Magazines - Tribal Art Autumn 2009

By Henry John Drewal and Enid Schildkrout

Introduction
Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, a landmark exhibition devoted to the art of an ancient city-state of Yoruba-speaking people in West Africa (present-day southwestern Nigeria), features more than 100 extraordinary stone, terracotta, and bronze sculptures, dating from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. Never have such Ife works been brought together to demonstrate the diversity, quality, and complexity of this early civilization, and most have never been seen outside of Nigeria. All of them are on loan from the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Dynasty and Divinity is co-organized by the Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain, and the Museum for African Art, in New York City, in collaboration with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. The exhibition began an international tour at the Fundación Marcelino Botín on June 17, 2009, and remains on view in Santander through August 30, 2009. It opens in Madrid in September at the Academia Real de Bellas Artes San Fernando, presented by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. In early 2010, the exhibition will be at the British Museum, London, before beginning its North American tour.