African Art Museum of Maryland (AAMM)

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The National Museum of African Art is a museum of African art run by the Smithsonian Institution and located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 9,000 items of traditional and modern African art from Sub-Saharan and North Africa, 300,000 pictures, and 50,000 library books are among the museum’s holdings. It was the first museum in the United States dedicated to African art, and it still has the greatest collection. The museum has been dubbed a “mainstay” in the international art scene and the “main forum for modern African art in the United States” by the Washington Post.
The museum was formed in 1964 by a Foreign Service officer and layperson who purchased African art pieces in Germany and a number of houses in the Capitol Hill district to display them. Traditional African art was shown, as well as an educational objective to teach black cultural history. The creator persuaded the national legislature to accept the museum under the Smithsonian’s aegis in order to secure its long-term viability. In 1979, it became a member of the Smithsonian Institution, and two years later, it was renamed the National Museum of African Art. In 1987, a new, mostly underground museum structure was erected near the National Mall and other Smithsonian institutions. It is one of the Smithsonian Institution’s tiniest museums.
Over the next two decades, the African art museum shifted to a more scientific focus, with less social activity. It included important historical writings from the past and present. The exhibitions have ranged from solo artists to comprehensive survey shows, and have included both internal and loaned works. Every year, the museum offers two to three temporary exhibitions as well as 10 special events. The architecture of the National Mall building was critiqued by reviewers, particularly its lack of natural light. As part of the Smithsonian’s future South Mall project, the museum will be renovated.

History African Art Museum of Maryland (AAMM)

Warren M. Robbins, an American Foreign Service officer, gathered African figurines, masks, books, and fabrics from German antique shops in the 1950s. In 1960, he returned to Washington, D.C., and bought a mansion on Capitol Hill, where he displayed his collection. Robbins believed that the collection could advance interracial civil rights and improve national recognition for a vital component of black cultural legacy despite his lack of museum, arts, or fundraising experience. He expanded his Capitol Hill house museum into neighboring townhouses, including the former home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, starting in 1963. Nine townhouses and nearly a dozen more structures near the Supreme Court Building were eventually occupied by the collections.
The Museum of African Art was initially created in 1964, and its debut exhibition featured the collection as well as two outside items. The museum concentrated on traditional African art and its educational goal to teach black cultural history throughout Robbins’ tenure. It also acted as a welcoming gathering place for people interested in American racial politics, in keeping with the Black Arts Movement’s efforts to influence American attitudes about African cultures in the 1960s and 1970s. “An education department with a museum attached,” Robbins described his museum. Robbins had visited Africa for the first time in 1976, when the African art museum had a 20-person staff and a 6,000-object collection.
Robbins persuaded Congress to incorporate his museum into the Smithsonian Institution, a federal network of museums and research institutions, in order to assure the museum’s long-term viability. Representatives John Brademas, Lindy Boggs, Ron Dellums, the Congressional Black Caucus, and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey voted supported this measure in the House of Representatives in 1978. The museum was adopted by the Smithsonian directors the next year, and arrangements were made to move the collection from the townhouses to a proper museum. The National Museum of African Art was renamed the National Museum of African Art in 1981.
Sylvia Williams took over as director of the museum in early 1983. Later same year, on the National Mall, the Smithsonian Institution commenced ground on a new, dedicated structure for the African art museum. When it opened in September 1987, the facility was mostly subterranean and doubled the museum’s exhibition space. The study of traditional things for their workmanship and aesthetic features has transformed perspectives on African art over time, shifting from ethnographic curiosity to the study of traditional objects for their craftsmanship and aesthetic properties. Williams approached the museum with an academic, art historian attitude, pursuing high-risk, high-cost pieces before their final prices were determined. Beyond conventional Sub-Saharan Africa, the collection extended to include contemporary pieces as well as works from Arab North Africa. This trend was opposed by the museum’s founder, who believed that the organization was forsaking its public duty in favor of “esoteric research.”
Following Williams’ death in 1996, curator Roslyn Walker took over as director, serving until her retirement in 2002. Walker followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, adding a modern art gallery and curator. She also established a development office, which secured funds for the museum’s pavilion reconstruction in the early 2000s. Between 2003 through 2008, Sharon Patton, former director of Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum, served as director. More shows aimed at children were added under her tenure, as well as a mass resignation of the advisory board against Smithsonian leadership.
In 2009, anthropologist Johnetta Cole, a former president of Spelman and Bennett Colleges, was named director of the museum. Her tenure was linked to a contentious 2015 display including artwork from comedian Bill Cosby’s private collection, which opened shortly as sexual assault allegations against him became public. The government budget sequester in 2013 forced the closure of one of the museum’s permanent shows. Cole stepped down in March 2017 and was replaced in February 2018 by British filmmaker and curator Gus Casely-Hayford.

African Art Museum of Maryland (AAMM) Location

8775 Cloudleap Ct Suite 112, Columbia, MD 21045, United States

https://www.africanartmuseum.org/

+14107407411

Driving Directions from Baltimore Maryland, USA

Take Light St and E Conway St to I-395 S 5 min (0.8 mi)
Head west on E Fayette St toward N Calvert St 489 ft
Turn left onto St Paul St 312 ft
Continue onto Light St 0.4 mi
Use the right 2 lanes to turn right onto E Conway St 0.3 mi
Take I-95 S to Snowden River Pkwy in Howard County. Take exit 3 from MD-100 W 13 min (12.7 mi)
Continue on Snowden River Pkwy to your destination in Columbia 5 min (1.4 mi)
African Art Museum of Maryland (AAMM)

Driving Directions from Washington District of Columbia, USA

Get on I-495 E in Silver Spring from 16th St NW 27 min (7.7 mi)
Head southeast on Scott Cir NW toward Rhode Island Ave NW 394 ft
Exit the traffic circle onto 16th St NW 2.0 mi
Continue straight to stay on 16th St NW
Entering Maryland 3.8 mi
At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit onto 16th St 1.1 mi
Use any lane to turn left onto Georgia Ave 0.4 mi
Turn right to merge onto I-495 E toward Beltway/Baltimore 0.3 mi
Take I-95 N to MD-175 W in Howard County. Take exit 41A-41B from I-95 N 19 min (19.5 mi)
Continue on MD-175 W to your destination in Columbia 8 min (3.3 mi)
African Art Museum of Maryland (AAMM)