African Masterpieces - exhibit opens in Gothenburg
The critically acclaimed travelling exhibition “African Masterpieces - the story of the Kingdom of Ife” opens Saturday 12 April at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden. The exhibition features some of the world's most sophisticated historical masterpieces.
We look forward to seeing you at the press viewing!
TIME: Thursday, 10 April at 10am
LOCATION: Museum of World Culture, Södra vägen 54, Gothenburg, Sweden
RSVP: By 7 April at the latest to tina.sjogren@varldskulturmuseerna.se
PARTICIPANTS: Enid Schildkrout, Chief Curator Emerita, Museum for African Art, New York
Sanne Houby-Nielsen, Director Museums of World Culture, Karl Magnusson, Director Museum of World Culture, Michael Barrett, Curator Museums of World Culture
This is the first exhibition that focuses on the art of Ife in today's Nigeria and tells the story of the kingdom, which was an early cosmopolitan centre of power in West Africa. The artists of Ife created sculptures and other ritual and religious objects in metal, stone and terracotta that bestowed the region a place in world art history at the same time as the Middle Ages was entering the Renaissance period in Europe. Over 100 sculptures from the 12th to the 16th centuries tell the story of the African civilization of Ife, the ancestors of the Yoruba, one of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups today.
SUCCESS AROUND THE WORLD
The exhibition has previously enjoyed success in Spain, UK, USA and Sweden. The Museums of World Culture present African Masterpieces in a new and exciting way. It was last on display at Skeppsholmen Caverns in Stockholm, where it attracted a large audience and had excellent reviews.
For further information:
Communications Officer Johanna Flemström, Tel +46 (0)10-456 1161, johanna.flemstrom@varldskulturmuseerna.se
Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria has previously been shown at the Fundación Botín in Santander, Spain (2009) and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid (2009) before the critically acclaimed exhibit was shown at the British Museum in London (2010), where it was called Kingdom of Ife. The exhibition tour in the USA (2010-2012) included the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
PRODUCTION
Dynasty and Divinity is originally produced by the Museum for African Art, New York, and the Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain, in cooperation with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria.
Johanna Flemström
johanna.flemstrom@varldskulturmuseerna.se
+ 46 (0) 10-456 1161
+ 46 (0) 727-067110
The Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg is one of four Museums of World Culture. The other three are the Museum of Ethnography, the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities, and the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm. Annual number of visitors are about one million.
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