the Yoruba of Nigeria and a carved figure called an "elek" 

 from the Baga peoples of Guinea and Guinea Bissau. Other 

 noteworthy acquisitions included an important collection of 

 Tuareg metalwork, including jewelry boxes, tea glass contain- 

 ers, locks and keys, a sword and daggers with sheaths, and a 

 bed. The museum also acquired an important 19th— 2.0th cen- 

 tury female figure from the Temne peoples of Sierra Leone; a 

 documented collection of 25 decorated gourd containers by 

 the Sara Nar and Fulani peoples of Chad; and a figure, carved 

 c. 1948, by the artist Lahore of Nigeria. 



Outreach Efforts 



The museum presented a wide range of public programs. The 

 year's offerings included tours, art classes, films, musical per- 

 formances and programs for educators. 



A series of programs focusing on aspects of masquerade in 

 Africa were offered in conjunction with the exhibition "Face 

 of the Spirits." These included panel discussions, gallery talks, 

 workshops and a summer course for teachers. 



The museum also developed a gallery brochure for families 

 titled "Beads: Looking activities for children with their fami- 

 lies or friends to use in the exhibitions Images of Power and 

 Identity' and 'Royal Benin Art.' " 



The National Museum of African Art continues to make 

 itself accessible to people with special needs. Tours for 

 hard-of-hearing visitors were made possible through a por- 

 table FM Assistive Listening System This system also al- 

 lowed hard-of-hearing visitors to participate in educational 

 programs in the workshop and lecture hall. Sign language 

 interpreters for deaf visitors were available upon request for 

 all museum programs. 



Research 



Philip Ravenhill, chief curator, continued his research on the 

 visual traditions of the Baule peoples of Cote d'lvoire. His re- 

 search resulted in a manuscript of a new book on the topic: 

 Dreams and Reverie: Baule Images 0/ Other-World Mates in the 

 Twentieth Century. Rosyln Walker, curator, continues to do re- 

 search on master sculptot, Olowe of Isc, Nigeria (ca. 1875— 

 1938). 



Publications 



Throughout the year, the museum's curatorial staff pub- 

 lished exhibition catalogues and additional informational 

 materials to accompany exhibitions. This included book- 

 lets offered in conjunction with the exhibitions "Asen: Iron 

 Altars from Ouidah, Republic of Benin" and "Beaded 

 Splendor." The museum also produced a book with color 

 illustrations titled The Voyage of King Sjoya's Gift. A Beaded 

 Sculpture from the Bamum Kingdom. Cameroon, in the National 

 Museum of African Art. The book, which examines an im- 

 portant work in the museum s permanent collection, was 

 written by Christraud Geary, curator of the Eliot Elisofon 

 Archives. 



National Museum of American Art 



Elizabeth Broun, Director 



The National Museum of American Art, the nation's museum 

 dedicated to the arts and artists of the United States from colo- 

 nial times to the present, provides collections and research re- 

 sources that enable the public and scholars to use and enjoy 

 America's visual arts. The museum, which includes the 

 Renwick Gallery, serves diverse audiences throughout the na- 

 tion as well as those who visit its two historic landmark build- 

 ings in Washington, D.C. Outreach takes the form of 

 circulating exhibitions, educational materials, publications, 

 automated research resources, and participation in an inter- 

 active computer network. 



A major retrospective exhibition of the works of Thomas 

 Cole (1801-1848), America's most important landscape painter 

 of the early 19th century, opened at the museum in March. 

 "Thomas Cole: Landscape into History" presented the rich va- 

 riety of landscape formats Cole developed and introduced new 

 ideas about the relationship of the artist's work to the social 

 and political issues of his day. The exhibition, organized by 

 William H. Truettner, the museum's curator of painting and 

 sculpture, and Alan Wallach, Ralph H. Wark professor of fine 

 arts at the College of William and Mary, reexamined the mes- 

 sages Cole's canvases might have conveyed to viewers during 

 his era. For the first time in nearly 150 years, Cole's two mas- 

 terful allegorical series, The Course of Empire (1834-1836) and 

 The Voyage of Life (1842), were hung in the same exhibition. 



An outstanding collection of 22 contemporary American 

 crafts was presented to the Renwick by KPMG Peat Marwick, 

 and placed on exhibition in February. The objects, made from 

 clay, fiber, wood, paper, and metal by 18 modern masters, in- 

 cluded a large stoneware wall plate by Peter Voulkos, two un- 

 usual collages on paper by Lenore Tawney, two luminous 

 porcelains by Rudolf Staffel, and an earthenware "landscape" 

 ot fiver lidded boxes by Wayne Higby. 



Eighty paintings from public and private collections repre- 

 senting the career of Jacob Kainen, long known for his gift of 

 form and color, were mounted in a traveling exhibition that 

 opened at the museum in the fall. The works on view repre- 

 sented Kainen's exploration of abstraction and figurative sub- 

 jects during six decades. They included examples of his early, 

 expressive responses to human suffering during the Depres- 

 sion; turbulent abstractions created during the McCarthy era 

 of the 1950s; evocative figurative studies from the 1960s; and 

 recent canvases noted for their assured compositions and po- 

 etic color. Virginia Mecklenburg, chief curator, was the exhibi- 

 tion coordinator. 



A 35-foot-long print of a monumental, full-circle color pan- 

 orama of Washington, DC, which the museum commissioned 

 from photographer Mark Klett, was highlighted in a summer 

 exhibition. Klett photographed the view from the Nancy 

 Hanks Tower of the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylva- 



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