Barbara Blackmun Collection
name: label: Photographer
content: Blackmun, Barbara Winston, 1928-2018
label: Names
content: Erediauwa, King of Benin, 1923-2016
place: label: Place
content: Nigeria
label: Place
content: Ife (Nigeria)
label: Place
content: Africa
label: Place
content: Benin
topic: label: Topic
content: Altars
label: Topic
content: Art, African
label: Topic
content: Rites and ceremonies -- Africa
label: Topic
content: Egúngún (Cult)
label: Topic
content: Yoruba (African people)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated by Monica Blackmun Visona, 2016.
creator: label: Photographer
content: Blackmun, Barbara Winston, 1928-2018
culture: label: Culture
content: Edo (African people)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Barbara Blackmun Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection includes 1,469 color slides (35mm) which were taken in Nigeria from circa 1964-1994, and focus on ancestral altars; artists; art objects in museums, including bronze plaques and carved ivory tusks; ceremonies and festivals, including the Igue and Ewere Festivals, and the Emobo, Otue, Olokun, title-taking, and Blackmun's initation ceremonies; and people, including Oba Erediauwa and chiefs Eribo, Ero, Esogban, Ezomo, Ohanmu and Osaigeide; and street and landscape scenes in Benin City, Ife, Lagos, Ishiago, and Mbarri, Owerri, Owo, among other locations in Nigeria.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: African art historian Barbara Winston Blackmun (1928-2018) was a specialist in Nigerian antiquities, particularly Nok terracottas, the bronzes of Ile Ife, and the bronzes and ivories of the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria.  She earned her BFA at UCLA (1949), MA at Arizona State University (1971), and Doctor of Philosophy in Art History at UCLA (1984).

Over her career, Blackmun's research has included fieldwork in Malawi (1964-1969) and research of Ife antiquities with Frank Willett (1978-79) and various collections on Benin antiquities in the U.K., U.S., Europe, and Africa (1980-present).  Recipient of a Fulbright (1981-1982) and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant (1994), she conducted field work at the Oba's court in Benin City, Nigeria.  Additionally, she has published numerous exhibition catalogs and articles in journals such as African Arts.

Blackmun taught art history at the Malawi Polytechnic College, Blantyre, (1965—1969), San Diego Mesa College (at which she is Professor Emeritus) (1971—2010), University of California, San Diego (1987, 2008, 2004), and UCLA (1987, 2000), among other places.  She also curated and acted as a curatorial consultant of African art collections at numerous institutions, including Mesa College, the San Diego Museum of Art (2010), Chicago Field Museum (1990—1993), Chicago Art Institute (1994, 2006—2008), Detroit Institute of Art (2002—2010), Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Vienna (2003—2008), and the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin (2003—2008).  

Her committee work includes serving as National Program Director for the African American Institute, Malawi (1968—1969), a member of the Education Council, Contemporary Arts Committee, San Diego Museum of Art (1975—1978), a board member of the San Diego Mesa College Foundation (1983-) and the African and African-American Studies Research Center, University of California, San Diego, and Chair of the African Arts Council, San Diego Museum of Art.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1,440 Color slides
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1969-1994
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.2016-012
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Color slides
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Arranged into 4 series:

Series 1: Museum Objects (747 slides), 1979-1994

Series 2: Ceremonies (227 slides), circa 1969-1994

Series 3: People (354 slides), circa 1969-1994

Series 4: Landscape and Street Scenes (141 slides), circa 1969-1994
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Digitized in 2017.  Finding aid by Eden Orelove, 2018.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Color slides
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection includes 1,469 color slides (35mm) which were taken in circa 1969 to 1994, and focus on African art objects, prominent people, especially chiefs, festivals and ceremonies, and landscape and street scenes in Nigeria, including Benin City, Ife, Ishiago, Jeronimos, Lagos, Mbari, Oshagbe, Owerri, Owo, Oyo, and Udu.

Many of the images are of art objects in museums, particularly in the Jos Museum, the Owo Museum, the Benin Museum, the Lagos Museum, the Ife Palace Museum, and the University of Ife Museum.  The objects include altar stands, armlets, bells, bowls, boxes, bracelets, figures, Oko (flutes), ivory gongs, Ikengobos, masks, motif drawings, pendants, plaques, regalia, salt cellars, staffs, stools, and carved ivory tusks.

People depicted include the Oba Erediauwa, and the chiefs Eribo, Ero, Esogban, Ezomo, Ohanmu and Osaigeide.  The collection also documents ceremonies and festivals, including the Igue and Ewere Festivals, and the Emobo, Otue, and Olokun ceremonies as well as Ineh Isienmwenro's title-taking, and Blackmun's initation.