Female Figure, 19th century
Baule; Côte d’Ivoire. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, museum purchase, 85-15-2
Male Reliquary Guardian Figure (Eyema Byeri), 19th–early 20th century
Fang: Mvaï, Gabon. Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., 2000.3.McD. Image courtesy of Dallas Museum of Art
Conversely, some art and objects require deliberate ugliness in order to mediate between physical and spiritual worlds. Komo masks of the Bamana in Mali, for instance, are covered with layers of crusty offerings and often feature sharp, pointed additions, all meant to express an aggressive and frightening character. And still other works, like the power figures of the Kongo and Songye in southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, combine beauty and ugliness in a way that renders them at once irresistibly attractive and profoundly repelling.
Face Mask, 20th century
Probably Ubi; Côte d’Ivoire. Private collection, Belgium. Photo by Hughes Dubois
Whether beautiful, ugly, or something that defies these categories, The Language of Beauty in African Art celebrates these objects and the philosophical, social, political, and religious implications for the communities that incorporated, or still incorporate, them into ceremonial and ritual practices and everyday life. In sharing these perspectives, the exhibition also invites viewers to examine their own ideas about beauty and question the influences that impact how we assess and appreciate works of art.
The Language of Beauty in African Art is curated by Constantine Petridis, chair and curator of Arts of Africa at the Art Institute of Chicago. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition and features essays by Petridis as well as other top scholars in the field.
Sponsors
Major funding for The Language of Beauty in African Art is provided by Lilly Endowment Inc., Myrna Kaplan, Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson, Javier Peres and Benoît Wolfrom, and an anonymous donor.
Additional support is contributed by Lori and Steve Kaufman and the Loraine Kaufman Foundation and the Morton International Exhibition Fund.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Members of the Luminary Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum’s operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Luminary Trust includes an anonymous donor, Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr., Kenneth C. Griffin, the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, Josef and Margot Lakonishok, Robert M. and Diane v.S. Levy, Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff, Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel, Cari and Michael J. Sacks, and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.
