Neuberger Museum of Art

African art has been an integral part of the Neuberger Museum of Art since it opened in 1974. In 1999, the collection almost doubled in size with the major gift of 153 works from the collection of the late Lawrence Gussman, a notable collector and a resident of Scarsdale, New York.

Lawrence Gussman’s interest in Africa began in 1957 when he met Dr. Albert Schweitzer at his hospital in Labaréné (Gabon). This first encounter sparked a friendship between them that endured until Schweitzer’s death in 1965.

Also sharing Dr. Schweitzer’s strong belief in humanitarian aid, Gussman and his wife returned each year to work at Dr. Schweitzer’s hospital. They both went for over thirty years. It was in Gabon that Gussman’s fascination with the art of Central Africa began; yet despite his annual trips to Gabon, he collected only in Europe and the United States, primarily through auction houses, dealers, and other collectors (more information on Lawrence Gussman ).

Thus, the African collection at the Neuberger Museum of Art is strongest in the arts of central Africa. Major objects, however, span a broad geographic range from Mali to Mozambique, offering artistic insights into over thirty cultures.

Only a small portion of the collection was on view until October 12, 2007 when the Neuberger Museum of Art opened its brilliantly refurbished gallery and vastly expanded the number of objects on view from thirty-five to eighty-two.

Photo: Jim Frank

Some of the splendid objects in the collection and included on this website are:

•a Ci-Wara headdress from the Bamana peoples in Mali

•a Bangwa commemorative female figure from Cameroon recently attributed to the carver Ateu Atsa and a Dan figure from Liberia/Côte d'Ivoire attributed to the famous carver Zlan

•a stylistically delicate janus-face Mende mask from Sierra Leone

•a Tsogo/Lumbo harp, among the only anthropomorphic harp known so far in an American museum

•a large figure from the Bembe peoples (Congo) generally recognized for their artistic mastery in miniature

The collection is also distinguished by two powerful examples of Fang reliquary Guardian Figures (Gabon) that contrast both in form and style.

Three important sculptures and an object of adornment have recently been added to the collection: a rare Dogon shutter (Mali) depicting a lizard surrounded by eight figures, a Mumuye figure (Nigeria) displaying bold angular volumes, an exceptional eroded wooden Senufo figure (Mali/Côte d'Ivoire) and a Zulu hat (South Africa) distinguished by its dramatically flared shape.

This website was made possible through the generosity of the Verizon Foundation.

The African website was conceived and realized at the Neuberger Museum of Art by:

Anne Bradner, Former Deputy Director

Marie-Thérèse Brincard, African Art Consultant

Kristi McKee, Marketing Manager

Special thanks to:

Marie-Thérèse Brincard: Curatorial Content
Kristi McKee: Project Management

Cosmos Communications: Site Design and Hosting

Jim Frank and Paul Mutino: Photography

Paul Mutino: 360-degree object spins

Kristen Windmuller: Curatorial Intern, Maps and Object Research

Also thanks to:

William Siegman, formerly Curator, Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands, Brooklyn Museum of Art

Amy Staples, Eliot Elisofon Archives

Margot Nassau, Smithsonian Folkways Recording

Margaret Thompson-Drewal and Henry John Drewal: Video Segments

African Site last updated: December 2008

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Brincard, Marie-Thérèse, ed. Sounding Forms: African Musical Instruments .

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Burgunder, Lillian Maria “Man is like Palm Wine: A Kuba cup.” See the

Dance, Hear the Music: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore

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Phillips, Ruth B. Representing Woman: Sande Masquerades of theMende

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_____ “Mende Mask.” E-mail to Marie-Thérèse Brincard, Neuberger

Museum of Art. (2 June, 2005).

Roberts, Mary Nooter and Allen F. Roberts. Memory. Luba Art and the

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the Fred and Rita Richman Collection. Atlanta: High Museum of Art,
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von Lintig, Bettina. “Ateu Atsa, les sculpteurs, les pr?tres-rois et la

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Espace Culturel BBL, 2001.

_____"Bangwa." E-mail to Marie-Thérèse Brincard, Neuberger
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