Acknowledgments

Petridis, Constantine

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Acknowledgments

Constantine Petridis (Editor)

The Language of Beauty in African Art

Acknowledgments

Author

Constantine Petridis (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-22973

Acknowledgments

It has been an honor to prepare this publication and the accompanying exhibition in the context of ongoing efforts to promote scholarship and showcase the arts of Africa at the Art Institute Chicago. I express my sincerest gratitude to James Rondeau, President and Eloise W. Martin Director, for giving me the opportunity to conceive and oversee this ambitious project. Sarah Guernsey, Deputy Director and Senior Vice President for Curatorial Affairs, lent invaluable advice and support every step along the way.

The Language of Beauty in African Art summarizes years of reflection and research on a subject that has captured my imagination ever since my student days in the late 1980s in Belgium. I owe my colleague and friend, art historian and cultural anthropologist Wilfried van Damme, credit for the idea of an exhibition countering the prevalent, erroneous view that African people have no aesthetics. In many publications since 1993, Wilfried has argued for an African perspective on aesthetics that foregrounds a contextual and comparative approach. He generously consulted on this exhibition and contributed an essay presenting his extensive thinking and writing on the topic of indigenous conceptions of beauty and ugliness. I thank him for sharing his wisdom and insights, and for helping my colleagues and me to shape the project.

I also eagerly acknowledge the other authors of the essays featured in this publication: Yaëlle Biro, Herbert M. Cole, Kassim Kone, Babatunde Lawal, and Susan Mullin Vogel. These scholars have each contributed in significant ways to the knowledge shared here—even beyond their texts—but they also informed the ideas explored in the exhibition. I thank Stephen Folaranmi, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ilé-Ifè, Nigeria, and an anonymous reader for their thoughtful feedback on significant portions of this publication. Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi, of Emory University, Atlanta, not only offered constructive criticism on my introductory essay but has been a constant source of intellectual exchange. I was also inspired by the work of Samuel Mark Anderson, who has enriched the Chicago presentation with a film installation.

Emily Fry, Director of Interpretation at the Art Institute, chaired an extended community engagement effort, generously sponsored by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., which helped shape our presentation of African spiritual and religious practices; it benefited from the expert guidance of consultant Leslie Guy. I also wish to recognize Jacqueline Terrassa for her many meaningful contributions to this aspect of the project. Various Chicago-based artists and community leaders participated in conversations about the exhibition’s conception, namely: Olateju Adesida, Solomon Adufah, T. Ayo Alston, D’Sheadra Dot Benford, Rashayla Marie Brown, Sekou “Tepaka Lunda” Conde, Kahil El’Zabar, Brendan Fernandes, Maudlyne Ihejirika, Adedayo Laoye, Patric McCoy, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, and Mirabel Wiryen. The project has also benefited from the advice of Todd Brown, Linda Sheryl Green, Kyrin Hobson, and David Walker, all members of the Art Institute’s Leadership Advisory Council. Museum colleagues who participated in the conversations were Jill Bugajski, Erica Hubbard, Greg Nosan, Sam Ramos, Robin Schnur, and, from September 2020 onward, Veronica Stein.

Truly a collective undertaking, The Language of Beauty in African Art could not have come to fruition without the skills and collaboration of a great number of museum colleagues. I am grateful to the many people who have thoughtfully considered how museums acquire, display, interpret, and steward traditional African art objects, and I look forward to continuing these conversations long after this particular project has concluded. In the Arts of Africa, I offer my deepest thanks to Simone Chagoya, Raymond Ramirez, and Eric Warner. At an earlier stage, Elizabeth Pope created and maintained the exhibition’s checklist, a responsibility Elizabeth Hahn Benge efficiently carried forward. I am also particularly indebted to Janet M. Purdy, Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow in African Art, who furthered the exhibition’s development and served as a thoughtful sounding board along the way.

A very special acknowledgment goes to Greg Nosan and his inspirational team in Publishing. Ben Bertin, Kylie Escudero, Lauren Makholm, Lisa Meyerowitz, and Joseph Mohan each contributed in meaningful ways to this publication’s realization. They also graciously facilitated working with Studio Blue, who was responsible for the book’s elegant design. Robin Hoffman substantially shaped this volume through both meticulous editing and careful coordination of the book’s many components; she also collaborated closely with Emily Fry on developing the exhibition didactics. The illustrations shine thanks to, in Imaging, Elyse Allen, Aidan Fitzpatrick, Jonathan Mathias, and Bonnie Rosenberg, in collaboration with Jamie Stukenberg and Professional Graphics. In Exhibitions, under the leadership of Megan Rader, Courtney Smith expertly coordinated complicated planning and implementation, with Allison Revello and Jennifer Wolfe carrying it over the finish line; they were generously assisted by colleagues in Collections and Loans: Timothy Campos, Cayetana Castillo, and especially Andrew Gordon Haller. Leticia Pardo deserves kudos for the imaginative and handsome design of the exhibition at the Art Institute. Others who enriched the presentation include, in Conservation and Science, Francesca Casadio, Isaac Facio, Emily Heye, and Rachel Sabino; in Experience Design, Gina Giambalvo, Bronwyn Kuehler, Kirill Mazor, Andrew Meriwether, Kirsten Southwell, and Andrew Talley, under the leadership of Michael Neault; in Communications, Paul N. Jones and Lauren Schultz; in Marketing and Public Affairs, Kati Murphy and Katie Rahn; in Public Engagement, Courtney Elizabeth Graham, Stephanie Henderson, Joe Iverson, and Izabela Pieniadz; in Legal, Leslie Darling, Maria Simon, and Jennifer Sostaric; in Museum Facilities, Leslie Carlson and her team; in Philanthropy, Anna Maria Carvallo VanMeter, Eve Jeffers, and Jonathan Kinkley; and in Textiles, Katherine Andereck and Melinda Watt. Jennifer C. Oatess was instrumental in our successful applications for a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. and a National Endowment for the Arts award. Amanda Block and Jennifer Cohen, in Curatorial Documentation and Research, were also invaluable interlocutors at crucial stages.

