Museums - Yale University Art Gallery

Founded in 1832 with 100 paintings from John Trumbull, the Yale University Art Gallery has grown to house 90,000 artworks from around the world. The 1953 landmark building designed by Louis I. Kahn is currently undergoing restoration. For the time being, activities and exhibitions are in the 1928 building designed by Egerton Swartwout.
Art from Africa south of the Sahara had its beginnings at Yale with gifts of several textiles in 1937 and now numbers approximately 1,000 objects in wood, metal, ivory, ceramic, and other media. Major milestones in forming the collection occurred in 1954, with the acquisition of the Linton Collection of African Art, purchased for the Art Gallery by Mr. and Mrs. James M. Osborn, and by the gift, in 2004, of the entire Charles B. Benenson Collection of approximately 600 objects. Concurrent with the 2004 gift, Mr. Benenson endowed the new position of the Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation Curator of African Art, and the Department of African Art at the Yale University Art Gallery was born. The collection is strongest in ritual figures and masks from West and Central Africa. There are also several specialized collections such as Christian crosses from Ethiopia and miniature masks from Liberia. A number of ancient African civilizations are represented, including Djenne, Nok, Koma, Sapi, and Benin.
The collection also includes 1,148 pre-Columbian American objects. Currently, only a small percentage of the collection is on display, due to the restoration project, but after the reopening of the whole museum in 2005, many more objects will be on view. Others can usually be seen by researchers by appointment.