Directions:
Take the 101 and exit on Bell Road. Head west on
Bell Road for 4 miles. The Museum is located north of Bell at 114th Avenue
(Avenue of the Arts) in the second block on the left.
African art gave Picasso an idea
JUNE 3 through JULY 31 2005
"SYMBOLS
OF POWER AND AUTHORITY" African Masks and Sculptures
Selections from
the George Waterhouse Collection at the West Valley Art Museum
Jun. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
Arizona
Republic
Pablo Picasso could not have invented Cubism without African art. Just look at a Langola dance mask, with its multiple noses and eyes, and you can imagine the light bulb going off in Picasso's brain.
The mask is one of 108 pieces of African art at the West Valley Art Museum in "African Masks and Sculpture: Symbols of Authority and Power." Unfortunately, African art was shown for decades as "ethnographic" art noted for its "primitive" character or, after Picasso, as source material for modern art.
Luckily, museums have dropped the condescension, and, as in the West Valley show, have included the necessary contextual information, so we can begin to understand the power of these objects.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays through July 31 at the West Valley Art Museum, 17420 N. Avenue of the Arts, Surprise. $7 adults, $2 students, free for children 5 and younger. (623) 972-0635 or www.wvam.org.
This rare
exhibit features sub-Saharan West African sculptures and masks.
The aim of the
exhibition is to bring visitors close to some of the objects and regalia the
traditional spiritual leaders, rules, and African men and women used to
invoke authority and power.
Questions
regarding the various purposes of masks, figurative carvings and various
ceremonial objects, will be answered.
The Museum's Permanent Collection
contains over 4000 items from more than 90 countries with a key focus on Ethnic
Dress, Textiles and Ethnographic Arts. The collection of Ethnographic Artifacts
and Decorative Arts encourage understanding of unfamiliar regions of the world,
their peoples, customs and artistic traditions.
