‘Art Of Being Tuareg’ At

 Smithsonian’s NMAA

2 cuts downloaded and e-m’d downstairs 10-5

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Tuareg, Niger, Cross of Martchaksa, circa 1970, silver, Fowler Museum at UCLA.

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Ladle, Tuareg, Niger, aluminum and leather, Cantor Arts Center.

FOR 10-12

‘ART OF BEING TUAREG’ AT SMITHSONIAN’S NMAA w/2 cuts

avv/lsb set 10-5 #714855

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first major exhibition in the United States to examine the historic and evolving culture and arts of the seminomadic Tuareg peoples of West Africa is on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in “Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World,” through January 27.

Featuring the distinctive jewelry, clothing, leatherwork and other highly decorated items for which the Tuareg are famous, the exhibition considers the complexities of history, desert living and the ever-changing effects of globalization.

“This show presents another view of Africa — one unfamiliar, discrete, yet historically and culturally significant,” said Sharon F. Patton, director of the National Museum of African Art. “It represents a confluence of topography, culture and present time, an extraordinary feat for any art exhibition.”

“Art of Being Tuareg” includes more than 200 works from public and private collections around the world, as well as documentary photographs, video footage and music. Highlights include photographic portraits and first-person accounts that introduce visitors to what it means to be a Tuareg today: a goatskin hide tent, typical of the Tuareg nomadic lifestyle, displayed with carved tent poles, decorated screens, camel saddles, daggers, swords, leather bags, tools and musical instruments.

Also on display is classical Tuareg silver jewelry, including a necklace made of silver crosses of Zinder which Tuareg women once used as a form of currency, and art produced for on the global marketplace, including Tuareg-produced and inspired works that are sold at Hermes and other exclusive boutiques in the United States and Europe.

“Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World” was organized by the Ira and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University and the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

A companion catalog was edited by Seligman and Loughran and includes essays by many of today’s most accomplished scholars of Tuareg art and society.

The museum is at 950 Independence Avenue SW. For information, 202-633-4600 or www.africa.si.edu.