The geographic scope and depth of this exhibition would not have been possible without the generosity of the many museums and private lenders around the world who are listed on pages 14–15. I appreciate their unwavering support, especially as the exhibition schedule evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These lenders also offered their invaluable help with the reconstruction of the provenances included in the checklist. My fellow curators at public institutions in Europe and the United States have kindly facilitated loans of the most precious works under their care: Natasha Becker and Christina Hellmich, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Paul R. Davis, The Menil Collection, Houston; Els De Palmenaer, MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp; Heather Lemonedes Brown and Kristen Windmuller-Luna, The Cleveland Museum of Art; Allison J. Martino, Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Bloomington; Caroline Kaspar and Laurence Mattet, Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva; Kevin Dumouchelle, Karen Milbourne, and Christine Mullen Kreamer, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; Michaela Oberhofer, Museum Rietberg, Zurich; Evelyn Owen, The Africa Center, New York; Niloo Paydar, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields; Nii Quarcoopome, Detroit Institute of Arts; Erika Umali, Brooklyn Museum; and Roslyn Adele Walker, Dallas Museum of Art.

The following colleagues kindly assisted with the selection and location of objects, the identification of private collectors, and often lengthy conversations about specific works: Carlo Bella (Pace African and Oceanic Art, New York); Alain Bovis; Alain-Michel Boyer; Bruno Claessens; Kevin Conru; Bernard de Grunne; Marguerite de Sabran; Véronique du Lac; Bernard Dulon; Lance and Roberta Entwistle; Marc Leo Felix; Yann Ferrandin; Jean Fritts; Elisa Gauthier; Jacques Germain; Alexander Grogan (Sotheby’s, New York); Frank Herreman; Charles-Wesley Hourdé; Susan Kloman; Steven Kossak; Abla and Alain Lecomte; Alexis Maggiar (Christie’s, Paris); Robert McClain; Amyas Naegele; Joaquin Pecci; Lavuun Quackelbeen; Nicolas Rolland; Dori and Daniel Rootenberg; Heinrich Schweizer; Guy van Rijn and Titus van Rijn; and Jean-Pierre Weill. I thank Patrick Girard and Pierre Boutin for their guidance regarding the attributions and identifications of the various Senufo works featured in this publication, even though I take responsibility for any mistakes in my understanding of their recommendations. I also much appreciate the colleagues who shared photographs that appear as comparative illustrations in various essays in this publication: Jean M. Borgatti, Anne-Marie Bouttiaux, Lynn Forsdale, Pascal James Imperato, Philippe Jespers, Frederick John Lamp, Pierre Loos, Ruth B. Phillips, John Picton, Jill Salmons, and Bonnie Weston. My special thanks to Nanina Guyer at the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, for making available the historical photographs of Hans Himmelheber and Martin Lippmann that illustrate two essays.

Major funding for The Language of Beauty in African Art is provided by Lilly Endowment Inc., Myrna Kaplan, Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson, Javier Peres and Benoît Wolfrom, and an anonymous donor. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Members of the Luminary Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum’s operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Luminary Trust includes an anonymous donor, Neil Bluhm and the Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation, Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr., Kenneth C. Griffin, the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, Josef and Margot Lakonishok, Robert M. and Diane v.S. Levy, Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff, Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel, Anne and Chris Reyes, Cari and Michael J. Sacks, and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.

In closing, I would like to express my appreciation to Jennifer Casler Price and George Shackelford, who agreed to host a version of our exhibition adapted to their space at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, one of my favorite museums. We are also fortunate to include three works from the Kimbell’s stellar collection in our display. I am honored by this historic partnership between our institutions and grateful to Jennifer and George for their enthusiastic endorsement of our project as well as their confidence in our museum’s staff as we navigated the complexities of organizing a traveling exhibition against the backdrop of a global health crisis. Now, more than ever, it is a privilege to be able to share with readers and visitors artworks that connect communities throughout the world.

Constantine Petridis

Chair and Curator, Arts of Africa

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