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New Highlights for the Museum's Gallery of African Art

Visitors will find a fresh, updated display in the African gallery on the Museum’s lower level, including several new acquisitions such as an ikenga by an Igbo artist in Nigeria. Ikenga figures could be personal or communal; the size and complexity of Princeton’s example—one of the finest in the world—suggests that it served a family, village, or age group. Ikenga served as a focus for offerings and would have been paraded in a show of community solidarity.
Igbo artist, Nigeria: Ikenga, first half of the 20th century. Wood and polychrome, 116 x 30 x 30 cm. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2010-129) Photo: Bruce M. White
Igbo artist, Nigeria: Ikenga, first half of the 20th century. Wood and polychrome, 116 x 30 x 30 cm. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2010-129) Photo: Bruce M. White