The media invite for this morning’s launch event for the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s Vital Africa year of exhibitions was sweetened by the dangling carrot of a donation announcement that drew a substantial crowd and mild speculations that proved essentially accurate. Frequent AGH benefactors Joey and Tony Tanenbaum already have a well-known history of bequests with the gallery, which was further expanded today with the addition of their significant collection of African and Oceanic art.
Unrelated yet nevertheless impressive installation-in-progress for Posing Beauty in African American Culture, on view starting January 16
The new additions to the AGH’s permanent collection consist of over a hundred ritualistic and functional objects, the majority of which date from the 19th and 20th century cultures of east, central and west Africa as well as Oceania. A selection will be on display from May 22 to September 6 as part of the AGH’s Vital Africa program of exhibitions, with three items being unveiled as part of this launch event. Pictures will be pending as soon as I can get my hands on the USB cable I left at home, but this first glimpse does reveal some truly intriguing treasures, including a taller-than-lifesize Oceanic figurative piece carved from fernwood that I hope to see again soon - photographs simply don’t do justice to the utterly bizarre presence of the thing.
Update: Photo drastically altered because this sculpture seems to devour all light on camera. Fantastic.
Given the AGH collection’s current emphasis on Euro-centric art of a similar time period, the addition of a comprehensive African body of art objects presents, in my opinion, a great opportunity to reassess a body of art history that has always carried the whiff of stagnation. The importance of African aesthetics to emerging modernist works in the Western world is well understood, so the chance to compare these concurrent movements in the same gallery could mean great things for art historical research at the gallery. I’m looking forward to seeing how this expanded world view comes to bear on future exhibitions.
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