Smithsonian exhibition examines a decade of African-art collecting
“New & Now,” opening November 6, will use recent acquisitions to explain how the national collection adds voices and fills gaps in the stories it can tell.
The exhibition makes collecting part of the story
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art will open “New & Now: A Decade Building the National Collection of African Art” on November 6 in Washington. The ongoing exhibition centers on works acquired during the past ten years and, according to the museum, explains why and how it collects rather than presenting acquisition as an invisible process behind the galleries.
The stated focus is on how newer works introduce voices or allow the museum to tell existing stories more fully. That framing treats a national collection as something that changes through research, gifts, purchases, conservation and reassessment. It also invites visitors to consider what was absent, whose perspectives are represented and how a museum documents the reasons for adding an object.
The Smithsonian lists the exhibition as ongoing rather than assigning a closing date. It is scheduled for the National Museum of African Art, open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Visitor conditions can change, so travelers should verify hours and access information with the museum before arriving.
A national collection spans time, place and medium
The Smithsonian describes the museum as the only national museum in the United States devoted to the collection, exhibition, conservation and study of the arts of Africa. Its Learning Lab profile says the collection contains more than 9,000 objects representing nearly every region of the continent and a wide range of media.
A collection of that scale cannot be summarized by one chronology or visual tradition. New acquisitions may strengthen historical holdings, document contemporary practice, connect artistic communities across national borders or improve the record around authorship and use. The exhibition’s decade-long frame offers visitors a manageable way to see how curatorial choices alter those larger relationships over time.
The museum’s mission is also broader than ownership. Conservation determines whether objects remain available for study; documentation records provenance and meaning; exhibitions place works in public conversation; and digital resources can reach audiences beyond Washington. An acquisition becomes culturally useful only when those activities make its context understandable and accessible.
Recent gifts add resources as well as objects
The exhibition arrives after the museum announced a bequest from former Michigan state senator Jack Faxon that includes 100 artworks and more than $2 million for collection care and development. That separate gift illustrates the two sides of collection growth: institutions need both significant objects and sustained resources for research, storage, conservation and interpretation.
“New & Now” is therefore less a declaration that collecting is complete than an account of choices made during one decade. Its value will depend on the clarity of the object histories, the range of makers and communities represented and the museum’s willingness to explain uncertainty or gaps. The ongoing format may also allow those interpretations to remain in public view beyond a short exhibition cycle. Visitors will be able to judge those decisions when the exhibition opens November 6.