American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Nigeria: Art and Everyday Life (Exhibition)
birth: 1978 April 19
death: 1978 May 31
Exhibition. Opened in April 19, 1978 and closed May 31, 1978. Located in Section 1A, Floor 1 in Gallery 77 at the American Museum of Natural History. "Nigeria: Art and Everyday Life" was an exhibition of 125 wood, bronze and ivory artifacts embodying the richness of Nigerian cultures in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Summary
"Nigeria: Art and Everyday Life" was an exhibition of 125 wood, bronze and ivory artifacts embodying the richness of Nigerian cultures in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibit concentrated on several important cultural groups, including the Yoruba, Bini and Ibeju peoples presenting a wide variety of objects of religious and secular significance. Included were masks, headdresses, staffs, altars, ceremonial bronzes and modeled heads. The exhibit was grouped into five categories: the house, divination and ceremonies; cults and secret societies; altars and shrines and personal adornment. The items came from the Mayo-Johnson private collection and were on view in Gallery 77 of the American Museum of Natural History from April 19 through May 31, 1978. It then traveled nationwide, starting with Baltimores' Walters Art Gallery.