Smithsonian-Urhobo

Where Gods and Mortals Meet: Continuity and Renewal in Urhobo Art at NMFA-Smithsonian Washington.

The exhibition will be up nmafa through Sept. 25, 2005 at 950 Independence Ave. SW Washington; 202-633-4600.

Official site Urhobo is worth visiting.

Where Gods and Mortals Meet: Continuity and Renewal in Urhobo Art is the first comprehensive presentation of the arts of the Urhobo peoples of Nigeria, whose experience in today's Africa is emblematic of a rapidly changing world. The exhibition is organized into sections that consider the forms and underlying aesthetic values of Urhobo society: personal images that offer protection and advancement; images of women at various stages of life; masquerade arts; and at the grandest level, communal shrine art, awesome in scale and form. Integral to the exhibition are works by contemporary Urhobo artist Bruce Onobrakpeya. Inspired by his traditional culture, his art offers a particularly poignant perspective on Urhobo traditional art.

Nigerian Urhobo art on the Mall

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art is celebrating its 25th birthday this summer with "Where Gods and Mortals Meet," the first ever major U.S. exhibition of the art of the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria.

In contrast to West Africa and often equally steamy summertime Washington, the unusual museum occupies several floors of cool, climate-controlled underground space beneath the National Mall adjacent to the Smithsonian's famous "Castle"—offering an inviting respite for sweltering tourists.

The show, mostly of the traditional African art that Nigeria is struggling to preserve, is divided into the categories of "Land, People, Belief," "Images of Aggression," "Celebrating the Stages in Women's Lives," "Communal Shrine Statuary for Ancestor Spirits," "Spirits From the Waters" and "Pride and Preservation."

Among its 70 objects are a carved wooden sculpture of a woman of high status, and a carved and painted ancestor column honoring a 19th Century African merchant family.

The exhibition will be up through Sept. 25, 2005 at 950 Independence Ave. SW; 202-633-4600; Official site Urhobo.

Buy the catalog:

Where Gods and Mortals Meet: Continuity and Renewal in Urhobo Art is the first exhibition devoted to the art of the Urhobo people who live in the Niger River Delta in southern Nigeria. Over 70 works of traditional and complementary contemporary artworks are illustrated throughout essays on Urhobo culture and spiritual beliefs. Field photographs taken by the author over many years of intimate collaboration with the Urhobo are featured throughout. Exhibition catalogue edited by Perkins Foss with Foreword by Peter Ekeh, and contributions by G.G. Darah, Michael Y. Nabofa, Tanure Ojaide, Bruce Onobrakpeya, and John Picton. Published by the Museum for African Art, New York, and Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, Gent, April 2004. 152 pp. Cloth: ISBN 90-5349-506-1. Paper: ISBN 0-945802-36-6. LLCN 2004102120. Retail: Cloth $65.00. paper $40.00. available on amazon.com : Where Gods and Mortals Meet
Author: Perkins Foss; Buy New: $31.50

Smithsonian-Urhobo at African Antiques

Smithsonian Urhobo

Nigerian Urhobo art on the Mall