Christa Clark, Ph.D., Curator, Arts of Africa and Senior Curator, Arts of Africa and the Americas, The Newark Museum

The Barnes Foundation, best known for its French modernist paintings, also houses one of the nation's earliest -- and most influential -- collections of African art. Its founder, Albert Barnes, regarded African sculpture as the purest example of three-dimensional form, acquiring over 100 works during an intense three-year period leading up to the opening of the Foundation in 1925. In this lecture drawn from a forthcoming publication on African art at the Barnes Foundation, Clarke considers the development of the collection, its significance to the overall vision for the Foundation and Barnes's important, though lesser known, role in the Harlem Renaissance.

Image: Door (Anuan). 19th–early 20th century. Baule peoples. Côte d'Ivoire. Wood, pigment, 61 1/2 x 20 x 2 in. (156.2 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm). The Barnes Foundation, A238. Image © 2013 The Barnes Foundation.