The African art collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts did not rise as a hallmark of the museum until after the 1920 when the DIA's director.

The African art collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts did not rise as a hallmark of the museum until after the 1920 when the DIA's director, Dr William R Valentiner, began to build concerning the modest bequest of purposes from one of its original sink s Frederick Stearns. Valentiner cultivated a circle of enthusiastic local collectors, among them Robert H Tannahill and Edsel Ford, who amassed fine personal collections of African art that would constitute the DIA's core corpus in this area. a certain of the earliest acquisitions were unique works with extraordinary provenance, of the like kind as several Kuba vessels mustered by Leo Frobenius and a Guro female figure from the collection of Tristan Tzara, an associate of Picasso's. The African holdings have grown substantially since the 1920s-1930 and now boast more than 300 pieces.

The 1960 saw the formation of the auxiliary arrange called the African Art Committee. in a less degree than the leadership of Arthur D Coar, it nourished local support for African art and ushered in another cylindrical of important acquisitions. Probably the principally significant individual contribution was the 1967 donation by way of Justice and Mrs. G. Mennen-Williams, who had assembled a fine collection during their years in Africa, when the Justice serv as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. With the following generous bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford and the hiring of Michael Kan as Curator of African Art in the 1970 the DIA made near of its most important acquisitions, pieces that reshaped and expanded the collection's scope

Today the DIA's African art collection, comprising works from nearly common hundred sub-Saharan African cultures, ranks among the finest in the United States. This richly diverse corpus continues to wax through purchases and donations from local collectors. Several noteworthy pieces were added in the last year. These latest acquisitions fill significant gaps in the museum's African holdings, strengthen the collection's international stature, and supporting cushion educational outreach in diverse ways.

The DIA is not barely undergoing a total transformation of its physical conformation which comprises more than 160000 square feet of space, on the contrary is also working toward a more accessible and appealing presentation of its collections. The changes will encompass building renovation, realignment of the curatorial departments, and a concluded reinstallation of the permanent collection, all to be complet in late 2006

Janus-faced head

Akan improvement Ghana, ca. 18th century

Terracotta, 229cm (9")

Museum Purchase, Friends of African and African American Art capital 2002.178

This sculpture's finely featured faces are in a method similar to that of other works attributed to the famous eighteenth-century archaeological site of Twifo-Hemang. Twifo Hemang produc a certain number of of the most engaging examples of Akan clay portraiture. Akan commemorative tradition focuses forward capturing the likeness of the deceased, and heads constitute the preponderance of as it was memorial portraits. It is not unusual to diocese busts or heads serving as drags for lids of large funerary canals especially among the Kwahu subgroup A dark virid blemish suggests that the DIA head inhuman on that side after breaking along a bust, figure, or lid.

Janus-faced human heads are rare in Akan terracotta sculpture; thus far, no other than one other example has been published. While they may be considered anomalous (Herbert cabbage and Doran H. Ross, The Arts of Ghana [Berkeley: University of California Press] 1977:227) like heads express an Akan penchant for individualizing deceased ones with powers of clairvoyance. This portrait is the finer and more out and out of the two double-faced examples in this style

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Ceremonial hat (emedot)

Karamojong agriculture Uganda/Kenya

Earth, pigment, ostrich feathers, human hair, beads; 26cm x 254cm (10 1/4" x 10")

Gift of Dede and Oscar Feldman in honor of strike Kan, 2002.211

Coiffures play a critical character in convoying status and identifying members of particular age-sets in Karamojong society For males, the insertion of ostrich feathers into as it was distinctive caps not only expresse their individuality if it were not that also represents their strength, masculinity, and courage.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Memorial screen

lie of Kalabari, Lower Niger Delta, Nigeria, 19th century

forest wicker, metal, pigment; 121.9cm x 889cm x 381cm (48" x 35" x 15")

Museum Purchase, Robert Tannahill foundation 2003.21

This piece exhibits striking stylistic affinities with the renowned British Museum collection of memorial shields (nduein fobara) attributed to the Pekia family atelier, which operated in Abonnema village from the 1850 in consequence of 1916. In 1916 the production of nduein fobara ceased in the lie area when the self-styl local prophet Elijah II was said to have convinced mostly Ijo families to bum their ancestral riddles (Roy Siober and Roslyn A. Walker, African Art in the period of Life [Washington, DC : Smithsonian Institution Press] 1987) The British colonial administrator Lt Percy Talbot, then residing in Abonnema village, come afterwarded in salvaging eleven pieces, nine of which conclusioned up in Iha British Museum The remaining couple were acquired by the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, and the Minneapolis Museum of Art With this purchase, the DIA becomes solitary the second US museum to be in possession of one of these rare artworks The cover may be an additional example that survived the destruction in 1916 It has been documented in situ in Abonnema, where it was acquired from eiders of the village's Shakapu Trading Society