African & Oceanic

Dating from the 15th to the late 20th century, and primarily from West and Central Africa, the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s diverse collection of African art includes a number of extraordinary works.

Two of the museum’s earliest African acquisitions are spectacular ivories: a late 19th-century carved tusk from the Loango Coast in Angola—one of the first works to enter the museum collection, in 1904—and a late 15th- or early 16th-century Sapi-Portuguese saltcellar, which is one of three known examples attributed to the Foliage Master of Sierra Leone.

Other highlights include a striking and elaborately decorated Wee mask from Cote d’Ivoire and a majestic Baga nimba headdress from Guinea. The museum also holds an 18th-century bronze leopard hip ornament looted from the Benin Kingdom in Nigeria in 1897, and is committed to open dialogue regarding its display and care.

Thanks to a series of acquisitions by Sharon Patton, who was museum director from 1998 to 2003, the collection is now particularly strong in Yoruba arts from Nigeria and Benin, especially sacred objects and beadwork. These include two spectacular adult egungun ensembles and a range of Yoruba priestly regalia. A 2011 gift in honor of Oberlin alumna Alexandra Gould doubled the size of the AMAM’s African holdings; other recent acquisitions include works by internationally celebrated artists Malangatana Valente Ngwenya, Lamidi Olonade Fakeye, and El Anatsui.