Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa’s Arts, the National Museum of African Art’s most recent, large-scale presentation of its collection, is the first to offer broad thematic connections between artworks across the spectrum of time, place, and medium.

Dec 13, 2024 · Currents: Water in African Art. Ongoing. Water is in all of us—to live, we need water to drink. Featuring artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition proves that water is one of most potent forces on earth. Its …

Founded by Warren M. Robbins, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer, it was known as the Museum of African Art and located on Capitol Hill in a townhouse that had been the home of Frederick Douglass, the African American abolitionist and statesman.

The National Museum of African Art is pleased to partner with Alliance Française of Washington, D.C. to offer guided tours in French as part of the month-long DC 2025 Francophonie Festival in March. The tours will include highlights of African Art’s current exhibitions, with special attention to artists from Francophone Africa, resulting in ...

The National Museum of African Art is pleased to partner with Alliance Française of Washington, D.C. to offer guided tours in French as part of the month-long DC 2025 Francophonie […]

The Warren M. Robbins Library at the National Museum of African Art, founded in 1971, is the major resource center in the United States for the research and study of the visual arts of Africa. Its collection of more than 50,000 volumes covers all aspects of African visual arts, including sculpture, painting, printmaking, pottery, textiles ...

The National Museum of African Art is 96 percent underground! EXPLORE the Smithsonian Institution Building (known as the Castle), the architecture of the Quadrangle, and the Enid A. Haupt Garden as part of your field trip experience!

“Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art,” a traveling exhibition that tells the story of the beautiful coiled basket, will be on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art from June 23 through Nov. 28.

Drexciya’s founding myth has inspired numerous artists, among them Ayana V. Jackson who, in this exhibition, brings to life an immersive, feminist, and sacred aquatopia where African water spirits from Senegal to South Africa both midwife and protect the Drexciyans.

The National Museum of African Art seeks contract services for a provenance researcher in support of their Shared Stewardship and Ethical Returns policy. See the links below for Request for Quote, Statement of Work and Office of Contracting required documents.