The Body and Art: African Sculpture from the Permanent Collection

March 29 – May 29, 2012

Unidentified artist (Africa; Republic of Congo; Lega), Bwami mask, 20th century. Wood, pigment, vegetable fiber. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of the May Weber Foundation, 2001.105

Unidentified artist (Yoruba; Nigeria, Africa), Pair of Esu staffs, 20th century. Carved wood. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of the May Weber Foundation, 2001.103ab

Unidentified Lobi artist (Africa; Burkina Faso; Lobi), Untitled, n.d. Wood. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of the May Weber Foundation, 2001.71

Unidentified artist (Africa, Burkina Faso or Ivory Coast; Lobi), Untitled, n.d. Wood. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of the May Weber Foundation, 2001.51

Unidentified artist (Baga; Sierra Leone or Guinea West Africa), Untitled, n.d. Wood. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of the May Weber Foundation, 2001.130

In the classical arts of West and Central Africa, sculptural representations of the human body are widely produced and remarkably varied. Many traditional types are attentive to gesture, or impart meaning to bodily proportions and details of coiffure or ornament; some use the body as metaphor for containers or musical instruments. This exhibition, drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, reflects a broad spectrum of the social and cultural meanings associated with the human form.