Dazzling textile traditions have always constituted an important form of aesthetic expression throughout Africa's historical and cultural landscape, and a value in the trading networks that carried material culture. With a view to illustrate the diverse genres of African textile arts and craftsmanship, highlights of the Metropolitan's own holdings will be presented in this exhibition along with other selected artefacts and some twenty works that entered The British Museum's collection by the early twentieth century.
Following the exhibition path, the audience will have the chance to explore the crossovers and inventive variations on major decorative themes of African textile genres. Moreover, textile traditions will be related to contemporary art forms exploring their resonance in the works by seven living artists from Africa.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
30 September 2008 - 22 March 2009