Permanent Galleries
Highlights16th/17th Century18th Century19th CenturyAfricanAmericanContemporaryDecorative ArtsMedievalPre-Columbian/Spanish Colonial

Kuba Beadwork

Click on the links below to see images of Kuba kings adorned in royal beadwork:

Europeans, Christianity, and the Kongo Kingdom

For further reading about early Christianity and the Kongo Kingdom, see the excellent and award-winning book by Cecile Fromont: The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo.

Power Figures

The sculpture in the image above is located on the second floor of the Snite Museum. It is inspired by power figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Divination Basket with Sixty-One Ritual Objects

Owen D. Mort Jr. described each of the 61 objects in this Chokwe divination basket in his handwritten and illustrated book: The Art of Zaire. Click on the images below to expand the detailed descriptions by Mort.

Mask

Guere masquerades in Côte d’Ivoire (VIDEO)

Kpelie Mask

This painting, located on the second floor of the Snite Museum, has an image inspired by this type of Senufo Style Mask.

Married Women's Headdress

Below are two 1935 photographs of a Herero woman in Botswana wearing this headdress, taken by Sir R. D. Furse, a British Colonial Officer, who collected this object.

Model Boat

Image above is of an early 20th Century postcard showing a manned racing boat in the Duala, Cameroon harbor with a German steamship in the background.