African Art Reframed: Reflections and Dialogues on Museum Culture

Once seen as a collection of artifacts and ritual objects, African art now commands respect from museums and collectors. Bennetta Jules-Rosette and J.R. Osborn explore the reframing of African art through case studies of museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Africa.

The authors take a three-pronged approach. Part One ranges from curiosity cabinets to virtual websites to offer a history of ethnographic and art museums and look at their organization and methods of reaching out to the public. In the second part, the authors examine museums as ecosystems and communities within communities, and they use semiotic methods to analyze images, signs, and symbols drawn from the experiences of curators and artists. The third part introduces innovative strategies for displaying, disseminating, and reclaiming African art. The authors also propose how to reinterpret the art inside and outside the museum and show ways of remixing the results.

Drawing on extensive conversations with curators, collectors, and artists, African Art Reframed is an essential guide to building new exchanges and connections in the dynamic worlds of African and global art.

Bennetta Jules-Rosette is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and director of the African and African-American Studies Research Center at the University of California, San Diego. Her books include Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and Image, Black Paris: The African Writers' Landscape, and The Messages of Tourist Art. J.R. Osborn is an associate professor of communication, culture, and technology at Georgetown University. He is the author of Letters of Light: Arabic Script in Calligraphy, Print, and Digital Design.