Watch movie in full screen (recommended) by clicking the four arrows icon just above.
The National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., began as a small, independent museum. It would later become part of the Smithsonian complex of museums on the National Mall.
In 1964, former U.S. Foreign Service officer Warren M. Robbins (1923-2008) founded the first museum in the United States devoted entirely to African art. Its beginnings were shaped not only by Robbins's interest in African and modern Western art, which had developed during his postings in Europe, but also by the effect of the civil rights movement in the United States. Later known as the Museum of African Art, the museum originated as the Center for Cross-Cultural Communication, a nonprofit corporation that fostered intercultural understanding through programs in the social sciences and the arts for which Robbins served as director, curator and fund-raiser. A town house once owned by Frederick Douglass, former slave, newspaper editor, abolitionist, and statesman, became the museum's home. Given the central role and visionary leadership that Warren Robbins provided in founding and nurturing this new museum, it is appropriate, even prophetic, that the first work officially accessioned by the museum was an ikegobo--a cylindrical wood altar from the Edo peoples of Benin City, Nigeria, that is dedicated to what a person achieves through his own merits and hard work.
By the 1970s, the museum had firmly established itself in the museum world through its collections, exhibitions, and innovative programs that centered on African art and cultures. However, in order to ensure its continued solvency and stability, Robbins proposed in 1974 that the museum become part of the Smithsonian Institution. He believed that as part of the Smithsonian, the museum would have access to resources that would enable it to become a principal center for African art studies. In 1976, the Smithsonian's board of regents favored Robbins' proposal, contingent upon Congressional approval. The leading sponsor of the proposed legislation was Senator Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota. After his death, the legislation previously drafted by Humphrey was introduced by Senator Wendell Anderson from Minnesota and Representative Corrine C. Boggs from Louisiana. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed into law S. 2507, authorizing the Smithsonian to acquire the museum and its collections and properties. In August 1979 the museum became, by an act of Congress, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1981 the museum was officially renamed the National Museum of African Art. Plans began for a new facility as part of an international center on the National Mall that would be accessible to a new and larger audience. On September 28, 1987, the National Museum of African Art opened to the public in its new and greatly expanded facility on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Throughout its history as a Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African Art has organized and hosted groundbreaking exhibitions along with their publications that have expanded the parameters of the field of African art history and presented a rich diversity of artistic traditions from throughout the continent. Further, the museum is distinguished as the first in the United States to include as part of its scholarly and collecting mission a sustained focus on modern and contemporary African art.
In reflecting on its thirty year history as a Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African Art recognizes the enormous contributions of past directors and former staff, fellows, interns, docents and volunteers, as well as the ongoing contributions of the dedicated professionals currently serving the museum and its visitors. Throughout, the museum has benefited from the support of our local, national and international stakeholders that include teachers and their students, the African diplomatic corps, federal government and international organizations, African immigrant and African American community groups, and artists, scholars, collectors and museum professionals within and outside Africa.
Since joining the Smithsonian in 1979, the National Museum of African Art has striven to clarify and articulate its role as a regional, national, and international institution. Much as the Asante adinkra symbol sankofa (a bird looking backwards) reminds us to profit from past experience in order to move forward, the museum recalls its humble beginnings and its great promise as it charts its course into the future. Being part of the largest museum complex in the world explains not only the incredible opportunities afforded to the museum but also the compelling necessity for the museum to maintain and enhance its presence and relevancy to such a vast and diverse audience base.
Warren Robbins's inaugural vision--to teach visitors how to look at African art in the interest of promoting cross-cultural communication--remains at the heart of the National Museum of African Art's mission today. Perhaps now more than ever, public understanding and appreciation of cultural difference need to be promoted, making the museum's presence on the National Mall all the more critical. Indeed, the museum will continue its efforts to remain relevant to its diverse visitorship as well as to its African constituencies in representing the historic and contemporary artistic practices of Africa for all to cherish and enjoy.
Excerpted and adapted from the essay "Building a National Collection of African Art: The Life History of a Museum," by David Binkley, Bryna Freyer, Christine Mullen Kreamer, Andrea Nicolls and Allyson Purpura, forthcoming in African Art in American Art Museums, edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke (2010, University of Washington Press).
