HAZLETON, Pa. — Penn State Hazleton will host the African art exhibit “From the Heart of Africa – Masks, Fetishes, & More,” beginning Friday, March 22. The exhibit will be complemented by a lecture on African art.
A brass plaque from the Benin tribe is part of the exhibit coming to Penn State Hazleton.
The exhibit will be installed in the Lofstrom Library at Penn State Hazleton from March 22 to April 26. It includes more than 50 masks, statues, fetishes, robes, drums and jewelry from multiple African cultures on loan from the Lawrence Troutman African Art Collection. Troutman has been an avid collector of African art since 1995. Over the years, he made multiple trips to study the African art collections at the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City and studied multiple African art reference materials as he started to build his own collection. The pieces in this display came from various tribes in Africa including the Asante, Baga, Baule, Benin, Dan, Fang, Lega, Luba, Pende, Punu, Songye, Sunufu and Yoruba. Most items were brought to the United States by an African arts importer in New York City.
The lecture will be given by Lecturer of Arts and Humanities Jonathan Pineno, curator of the display, from 12:20-1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, in Room 1 of the Kostos Building.
Both the exhibit and the lecture are open to the public at no charge.
