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About the Exhibition
The exhibition features a part of Alexander Soifer’s collection of (Sub-Saharan) African Art, and centers on the art of the Fang peoples of West Equatorial Africa and their neighbors in Gabon, such as Eshira-Punu, Bakota, Pove, Tsogho, Mbete, and Yesa (Bakwele). The artifacts include the famed Fang statuary, their rare masks, and artifacts of their life: adornments, weapons, cookery, gaming, music instruments, etc. created between 70 and 200 years ago. The Fang artists are deservedly among the most famous artists of the Sub-Saharan Africa. They live in three countries: Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Southern Cameroon. The special feature of the grand opening of the exhibition on Saturday, September 17, 2011, will be a lecture by the University of Chicago Anthropologist James William Fernandez, who lived among the Fang for two and a half years 1958-1960.
About Dr. James Fernandez
Professor James W. Fernandez (Ph.D., Northwestern University 1962) worked in the anthropology departments of Smith College, Dartmouth College, Princeton University (where he was Chair), and the University of Chicago. He has done field research in West Equatorial Africa, South Africa, and Asturias, Spain. Professor Fernandez’s interests include short-range social and cultural evolution and the way local communities narrate their past, understand their present, and strive to foretell their future. His publications include numerous articles and several books including the 738-page monograph dedicated to the Fang peoples, Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1982.
Professor Fernandez has won numerous prizes, awards, and fellowships, including:
- John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, 2003-04
- Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 1991
- President, Society for Humanistic Anthropology, 1992-94
- Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, 1982-83
- Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, 1988-89
- Radcliffe-Brown Lecture, The British Academy, 2002
- Honorary Doctorate, Amherst, 2002
About Dr. Alexander Soifer
Alexander Soifer (Ph.D., Moscow Pedagogical University 1973) was born in Moscow, but left in search of freedom. His search brought him to the American shores in 1978. He has been a professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs from 1979 to present. Soifer teaches courses in mathematics, art and film history. He writes books on mathematics, history, and biography. Soifer’s most important monograph is The Mathematical Coloring Book, Springer, New York, 2009. During 2009-2011, six of Soifer’s books contracted by Springer have been published. Springer also contracted his memoirs. In 2006 at Cambridge University, Professor Soifer was presented the Paul Erdös Award by the World federation of National Mathematics Competitions. He is a recipient of the 1992 University of Colorado President’s Service Award.
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