The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is opening on October 2 2007 a special exhibition, dedicated to the art of Central African masters, which played in the past a key influence on the Western avant-garde. Famous European and American artists collected this kind of works, being greatly influenced by their aesthetic qualities and unusual lines, so one could say that this type of African masterpieces produced a mojor shift in Western art.
The show will be presenting some of the best works of the genre, more than a century old, created by African artists, many of them inspired amateurs. But rather than just exhibiting the artworks, curators are trying to focus on the significance of these works both in Western art and in their countries of origin. The 150 works that will feature in the show come from Cameroon Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These sculptural creations, many of them surprising masterpieces, have transcended their original cultural and ethnic mediums, making the step towards universal art.
2007-08-28
