Visiting The Met? The Temple of Dendur will be closed Sunday, April 27 through Friday, May 9. The Met Fifth Avenue will be closed Monday, May 5.

Learn more

Search / All Results

3,917 results for west africa

Image for Storytelling and West African Cinema
editorial

Storytelling and West African Cinema

April 22, 2020

By Yaëlle Biro, Rahmatou Keïta, and Fanta Régina Nacro

Filmmakers Rahmatou Keïta and Fanta Nacro speak about their work’s relationship to narrative traditions of the Sahel.
Image for Early Histories of Photography in West Africa (1860–1910)
African patrons and entrepreneurs quickly picked up the new technology, which circulated and flourished through local and global networks of exchange. Photographers, clients, and images moved across the region often traversing both national and ethnic boundaries.
Image for The Age of Iron in West Africa
Essay

The Age of Iron in West Africa

October 1, 2002

By Emma George Ross

The fabrication of iron tools and weapons allowed for extensive systematized agriculture, efficient hunting, and successful warfare necessary to sustain large urban centers.
Image for Divination and Senufo Sculpture in West Africa
Essay

Divination and Senufo Sculpture in West Africa

January 1, 2010

By Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi

Diviners invest in the arts to foster personal relationships with the spirit world and enhance communication between nature spirits and humans.
Image for Arts of Power Associations in West Africa
Essay

Arts of Power Associations in West Africa

January 1, 2010

By Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi

[Power associations] are dynamic institutions that respond to local contexts and historical change and thus exhibit great variability.
Image for Africa in Focus
editorial

Africa in Focus

November 29, 2023
Exhibitions that highlight The Met's engagement with Africa.
Image for _Senufo Sculpture from West Africa_: An Influential Exhibition at the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1963
Essay

Senufo Sculpture from West Africa: An Influential Exhibition at the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1963

January 1, 2010, revised March 1, 2016

By Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi

Senufo Sculpture from West Africa and its precursor [exhibition] set a precedent for the exhibition and study of African art that prevailed for decades.
Image for The Portuguese in Africa, 1415–1600
Essay

The Portuguese in Africa, 1415–1600

October 1, 2002

By Emma George Ross

[The Portuguese] encountered urban centers in West Africa comparable to those back in Europe, governed by elaborate dynasties, organized around apprenticeship-based artistic guilds, and with agricultural systems capable of feeding their large populaces.
Image for Africa & Byzantium
Past Exhibition

Africa & Byzantium

November 19, 2023–March 3, 2024
Art history has long emphasized the glories of the Byzantine Empire (circa 330–1453), but less known are the profound artistic contributions of North Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, and other powerful African kingdoms whose pivotal interactions wit…
Image for Introducing _Africa in Focus_
editorial

Introducing Africa in Focus

November 30, 2023

By Max Hollein

Max Hollein reflects on the Museum’s wide range of exhibitions, partnerships, and programs centered on African art.
Image for West Africa vignettes

Elton C. Fax (born 1909)

Date: 1963
Accession Number: DT494 .F3 1963

Image for Tomb Chapel of Raemkai: West Wall

Date: ca. 2446–2389 B.C.
Accession Number: 08.201.1d

Image for Relief from the West Wall of a Chapel of Ramesses I

Date: ca. 1295–1294 B.C.
Accession Number: 11.155.3b

Image for Robe (boubou)

Date: mid-20th century
Accession Number: 2019.437.1

Image for Scene in the Jewish Quarter of Constantine

Théodore Chassériau (French, Le Limon, Saint-Domingue, West Indies 1819–1856 Paris)

Date: 1851
Accession Number: 1996.285

Image for North Side of the West Wall of Nakht's Offering Chapel

Norman de Garis Davies (1865–1941)

Date: 1908–1914; original ca. 1410–1370 B.C.
Accession Number: 15.5.19e, l–m

Image for Goje
Art

Goje

Date: late 19th–early 20th century
Accession Number: 46.34.5

Image for Tomb Chapel of Raemkai: False Door on West Wall

Date: ca. 2446–2389 B.C.
Accession Number: 08.201.1e

Image for Tomb Chapel of Raemkai

Date: ca. 2446–2389 B.C.
Accession Number: 08.201.1a–i