On view through August 8 at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, “Through African Eyes: The European In African Art, 1500 to Present” brings together some of the best African art in the world to illustrate how African artists visually expressed the dynamic interactions between African cultures and Europeans and Westerners over 500 years.
The exhibition features about 100 figurative sculptures and utilitarian objects created in wood, ivory, metals and textiles from the holdings of the institute and other leading American and international museums and private collections.
It presents Africa as a multiplicity of cultures, each with a different history of relations with Europeans. In all, more than 20 African countries are represented, including Ghana, Mali, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“We eagerly anticipated this groundbreaking exhibition,” said Institute Director Graham W. J. Beal. “Nii Quarcoopome, our curator of African art, has been conducting research and gathering objects for the exhibition for a number of years, and new scholarship resulting from Nii’s efforts have added a welcome dimension to the field of African art studies.”
“Through African Eyes” provides visual commentaries on five centuries of interactions between Africans and Europeans and Westerners, from the first contacts to early trade relations, to European settlements and subsequent colonization, and then to the post-independence interactions with the West. The objects reflect how African artists perceived shifts in their cultures’ relationships with Europeans over the period.
A richly illustrated 298-page exhibition catalog published by the museum is available. The exhibition is organized by the DIA and travels to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City after its Detroit debut.
The Detroit Institute of Arts is at 5200 Woodward Avenue. For information, www.dia.org or 313-833-7900.
