African Art Works

This stunning tribute to African art features more than 200 photos, paintings, sculptures, and textiles from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art’s collections.

This marvelous volume features the African art collection of Michigan state legislator Jack Faxon (1936–2020) bequeathed to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. African Art Works looks at how artists, communities, and collectors have sought to make change in their own personal lives, in their social interactions, and in their relationships to the world and beyond, through art.

African Art Works places Faxon’s collection in conversation with mid-20th to 21st-century works from the museum to look at how artists across the range of time, media, and geographies the museum collects solved problems, such as:

• Cultivating healthy relationships with the environment: A 20th-century crest mask used in performances that honor the Ijo community’s relationship with water is paired with a 2016 statue Tree Woman by Wangechi Mutu depicting a body intertwined with nature.
• Conserving scarce resources: An early to mid-20th-century milk pail used by a Zulu community paired with a 2013 haute couture dress that serves as a powerful statement about the richness of Africa’s resources and the violence they can spark.
• Calling community together in danger: An early 20th century slit gong that can carry powerful sound over long distances and could help notify a community of threat is paired with a 1970 etching depicting the fear and anxiety during Nigeria’s civil war.

Essays reflect on the role of art as a call to action, the act of collecting African art, and Jack Faxon’s legacy driven by his work in the arts, education, and public service. African Art Works is a stunning and enlightening tribute to art that works to transform the world.