Rowland Abiodun
Rowland O. Abiodun is the John C. Newton Professor of Art, the History of Art, and Black Studies at Amherst College.[1][2][3] Born in Owo Nigeria[4], Abiodun has written extensively about Yoruba art, a body of art produced by the Yoruba people of modern-day Nigeria and Benin. He has served as a director of the African Studies Association.[5]
Abiodun has curated several prominent exhibitions of African art in the United States. His exhibition Artist as Explorer: African Art from the Walt Disney-Tishman Collection, displayed at the National Geographic Society's Explorer Hall, debuted two years before the Smithsonian acquired the Disney-Tishman Collection.[6][7] His exhibition Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought gathered pieces from Lagos and Ife never before seen in the United States and displayed them on a national tour with stops at the Center for African Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.[8][9]
Abiodun's writings have shaped the interpretation of African art in the United States. His work on Yoruba art and language is cataloged by the Smithsonian Libraries[10][11], a library which provides cultural and historical context for Smithsonian objects to managers of the Smithsonian collection.[12] Accordingly, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art has presented Abiodun's commentary as one of several credible perspectives in its Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa’s Arts exhibition.[13]
In 2011 Abiodun received the ACASA Leadership Award, an award for "an individual whose accomplishments best exemplify excellence in the study of African and/or African Diasporic arts and/or whose innovative contributions and vision have advanced the field."[14][15]
Bibliography
Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge University Press, 2014.[16]
References
- ^ "Faculty & Staff | Art & the History of Art | Amherst College". www.amherst.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "Faculty & Staff | Black Studies | Amherst College". www.amherst.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "Rowland O. Abiodun". Amherst College Website. June 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Abiodun, Rowland; Beier, Ulli (1991). A Young man can have the embroidered gown of an elder, but he can't have the rags of an elder / conversations on Yoruba culture. Iwalewa. pp. 1, 3, 6. ASIN B0006F1RN8.
- ^ "ASA News" (PDF). African Studies Association Website. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Artist as Explorer". international.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "Disney's African Art Finds a Home". Los Angeles Times. 2005-09-30. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ Drewal, Henry John; Pemberton, John; Abiodun, Rowland (1989-11-01). "Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought". African Arts. 23 (1): 68–104. doi:10.2307/3336802. ISSN 0001-9933.
- ^ "Yoruba: 9 Centuries of African Art and Thought". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "Yoruba art and language : seeking the African in African art / Rowland Abiodun, Amherst College". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ^ "Cloth only wears to shreds : Yoruba textiles and photographs from the Beier collection / John Pemberton III, editor ; with contributions by Rowland O. Abiodun, Ulli Beier, John Pemberton III ; introduction by Jill Meredith". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ^ https://www.si.edu/researchcenters/si-libraries
- ^ "Art History Made Visible". africa.si.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "Past Recipients". Retrieved 2020-06-04.
- ^ "ACASA Leadership Award". Retrieved 2020-06-04.
- ^ Abiodun, R. (2014). Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107239074