Jean Borgatti Collection
name: label: Photographer
content: Borgatti, Jean
label: Artist
content: Ajanaku, Lawrence
label: Names
content: Erediauwa, King of Benin, 1923-2016
label: Artist
content: Obamina, Achetu, b. 1897 -
label: Artist
content: Omogbai, Pius Isah
label: Artist
content: Onobrakpeya, Bruce, 1932-
place: label: Place
content: Nigeria
label: Place
content: Nigeria -- Osun State -- Ilesha
label: Place
content: Nigeria -- Kaduna -- Zaria
label: Place
content: Lagos (Nigeria)
label: Place
content: Benin (Nigeria)
label: Place
content: Nigeria -- Federal Capital Territory -- Abuja
label: Place
content: Nigeria -- Plateau -- Jos Plateau (Bauchi Plateau)
label: Place
content: Oshogbo (Nigeria)
label: Place
content: Kumasi (Ghana)
label: Place
content: Cape Coast (Ghana)
label: Place
content: Niamey (Niger)
label: Place
content: Abomey (Benin)
label: Place
content: Benin -- Atlantique -- Ouidah
label: Place
content: Nigeria -- Benue State
label: Place
content: Bida (Nigeria)
label: Place
content: Kano (Nigeria)
topic: label: Topic
content: Ekperi (African people)
label: Topic
content: Urhobo (African people)
label: Topic
content: Ghana
label: Topic
content: Masquerades
label: Topic
content: Festivals
label: Topic
content: Coronations
label: Topic
content: Workshops
label: Topic
content: Portraits
label: Topic
content: Okpe (Urhobo people)
label: Topic
content: Shrines
label: Topic
content: Gelede -- Photographs
label: Topic
content: Marketplaces
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated by Jean Borgatti in 2016.
creator: label: Photographer
content: Borgatti, Jean
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jean Borgatti Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003 and was created primarily in Nigeria but with some images from  Ghana (Kumase, Cape Coast), Niger (Niamey), and the Benin Republic (Road to Abomey, near Ouidah). Much of the collection documents masquerades, shrines, festivals, market scenes, and ceremonies in the then Bendel State (now Edo and Delta States), and includes images from Etsako (specifically, Auchi, Avianwu, Ekperi, North Ibie/Ivie, South Ibie/Ivie) Okpella, Okhu, and Weppa-Wano peoples), Akoko Edo (Urhurhun Uneme, Igarra), and Owan (Otuo and Ikao peoples), as well as some images from Ishan (Ekpoma-Illeh, Ubiaja, Ugboha), Urhobo (Ughelli, Ohoro, Okpedomu, Emadaja)  and Benin City as well as other parts of Nigeria including the then Western State (Oshogbo, Ibadan, Oyo, Ilesha), Benue Plateau State (Oturkpo-Makurdi Road, Tiv country, Jos), Northeastern State (Yankari Game Preserve, Gombe, Tula, Yola), Northwest Stateb (Bida), East Central State (Owerri), and Kano.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: 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).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3617 Slides (photographs) (color, 35 mm)
label: Extent
content: 166 Contact sheets ((2 binders))
label: Extent
content: 3555 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 35 mm)
label: Extent
content: 4 Notebooks ((1 box))
label: Extent
content: 1 Cassette tape ((2 boxes))
label: Extent
content: 25 Film reels (Super 8)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1971-2003
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.2016-007
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Type
content: Contact sheets
label: Type
content: Negatives (photographic)
label: Type
content: Notebooks
label: Type
content: Cassette tapes
label: Type
content: Film reels
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: 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
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Finding aid by Eden Orelove, 2019.  Metadata for the slides was prepared by Nadia Albeiz and Hannah Storch.  Metadata for the negatives was prepared by Kellen Hope and Hannah Storch.  Slides were digitized in 2017.  Negatives were digitized in 2019. Scope and contents edited in 2023 in collaboration with donor. 

