Museum temporarily closed to the public. Clay—Modeling African Design

Countering the assumption that African arts and societies are largely unchanging and bound to traditions and customs, the remarkable diversity of objects and styles on display here tells a different story. A selection of more than 50 works on loan from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, including those by newly discovered Nigerian artist Alice Osayewe, are shown alongside works from the Harvard Art Museums permanent collections, such as a recently acquired contemporary photograph by Afro-futurist artist Alexis Peskine.

The unique malleability and plasticity of clay, as well as its prominent use in global art contexts, make it ideal for exploring not only African art forms and aesthetics in particular, but also broader questions of design. By its very nature, clay embodies the notion of transformation, shifting from a soft to hard state in the course of firing. This material property relates directly to the many design possibilities inherent in clay. The fabric of clay also represents important values in Africa. A core feature of the earth and broadly available in nearly every environmental zone, clay is often connected with sacredness as linked to the dead and to an array of deities and earth spirits.

African languages have various terms for the concept of design. In Yoruba, ọnà means not only design, but also pattern, shape, or art. The word also connotes artistic embellishment, ornamentation, and beauty, and it gives us the Yoruba term for artist, ọlọ́nà, and for artists working in specific media, such as leather workers and embroiderers. On the east coast of Africa, Swahili speakers use the term kubuni for design; the word also references invention and improvisation, evoking the importance of imagination within the larger concept of design.