The Birmingham Museum of Art announces that the Bareiss family of Greenwich, Conn., is placing its collection of African art on long-term loan at the museum. The collection of more than 300 objects is comprised primarily of work from central, eastern, and southern Africa dating from the Eighteenth to early Twentieth Centuries.

To celebrate the loan, the museum has organized an exhibition titled “Highlights from The Walter and Molly Bareiss Collection of African Art” featuring 35 works from the collection, which will be installed in the Jemison Gallery through July 31. Among the powerfully expressive objects in the exhibition are marionettes (nearly 7 feet tall), ancestor figures, initiation masks, divination objects, thrones and staffs. The objects come from many countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Angola, Malawi and Tanzania.

Businessman and art collector Walter Bareiss first became interested in African art in 1948. René D’Arnoncourt, then the director of Museum of Modern Art in New York, asked Bareiss to attend an auction in Stuttgart to purchase African art on behalf of the museum.

Already a collector of modern art, Bareiss was aware of African art as a source for developments in European modernism, and was determined to learn more. He studied African art for the next 20 years, coming to appreciate it in its own right and championing its place among the greatest artistic traditions of the world. He and his wife Molly began collecting African art in the 1970s, and continued collecting for 20 years.

Their collection has been exhibited in both Europe and the United States, and has been published in a major exhibition catalog entitled Kilengi, an African word in the Bantu language meaning “the joy that comes from beauty that reveals itself to the eyes.” In his later years, Bareiss served as interim director for the Museum of Modern Art.

Emily G. Hanna, PhD, Birmingham Museum of Art curator of crts of Africa and the Americas, believes that stewardship of this outstanding and unique collection of African art is a privilege. “Because of the Bareiss family’s focus on collecting from the central, eastern and southern regions of Africa, our visitors will have the pleasure of viewing objects of power and beauty rarely exhibited in US and even European museums,” says Hanna.

The BMA will develop thematic traveling exhibitions from the Bareiss collection. “On rare occasions, museums are given the opportunity to act as caretakers of a collection from the private sector which benefits our varied audiences,” says Gail Trechsel, R. Hugh Daniel Director of the museum. Trechsel believes that this loan not only extends the museum’s ability to interpret the art and culture of Africa but also provides visitors the experience of seeing works of art of extraordinary quality and visual impact that are rarely seen in any venue.

The museum is at 2000 Eighth Avenue North. For information, 205-254-2566 or artsbma.org.