This female figure, made of ivory and standing 37 inches tall, was made in the early Nineteenth Century by Edo peoples in the Benin kingdom court style, and was probably intended for an altar to a queen mother. It is one of the first two objects purchased by Paul and Ruth Tishman in 1959. "Ivory can be almost universally interpreted as a symbol of importance and wealth,” says exhibition curator Bryna Freyer.
:Most Americans know little about the vast and diverse continent of Africa, much less the arts created there. Dark and primitive, the arts of the African peoples reflect the rituals of life, stripped to the most basic interpretive forms both conceptually and artistically.
Celebrating the arts of Africa and the profound role that they have played in molding Twentieth Century Abstraction and Modernist art in the "West" is the Smithsonian's newest exhibition, "African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection." It is on view through September 7, 2008, at The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art (NMAA).
"African Vision" showcases 88 outstanding artworks, part of a larger collection donated to the NMAA, that represents the largest gift of sculpture in the museum's history.
In 1959, Paul and Ruth Tishman began their collection with the purchase of two pieces of art from the Benin kingdom — an early Nineteenth Century ivory female figure standing 37 inches tall, made in the court style by the Edo peoples, and a 28-inch-tall, Eighteenth Century copper alloy mask that was worn by a divine-healer in masquerade performances for royalty.
Paul Tishman was a member of a long-established construction and real estate family whose company did, and continues to do, major projects in the metropolitan New York area. In 1924, he joined the Tishman Realty and Construction Company, founded by his father in 1898, after graduating from Harvard University and completing graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Paul and Ruth Tishman would build what is regarded as one of the "great private collections" of African art, according to NMAA.
Buying primarily from dealers and auction houses in New York, Paris and London, the Tishmans focused on masks and figures, yet the collection underscores their interest in large-scale works, painted sculpture and certain regions and topics.
This elaborate, skin-covered crest mask was worn on top of the head by early Twentieth Century Nigerians, possibly the Efik peoples from the lower Cross River region, with a costume covering the body of the masked performer. The hairstyle is an exaggerated version of one worn by young women during coming-of-age rituals.
Since the mid-1960s, the collection has greatly influenced the study of African art, through exhibitions and publications, helping to define and set aesthetic standards of quality in this country and abroad, according to museum officials.
The Tishmans' desire to share the art with as many people as possible eventually led to the sale of the collection to the Walt Disney Company in 1984. While Disney's original plan of a permanent exhibition space at Epcot never materialized, it proved to be a generous steward, making the collection available for numerous exhibitions and publications. In 2005, Disney donated all 525 objects in the collection, representing more than 75 ethnic groups and 20 countries, to NMAA, continuing the tradition begun by Paul and Ruth Tishman of sharing this great African art with the world.
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