Four of the slides were blank and are not included in this finding aid: EEPA 2016-007-2808; EEPA 2016-007-3032; EEPA 2016-007-3092; and EEPA 2016-007-3138.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003-4 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 digital images. The 1971-2004 collection includes photographs made between 1971-1974, 1979, and (mostly born digital) 2002-2004. 

The materials from 1971-1974 include research-oriented images taken at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, as well as field photographs in Edo North.  Initially a survey of material culture was carried out in Etsako Local Government Area of the then Bendel, now Edo, State. This included visiting some 43 villages across 9 ethnic groups (Auchi, Avianwu, Ekperi, North Ibie/Ivie, South Ibie/Ivie,  Okpella/Ukpila, Okhu, Uzairue, Weppa-Wano [Uwepa-Uwao], and Uneme/Ineme in Akoko-Edo LGA) as well as Otuo and Ikao in Owan LGA.  The Etsako communities included Auchi, Avianwu's Afashio, Fugar, and Iraokhor; Ekperi's Azukhala, Okpenada, Osomegbe, Ugbekpe, Udaba Weppa-Wano's Agenebode, Aigyere, Amugbe, and Edegbe; North Ibie included Itsukwi and Okpekpe; South Ibie; Eastern Okpella made up of Afokpella including numerous quarters (Iyeluwa, Imiomoka, Imiamune, Kalaba, Imigbai, Imioko), Ogiriga, and  Iddo I (old Iddo) and Iddo II (new Iddo); and western Okpella made up of Awuyemi,  Imiegiele, Ogute, Imiaguese, Imiekuri, Ilewi, Ithurogbe, Ogute, and the affiliated Okhu I and Okhu II; Weppa Wano's Agenebode, Aigyere, Amugbe, Edegbe, Iviabua, Iviukhua, Emokhueme, and Iviukhwe; and Uzairue's Ogbido, Iluoke, Afowa, Ayogiri, Apana, Ikabigbo, Iyora, and Jattu. 

ShapeMuch of the collection depicts festivals, masquerades, and ceremonies, including Okpella's Olimi Festival, Ekperi's Otsa Festival, Weppa Wano's Ake festival, the Aimhi or Okakagbe masquerade, Otuo and Ikao's Igugu or Eliminia Festival, a Gelede masquerade performance, Okpella's Aminague masquerade, and many individually named masquerades in Edo North. There are also images of title-taking ceremonies, paraphernalia, and shrines, including the Okpella men's Atsogwa title ceremony Oghalo and a comparable one for an Ogbidegua, a titled woman; Avianwu's Aziza, Ekperi's Okailopokai shrine, the Yoruba Oshun shrine at Oshogbo, and Okpella's Okula, a forest shrine associated with Olimi Festival. The most intensive photography is associated with Okpella, Ekperi, Weppa-Wano, Otuo and Ikao masquerades.  

The 1979 photographs comprise portraits of individuals responding to a survey on Aesthetic Preference carried out in the Eastern Okpella communities of Ogiriga, Afokpella (Iyeluwa, Kalaba, Imioko, Imiomoka, Imiamune, Imigbai). Iddo I and II, and in Western Okpella the communities of Imiakiu, Imiokewa, Imiedemi, Imiomoh, Udiegwa, Okhu Afokha, Okhu Owu, Imienegwe, and Imiekuri. Olimi Festival research was conducted in Afokpella, Ogiriga, Iddo II, and Ogute. 

The 2002-2004 digital images were taken during a panel study based on 1979 Survey on Aesthetic Preference.  Portraits of respondents from the communities of Ogiriga, Afokpella, Iyeluwa, Imigbai, Imiamune, Kalaba, Ogute Oke, Imiakiu, Imikhese, Imionoh, Imiokewa, Udiegwa, Imiediemi, Imiagbese, Imiekuri, Awuyemi, Imiegiele, Iddo I, and Iddo II.