African Cosmos: Stellar Arts at LACMA

African Cosmos: Stellar Arts, on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through November 30, 2014, is the first major exhibition to explore the historical legacy of African cultural astronomy and its intersection with traditional and contemporary African arts. For millennia, Africans have gazed upon the celestial firmament, made sense of the heavenly bodies above them, and used their observations to chart movements through the physical environment and regulate agricultural and ritual calendars. The exhibition considers how the sun, moon and stars, as well as celestial phenomena such as lightning and rainbows, inspire African arts from ancient times to the present. An outstanding selection of work includes ancient Egyptian sculpture, traditional Dogon masks of Mali, Yoruba divination instruments from Nigeria, and creations by contemporary South African artists.

For more information, visit lacma.org.