Harn Museum African Collection
Variety of cultures and media represented

GAINESVILLE, Fla . - The Harn Museum’s African collection includes works that illuminate the diversity and historical depth of Sub-Saharan African art. The Harn collection is distinctive in the strength of its holdings that include a broad range of geographic regions, media and historical periods, ranging from the 5th century BCE to the 21st century. A diverse array of media are represented, including wood sculpture, textiles, ceramics, leatherwork, beadwork, metalwork and painting.

Wooden sculpture, primarily masks and figures, are an early and important part of the collection. A recent acquisition of ceramic vessels encompassing many ethnicities, geographic regions, styles and forms, including both ritual and domestic wares, demonstrates the scope and ingenuity of the ceramic arts in Africa. Textiles in the collection, ranging from traditional strip-woven cloth, tie-dyed and batik cloth to factory printed cloth, illustrate the great diversity and continual innovation of textile design and production. The collection also boasts complete masquerade costumes, such as a Mano deangle collected in 1940 in Liberia, a Yoruba Egungun mask and a kuosi society beaded elephant mask with feather headdress and indigo-dyed costume collected in the 1970’s in Cameroon. There are also a large groups of objects used for religious purposes, including those used in worship of deities and ancestors, and those used in divination, initiation rites and healing. Architectural elements, items of personal adornment and domestic furnishings and equipment are also well represented.

The collection has representative objects from many ethnic groups within West, Central, South and East Africa, with particular focus on West African art. The best represented groups are the Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, Dan, Akan, Mende, Cameroon Grasslands, Kuba, Zulu and Ndebele.

The Harn has a wide range of Yoruba objects, including beaded crowns; Gelede, Epa and Egungun masks; twin figures; Ifa divination trays and tappers; and objects used in veneration of various orisha. They include stellar examples of Owo Yoruba works, including an ancestral altarpiece and an Ogun axe dating from the late 19th century. Exemplary works from West and Central Africa include a monumental Igbo communal men’s housepost, a fine Bamana chi wara or n’gonzon koun headdress, a beaded Ngaady a Mwash mask of the Kuba, and a Kota ancestral shrine figure. Highlights from the southern African works include a large collection of Zulu earplugs spanning the range of 20th century styles and media. The collection also includes a large group of Zulu beer pots ranging from the early to late 20th century that reflect regional and stylistic variations. Personal adornment items, a prominent feature of South African art, is well represented by Ndebele, Ngwane, San and Sotho beadwork. A rare complete Mfengu married woman’s dress with dozens of beaded, metal, leather, cloth and rubber accoutrements, collected by Joan Broster in the 1950’s, was a key addition to the collection in 2003. Recent acquisitions of East African materials include a collection of Somalian fine silver jewelry, including an exquisite amber and silver porte koran, and other items of personal adornment, headrests, textiles and other domestic wares. Another impressive component of the East African collection includes Ethiopian Christian Orthodox liturgical works, such as processional and handheld crosses, manuscripts, icons, protective scrolls and paintings. Among these are an intriguing Indo-Ethiopian copper triptych, with a depiction of the striking of Christ’s head, or Kwe’ata re’esu, from the mid- 17th - 18th century, and, a rare and monumental 19th century mural, The Battle of King Takla Haymanot against the Dervishes.

Although attributions for classical African art are exceptional, the Harn collection reflects a commitment to acquiring works by known artists, and determining identities of artists represented in the collection. The collection includes works by many known artists, workshops or hands. Among the more renowned of these identified artists’ works are a spectacular yam festival drum by Yoruba artist Olowe of Ise, three sculptures by Akan artist Osei Bonsu and a post from a Yoruba royal palace by Agbonbiofe Adesina.

The museum collects the works of living artists whose work reflects historical and traditional ideas, but also those who have assimilated global influences. The museum recently acquired a series of 12 paintings by Qes Adamu Tesfaw, an Ethiopian artist whose work is based on the Ethiopian Christian Orthodox church painting tradition. Other recent acquisitions that reflect contemporary influences on Ethiopian artists include Time Cycle III by Skunder Boghossian and Scrolls of the Ancestor IV by Wosene Kosrof. Recent acquisitions of works by other African artists include a relief sculpture entitled Old Man’s Cloth by El Anatsui and an exquisite indigo-dyed adire alabere cloth by Nike Davies Okundaye. The Harn also recently acquired two works by the Kenyan-born British artist Magdalene Odundo, Vessel series I, no. 1 and Vessel series I, no. 2, as a complement to its collection of African and other ceramic collections. The Harn also has works by N. Z. Oloruntoba, William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa and Seydou Keita.

 

Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
The Harn Museum, at SW 34 th St. and Hull Rd., Gainesville, Fla., is one of the southeast’s largest university art museums with more than 6,200 works in its collection and an array of temporary exhibitions. Admission is free. The museum enhances the activities of the University and serves a culturally diverse audience through educational programming. The Harn expanded by more than 18,000 square feet in Oct. 2005 with the opening of the Mary Ann Harn Cofrin Pavilion, which includes new educational and meeting areas and the Camellia Court Cafe, the first eatery for visitors of the University of Florida Cultural Plaza. Museum Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The Camellia Court Café is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 352.392.9826 or visit www.harn.ufl.edu.