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MASTERPIECES FROM CENTRAL AFRICA

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CHICAGO, ILL. -- Visitors to The Art Institute of Chicago will have a rare

opportunity to see 125 breathtaking works of art from Central Africa, brought

to the United States for the first time for the exhibition "Masterpieces From

Central Africa: Selections from the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa,

Tervuren."

Drawn entirely from the renowned collection of the Tervuren Museum, as it is

popularly called, near Brussels, the exhibit is a celebration of the art of

the diverse region known as Central Africa and of the vision of the artists

from many different cultures who created it.

Most of the works were made in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the

late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Centuries. The masterpieces display both

striking forms and inventive combination of materials.

Masks offer a stunning range of styles, from an elegant lifelike Yombe face

mask to other that are powerfully abstract. Figures include delicate,

naturalistic renderings, as well as those, like a nail-studded nkisi nkonde

figure, that are layered with medicinal substances to imbue them with

spiritual force. The nails on the nkisi nkonde were driven into the figure to

activate its power against wrongdoers.

Similarly, another figure is bound in cloth, knotted fiber and padlocks, a

visual metaphor for keeping problems at bay. Many of the artworks combine

figural representation with utility in unexpected and symbolic ways. A

Mangbetu box has the softly rounded legs and beautiful head of a woman, while

a Luba tool is supported by a standing female figure.

An expansive region that straddles the equator, Central Africa extends more

than 1,000 square miles, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes

(Tanganyika, Victoria, etc), with the Congo River, which has supported and

transported people for centuries, arcing upward from the coast into the

region's northern reaches.

Historically, the rainforest area near the equator has been sparsely populated

and politically decentralized. The grasslands to the south, however, have

invited settlement, giving rise to dense populations and centralized states,

including the Kongo, Kuba and Luba kingdoms.

In the Fifteenth Century, trade between Europeans and communities on the

Atlantic coast was established, affecting regional economic and political

systems. In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, the slave trade had a

profound impact on the region, sending tens of thousands of Central Africans

to the Americas.

In 1884, what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo was declared the

private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. Eventually, after increasing

international protest arose against the cruelty of the king's reign, the

Belgian government assumed control of the territory in 1908. Harsh and

exploitative, colonial rule brought great hardships and, in 1960, mounting

protest forced Belgium to grant independence to the country.

Since then, political strife, and more recently, civil war, Col 1, Depth

P93.04 I15.56 have continued to ravage the nation. Amid these difficulties,

some artistic practices have lost their relevance, but others thrive, as

individuals continue to blend traditional practice with contemporary

experience.

The exhibition is accompanied by a 200-page catalogue entitled The Tervuren

Museum: Masterpieces from Central Africa, published by Prestel Verlag. It

features detailed entries on and color plates of each object in the show.

The Art Institute, in Chicago's Grant Park, is open 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

Monday, Wednesday through Friday, and holidays; 10:30 am to 8 pm Tuesday; 10

am to 5 pm Saturday; and noon to 5 pm Sunday. The exhibit runs through March

4.