Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
John Outterbridge papers, 1953-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Sharon Frances Patton research material regarding Vincent Smith, 1968-2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details. Items 1234-1256 restricted. Available to view onsite only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Barbara Blackmun Collection, EEPA 2016-012, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details. Items 1234-1256 restricted. Available to view onsite only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Barbara Blackmun Collection, EEPA 2016-012, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details. Items 1234-1256 restricted. Available to view onsite only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Barbara Blackmun Collection, EEPA 2016-012, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details. Items 1234-1256 restricted. Available to view onsite only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
3555 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 35 mm)
4 Notebooks ((1 box))
1 Cassette tape ((2 boxes))
25 Film reels (Super 8)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Contact sheets
Negatives (photographic)
Notebooks
Cassette tapes
Film reels
Place:
Nigeria
Date:
1971-2003
Summary:
Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003 and was created in Nigeria and Ghana. Much of the collection documents masquerades, shrines, festivals, market scenes, and ceremonies, and includes images of Urhobo, Uzairue, Ishan (Esan), Etsako, and Otuo peoples.
Scope and Contents:
Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003 and is comprised of 3,617 slides, 3,625 negatives, 4 negative books, contact prints, an audio cassette, 25 Super 8 film reels, and 23,425 digtial images. The materials primarily document the Urhobo, Uzairue, Ishan (Esan), Etsako, and Otuo peoples.
Much of the collection depicts masquerades, festivals, and ceremonies, including the Aimhi masquerade, Akpele masquerade, Egbemamu masquerade, Egede masquerade, Egu (Egungun) Akachi masquerade, Ekpenike masquerade, Ekuede masquerade, Erelue Masquerade, Gelede performance, Idu masquerade, Igbagu masquerade, Igo masquerade, Igugu Festival, Ihuen Festival, Iyabana night masquerade, Obanagbedor masquerade, Obonodike masquerade, Ogabadi masquerade, Ogumogu performances, Okwema masquerade, Olimi Festival, Omese masquerade, Opha procession, Otsa masquerade, Otuo masquerade, Ugwonor masquerade, Ukpokolo masquerade, and Wanyoke masquerade. There are also images of title-taking ceremonies and paraphernalia, and shrines, including the Aziza, Ikumuku, Ituke, Okailopokai, Oshun, Ugbe Ebo forest shrines.
Images were taken primarily in Nigeria, including in Lagos, Ibadan, Benin City, Auchi, Owan, Ibadan, Idah, Oshogbo, Otukpo, Gombe state, Bauchi State, Benue Plateau State, Ugboha, Akoko-Edo, Ouidah, Bida, and Kano. Borgatti also photographed the Kumase area and Capecoast in Ghana.
Arrangement:
Arranged into 4 series by format. Series 1, 2 and 4 are arranged chronologically and Series 3 is arranged alphabetically.
Series 1: Field Slides, 1971-2003
Series 2: Negatives, 1971-circa 1979
Series 3: Audio and Film Reels, circa 1970s-1982
Series 4: Digital Files, circa 1971-2015
Biographical / Historical:
Art historian and photographer Jean Borgatti's research focuses on cross cultural concepts of art and aesthetics, masquerades and festivals, portraiture, the Black Atlantic, and the continuities and discontinuities in African, African Diaspora, Oceanic and Native American art. An active photographer since at least 1971, she has worked primarily in Benin City, Nigeria and areas in northern Edo State, photographing the Okpella people and other Edo North groups.
Borgatti received her B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College (1966) and both her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Art History from UCLA. Since then, she has received fellowships, grants, and awards for research including a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities (1979-1980), a Sainsbury Institute Fellowship at the University of East Anglia (2005), and two Fulbright fellowships (2002-2004, 2014-2016) for lecturing and conducting research in Nigeria. She was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (2014) for her contributions to the field. She taught African and Native American Art History at Clark University for twenty years and has continued her affiliation with Clark as a visiting scholar and research fellow. Additionally, Borgatti has been a visiting scholar of art history and African studies at Boston University (2010-2016).
Borgatti has curated a number of exhibitions, including From the Hands of Lawrence Ajanaku (Museum of Cultural History Gallery UCLA and the African American Institute New York, 1979); Likeness and Beyond: Portraits in Africa and the World (with Richard Brilliant and Alan Wardwell), Center for African Art, New York, and the Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, 1990); Global Africa: Creativity, Continuity and Change in African Art, 2014-2017, and several museum shows in which African works were placed "in conversation" or "face to face" with works from Asia, Europe, and America throughout the Fitchburg Art Museum (2011-2012). Borgatti has published more than twenty articles on African art with such varied topics as masquerades in Edo North (Nigeria), portraiture in world art, the art market, and individual African artists.
Dr. Borgatti is a consulting curator on African and Oceanic Art at the Fitchburg Art Museum (Massachusetts, 2010-present) and a Professor of Art History, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin (Nigeria, 2013-2017).
Provenance:
Donated by Jean Borgatti in 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.
Collection Citation:
Jean Borgatti Collection, EEPA 2016-007, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.
Collection Citation:
Jean Borgatti Collection, EEPA 2016-007, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.
Collection Citation:
Jean Borgatti Collection, EEPA 2016-007, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African, Smithsonian Institution.
Ancestral Shrine, Royal Palace, Benin City, Nigeria
Extent:
1 Albumen print (cabinet card, black and white, 12.7 x 17.8 cm. (5 x 7 inches) (without mount))
Container:
Box 1
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Albumen prints
Cabinet photographs
Place:
Africa
Nigeria
Benin (Nigeria)
Date:
1891 May
Summary:
One cabinet card with an albumen photographic print by Cyril Punch of a Benin altar with two bronze heads supporting ivory tusks and framing a group of brass statues and bells, an inscription on the frame reading, "Juju altar, Benin City, May 1891.
Scope and Contents:
A handwritten title on this albumen photograph reads: "Juju altar. Kings compound Benin City May 1891." This cabinet card is considered the earliest known photograph of a Benin altar and the only one known to exist prior to the British invasion of Benin in 1897. It shows the configuration of carved ivory tusks, commemorative heads, bells, a king figure with an eben (sword), and smaller bronze figures. The photograph was taken by Cyril Punch in 1891.
Biographical / Historical:
Cyril Punch was a British merchant who lived in the late 1800s and who often traded between Lagos and Benin.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
