The Bezalel Museum of Art received its first objects from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the 1950s. The bulk of Precolumbian, African, Oceanic, and North American art was donated by major collectors in the late seventies. Over the years many more unique and rare individual pieces were given, as were whole collections, which came from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. As the collection grew, the department experienced a number of major changes in concept, eventually crystallizing into the Department for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

By combining artistic excellence and ethnographic and archaeological value, the exhibits on permanent display aim to create a comprehensive view of the various cultures. Reflecting a broad range of artistic styles and traditions, the objects function as a unique source of information for the visitor.

The department’s steadily growing collection today numbers over 6,500 objects from diverse cultural traditions, spanning four continents and four millennia. Organized by geography and culture, the permanent display presents the art of Precolumbian civilizations, North America and its links to Eastern Siberia, and the tribal cultures of Africa, Oceania, and Southeast Asia.

The Americas display includes sections on North America, Mesoamerica, South America, and the Caribbean, featuring artworks from 2000 BCE to the twentieth century.

The Mesoamerican collection, spanning the period from 1200 BCE to the sixteenth century, comprises nearly half of the American holdings. It includes outstanding monumental sculptures from Classic and Postclassic Veracruz (600–1300 CE), notable Mayan incense burners from the seventh century, artworks from Olmec, Teotihuacan, West Mexican, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec cultures, and a complete display of art inspired by the Ballgame.

The South American holdings include significant Andean textiles from 200 BCE to the fifteenth century, ceramics from Chavin, Paracas, Nasca, Moche, Lambayeque, Chancay, Chimu, and the Inca Empire, and objects from Ecuador and Colombia, as well as Cuzco Colonial paintings.

The North American collection comprises ceremonial objects from the Northwest Coast such as a totem pole, coppers, masks, and feast dishes and blankets used in the Potlatch ceremony; as well as related objects from the Amur River cultures of Eastern Siberia from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It also includes material from the Eskimo, Plains, and Southwest cultures.

African objects on display are from North Africa, western Sudan, the Guinea coast, Nigeria, the Cameroon grasslands, and central Africa, and east and south Africa, with the earliest works dating from the sixth century BCE to the third century CE and the latest dating from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. A variety of materials typify the versatility of the African cultures. Objects made of wood, stone, ceramics, ivory, gold, textiles, and glass beads are on display.

The Oceanic art exhibit, covering Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia, as well as the tribal cultures of Southeast Asia and Australia, displays diverse such diverse forms as masks, jewelry, weapons, ceremonial and ritual sculptures, canoes, over-modeled skulls, daily utensils, textiles, and tapa cloths.

Yvonne Fleitman
Benjamin Weiss
Curator, Art of the Americas

Dorit Shafir
Curator, Arts of Africa and Oceania

Crested Helmet Mask (Tatanua) New Ireland, Melanesia Wood, barkcloth, fiber, lime plaster, paint, operculum shell Height: 38 cm (15 in)				Reliquary guardian figure Mahongwe, Gabon Wood, brass Late 19th-Early 20th century Heigt: 25.5 cm				Fantastic Ceramic Figure Esmeraldes, Northwest Equador La Tolita Culture, 1-500 AD Unslipped grey clay Height: 59 cm (23.25 in)
Seated Male Figure Las Remojadas style, Veracruz, Mexico Late Classic Period, 600-900 AD Terracotta Height: 64 cm (25.25 in)