Lecture: Yoruba Egungun Masquerade Performances for the Ancestors | January 28, 2023

Art Institute curator Rebecca Long discusses how Diego Velázquez’s early career in 17th-century Seville offers a lens to the complicated social, political, and religious dynamics of the earliest major port to the Americas. 

Whether in jewelry, adornment, or royal regalia, the Akan people of Ghana associate gold with leadership and prestige. Art historian Nii Otokunor Quarcoopome shares how the rich endowment of gold among the Akan shines in their art and culture.

Constantine Petridis, chair and curator of Arts of Africa, discusses “The Language of Beauty in African Art,” an exhibition that explores art from dozens of distinct cultures across the African continent through the eyes of the original makers and users.