"Kevin will bring an exciting mix of scholarship, technological savvy and bold vision that builds on the foundational work of the many people who built the museum," Secretary Bunch said in a statement.

Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-Saharan and Arab North Africa, 300,000 photographs, and 50,000 library volumes.

[13] The Washington Post art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott wrote that the museum violated ethics and hurt its reputation by showcasing a private collection that had not been pledged to the museum. Washington, D.C. 20560, 202-633-4600
Elisofon covered major 20th century events for Life, and Larrabee covered World War II and South African life. The museum's director had a long friendship with the Cosbys—Camille also sat on the museum's advisory board. So visibility and service are going to need some work. [7][5], In early 1983, Sylvia Williams became the museum's director. I am eager to engage further directions in the museum's mission, embracing our digital present and future while furthering conversations around Black history, art, liberation and joy.

Kennicott challenged whether the painters of Cosby's blue chip collection would have been "silenced" by ending the exhibition early.


[20] Yinka Shonibare's Wind Sculpture VII was put on permanent display outside the museum in late 2016. ", National, Politics & Government, Health & Safety, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, #national museum of african american history and culture, Kevin Young Named Director Of National Museum Of African American History And Culture. [8], Following Williams's death in 1996, curator Roslyn Walker,[9][8] served as director from 1997 through her 2002 retirement.

The African art museum took a scholarly direction over the next twenty years, with less social programming.

Women’s Initiative at the National Museum of African Art, Johnnetta Betsch Cole Fund for the Future.

He mildly praised the complex's "clever" layout and its maximized underground utility with minimal above-ground changes.

Young is best known as a poet, author, essayist and [28] The museum has also held solo exhibitions for artists including Sokari Douglas Camp (1989)[29][30] and Yinka Shonibare (2010). [6] In 1981, the museum was renamed the National Museum of African Art. [1] Walker was director of the National Museum of African Art from 1997 to 2002, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. Walker was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, studied at Hampton College, Virginia, and did graduate work at Indiana University. impact". [32], Media related to National Museum of African Art at Wikimedia Commons, allegations of sexual assault against him, "African Beauty: At 40, Museum Updates Its Look", "Beneath Smithsonian, Debut for 2 Museums", "African Art Curator to Head Museum; Roslyn Walker Pledges To Broaden Scope, Outreach", "African Art Museum Chief Retires; Roslyn Walker Cites Health Concerns", "Smithsonian Names Sharon Patton to Lead African Art Museum", "African Art Museum to Lose Director; Patton Joins Long List of Smithsonian Departures", "At 80, Johnnetta Cole reflects on her career and the controversial Cosby exhibition", "Smithsonian Closes Museum Spaces Due to Sequestration", "African Art Museum Director Cole will retire in March", "Johnnetta B. Cole, Director of African Art Museum, to Retire in March", "Smithsonian hires British curator and filmmaker to head African Art Museum", "Johnnetta Cole Named New Director of the National Museum of African Art", "A Smithsonian Dig Results in Two Museums", "Smithsonian Unveils $2 Billion Plan to Renovate Its Museums and Public Spaces", "The National Museum of African Art Is About to Have an Amazing Sculpture Outside", "For African Art Treasures, a Place to Spread Out", "New Showcases for Asian and African Art", "Major Collection of African Art Goes to Smithsonian", "Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art", "ART VIEW; Anonymous Tribal Artisans? Nielsen. He is currently the poetry editor at The New Yorker. During 2009–2017 she was Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art. [19] The buildings are visible from Independence Avenue,[6] and the new Enid A. Haupt Garden runs between them and the Smithsonian Institution Building.

Mack joins NMAfA from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) where she serves as the associate director for strategic partnerships. The galleries are large and customized by exhibition designers into smaller rooms to better suit small objects. Poet Kevin Young speaks during the Celebration of the Life of Toni Morrison on Nov. 21, 2019, in New York. [22] The National Museum's collection is larger.

Goldberger admired the building's craftsmanship, interiors, and responsive gallery spaces. A new, mostly underground museum building was completed in 1987, just off the National Mall and adjacent to other Smithsonian museums. The remaining three exhibits were smaller: West African textiles, Benin sculptures and copper reliefs, and useful objects like baskets, hairpins, and snuff boxes. The National Museum of African Art remains temporarily closed. Its levels are connected by a three-story[19] enclosed arcade with large skylights set into the gardens above, through several feet of dirt. Our education programs are very good -- more people need to know about them, to let the wider public know what we are doing.

The exhibition's accompanying catalogue raisonne was the first such scholarly publication for a traditional African artist. [4] The museum collects items for both their traditional uses and aesthetic values,[6] and receives an average of 67 gifts annually. [13] This is due, in part, to its location, which is hidden from the National Mall by the original Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Castle.

[18] Thirty years after joining the Smithsonian, the museum remains one of the smallest museums in the complex, with 213,000 visitors in 2016—about half of the 2009 count and less than one percent of the 28 million annual Smithsonian visitors. [6], The African art and Sackler buildings were built as twin pavilions, each one story above ground and with similar display space: five galleries each, and only one with natural light. [1] The Smithsonian directors adopted the museum the next year[2] and began plans to move the collection from the townhouses into a proper museum. Reviewers criticized the National Mall building's architecture, particularly its lack of natural light. We could certainly be a stronger presence in the wider world.

In the 1950s, American Foreign Service officer Warren M. Robbins collected African figures, masks, books, and textiles from German antique shops.

[12] A 2004 show, "Insights", highlighted 30 works about Apartheid South Africa from its collection.

[4] Many children from local schools attended the museum, which hosted exhibits including an exercise on "how to look at art" in comparing traditional African and modern art. [6] The African art pavilion was built in red granite and uses the circle shape as its architectural theme, with round windows, rounded entrance staircase, and six, round domes on its roof. [email protected]. The House of Representatives approved this plan in 1978 with backing from Representatives John Brademas, Lindy Boggs, Ron Dellums, the Congressional Black Caucus, and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

It is among the Smithsonian's smallest museums.

[11] Patton's tenure included shows targeted towards children. Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News. [6], Of the opening exhibition, the New York Times critic described the exhibits as often austere and understated in irregularly sized rooms that sometimes overwhelmed its contents. Young is currently director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, where he has overseen such high profile acquisitions as the Harlem-based archives of Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, Ruby Dee and Fred "Fab 5 Freddy" Brathwaite. The project, which also included the Sackler Gallery for the Smithsonian's Asian art, created 368,000 square feet of exhibition space[2] at a cost of $73.2 million,[19][6] half of which from the federal government. To inspire conversations about the beauty, power, and diversity of African arts and cultures worldwide. Robbins, without museum, arts, or fundraising experience, believed that the collection could advance interracial civil rights and improve national respect for a major component of black cultural heritage.