The Musée Barbier-Mueller invited the anthropologist Nigel Barley, a former curator at the British Museum, to take a look at the museum’s Nigerian collection, which came into being over more than a hundred years, thanks to the personal and informed “eye” of the collectors Josef Mueller and Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller. Without aspiring to cover exhaustively the cultural production of Nigeria across the two millennia of its history, the Barbier-Mueller collection is very rich in several respects. Faithful to chronological continuity, it provides a sample of the production of the major cultural centres of Nigeria, shedding light on archaeological pieces from Nok, Katsina and Sokoto, works from Ife and the kingdom of Benin, and Yoruba, Ijo and Igbo objects, as well as items from the Cross River and the Benue Valley. By virtue of their rarity, certain pieces in the collection constitute “monuments” of African art. Others, by their emblematic force, are among its great “classics”. The exhibition sets out to present these objects, including several displayed here for the first time, highlighting their aesthetic quality even while explaining, by means of the catalogue, the ethnographic context of their production and use. Nigel Barley provides new angles of approach for considering, understanding and perhaps even better appreciating the art of Nigeria.
Nigerian Arts Revisited
20 March 2015 17 January 2016-
Female head. City of Ife, Nigeria. TL dating: 14th-15th century. Terra cotta. H. 25 cm. Inv. 1015-176. Musée Barbier-Mueller, photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.
-
Head. Ejagham, Nigeria. Wood, fibre, metal and pigment. H. 29.5 cm. Former Jacques Kerchache collection. Inv. 1015-188. Musée Barbier-Mueller, photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.
-
Forehead mask. Western or Central Ijo, Nigeria. Semi-hard wood. L. 118 cm. Inv. 1012-39. Musée Barbier-Mueller, photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.
-
Worship fan. Oshogbo, Yoruba, Nigeria. Copper alloy. L. 48.5 cm. Former Hubert Goldet collection. Inv. 1011-168. Musée Barbier-Mueller, photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.
-
Headdress. Afo, Benue River region, Nigeria. Copper alloy. H. 17 cm. Inv. 1015-185. Musée Barbier-Mueller, photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.
-
Helmet mask. Igbo (Izzi group), Nigeria. Semi-hard wood with black and white paint. H. 49 cm. Inv. 1014-101. Musée Barbier-Mueller, photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.