Broad Spectrum of African Continent Offered in Art Museum's 'Creative Africa'

DELAWARE COUNTY NEWS NETWORK
By Brian Bingaman

Altar Head, 16th century Benin Kingdom, Nigeria Bronze, copper alloy Height: 8 1/8 inches University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia: Purchased from W. O. Oldman. Image courtesy of the Penn Museum, Image #250922 Photograph by Gary Ombler for Dorling Kindersley

PENNSYLVANIA---“The human story begins in Africa,” remarked Julian Siggers, the Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Speaking at a preview event for the five-part “Creative Africa” exhibition that’s taken over the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Perelman Building, Siggers added that the Penn Museum’s oldest artifacts are from Africa. An intriguing selection from that museum’s collection can be found in “Creative Africa”’s centerpiece, “Look Again: Contemporary Perspectives on African Art,” which is in the Special Exhibitions Gallery through Dec. 4. [link]

Philadelphia Museum of Art: “Creative Africa,” (Ends September 4, 2016); 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA; (215)763-8100; philamuseum.org