The Harn's African collection contains an
impressive concentration of West African art with a particular focus
on art from Nigeria, notably from Yoruba, Igbo and Edo peoples, including
works from the Court of Benin.
Other West African groups
represented include the Akan of Ghana, the Vai and Mende of Sierra Leone
and Liberia, and the Mossi, Bwa, Lobi, Nunuma and Winiama from Burkina
Faso. Dan and Mano masks and costumes from Liberia and Senufo and Baule
masks and figures from Côte d'Ivoire are also well represented
in the collection.
The Central African collection includes objects from Cameroon, Gabon,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. Representation of Central
African art was recently enhanced by the acquisition of a Beembe ancestor
figure, a Yaka diviner's slit gong, a group of Ituri rainforest barkcloths
from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a Kota reliquary figure
from Gabon.
The
South African collection includes Ndbele beaded garments and a variety
of Zulu items of personal adornment, with an extensive collection
of Zulu earplugs, a married woman's hat made of basketry, human hair and
beaded garments. The collection also features a group of handsome Zulu
beer vessels.
East African objects include Makonde masks and a collection of Ethiopian
secular and Orthodox Christian art, including processional crosses, icons, handheld crosses, paintings, illuminated
manuscripts, healing scrolls and garments dated from the 12th to the 20th centuries.
To complement this collection, the museum recently commissioned a
suite of paintings by contemporary Ethiopian church painter Qes Adamu
Tesfaw.