Music credits:
Zither, with Voice
Musicians
The Topoke People of the Congo
Nyoka Musango
Lora Chiorah-Dye and Sukutai
Safarini in transit: Music of African immigrants
Cut
Kirkiyap and Dawa Sonam
Music of a Sherpa Village
Timbila Solo
Spooni Wilessene
Music From Mozambique, Vol. 3
All music is available through Smithsonian Folkways
In 1964, former U.S. Foreign Service officer Warren M. Robbins (1923-2008) founded the first museum in the United States devoted entirely to African art. Its beginnings were shaped not only by Robbins's interest in African and modern Western art, which had developed during his postings in Europe, but also by the effect of the civil rights movement in the United States. Later known as the Museum of African Art, the museum originated as the Center for Cross-Cultural Communication, a nonprofit corporation that fostered intercultural understanding through programs in the social sciences and the arts for which Robbins served as director, curator and fund-raiser. A town house once owned by Frederick Douglass, former slave, newspaper editor, abolitionist, and statesman, became the museum's home. Given the central role and visionary leadership that Warren Robbins provided in founding and nurturing this new museum, it is appropriate, even prophetic, that the first work officially accessioned by the museum was an ikegobo--a cylindrical wood altar from the Edo peoples of Benin City, Nigeria, that is dedicated to what a person achieves through his own merits and hard work.By the 1970s, the museum had firmly established itself in the museum world through its collections, exhibitions, and innovative programs that centered on African art and cultures. However, in order to ensure its continued solvency and stability, Robbins proposed in 1974 that the museum become part of the Smithsonian Institution. He believed that as part of the Smithsonian, the museum would have access to resources that would enable it to become a principal center for African art studies. In 1976, the Smithsonian's board of regents favored Robbins' proposal, contingent upon Congressional approval. The leading sponsor of the proposed legislation was Senator Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota. After his death, the legislation previously drafted by Humphrey was introduced by Senator Wendell Anderson from Minnesota and Representative Corrine C. Boggs from Louisiana. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed into law S. 2507, authorizing the Smithsonian to acquire the museum and its collections and properties. In August 1979 the museum became, by an act of Congress, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1981 the museum was officially renamed the National Museum of African Art. Plans began for a new facility as part of an international center on the National Mall that would be accessible to a new and larger audience. On September 28, 1987, the National Museum of African Art opened to the public in its new and greatly expanded facility on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Throughout its history as a Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African Art has organized and hosted groundbreaking exhibitions along with their publications that have expanded the parameters of the field of African art history and presented a rich diversity of artistic traditions from throughout the continent. Further, the museum is distinguished as the first in the United States to include as part of its scholarly and collecting mission a sustained focus on modern and contemporary African art.
In reflecting on its thirty year history as a Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African Art recognizes the enormous contributions of past directors and former staff, fellows, interns, docents and volunteers, as well as the ongoing contributions of the dedicated professionals currently serving the museum and its visitors. Throughout, the museum has benefited from the support of our local, national and international stakeholders that include teachers and their students, the African diplomatic corps, federal government and international organizations, African immigrant and African American community groups, and artists, scholars, collectors and museum professionals within and outside Africa.
Since joining the Smithsonian in 1979, the National Museum of African Art has striven to clarify and articulate its role as a regional, national, and international institution. Much as the Asante adinkra symbol sankofa (a bird looking backwards) reminds us to profit from past experience in order to move forward, the museum recalls its humble beginnings and its great promise as it charts its course into the future. Being part of the largest museum complex in the world explains not only the incredible opportunities afforded to the museum but also the compelling necessity for the museum to maintain and enhance its presence and relevancy to such a vast and diverse audience base. 
Warren Robbins's inaugural vision--to teach visitors how to look at African art in the interest of promoting cross-cultural communication--remains at the heart of the National Museum of African Art's mission today. Perhaps now more than ever, public understanding and appreciation of cultural difference need to be promoted, making the museum's presence on the National Mall all the more critical. Indeed, the museum will continue its efforts to remain relevant to its diverse visitorship as well as to its African constituencies in representing the historic and contemporary artistic practices of Africa for all to cherish and enjoy.Excerpted and adapted from the essay "Building a National Collection of African Art: The Life History of a Museum," by David Binkley, Bryna Freyer, Christine Mullen Kreamer, Andrea Nicolls and Allyson Purpura, forthcoming in African Art in American Art Museums, edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke (2010, University of Washington Press).
Music credits:
Zither, with Voice
Musicians
The Topoke People of the Congo
Nyoka Musango
Lora Chiorah-Dye and Sukutai
Safarini in transit: Music of African immigrants
Cut
Kirkiyap and Dawa Sonam
Music of a Sherpa Village
Timbila Solo
Spooni Wilessene
Music From Mozambique, Vol. 3
All music is available through Smithsonian Folkways
Back to About the Museum