Main Menu
Main Menu

African Ancestry Art

African Art

May 9 through August 24, 2025

On view in the Wilson Gallery

Overview

Looking at the African art on view in this gallery, we see objects that have been removed from their original setting and intended use.   Members of traditional societies looked upon these objects as representing elements of daily life and spiritual practice. They were thought of as “art” only long after they were taken out of the communities that made them and began to be collected as art by outsiders.
These objects are made from a wealth of natural materials, prominent among them wood, metal, and fiber.
Some were intended to memorialize ancestors and were placed in shrines or on burial sites to honor the deceased and ask for help from the spirit world.
Others, such as the carved stools and chairs, were intended as symbols of rank and authority, and the use of these objects was restricted to these specific people.
Spears and staffs were created for ceremonial use in rituals and dances to symbolize the authority of community leaders or family groups. 
These objects we now view here as art were used to support the concept of leadership in many roles and throughout traditional African communities across the continent.

Above: Bamana or Dogon Peoples, Horse Rider, 20th century, iron, Gift of Dileep and Martha Mehta, 2013.17.14; Luguru Peoples, Anthropomorphic Chair, 20th century, wood, Gift of Dileep and Martha Mehta, 2013.17.24.1

These objects we now view here as art were used to support the concept of leadership in many roles and throughout traditional African communities across the continent.

Organizer

Organized by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. 

Exhibition Sponsors

Annual support for exhibitions is made possible by the following sponsors and grantors: 

Lead Sponsors and Grantors: Alabama State Council on the Arts, Art Bridges Foundation, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, Mr. and Mrs. Barrie H. Harmon, Ill, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC, Lamar Advertising of Montgomery, Mr. and Mrs. James K. Lowder, Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and Mrs. Helen Till

Sponsors: Mr. Owen Aronov, Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Runkle, Sabel Steel, The S. Adam Schloss Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, III, Laurie J. Weil, D.V.M. and Dr. Tommy Wool, and Ms. Helen Crump Wells

Co-sponsors: Mr. and Mrs. Sam Adams, Alabama Trucking Association, AmeriFirst Bank, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Campbell II, CAPTRUST, Dr. Robert Combs, Crum Family Charitable Foundation, Mrs. Camille Elebash-Hill, Harmon Dennis Bradshaw, Inc., Mrs. Ann Hubbert, Mr. and Mrs. John E. Ives, Mr. and Mrs. L. Daniel Morris, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Mussafer, Dr. Alfred J. Newman, Jr., River Bank & Trust, Russell Construction of Alabama, Inc., Ms. Micki Beth Stiller, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Taylor, and Warren Averett, LLC.

Special thanks to the Alabama State Council on the Arts

Scroll to Top