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20.05.2012 Nigeria

Exhibition of Ife arts returns to Nigeria

By Businessday.com
Exhibition of Ife arts returns to Nigeria
20.05.2012 LISTEN

More than 100 extraordinary brass, terra-cotta and stone sculptures, are featuring in an exhibition of Art of Ife , opening on Friday at the National Museum, Lagos.

The exhibition, entitled, `` Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria'' is making a return to Nigeria after presentation at various cities in Europe and the U.S.

Devoted to the art of Ife, the ancient city-state of the Yoruba people, the exhibition is featuring objects that ranged in date from the ninth to the 15th centuries, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) said in a statement.

The statement, issued on Thursday by NCMM Public Relations Officer Maureen Nneka, said the exhibition ``is co-organised by the African Arts, New York and the Fundacio Botin, Santerdard, Spain in collaboration with the commission.''

Yusuf Abdallah Usman, the Director General of NCMM, described the exhibition as a product of collaborative partnership between great cultural institutions in Africa.

He said that Europe and the U.S. had demonstrated the boundless nature of artistic appreciation, and the results that could be achieved when professionals across climes work together.

Yusuf said that the Museum for African Art was working with the commission to present the exhibition in Lagos The Museum for African Art President Elsie McCabe Thompson also commented.

"The Museum for African Art is thrilled to collaborate with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments to present this exhibition in Lagos.''

Thompson said the masterpieces in the exhibition demonstrated the extraordinary artistry that had been part of West African civilisation for the past millennium.

``We are certain that the audiences in Nigeria will be as excited to see them on display, as were the thousands of people who have seen them in Europe and the U.S. over the past three years.”

The exhibition opened at the Fundación Botín, in Santander, Spain, in June 2009, and traveled to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, prior to its critically-acclaimed presentation at the British Museum in London, where it was titled “Kingdom of Ife”.

The U.S. tour of the exhibition included the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

The exhibition is planned to return to New York upon the completion of the Museum for African Art's new home on New York City's Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue, according to the statement.

The Exhibition on May 18 coincides with the International Museum Day.

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