African Art

Women Artists

Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Celebrating Multicultural Identity

Through her work, Njideka Akunyili Crosby celebrates her cultural heritage and identity as a Nigerian artist living and working in America. By using...

Nina Relf 8 February 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Fowling in the Marshes

Ancient Egypt. The famous land of Tutankhamun evokes popular images of pyramids, mummies, and tombs. It left an artistic heritage that is still...

James W Singer 3 December 2023

El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon, Installation View, Tate Modern, London, UK. African Art

5 Things to Know About El Anatsui’s Turbine Hall Commission at Tate Modern

On October 10th, the doors of Tate Modern in London swung open, unveiling a long-awaited exhibition: the annual Turbine Hall Hyundai Commission. The...

Natalia Tiberio 2 November 2023

Pectoral with Isis, ca. 538 to 519 BCE, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA. Nubian gold Ancient Egypt

All The Glitters: Gold of Nubia

The ancient African civilization of Nubia thrived along the banks of the Nile, encompassing present-day Sudan and southern Egypt. Nubia gained renown...

Maya M. Tola 9 October 2023

Broad collar of Senebtisi, ca. 1850–1775 BCE, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Ancient Egypt

All That Glitters: Gold Jewelry in Ancient Egypt

Personal ornaments were favored by ancient Egyptians from the Predynastic to the late Roman periods, and most of them wore some type of jewelry. The...

Maya M. Tola 9 October 2023

African Art

Art and Culture of the Dogon People of Africa

African art and culture had been a driving inspiration to European modern artists like Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, and Amedeo Modigliani, among...

Urvi Chheda 9 August 2023

Ancient Egypt

Akhenaten: Artistic Development in the Amarna Period

Amenhotep IV, widely recognized as the notorious Akhenaten, was the enigmatic “heretic” pharaoh who ruled during the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Maya M. Tola 20 July 2023

African Art

Martin Senkubuge: Fighting the Stigma of Vitiligo

At first glance, Martin Senkubuge’s drawings look like actual photographs. The artist is the founder of Part of Us, a visual campaign aimed to...

Vithória Konzen Dill 25 May 2023

Benin art African Art

Art Treasures from the African Kingdom of Benin

Today we’ll go back in time to the 1500s when the wealth of the Benin Empire (in contemporary Nigeria) was at its peak: when Europeans traded with...

Magda Michalska 25 May 2023

Ancient Egypt

The Bust of Nefertiti: Ancient Masterpiece or Genius Hoax?

On December 6, 1912, a team of excavators from the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, led by Ludwig Borchardt, unearthed a wonderful work of art. They...

Montaine Dumont 14 October 2022

African Art

Colonial Looting of African Art: A Century in Exile

Have you ever wondered how European modern artists were inspired by African art? They certainly didn’t travel to the continent. The answer is...

Jimena Escoto 18 July 2022

Artist Stories

Edward Tingatinga: The Founder of an African Artistic Tradition That Endures

Tingatinga is an art form specific to Tanzania. It originated in the works of a painter whose name was lent to the entire artistic movement. Edward...

Luciana Craciun 12 February 2022