#ummamuseum

[kaleidoscopeheartbeat]

Love is what you want.

[ummaannex]

Visit the Museum and Check out This Exhibit!

Power Contained: Figures of Power in Central and West Africa

AUGUST 19 - DECEMBER 31, 2017                                                                 The Jan and David Brandon Family Bridge

Before colonization, complex hierarchical societies flourished in Central and West Africa. At their summits were a select few—kings and chiefs whose authority was derived from their direct connection to powerful ancestors and predecessors. These rulers were wrapped in expensive textiles or costly furs, and covered in beads and precious metals, materials that not only signaled their extraordinary status, but were also intended to safely contain the great power they wielded. The famous minkisi (meaning “power figure”) sculptures of Central Africa were similarly activated through the addition of charged materials. Textiles, animal skin, metal, and beads allowed the lifeless wooden carvings to be activated by local spiritual leaders in order to communicate with the realm of the ancestors and spirits. This exhibition explores the parallels between the adornment of the king’s physical body and minkisi. Drawing on works from UMMA’s collection and several loans, the exhibition demonstrates how authority was expressed and power contained across a range of historical cultures in Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon.

[sarathelaundress]

Happy Valentine’s Day!

[missamericami]

#Repost @umicharts (@get_repost) ・・・ Are you a @ummamuseum member? It’s free! ☺️ UMMA memberships include a subscription to UMMA’s magazine & calendar, free admission at participating college & university art museums AND a 20% discount in the museum store! Click the link in our bio for more info on joining 🖼 #umicharts #umich #annarbror #art #museum #a2photos #visitannarbror #detroit #ypsilanti #goblue #uofm #michigan #ummamuseum (at UMMA: University of Michigan Museum of Art)

[sloeginfizzillustration]

Finally got myself to the Matisse drawing exhibition @ummamuseum. It’s truly lovely, but the adjoining Ellsworth Kelly Plant lithographs are just breathtaking, particularly in the context. Get yourself there before it closes Sunday. No photos allowed, so I’ve included a detail of the super fun Cosmogenic Tattoos on display, and some snaps from the catalog. #umma #matisse #annarbor #ellsworthkellyplantdrawings (at UMMA: University of Michigan Museum of Art)

[mykindoftown123]

#Repost @ummamuseum ・・・ Auguste Rodin's 'Dancing Figures' are now located in the Thomas & Polly Bredt Gallery on the second floor of #UMMA #umicharts #annarbor (at UMMA: University of Michigan Museum of Art)

[umstampsschool]

Happy belated birthday to the master of cubism! #TBT to a Picasso-inspired performance last year by Interarts juniors Emma Bergman and Mia Massimino. Check out "Portrait of Francoise" & more by Pablo Picasso at the museum (@ummaannex).

[sc0rn]

 'Love is What You Want' 

Electric work by Tracey Emin

[as-the-sparrow]

-Tracey Emin

[kaleidoscopeheartbeat]

Love is what you want.

[ummaannex]

The “hidden figures” of the art world are finally being recognized for their triumphs but most importantly their mastery.

[umichfan]

Bringing @uofmichigan to #philadelphia on #SEPTA #ummamuseum #umich

[mykindoftown123]

night light #goodnight #Repost @mfizell ・・・ #FelixGonzalezTorres Untitled (March 5th) #2, 1991 at @ummamuseum.

[umstampsschool]

There has never been a better time to visit UMMA! Right now there are two fantastic visiting exhibitions, free & open to the public...

Work by Stamps speaker / painter extraordinaire Julian Schnabel is on view through 9/27.

Work by The Heidelberg Project founder Tyree Guyton is on view through 1/3.

Go check it out & tag us with your favorite piece in both exhibitions! 

[babybjoern]

#MarkdiSuvero #Orion @ummamuseum in #AnnArbor #Michigan #UMMAmuseum (at University of Michigan Museum of Art)

[ummaannex]

The Ecstasy of St. Kara, inspired by the “Ecstasy of St. Teresa” sculpture by Bernini in the Cornaro Chapel of Rome, Kara Walker created a series of works that were on special exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art at the end of 2016. I came across this important review of the show by Elizabeth Spenst, a student at Yale University, while doing my nightly perusal of my Twitter timeline. Spenst started her piece of writing with one of the most beautiful opening lines I have come across in a long time,

“What can satisfy the souls of bodies that are imprinted with pain so deep it is only amplified in erasure and transmitted through pleasure?”

All at once, the often tamped down questions and emotions I have about my own identity came to the surface. I read through, word-by-word as my most vulnerable self, a black woman who contemplated ancestry and reality which are equally as vague. Kara Walker gifts me with the presence of the black woman in art but Spenst acknowledges that, “The Ecstasy of St. Kara is not an exhibit of hope or fanciful futures, but it is still a body of work made to render this moment back to us and to future generations.”

Check out DOWN Magazine, a publication for and run by students of color at Yale University.